His Wicked Ways (17 page)

If Mark Vercelli or his druggy nephew lurked in those oaks, they were about to be very, very sorry. Quickening his pace, he moved toward Vanessa, only to have Sergio wrench him backward, gripping Alec’s gun hand in both of his meaty palms.

Treacherous bastard.

Had it been just the two of them, Alec would have risked the gunshot to take on the older guy. But Vanessa ran right into the range of fire as Sergio grappled for Alec’s .357.

“Don’t even think about it.” Sergio’s breath smelled like a mixture of beer and salami. “You know I’ll take her out if I have to.”

Alec went still, fury raging red-hot through his brain. He watched Vanessa pull Donata Casale out of the trees, still oblivious to Sergio’s hold on him.

“Anything happens to her, and I’m not going to care what happens to me. But I guarantee you’ll die before I do, old man.” Alec forced himself to stay still. He should have trusted Vanessa to do her job. She was a cop, for chrissake. She could handle what came her way.

Instead, his rush to protect her could cost them both their lives. And even though Alec would gladly trade his life for hers, he knew that seeing someone she cared about shot on her watch for the second time would send her back into a dark place she might never be able to recover from.

No way would he do that to her. And damn it, she did care about him, whether she knew it yet or not. He’d been hasty and stupid to push her to acknowledge as much.

Sergio chuckled softly as he kept Alec in front of him in a throat hold and walked them both closer to Donata and Vanessa. “I can’t believe you’re banging a cop. There’s no way in hell we can be related.”

Keeping silent, Alec watched Vanessa put a pair of cuffs on Donata before Vanessa glanced back up to Alec. She blinked twice, fast, but other than that, she offered no sign of any reaction. Still, he knew how much that control of hers must cost.

He vowed to find a way out of this for both of them. She wouldn’t pay the price for his bad judgment.

“What do you say, Serg?” Vanessa lowered her gun slowly, sizing up Alec’s uncle. “You want to trade my prisoner for yours?”

“I think mine is probably a little more dangerous than the cheating whore who’s taken to sneaking off with every numb-nut who shows up at the door to work on the house lately.”

Donata spit on the ground at his feet. Dark sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt had replaced the white dressing gown she’d been wearing earlier.

“Those guys are my contacts with the federal government, you moron. I’ve been working with the feds for months and just tonight I finally got the last piece of information they need to put you away for a long time.” She glared over at Vanessa. “I was trying to make sure Sergio didn’t shoot Alec, by the way.”

“You?” Alec tried to shuffle his vision of Donata as some helpless female trapped in a relationship with a mobster. “What about all that coming on to me you did last fall? I thought you were so scared of Sergio you couldn’t stand another day.”

She shrugged, her movements clipped and efficient—not at all like the effusive way of gesturing in the role she’d apparently been playing for almost a year. “The FBI is suspicious of you, too. They wanted me to see if I could scrounge up anything to implicate you.”

Sergio’s grip on the .357 tightened. “You realize you just convinced me to kill you along with these two, don’t you?”

Alec hoped his uncle’s obvious anger would make him careless. He stared at Vanessa in the moonlight, willing her to work with him when an opportunity arose. The next time they had a chance to act, he’d damn well trust her to do her job while he took care of his.

“Sure thing, Sergio, I just couldn’t stand the idea of dying with everyone thinking I was some kind of no-brained mob mistress with nothing going for me.”

Alec noticed Vanessa give Donata’s arm a reassuring squeeze. An unlikely gesture from an undemonstrative woman whose movements were usually so economical. Efficient.

While Sergio called Donata an assortment of names, Alec half wondered if anyone had some idea in mind for breaking all of them out of this impasse when the soft hum of a car engine moved closer.

Help?

A familiar pair of headlights rolled into the front yard with no regard for the perennial beds. The driver cut the lights, pulling up alongside the stand of trees near the beach.

It was his freaking Mercedes.

Renewed anger fired through him as Mark Vercelli stepped out of the car.
Alec’s
car. He couldn’t read the license in the dark, but he suspected the guy’s new gangster connections had gotten him a fresh set of plates to drive the car around semilegally.

Sergio kept the gun on Vanessa as he held Alec. “Excellent. Our ride is here. Alec, you’ll remember my associate Mark since he used to be your associate. The one you assured me would never want to do business with me.”

Remaining silent, Alec thought through his and Vanessa’s options, knowing they needed to make their break before they went anywhere in the Mercedes. They were as good as dead as soon as they left the house, and he suspected Sergio would just roll the whole car into Long Island Sound, or maybe he’d blow it up with Alec and Vanessa inside. Something to make sure he would never be tied to the “accident.”

Alec stared hard at Vanessa, praying their newfound connection, the one that he swore had touched them both deep inside, would somehow help them understand one another now. She slanted her eyes at Donata, then glanced from Sergio to Alec.

Right.

Vanessa would protect Donata. Alec would take out Sergio.

So said his gut instinct. And since he didn’t have a choice but to trust it now that Sergio was shoving them all closer to the Mercedes, Alec decided to shut off all the voices inside his head except for one.

The one that told him to go with his gut and trust the woman he loved.

She’d already handed Donata—whoever she was— a key to her own handcuffs. Apparently there was no love lost between her and her gangster lover, so Vanessa considered freeing Donata worth the risk.

“You like my new wheels, Messina?” Alec’s traitorous partner called as he snapped a wad of gum and waited for Sergio’s prisoners to make their way into the back seat.

Vanessa didn’t hear Alec’s answer, concentrating on picking her moment. They had to move past the patio to get to the car, and as they neared the wrought-iron table, Vanessa heaved herself and Donata to the side.

“I’ve got a gun strapped to my ankle,” Donata called as they hit the cold stone patio blocks together, another gun already sounding in the night.

Tamping down panic, Vanessa patted along the woman’s ankles, finding a Smith & Wesson .38 special strapped to her right one. Whatever the hell Donata had been up to tonight, obviously she hadn’t been taking any chances.

From the cover of a wrought-iron table they’d toppled onto themselves as they fell, Vanessa watched Alec struggle to regain control of his gun from his uncle. Mark Vercelli stood off to the side, looking unarmed and clueless as he circled the fighting men on the ground.

All the better for her.

Vanessa lined up her shot, ready to protect Alec whatever the cost, but she wasn’t going to trip him up by distracting him, either. Alec slammed the gun out of Sergio’s hand before landing a knee in his chest.

Mark dove for the gun, but Vanessa’s shot beat him to it. She fired into the sand near the .357, scaring Vercelli back about fifty feet.

“I’ve got him,” Donata assured her, slipping out of her cuffs.

With Donata already scrambling to tackle Mark, Vanessa ran toward Alec in time to see him clock his uncle with a patio chair. The wrought iron sent Sergio down for the count and put a sizable dent in the Mercedes.

In the distance, Vanessa could already hear the whirr of police sirens. Donata the federal informant restrained Alec’s real-estate partner with the same cuffs she’d been wearing a few moments ago. One day Vanessa would have to ask her about her story—find out how she’d ended up playing a mob boss’s girlfriend in exchange for incriminating secrets. But right now, all Vanessa cared about was wrapping herself around Alec.

Flinging her way into his arms, she didn’t even mind when he backed them over to pick up his gun in the sand.

“You kick ass, Vanessa Torres.” His words took away any leftover jitters she might have felt, and although she suspected she’d always be scared spitless if someone she loved came under attack, she knew now more than ever that she’d done everything she could to help Gena five years ago. It wasn’t about getting even. It was about staying alive.

Still, Alec’s words helped. Made her feel like she’d accomplished something important in her time as a detective.

“You kick plenty of your own, Alec.” She squeezed his neck tighter, her fingers brushing over the bristly ends of close-cut hair. “And I know now is a really bad time to realize I’m crazy about you, but I am.”

She could feel him smile into her hair as he held her.

“I told you so.”

“I was just scared to think about it before, but—”

“No buts.” He pulled her to his side before two police cars slammed to a halt in his yard. “I was pushing you before and I knew it.”

“You’re not mad at me?” She dug in the pocket of her jeans for her badge, knowing she needed to go to work before they could finish this conversation in private.

“Hell, Vanessa, I love it that I’m the sensitive one in this relationship.” Alec—a dark and dangerous guy with an equally wicked sense of humor—grinned as he kept his gun trained on Sergio.

Damn but she was a lucky woman.

Counting the minutes until she could tell him so, she turned to greet the East Hampton police and help them put away Alec’s enemies for a very long time.

“No bail. No bucking this one.” She slid out of the door, not waiting for Alec to come around. She didn’t want him doing too much for the next couple of days since she hadn’t convinced him to drop by the hospital and stitch up a knife wound Sergio had managed to inflict during their scuffle.

Men.

“It’s the federal case that’s going to seal his fate.” Alec disarmed the security system and left it off, holding the front door for her. “Do you believe Donata was helping the feds all this time?”

“She must be fairly well connected for her to have been released so early this morning.” Vanessa still wondered how the woman—who swore she wasn’t an agent—had managed to get mixed up with Sergio for so long, but after a heartfelt thank you and a goodbye hug, Donata Casale had sailed out of the police station and out of their lives. Vanessa hoped it wouldn’t be for good.

“Those disks of financial data are going to help the case, too.” Alec reached into the refrigerator for a six-pack of beer that had probably been in there for months. Not that she cared. But then, she’d never made any pretense of being an uptown chick. “So maybe your lieutenant will let you off easy for making up the bomb threat yesterday.”

“Are you kidding? He’ll be holding that one over my head for years.” Lieutenant Russell Durant had put in a call to the local cops to help speed things up for Vanessa. Although he hadn’t been happy about her being part of the phony bomb squad and having her plates run by an uptown Manhattan police precinct, at least he’d apologized for landing her hip-deep in trouble with the Alec Messina case. Apparently Russ had known about the federal investigation and hadn’t launched a full-scale NYPD effort so as not to step on toes. And since the information was on a “need to know” basis, he hadn’t given Vanessa all the details, thinking she’d simply come back to the precinct with an address where they could find their man.

But Vanessa could hardly regret meeting Alec, even if she’d had a few years scared off her life in the process.

“Isn’t it a little early for beer?” She checked her watch. “It’s 11:00 a.m.”

“It’s Heineken. I’ll have you know that’s the champagne of beers.” He scooped up a blanket from the back of a rocking chair and held open the back door. “What do you say we toast the new day on the beach before going back to bed?”

“Who knew you were hiding such a romantic side?” Vanessa brushed a kiss over his lips as she passed him. “A toast sounds perfect since I have a few things I’ve been waiting to say to you, Messina.”

“Is that right?” He draped the arm with the blanket over her, cloaking her in the warmth of cotton fleece and sexy man. A very enticing combination. “I might have a few things to say to you, too, now that I think about it.”

Little shivers traced up her spine along with his hand. Once they’d crossed a wooden bridge onto the beach, the ocean stretched out in front of them, the endless blue dotted with tiny white boats on the horizon. Seagulls circled and squealed their hungry cries, giving them a wide berth when the newcomers didn’t appear to have any food.

“So the fed who showed up at the police station seemed pretty damn impressed with your financial knowledge.” Alec spread out the blanket on the sand and then popped open a beer for each of them.

“He just had the hots for me.” Vanessa smiled to think how different the charming, talkative agent had been from Alec. “I couldn’t tell him all that much until I have a look at the disks for myself.”

“But you talk the talk.” They settled beside one another on the blanket and Alec clanked his bottle against hers before taking a long first swig. “You could go back into a business field any time you wanted. And I just happen to have a huge, gaping opening in my real-estate company if you’re interested.”

Vanessa let the magnitude of the offer wash over her as she took a drink of her beer. Not only was Mark Vercelli going to jail, but William McPherson was being questioned in the case as well, since both Mark’s and Sergio’s testimony gave police reason to think the eldest partner of the firm was involved in the plot against Alec. Chances were excellent Alec would be the sole owner of the company soon.

“That’s a huge offer.” Vanessa didn’t want to offend him, but she’d come to a certain peace with herself and her job through knowing Alec. “And maybe one day when I’m too old to keep up with the bad guys, I’ll come begging for that kind of chance. But for now, I think I’m going to stick it out with the police department.”

“You’re a hell of a cop.” He kissed her again, his lips slightly salty from the ocean breeze and cold beer. “So I guess I can’t blame you.”

Her heart sped up at his touch, her tired body apparently not too tired to be seriously turned on by this man.

“But I might look into doing some more behind-the-scenes investigative work, too. My sister always says I should put some of the business experience to use to hunt down white-collar crime.” And up until now, she’d written off the suggestion every time. “Whatever demon has been chasing me since Gena’s accident—I think maybe I put it to rest after the shoot-out today.”

“I told you before that I think you’d succeed at whatever you chose to do. I stand by that.” He looped his arm around her as they stared out to sea for a long moment, soaking in the warm rays and the warmth of new freedom.

A new connection.

“There was something else I wanted to tell you.” Vanessa didn’t quite know how to express it now without the adrenaline rush pulsing through her, but the feelings she had inside her from last night were still there. Still one-hundred-percent real. “I don’t know what it means, or where we’ll take this, but I’ve fallen for you big time, Alec.” Settling her beer bottle into the sand, she curved her hand around his neck and tugged him closer to rest his forehead on hers. “I love you, Messina.”

A grin played over his lips, an expression she’d scarcely seen and knew she’d become addicted to soon—right along with that red-hot oil of his he’d used to make her see stars on more than one occasion.

“I’m going down for the count, too, if it makes you feel any better.” He flicked his tongue along her lower lip before drawing it between his. “I love you, too.”

“You have a house in the Hamptons.” A silly concern maybe. Except that Vanessa didn’t want to waltz into his life with nothing when he had so much. “I’ve got a one-bedroom apartment and if I stay in law enforcement, I’ll never be able to uphold my half of the Hamptons lifestyle.”

“That’s okay. You can spring for the champagne of beers every now and then if you want, but for the most part, I figure it’ll be nice to have someone to share my toys with.”

Not in a million years would Vanessa have ever considered herself the kind of woman to buy into some Cinderella fantasy, but she couldn’t deny the warm swell in her heart at the thought he would ever be so kind. So generous. So careful to make her feel valued.

“You’re a really awesome guy, you know that?”

“Will you still think I’m awesome if I ask you to help me teach my self-defense classes sometimes?” He wrapped a hand around her waist, drawing her closer on the blanket until her leg lined up against his.

“I think I can do that.” She’d made her peace with the Bronx after all.

“What if I ask you to go back to the house and have sex with me all day and all night?” His hand dipped under her sweater to skim along her bare back.

“I maintain my stance of being crazy about you.” Heat simmered low in her belly, the fiery emotions giving her surefire proof that Alec had helped her banish all her demons.

His hand skimmed higher. “What if I try to cop a feel of bare breast since you never did put that bra back on after our shower last night?”

“I’d say you’re a very dangerous man. And a greedy one at that.” She gripped his wrist to hold it steady, her breasts already tightening in response. “But maybe if you’re careful not to let anyone see…”

Never a man to let an opportunity pass him by, Alec’s hands reminded her exactly how much fun they were going to have together. Fire already leaping inside her, Vanessa arched back to enjoy his touch, thinking she’d be glad to go undercover with him anytime at all.