The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(67)

My hand traced the outline of her body until I reached the hem of her dress. Slowly, inch-by-inch, I slid the ivory, silky dress up her long legs. What I wouldn’t give to have her legs wrapped around me again.

“Wait.” She jerked back, dropping her hands to her sides. “This is crazy.”

“I know. We should stop.” Even as the words tumbled from my mouth, I slid my hand inside her panties barely an inch. There was something about claiming her right here and thumbing my nose in Senator Deveron’s face that made me want to ignore common sense. Ignore reality. Ignore consequences.

She clamped her hand around my wrist. “No. I can’t do this. Not here. Evan will come back any second. You need to leave. I don’t know how I would explain this…you.” Her voice trailed off and her face paled, as if the reality of the moment just clicked into place.

I snatched my hand away from her and inhaled a shuddering breath. My chest heaving, I spun around and shoved my hands into my pockets. She was right. This wasn’t the time or the place for this, but I hated Evan believing he had a claim on her. I facilitated that claim, but it didn’t make things any easier to stomach.

“Are you okay?” Hattie rested her head against my back. “Are you mad?” Her small fingers toyed with the back of my hair.

One simple touch and pleasure whistled down my spine. I wanted to be near her. I wanted her to care about me. I wanted her to love me even though I participated in the destruction of her life. I temporarily stole her freedom. I couldn’t delude myself. Hattie should hate me. I abducted her. I tricked her. I was still lying to her. She could never know the real reason she was selected as a pawn in the deadly game between Senator Deveron and the Vargas Cartel.

As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, nothing had changed. Hattie and I could never be together. We were a house of cards. One soft breeze and we’d fall apart.

“I’m fine,” I said, purposely not answering the second question because I was mad, but not at her. I was mad at myself for coming here, for participating in her abduction, for sending her home to Evan.

“Do you love him?” I asked, even though I had no right to an answer.

She sighed. “I don’t know how to answer that. It’s complicated.”

I turned to face her and held my hand over her heart. “I want the real truth, not the truth you think I want to hear.”

“I don’t—”

Evan opened the door, pausing at the threshold. “Hattie?”

I brushed my knuckles against hers, back and forth. Evan’s eyes locked on the transitory contact, and Hattie wrapped her arms around her torso, snatching her hand out of my reach.

“Do you know Ry Fallon?” Evan asked, his brows scrunched together. Most likely, he couldn’t make sense of the current situation.

As far as he and Senator Deveron knew, I was an acquaintance who had expressed interest in bundling campaign funds for the Senator. A bundler pooled contributions from several donors with the same goals to fund a campaign. This loophole in the campaign finance reform laws gave corporations and lobbyists the ability to buy political influence.

Offering to bundle funds for the Senator was the perfect way to infiltrate his inner circle as Ry Fallon while doing my less than honest work as Ryker Vargas. My separate identities remained intact.

“Ry Fallon?” Hattie uttered. Her eyes flickered to mine briefly, then returned to Evan. “No. Not really. We just met actually.” Her voice wavered. Did Evan know she had lied?

Evan rubbed his hand along his jaw line. “Ry’s done some work for my dad.”

Hattie paled. “What kind of work?”

“We’ve talked about fundraising, but I haven’t agreed to do anything,” I clarified. I didn’t want anyone to unravel the full extent of my duplicity. I led a double life—part of it in the light, and the other part in the shadows.

“You’re right. Now that you mention it, my dad said nothing was final.” He smiled, and then he focused his attention on her. “Are you feeling better?”

Hattie twisted her fingers in the silky folds of her dress. “Not really. Would it be a big deal if I left? I thought I could do this, but I’m not ready to make small talk with all these people.” She closed her eyes briefly. “It’s too hard,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Evan’s lips twisted into something resembling to a sneer as he transferred his weight from one foot to the other. “Hattie, this is our engagement party. We haven’t been here for an hour. It’d look bad. People would ask questions.”

She bit her lower lip. “Just tell them I have the stomach flu.”

His hands curled into fists. “My mom worked really hard on this party. She’ll be disappointed if you leave this early. I’ll be disappointed.” His eyes hardened. “You promised to try harder,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Excuse me,” I said, barely containing the anger pulsing through my veins. I couldn’t believe Evan had the nerve to guilt her into staying after everything he’d done to her. He handed her to the Vargas Cartel on a silver platter. He was complicit in the destruction of her life. “I think I should go. I don’t want to interfere.”

“Evan,” Senator Deveron called from the hall. “Can you come here for a minute? I want you to meet someone.”