Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(30)

My whole body quivers and burns. I can’t share him with Nikita or any other woman, yet I can’t keep worrying about them, not when I need to protect Willa. If it weren’t for Riches to Rags, Willa could’ve been home by herself today.

“What do you think is in the other files?” I ask.

“What about opium dealing?” Shane asks. “Would the other cartels be concerned?”

“I don’t know. Manny only deals in marijuana and cocaine. Why would he care about opioids?”

“Maybe his rivals do. Maybe it cuts into their business.”

I shrug. I don’t know anything about drugs, other than I don’t use them. “The Juarez cartel wants to meet with me.”

Concern embeds into his brow. “You can’t meet with them. Isn’t that a Columbian cartel?”

“Yes. I don’t have a choice. He knows I have the flash drive, and apparently, he must be on it.”

“I’ll go with you,” Shane says, looping me into his arms. “I’m sure he’ll have backup when you meet him.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Shane grins. “Between my embezzlement and your family, we’re in a lot of shit. You are nothing but trouble, princess.”

He kisses me again and pulls me closer to him. “Let me backup everything, and we’ll live tonight like it’s our last.”

Jesus. I can’t let anything happen to Willa. Tonight or any other night can’t be my last. “I don’t want to think that way. I have to worry about Willa.”

Shane’s cell rings, and he picks it up. “What the hell do you want, Lindsey?”

Why would he talk to that crazy bitch?

He listens for a few minutes, and I can’t believe his ex-girlfriend would call him. He shot her brother in self-defense. She tried to slice his throat, and she attacked me. The scar she left under his jaw twitches while he talks to her.

“You can stay at my place, and I’ll be at Cyn’s but only until your mom gets back.” He ends the call and swears.

“Why can’t you tell her no?” She was his first and he can’t seem to get rid of this girl. I don’t want her here. I don’t want him seeing any girl except me.

“I can’t let her little boy sleep in some homeless shelter, and I feel guilty over her brother.” Shane locks up his guns but carries his 10mm with him plus three clips. “I’ll wait here for her and meet you back at your place in a few minutes. She’s on her way.”

“Don’t you worry about her staying at your place? She could steal from you.”

He throws some clothes into a bag for the week to stay with us. “I’ve known her since we were kids. She may try to kill me in my sleep, but I don’t think she’d steal from me, and I’ll keep my bedroom locked.”

“What about Nikita?” She must hate that he lets an old girlfriend stay at his condo. I know I do.

“I don’t give a f*ck about her.” He kisses me. “I only care about you. I’ll be over in a bit.”

“Don’t let her slash your throat again?” I’m being dead serious too.





Chapter Shane


I impatiently wait for Lindsey to show up. She’s always late.

Her little boy is really cute, and I look forward to having kids with Cyn someday, if we live that long. Having a family with her and settling down on the banks of Kenai is my dream. Given that she’s being followed, and now a Columbian drug lord wants to talk to her, our ultimate goal of peace and quiet is not looking too good.

As soon as I open the door for them, Remy runs over to me, so I pick him up to swing him around. He’s eight now and getting big. “Do you want to go to the zoo with us?” he asks.

“Maybe another time, Remy.” For a while there, Lindsey had told him I was his dad. It hurt to let him down. His real dad is long gone, and it’s tough on Remy.

Carrying her luggage, Lindsey tosses back her strawberry blonde hair before entering my condo. Remy grabs his backpack, and I help them into the spare bedroom. After Cyn left, I locked my bedroom door.

Lindsey may be my first, but I don’t trust her, even though I haven’t forgotten that we had fun growing up in Alaska. Our mothers were best friends, and Lindsey and I hunted and fished in the wilds. She also was pretty damn wild in bed. She’s a naturally pretty girl, free of makeup and likes comfortable casual clothes, so different from my princess.

Cyn is classy. She’s stunningly beautiful with the ebony hair and fiery dark eyes. I knew I was in trouble the moment I met her and then I had to wait until she turned eighteen and then another three years because she married the douchebag.

She isn’t the girl I imagined I’d want to spend my life with, a pampered spitfire. But the moment she kissed me after her mother was abducted, I knew she had me by the balls. Through her veil of tears, I saw an inner strength resonating in that girl. Her feet were a bloody mess, her hair and face dirty, but yet she’d escaped from her abductors. Underneath her sizzling tight dresses and makeup is an invincible, fiery flame of a woman, and I love her.

“Can Remy use your laptop to play games?” she asks.

I usually let him, but I don’t have spares anymore. “No. I need it for work.” I hand her the controls for the Xbox. “He can use this.”