Cravings (7 page)

Chapter 13

S
anj flung his arms in the air. “Now what, Jennifer?”

“Pour me a drink, please,” she said.

“What—”

“Anything,” she said, waving him off, then plopped on the couch. An uncomfortable silence ensued; liquid pouring was the only sound.

He handed her the glass, stopping himself from pouring it all over her. Maybe he was too much of a gentleman.

“Looks like you had a nice dinner,” she said, finally, after taking a few sips of the whiskey.

He nodded, heart pounding in his chest. There she was. In his suite. Still beautiful, with her brown hair falling across her chest carelessly and her green eyes searching. She was there—and Sasha was upstairs.

He sat down on the chair across from her.

“Look, Jennifer, I want you to know I've been working on finding Maeve. It's been three days,” he said. “But there was a bit of a complication this evening.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I can see that. Does she know about you?”

He shrugged. “The complication is not me. It's her.”

“Whatever,” she said in her American way, rolling her eyes, looking at her fingernails. “Sure that's not just your dick talking, Sanj? Christ, she's gorgeous.”

He nodded. “Yes, but she's also complicated.”

“What do you mean and why do I care?” She took another sip of whiskey.

Sanj didn't answer.

“Well?”

“I don't answer to you anymore. My relationships are my business. As for this woman, she has a vested interest in our situation. She's looking for Maeve as well.”

“Look, your relationship? I could care less,” she said. “But Maeve? She's my best friend in the whole world. How does this woman know her?”

“Does the name Sasha Barnes mean anything to you?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. She was involved with Paul. She died in the fire in Morocco,” she said.

“No, she didn't. She's the woman upstairs and she's running for her life,” Sanj said.

Jennifer laughed. “You are still so gullible, Sanj. She's dead. Some woman shows up in Ecuador and tells you she's Sasha Barnes and you believe her—even after she's been pronounced dead and our own Maeve was depressed about it for months? She was there in the fire that killed Sasha.”

Sanj fumed. “Don't believe me. I don't give a shit. But it's her. I'd be at the bar where Maeve was last seen right now. But Sasha was frightened. She thought she saw the man who wants to kill her.”

“Oh, this is too rich for words,” Jennifer said. He knew the tone. She was lashing out, trying to save face after walking into an awkward situation.

Sanj clicked his tongue.

“Where is this place?” Jennifer asked after a few minutes.

“I'd advise you not to go alone.” Sanj said.

“Then let's go together,” she said.

“Tonight?” he said, his eyes involuntarily watching the stairs.

“Oh, she will wait for you, don't worry. A sucker like you doesn't come along every day. A rich sucker, to boot,” she said. “Go and get dressed, Sanj, we have work to do.”

He exited the room and walked up the stairs, mulling over Jennifer's attitude. She was confident, but never this bossy. She had become quite the bitch. Or maybe she always had been and he'd never seen it. In the meantime, on the other side of the door stood Sasha.

 

She heard him approaching the door. And of course she'd heard almost everything—and she had to strain to hear anything at all. Why hadn't he told her about Jennifer? A woman that he had until recently been engaged to? And what did she mean when she asked, “Does she know about you?”

He was on the other side of the door. What was he waiting on?

He slowly cracked it open.

“Sasha?” he said.

She lounged on the bed in the dark. He turned on the light and she looked up at him.

“Look, I have to go. Jennifer thinks we should go to that bar tonight. Maybe she's right.”

“Sanj, I don't mean to be a bother. I can leave if you want,” she said. Sasha didn't want to get in the middle of things between Jennifer and Sanj. Her life was complicated enough.

He leaned down on the bed. “No,” he said, kissing her. “You stay here.” Then he kissed her again, almost falling into her, sending warmth spreading through her. He gently bit her lip after a long kiss.

“Oh,” she whispered. “Sanj, I do want you . . .”

“The feeling is mutual, but the timing sucks,” he said, heading for his closet and pulling out jeans and a freshly pressed shirt.

She sat up. “Can I help you dress or something?”

A crooked amused smile spread across his face. “Not today. You've already got me walking around with a hard-on. It's best we don't touch for now.”

“Sanj, just exactly who is she?”

“Jennifer?”

“Yes. The woman downstairs. Don't play stupid,” Sasha said. “It doesn't suit.”

“Well, if you must know, we were engaged to be married,” he said, slipping into his jeans, pulling them up over his taut butt. She tried not to think about how hot she had been—how hot she still was.

“Were?”

“Yes,” he said, pulling an undershirt over his head. “She broke it off.”

“What?”
How dare she walk into his room like she owned him?

He pulled another shirt over his T-shirt.

“Look, it's a long story,” he said. “I'll fill you in some other time.”

“Okay,” Sasha said. A rippling sensation lit in her belly, exploding into her chest. What was it? What emotion was ripping through her? Jealousy? She'd never been jealous. What was happening to her?

“Jennifer's right,” he said. “The important thing right now is to find Maeve. But I'm much more methodical in my approach. I have my staff researching this Mozingo person and they are also working to get us a key to their suite. I doubt we'll find anything out tonight. But it's best to humor her.”

“Oh,” she said. “I think I can get us a key.”

“Good. And who knows? Just a slight possibility we'll catch this guy at his favorite drinking spot.”

“But then what? What if you do?” Sasha asked.

Sanj shrugged, pulling his shirt down tighter around his waist. “I'm not sure.”

“Sanj, don't let her drag you into a potentially dangerous situation,” she said. “Promise me. She seems like a live wire. She's going to attract attention. You must warn her. Look what happened to Maeve.”

He looked at her with an air of respect. “You're right. I'll talk to her in the cab on the way over.”

Sasha's stomach sank as he walked out the door. Well, tonight certainly hadn't turned out the way she had hoped. She willed herself out of bed. “Sanj, wait,” she called. “I'm coming with you.” Even though she was scared to death Snake might be out there, she certainly was not going to let Sanj go off with that woman for the night. Not alone.

Chapter 14

S
asha slid into the backseat next to Sanj. Jennifer sat on the other side of him.

“You changed your mind,” Sanj said, beaming.

He reached for her hand. She slipped her hand in his and glanced at Jennifer, who rolled her eyes.

“It's a bit crowded in here,” Jennifer mumbled.

“Nonsense,” Sasha said. “Plenty of room. By the way, I'm Sasha Barnes. Pleased to meet you.”

“
Humph.
Likewise,” a reddened Jennifer spat.

Sanj chortled. Jennifer seemed to be jealous. How could it be? Maybe he misread the situation. Maybe she was just uncomfortable. His ex-fiancé in the same cab with his new interest. Is that what he'd call Sasha—an interest? Hmmm. Yes, a strong, fascinating, perplexing
interest
.

“We need to bring you up to speed on this, Jen,” he managed to say. “We are not in America. It can be quite dangerous for women here.”

“What is that supposed to mean? What happened to Maeve? What's going on?” Her green eyes lit with anger and confusion.

“Calm down. We'll fill you in,” Sanj said.

By the time they arrived at the bar, Paloma's, Jennifer had calmed down and, in fact, had paled. The plan for tonight: Sit back and check the place out, unless an opportunity came up to find out more about Mozingo or Maeve. In fact, they decided to play it so cool that they didn't even bring any photos to show around. “The last thing you want to be doing in a bar,” Sasha had told them

As they entered the bar, they saw grungy men dressed in work clothes slouched over the bar. Very few women present. A waitress. Another woman sitting at a table with a better-dressed man. As was usually the case in bars where Sanj had been, other than in the United States, the smoke was thick and fragrant, which made the dimly lit place even more difficult to navigate.

The three of them sat at a table together and the waitress approached them. She spoke only Spanish.

Sasha took over. Sanj's Spanish was going from bad to worse, but he thought she'd ordered them each a beer.

“Is beer okay?” she then asked them.

He nodded.

“Fine,” Jennifer said.

A few men turned to check them out. A dark-skinned man with two light-skinned, beautiful women. Sanj allowed himself to grin.

“The man over there has a Mozingo jacket on,” Jennifer whispered after the waitress left them. “He looks like a field worker or truck driver or something.”

“Astute observation,” Sasha said.

Jennifer sat back in her chair. “We need to get something straight. I don't believe you're Sasha Barnes. Not for a minute.”

“Let's not get into this now,” Sanj said, reaching for Sasha's hand.

The waitress brought their beer and a bowl of nuts.

“Her identity is not as important as finding Maeve right now and getting to the bottom of this mess,” Sanj said.

“Besides which,” said Sasha, after taking a sip of her beer, “I don't have to prove a thing to you.”

Jennifer sat her bottle down hard on the table, prompting a few glances from the men in the bar. “Do you think I give a fuck about you? I don't.”

“Shhh, Jennifer,” Sanj said.

“Don't shush me.”

A man in the background laughed. He said something in Spanish that made Sasha cringe.

“What is it?” Sanj asked.

“They think we are fighting for you. Or to put it more succinctly, fighting for your business,” she said.

“Lovely,” Jennifer said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Sasha said. “What? Do I have sex worker written all over me? What do I have to do to shed it?”

Sanj put his arms around her. “No worries,” he said.

“So,” Jennifer said. “Once a pro?”

“It would appear that way. I am no longer in the business.”

“If you were Sasha Barnes you'd no longer be in this world, let alone in the business,” Jennifer said. “Nobody could have survived that fire.”

“I did,” Sasha said. “And believe me, sometimes I wish I hadn't.”

The crowd seemed to quiet down a bit. In fact, a hush fell over the bar. Sasha felt a chill sweep through her as a well-dressed, slim, balding dark man entered the space. He walked with an air of sophistication and a swagger. She couldn't help but wonder if this was José Mozingo himself. If he wasn't, he was someone else important to the crowd. People were saying hello, buying him drinks, and so on.

Jennifer downed her beer. “I'm going up to the bar to see if I can find out who he is.”

“Be careful,” Sanj said.

“Like you care,” she said, almost hissing.

While Jennifer was at the bar, men turned their heads to check her out. Sasha watched as their hungry eyes swept over Jennifer's petite, curvy body. She leaned into Sanj, who watched as well, and kissed him, bringing his focus back to her. His eyes opened slowly, glimmering with warmth. He bit his lip.

God, he wanted her.

“American, heh?” A male voice rang out in the air. “Let me buy you and your friend a drink. On me. I am Ricardo Mozingo.”

Ricardo? Okay, who was he? José's brother? Cousin?

Whoever he was, he was heading over to the table. After he introduced himself, he pulled up a chair.

“Señor. Mozingo?” Sasha said.

“British?”

She nodded—so much easier than explaining the truth. “Are you the owner of the chocolate company?” She tried to appear naïve and doe-eyed. Didn't know if it was working.

He leaned back in his chair and puffed on his cigar. “That would be my cousin, José. I work for him, the company. You know about us?” he said, amused.

“Of course,” Sanj said. “Quite a respectable chocolate family.”

“Thank you,” he said, beaming, but checking out Sasha's cleavage. “Are you, um, together?”

“Yes,” Jennifer said. “We are all together.”

“All?” he said, lifting his eyebrows.

Sasha caught Jennifer's eyes and the glint of hope. “Yes, of course,” Sasha said, holding on to Sanj, who looked like he might fall out of the chair from either embarrassment or pride. She couldn't say which.

Sanj cleared his throat. “So, you're a Mozingo. Didn't expect to find a man like you here.”

“Same thing could be said about you,” he said. “This is not a tourist place.”

“We didn't realize,” Sanj said. “We just stumbled in here.”

“Should we leave?” Jennifer asked, smiling at him.

“No, no, no,” he said. “It's not like that at all.”

“Good,” she said, drinking her beer.

“So what do you do for the company?” Sasha asked.

“I'm number two, which makes me in charge now while José is gone.”

“Gone?” Sanj asked.

He nodded. “Yes, gone. Not dead. Between you and me, he gets carried away sometimes. He's taken his latest woman to an island where another one of our plantations is.”

“Saint Lucia.”

“Yes,” he said. “How did you know that?

“Chocolate is one of my passions,” Sasha said, trying not to look at Jennifer, whose face had grown even paler. “So, of course, I know a good bit about your company.”

He beamed. “Of course.”

Sasha didn't dare face Jennifer, but from her side-angle view, it appeared Jennifer was seething and about to burst.