Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(44)

“I don’t want to leave you,” she says.

“I can’t leave Shane. If it’s too rough, I’ll meet you here in a few minutes. But don’t wait more than five minutes.”

She nods and starts the SUV while I run back up the stairs. I cautiously creep down the hall back to Uncle Manny where his body lies prone in a pool of blood on the floor. I step around him, terror consuming me. Even dead, he invokes crazy fear within me. His son stares blankly upward. I scoot around the blood and bodies and peek out of the den.

The living area is empty, but gunfire explodes in my ears, and it’s coming from outside. Glass litters the floor from where the windows were blown out. Holes riddle the interior of the once posh estate.

I look outside, trying not to expose myself, when the front door crashes open. I nearly jump out of my skin.

Juarez and two of his men rush toward me. “You okay?”

I nod, thinking can I really trust a drug dealer? “Where’s Shane?”

He braces my shoulders. “Outside, he’s on his way in. Where’s your uncle?”

I show him the bodies in the den—my mind disconnected from the scene. “A laptop and backups are in the safe. I checked my aunt and her daughters before they left. They didn’t take anything but money and passports.”

“Good. So you killed Manny and his son?”

“No. Willa did.”

He smiles. “I have nothing on you now. That was good thinking.”

“I didn’t plan it. She escaped and killed them.”

“You are cunning,” he says, like he didn’t hear me. His gaze sweeps languidly over me. “I think you should dump Shane and come home with me. You are the kind of spirited woman I could love and cherish.”

“The drug dealer life isn’t for me, but I’m flattered.” Not really. I couldn’t live in Columbia trapped inside a drug cartel compound.

I nervously hand him the original. Can I really trust him, now that he has nothing on me? Willa killing Manny would be self-defense. If I’d killed him, it would’ve been considered premeditated, which I’d gladly do to keep Willa safe. “I’d like to hand over the main file to the feds to help my dad, but I won’t give them anything else.”

“Don’t worry,” he whispers into my ear, which is a bit too friendly. “I trust you.” Before I step away, his lips lock onto mine, and he draws me into a powerful, gut-wrenching kiss. I push him off, but it’s too late.

Carrying an assault rifle, Shane marches over, swings the weapon behind him and picks up Juarez off the ground. “What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?”

Juarez’s men aim their weapons at Shane, who isn’t letting go.

“Shane,” I say calmly. “Please put him down.”

“Get your hands off me,” Juarez says, not the least bit scared when he should be.

Shane killed a wolf with his bare hands and took on a grizzly, though the bear did get the best of him. Unlike Shane, who is deadly calm, anger flares in Juarez’s expression from that fiery Columbian blood. It’s the same kind of scary I saw more often than not in Manny. I don’t want to deal with drug lords anymore, but I need to try and reduce my father’s sentence, even though he showed poor judgment dealing with his brother.

Shane pulls Juarez closer to her face. “Stay the hell away from Cyn.”

“If you don’t let go of me, my men will shoot you,” Juarez threatens.

I don’t want either of us to die, especially after living through the last half hour that has left my body in ruins from shot nerves and knotted muscles.





Chapter Shane


The tension in the room could explode at any moment. Juarez’s guards keep their rifles trained on my head. I should let him down, though my anger hasn’t subsided, especially at Cyn. I didn’t think she should come out here in the first place, and the way she was kissing him wasn’t innocent.

“Don’t f*cking touch my girlfriend,” I say, lowering Juarez to the ground and thinking I ought to beat him senseless, which wouldn’t be too smart right at the moment.

After I release Juarez, the drug lord calmly pockets the flash drive and brushes off his sports coat. “I will review the files and hand over what you can give to the feds.”

“Do you have everything?” Cyn asks me, her voice anxious.

“Let me grab my bag.” I run outside, pick up my gear and her purse from the SUV, and return. I can’t believe she was kissing him, and shit, it looked like she was enjoying it. I can’t get the ugly image out of my mind.

Juarez and I give each other menacing looks before I escort Cyn to the front door.

“Espinoza will be waiting for you on the other side of the tunnel,” Juarez calls to us.

Son of a bitch. I should’ve killed Juarez. My fists are bunched at my sides, ready to tear into him.

I hurry Cyn out to the Camry and light into her the moment our doors are closed and I’ve peeled out of the compound. Guns watch us from the top of the compound walls. Goddamn drug dealers. “Why were you kissing him?”

“He kissed me, and it shocked the hell out of me,” she shoots back.

I slam on the brakes and look right at her. “You were enjoying it.” Fuck, I hate that I’m jealous.