His Big Reveal: An Interracial BWWM Billionaire Romance (BWWM Alpha Males) (16 page)

He swallowed. “I’d prefer if you didn’t.”

“In that case you should tell me why you’re sitting in
my
hotel room in the dark.”

Hector shifted nervously, tugging at the collar of his shirt. “Aren’t you going to lower that thing,” he indicated the black and silver gun.

“Not until I hear what you have to say.”

“If you don’t like what I have to say you’re going to shoot me?”

She heard the disbelief in his voice and it rubbed her the wrong way. “I guess that depends on whether or not I feel you’re a threat to me or my mission.”

“Mission,” he scoffed, “don’t you think you’re going a bit overboard for a thief?”

“I bet you wouldn’t be saying that if the thief was anyone but your brother.” She never lowered the gun and kept her eyes trained on him in case he decided he wanted to be a hero.

Hector sighed with more than a hint of annoyance. He didn’t like being on the wrong end of a gun and her obvious disdain left him unsettled for a reason he couldn’t quite understand. “Maybe, maybe not. But I’m not a thief so the gun is a bit much, don’t you think.” Eyebrow raised at him, the gorgeous psychopath said nothing only raised her gun arm slightly higher. “Fine. Look I’m not trying to hold up your efforts to apprehend my brother, I’m just asking for a few minutes to see if he screwed over any of my clients. Is that too much to ask?”

“It is, actually. I don’t know you and I sure as hell don’t trust you.”

Hector stood slowly. “I can pay you on top of whatever your employer is offering.”

Rae saw his body relax and she immediately tensed. Of course he felt at ease now that he was offering up his best bargaining chip, his money. She could use the money but she couldn’t risk him helping his brother get away from her. “How much?”

A slow grin spread over his handsome face. “One million dollars.”

He said it so simply she quickly disregarded it. “Yeah, right. I may not be rich Valdez but I’m not an idiot.”

“And I never joke about money.”
              A million dollars? Combined with her cut of the bounty and she could get Marcus through all four years of college and maybe build a nice nest egg if he decided to go to grad school. It could solve most of her money problems right now and leave a lot saved for a rainy day. “You talk to him but I’m in the room and no more than five minutes. Got it?”

“I can’t have you speaking to the press about my conversation.”

She laughed bitterly. “I don’t give two shits about whatever you want to talk to your fugitive brother about. As long as it isn’t pertaining to how to get away from me, you’ve got my word.”

“And I’m supposed to trust you?”

She shrugged. “You don’t have to. The choice is yours.”

Silence hung in the air for several long minutes until Hector stood and gave her a brief nod.

“Meet me in the lobby at nine.” She closed the door in his face before he could agree.

Chapter 2

Hector was waiting in the lobby the next morning when the elevator dinged and Rae stepped out looking like the hottest biker chick he’d ever seen in black jeans that molded to her body, a black shirt that clung to her breasts and a leather jacket that told the world she was a badass. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she strode confidently towards him, her pretty features schooled into a neutral expression that made him want to bend her over the nearest surface and fuck her senseless.

Judging by the scowl that had developed on her face, he guessed that wouldn’t be a welcome advance so he smiled. “Good morning Ms. Fenton, how are you?”

“Rae,” she said bluntly as she slid dark sunglasses over her eyes.

“Excuse me?”

“Rae. My name is Rae, not Ms. Fenton.”

Hector didn’t get it but he decided not to fight it either. On his best days women were crazy creatures he barely understood. With Rae that was increased by tenfold because she—quite obviously—wanted nothing from him. “Fine. Rae call me Hector.”

“Whatever,” she said and walked out of the hotel without checking to see that he followed.

“My car is right,” he stopped when he realized she was too far away to hear and she probably didn’t care anyway. “Hey wait up.” Rae turned to look at him but the sunglasses masked the flash of annoyance he was sure was exhibited all over her face.

“Yeah?”

“My car and driver are waiting in front of the hotel. You walked right passed him.”

“I know,” she turned and kept walking to the far end of the lot.

“What do you mean you know? Then why did you keep walking?”

She whirled around. “Hector this is
my
show, not yours. In the boardroom or whatever I’m sure you’re hot shit. But this here, is my gig so we do it my way.”

“And you don’t think having a driver is more prudent than driving an unfamiliar area yourself?”

“As a matter of fact, no. I don’t want to broadcast to the world that I have money and am willing to pay ridiculous sums of money for useless information.” She waved in the direction of the black Town Car and the suited driver, “And that screams big money. I need information and I don’t have time to haggle over prices for information. Trust me, I’ve been doing this a long time.”

The laugh that escaped caught him off guard. “Since you were what, in diapers?” He quickly tried to school his features when he saw anger flashing in her eyes but it was too late. She pushed him, hard, and it took all his energy not to fall to the oily concrete below. “Hey!”

“Keep your thoughts to yourself Mr. Valdez. I am more than qualified to do this and I’m quite sure you know that.” She crossed her arms tight around her body, “If you don’t think I can find your brother you are more than welcome to do it on your own.” She stopped at a black Mustang, yanking the door open and pulling it closed before starting the engine.

Hector groaned in frustration as he stood on the passenger side waiting for her to open the door. And waited. And waited. Finally he knocked on the window and waited to hear the click of the lock. Nothing. He leaned down and knocked on the window, this time harder. “Are you going to open the door?”

Rae leaned over and rolled down the window just enough to be heard. “Oh I’m sorry are you lowering yourself to ride with me?”

It was that perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised tauntingly that made him want to strangle her and kiss her, but right now the urge to strangle was winning out. “Dammit woman you can’t make anything easy, can you?” The smile she gave him did things to his mind and body he didn’t want to think about. She had bright white teeth that seemed to sparkle in the early morning grey, smile lines that said she smiled a lot more than she wanted the world to believe and those full lips were more enticing when curved into a smile.

“Sorry Mr. Valdez that’s not really my style.”

“Hector,” he barked and flung open the door the moment her fingers lifted the lock. He looked at her wide eyed expression, “My name is Hector. I only require employees to call me Mr. Valdez.”

“Well aren’t you special,” he heard her mutter as she threw the car in reverse and flew out of the parking lot.

“So what’s on the agenda today?”

“Agenda?” She laughed a little too loud and a little too long. “Sorry buddy my work doesn’t work like that. Right now we’re headed to South Bend.”

He frowned, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Why on earth would we go there? Ricky doesn’t know anyone in Indiana, especially a city like South Bend.”

Rae didn’t even flinch at his tone, she stayed focused on traffic as she merged on to the expressway. “Obviously you don’t know Enrique as well as you think. He has a mistress that lives here. In a condo he paid for,”
probably with the money he stole
, she thought but did not say.

“Are you sure?” When she nodded he sank into the plush leather seat and looked out the window. “This is a pretty great car Rae. Yours?”

“No it belongs to my protector,” her answer was sarcastic and on edge. Why was it that men like him automatically placed women in one box?

“I just meant it must have taken a lot of work to get her in working order again.”

She smiled fondly and patted the dashboard. “Yeah it did. Me and my brother Marcus spent two years working on her. We rebuilt the engine, reupholstered the seats and even added authentic shag carpeting to the trunk.”

“You are so damn beautiful when you smile.” She looked over at him and laughed at the mortified look on his face.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell the world you’re attracted to the likes of me.”

Hector barked out a laugh. “Tell whomever you want Rae, I’m not ashamed of my attraction to you.”

“Then what’s with the look?”

He paused for a minute, thinking that his answer was important even if she’d never admit it. “I just didn’t want you to put me in a headlock for saying you look beautiful.”

She laughed again and put the car in park, “I may not be your typical girl Hector, but even I appreciate a sincere compliment.”

“Then why have you stopped? Planning to leave me stranded someplace?”

“We’re here.”

~

Two hours later Hector and Rae left Candi McCorkle’s condo with more questions and almost no answers. Candi swore she hadn’t seen Enrique in months and she suspected he must’ve picked up another mistress on his travels because he used to visit her once a month. “Do you have any idea where he might be hiding out?”

Candi shook her silky blonde waves, “No. When he needs to lay low he usually stays with a woman or at a hotel under a celebrity alias.” When Rae asked if he often had to hide out, Candi explained that “Ricky loved to gamble and take risks so there was always some pissed off businessman, gangster or husband looking to teach him a lesson.”

They were no closer to finding him after their visit with Candi than before, which pissed Rae off. How could a crooked billionaire be so astute at hiding from the law? It didn’t make any sense. She glanced over at Hector and wondered if he was feeding his brother information. Her bullshit radar didn’t register any deception from him but she was extremely attracted to him and that could be clouding her judgment, couldn’t it? She didn’t know so she started the engine and thought over everything Candi said.
Businessmen, gangsters or husbands.

“None of that was helpful, was it?” Hector wasn’t sure what had brought on her silence. She was brooding, didn’t seem to be the type, but something had her brain working overdrive.

“Not much, but she did give me a better picture of your brother. Have you spoken to him recently?”

“Is that what this is about? You think I’ve already spoken to him.” He turned to face her, “If I’d already talked to him why would I still be here with you?”

She said nothing for a few miles as they headed back to the hotel. “I’m checking out tonight. I have another stop to make.”

She didn’t ask if she was coming or offer, but dammit he went wherever she did. “What time?”

“It’ll take me five minutes to pack up my things.”

~

“Tell me about your brother.” They had been on the road for about an hour, headed to Evansville when she decided to get more intel.

Hector sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. It was obvious he didn’t like talking about his brother. “Ricky has always looked for shortcuts. Whether it was dating a smart girl to pass a test or accusing a professor of sexual harassment to pass a class, Ricky found a way to get by without working for it.” It had caused him, his other brother Sal and their father a great deal of humiliation. “He’s just incapable of doing things the right way.”

She understood that, had seen it time and again with the bounties she hunted. “But from what I understand you and your brothers each inherited $100 million, so why wasn’t that enough that he had to steal from other people?”

“Ricky has a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and he always feels the need to prove he’s better and smarter than me and Sal.” He told her that Enrique was the product of a brief affair during his parents’ separation. His parents eventually reconciled and Sal was born a few years later. “Dad never denied Ricky was his son, he just didn’t do the father son things, I guess Ricky was expecting.” Truth was he didn’t do those things with Hector or Sal either, but somehow they managed just fine.

“Poor little rich boy,” she muttered and shook her head.

Hector smiled. “That is exactly it Rae. Despite having more money than most people can even imagine having, he thinks he’s owed something more.”

She nodded her understanding. She had met plenty of men from all walks of live exactly like Enrique. They felt they were owed more and instead of working hard to get it, they found ways to take it from others. She hoped he went to prison for a very long time. “Tomorrow we’ll go to his ex-wife’s house and see if he’s been sniffing around her.”

“I always wondered where she went.” One day Victoria was there and then she just disappeared from their lives as quickly as she’d entered it. “Why would she pick here of all places? It looks so desolate, so depressing.”

“Newsflash Hector, living in Indiana is affordable and I’m guessing she wanted to make whatever piddly little settlement she got from your brother, last longer.” She watched him from the corner of her eye as he considered her words.

“You’re right.”

“I know.” She waited a beat and then started laughing. Hector joined in, her laughter was infectious and he couldn’t help it. “We’re here,” she told him and jumped from the car.

Interesting
.

“They only have a suite,” she informed Hector with an intimidating scowl on her face.

He slapped his credit card on the counter. “We’ll take it.” He bit the inside of his mouth hard to stop from laughing at the incredulous look on her face. “Calm down Rae. We need to sleep and you’ve been driving all day. We have separate rooms and I’ll lock my door in case you get the urge to ravish me in the middle of the night.”

She rolled her eyes. “Like a lock could stop me.”

Hector tossed his head back and laughed, even the clerk joined in. “That’s good to know Rae,” he leaned in so close his lips brushed her ears. “Say the word and I’ll leave the door wide open.”

Not to be outdone, Rae smiled that smile that men found irresistible. “I don’t think I will. I’ll enjoy it more if I have to work for it.” She grabbed one of the cards in front of the clerk and sauntered to the elevator. She heard him groan painfully behind her and she waited until the elevator doors closed.

Then she smiled.