The Viper (Untamed Hearts #1)(9)

“Oh God.” Katie resisted the urge to drop her head to Jules’s desk.

She knew who’d been listening to their conversation without having to look to see who came down the stairs. Her skin prickled with apprehension. Even without two UFC championship belts, Chuito “The Slayer” Garcia would have made her jumpy. He screamed danger, and Katie thought it was mighty rich of Jules to be giving her hell about trying to get in contact with Marcos when a fella like Chuito lived in the apartment above Jules’s office.

Maybe, by some small stroke of luck, he hadn’t heard the last bit of their conversation.

“Craigslist, huh?”

Katie stiffened at the rough sound of amusement in Chuito’s voice as he came up behind her. Her cheeks flamed, and she cursed her light coloring because she knew it had to show.

She turned around in her seat and glared at Chuito, who was almost as good-looking as Marcos. He didn’t have the light eyes that made Marcos’s features so startling, and Chuito was a little taller. His shoulders were broader, but the two of them still looked a lot alike, which always gave her a strange mental whiplash.

“What?” Chuito’s smile faded, and his shoulders grew tense under her scrutiny.

“Nothing,” Katie said quickly. “I was just thinking you and Marcos look alike. Strangely so.”

“Well, duh, we’re cousins.”

“Oh, really?” Katie was genuinely surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

He snorted in disbelief. “What? Did you just think we all look alike?”

“All?” Katie frowned for a moment, and then gasped in understanding. “I would never think that. I’m not ignorant. I know not all Cubans look alike.”

Chuito narrowed dark eyes at her. “I’m Puerto Rican.”

Katie winced, hearing the insult in his voice. “I’m sorry, I assumed since you were from Miami and—”

“Just stop,” Jules mumbled under her breath.

“I apologize, but it was an honest mistake,” Katie snapped as she turned back to Jules. “He is trying to make me uncomfortable on purpose so I’ll drop this. He’s baiting me. I know, because I was married to a man who used to do it all the time.” She turned back to glare at Chuito. “I don’t care if you bully me. I’m not letting you win.”

“Chica, I’m not bullying you. I’m telling you flat out. Drop this thing with Marcos ’cause I’m sure as shit not giving you his number when he went out of his way to change it after the accident. I dunno what he said to you that night, but let it go.” Chuito’s laugh was bitter. “You’re not the first woman to fall for his bullshit.”

“Did you tell him I was asking about him?” Katie asked, not sure what she wanted the answer to be. “Does he know I still have his jacket?”

“Why don’t you give me the jacket, and I’ll get it back to him?” Chuito suggested, his tone still biting and sarcastic. “Since it’s so important to you.”

Katie snorted. “Not likely.”

Chuito mumbled something in Spanish under his breath and looked toward the ceiling fan in Jules’s office. “This shit could only happen to Marcos. This is the reason he’s been getting it since he was thirteen. Unbelievable.”

“Thirteen?” Katie repeated in disbelief.

She glanced at Jules for confirmation, seeing that she had a look of surprise on her face too.

“You’re a liar,” Katie decided as she turned back to Chuito. “And I don’t like you.”

Jules laughed, but then coughed when Chuito drew himself up to his full height obviously offended.

Jules cleared her throat and said earnestly, “Look, Chuito, can’t you just—”

“No, I can’t. Marc’s trying to forget that accident.” His eyes were still narrowed at Katie. “The last thing he needs is a call from her.”

“Well, what if Katie gave you her number—”

Katie gasped and turned back to Jules. “What?”

“And he could give it to Marcos,” Jules finished diplomatically. “That’s a fair compromise.”

“Well,” Katie considered that. “Maybe.”

“No.” Chuito shook his head. “I want nothing to do with this gringa.”

Katie straightened in her chair and looked at him directly just the way Marcos had told her to. “Why do you think it’s okay to insult me?”

“It’s not—” Chuito started and then stopped. “You know what, never mind. Believe it’s an insult.” He rolled his eyes as if she were completely clueless and turned to leave. “Later, Jules.”

“Chuito—” Jules called as he walked to the entryway.

“No,” he repeated as he grabbed his jacket off the stand by the front door. “Do your friend a favor and hook her up with a nice, church-going guy here in Garnet. Ask Alaine to help. She knows plenty.”

As if on cue, Jules’s assistant, Alaine, opened the front door. She had a stack of papers in her arms as if she had just gotten back from the courthouse.

Alaine gave Chuito a bemused smile. “Help with what?”

He paused, looking down at the pretty redhead and considering her for a long moment. When he spoke, his tone was softer, endearing in a way Katie wouldn’t have thought possible. “Help her stay away from mean hijos de putas like me.”