Page 47 of Her Reluctant Hero
“I saw him, Alex.” She strode to the closet, flung it open. “I’m going back. It’s the only thing I can do.”
“They won’t let me use my team for this.” He sank to the bed and watched her flip through the outfits. “They don’t believe he was there. I can’t protect you in that place on my own.”
She turned to him. “You can,” she said, pressing her palm to his cheek. “I promise, I’ll be good.”
If this was being good, Alex was going straight to hell. He’d never seen a woman move like that, that head back, straight-shouldered stride that, goddamn it, had every man in the place turning to look at her. The skirt barely covered her ass and the skinny straps of the top barely contained her stunning breasts. She was trying to get Saldana’s attention, he realized. He’d thought maybe she dressed that way to get cooperation—God knew he’d cooperate with a woman who appeared to be offering what she was offering.
“Amazing. You gave every guy in here a hard-on,” he muttered, keeping his touch at the small of her back and his gaze alert for any encroachers. “Should be in theGuinness Book of World Recordsor something.”
“I said I’d be good. Now you need to be.” She edged up to the bar. “What do girls drink?”
He shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know.”
“OnSex and the Citythey drank Cosmopolitans,” she said a little breathlessly. “But maybe those are out of style.”
He rolled his eyes. “Give her a mojito,” he told the bartender. “I’ll take a beer.”
Isabella leaned on the bar, deepening her already impressive cleavage. The bartender stared, reaching blindly for the bottles.
Alex wanted to punch him in the face.
“Hey, do you know where I could find Santiago Saldana?” she asked.
Alex choked on his beer. The bartender merely blinked.
“Do you know him?” Isabella pressed. “I know he comes in here.”
“Nah, I don’t know any customers. No guys, anyway.” He gave her breasts a leering look.
Alex plucked their drinks off the bar, passed Isabella hers, then steered her away from the bar.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, fighting for balance on her heels.
“Saving you from your own heavy-handedness. Do you just plan to ask everyone who works here who knows Saldana?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Keep your eyes open.” He guided her to a table just above the dance floor. She stumbled in the crowd, splashing a bit of the sticky drink on her wrist. She lifted her arm and licked it off. Alex heard a guy nearby groan, saw him slap his hand over his chest as if she was giving him a heart attack. Alex positioned himself between the man and Isabella, glowering. The groaner lifted his eyebrows in acknowledgement and backed off.
“Stand over there.” He walked to the table with his back to the dance floor, against every instinct.
“Why?” she asked.
“So you can see everyone—and they can see you. Keep an eye out.”
“And look good doing it?”
He saluted her with his beer and scanned the crowd as he drank. He could feel her tension even across the small table.
“We can go,” he said when she shifted her weight and toyed with her glass.
“I’m just not used to this many people.”
“Right.”
She drank deeply and made a face. She set it down and slid it away. “Sweet.”
“Yeah. Rebecca liked them.”
