Page 58 of Jack of Hearts
“Thanks, I think I will,” she said, giving her mother a hug. She should stay and help close, but she couldn’t resist the offer. All day she had put on a front, pretending everything was as it should be.
Through it all, she’d somehow managed not to tell Lauren that her boyfriend was a scumbag. Oh, but she wanted to. Knowing Lauren, though, she’d go straight to Nelson, demanding an explanation.
Madison locked the door to her room, kicked off her shoes, slipped her bra out from under her blouse, and crawled into bed. She needed time to think and formulate a plan before she went off half-cocked. What would her father have done?
He’d investigate, dummy.Could she do that? Learn everything there was to know about Nelson Lopez? Was he spying for her cousin and uncle, or was he up to something unrelated to them? Whatever his reason, she needed to find out soon so she could tell Lauren. Having him in their home at night was unacceptable. No way would she be able to sleep if he was here for the night. Nor did she want to stay at Alex’s, knowing Nelson was up to no good. Whatever he was doing, it had to stop.
For sure, she was going to ask Alex to stay over at night until Nelson was gone. She decided to take a nap so that she could stay awake if Nelson did spend the night. And she really did have a headache, which, hopefully, a few hours of sleep would cure. Later tonight, she’d get on her laptop and see what she could learn about him. That decided, she closed her eyes, but before she could drift off, there was a scratching at the door. Rolling her eyes, she got up and let Hemingway in.
“Come to take a nap with me?” He followed her onto the bed, and she fell asleep to his purrs.
When she awoke, she glanced at the clock to see it was almost midnight. After her sleepless night, she’d needed the rest, although she hadn’t meant to nap that long. Leaving Hemingway curled up on her pillow, she went into the bathroom, splashed water on her face, and brushed her hair. Her clothes were a wrinkled mess, and she changed into a tank top and a pair of boxer panties.
She’d left her laptop in the living room, which meant she was going to have to get it. She eased her bedroom door open a few inches, seeing that Lauren’s door was closed. Was Nelson in there? She crept down the hall, careful not to step on the two boards that creaked. The laptop was on the coffee table, the top open. Weird. She was sure she’d left it on the side table with the lid closed.
Back in her bedroom, she locked her door and sat on the bed. The first thing she looked for was the computer’s search history. Nothing unusual showed up, and because the laptop was password protected, she decided she was getting paranoid. Even if Nelson had tried to get into her computer, he would never guess her password.
She spent the next hour searching for anything she could find on him, turning up very little. What did surprise her was that he was the only son of a famous Cuban actor and a Cuban woman the actor had divorced early in his career. According to one interview with the actor, the divorce was amicable, and growing up, Nelson had spent time with both parents. He had a Facebook page, but his last post, a photo of him with his arms around two gorgeous women, had been eight months ago. It looked like some kind of fashion show, which wouldn’t be unusual, considering.
The tapping at her window startled her, and she yelped. It was Alex’s signal. Smiling, she unlocked the window. “Hey you. I’m so glad you’re here.” The arms he wrapped around her were strong, his breath warm on her cheek as he hugged her.
“Missed you, Grasshopper,” he said, then kissed her.
His mouth hungrily devoured hers, and his tongue slipped through her parted lips, tangling with hers. Madison sank against him, and he lowered his hands to her hips, his fingers digging into her skin.
“Bed,” he gasped between kisses.
“Yes.” She laughed when he scooped her up. The man made her happy, made her feel sexy and wanted. If he ended up breaking her heart, she would find a way to deal with it. She would eat gallons of pistachio ice cream and cry buckets of tears for a few weeks, and then she’d be over him. Wasn’t that how it worked?
Alex listened to the steady sound of Madison’s breathing as she slept. They’d made love twice, and now she was curled up to his chest, her bottom pressed against his erection. Yeah, he wanted her again. It was crazy, the way he couldn’t get enough of her. He’d never been in love before, so he wasn’t sure if that was what was happening to him. And it wasn’t just the sex that had him wanting to be with her. It was everything about her.
He flattened his hand over her stomach, his hold on her possessive. The investigation with Ramon was nearing its end. They had enough evidence on Jose, Ramon, and Trina to make an arrest. The only thing holding them back was knowing that Ramon was meeting a new customer on Friday, and he and his brothers wanted the man’s name. Once they had his identity, arrest warrants would be issued for the Alonzos, Trina, and the distributors.
Alex couldn’t wait for it to be over. He wanted Madison to know the real him, if she was still willing to let him be a part of her life. She sighed as she turned onto her stomach. He fell asleep with his palm resting on her ass.
The next morning, he awoke to see Madison sitting cross-legged at the end of the bed with her laptop open. She wore boxer shorts and a little shirt with straps, and her hair was mussed. He smiled at the way the tip of her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on whatever she was reading. It was a little quirk he’d noticed before when she was intent on something.
“Morning, beautiful.”
She glanced up at him and grinned. “Morning. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t.” Obviously, a little morning fun wasn’t going to happen. That was too bad. “Be back in a minute.” He went to her bathroom, used the john, and then found the toothbrush she’d given him the last time he had slept over. Not much he could do about his face without a shaving kit. Would she mind if he kept some toiletries here?
When he returned, her gaze roamed over his body. “It always amazes me how men walk around nude so easily.”
“It always amazes me why women are so shy about their bodies.” He sat behind her, putting his chin on her shoulder. “What has you looking so serious this morning?”
“Nelson Lopez. Did you know his father was Rafael Lopez?”
“Yeah, found that out yesterday.”
She tilted her head. “What else do you know?”
“Not much. Still checking him out.”
“Have you ever seen him around Ramon’s?”
“No, why do you ask?” Their assumption was that he was spying for the Alonzos, and if she was asking that question, she might be coming to the same conclusion. He hoped she was. It would be easier if the idea came from her.
