Making Angel (Mariani Crime Family Book 1) (23 page)

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Now that she knew Bones was my bodyguard, I could use her knowledge to bend the truth a little. I waved off her question. “Bones is paid to be paranoid. He runs a lot of drills, acting like we’re in danger or something to keep himself sharp.”

“Sounds like he’s good at his job,” Markie said.

I shrugged. “Yeah. Sometimes a little too good.”

Bones opened the door, announcing that the room was free of threats before heading next door to check out ours. I knew I only had a few precious moments before he reappeared and dragged me out of the exposed hallway. Desperate to make those moments count, I stepped closer to Markie.

She leaned against her door, hair wind tousled and face flushed. I leaned in and wiped a streak of smudged makeup from her cheek. Her eyes widened at the contact, and I wondered if she felt even a smidgen of the electricity bouncing between us.

“You had something on your face,” I explained.

“Oh, thanks.”

Was that disappointment? Did she want me to touch her?

Her cheeks reddened. “So, tomorrow…”

I cut her off with a wave of my hand. “Nope. You planned tonight. I have tomorrow handled.”

“You do?” Her eyes lit up. “What’s on the agenda?”

“It’s a secret, but I think you’ll dig it.”

“A secret, huh?” Her smile widened, and she pulled away from the door. “Not even going to give me a hint, are you?”

An answering smile tugged at my lips. “Nope. But I will thank you for a lovely evening. Great pick on that Mexican restaurant.”

“Major score. And those margaritas: perfection.” She kissed the tips of her closed fingers, and then spread them out as she pulled her hand away.

As her hand fell back to her side, my attention lingered on her perfectly shaped lips. I wondered what it would be like to feel them against my own. My gaze drifted down her neck. She noticed me looking and took off my jacket, offering it back to me.

“Thank you for this,” she said before turning to leave.

I grabbed the door handle, stopping her. She leaned into my arm, her gaze traveling to my face. Then she licked her lips. It was the only signal I needed. I put my hands on the door, on either side of her face, and leaned in. Our lips touched. My tongue tasted tropical lip gloss and lime. Her hands traveled up my arms and then gripped my biceps, pulling me closer. She opened her lips to me and I explored her mouth. She tasted beautiful. Magical. My senses came to life, touching, tasting, smelling. I breathed her in, and every inch of my body responded. I wanted to hold her, to caress her, but I kept my hands where they were. Markie needed to control the situation.

And, she did. Suddenly her body bucked forward, shoving me away. She pushed open the door and leaped backwards, over the threshold of the room. She stared at me, cheeks pink and lips swollen, a combination of desire, fear, and regret spinning in her bright blue eyes. She took another step back and lowered her head.

“Sorry, Angel, I can’t,” she whispered, her voice husky.

Can’t what? Can’t kiss me? Can’t be with me? Can’t let me in?

“I gotta go. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” she asked.

Before I could answer, she closed the door.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Angel

A
FTER LAST NIGHT’S cold-shower-worthy exchange, I was worried about how the day would go. Regardless of my concerns, Markie answered her door wearing a sundress and a smile. She welcomed me in as her gaze drifted over the long-sleeved gray T-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers I wore, my jacket draped over my arm.

Her attention shifted back up to my face and she said, “All right, buck-o. I know you’re being super secretive about today’s plans, but I’ve got to know what to wear.”

“Buck-o, huh?”

“Yep. Now spill. Where are we going?”

I gave her my best poker face and leaned against the back of the sofa. “Yeah, I’m not telling you that. I can, however, suggest you change into jeans. Maybe grab a jacket. Also, bring your swimsuit.”

“Okay, I’ll change, but I’m planning on bringing all of my clothes. I just called down and checked out of the room. We’re going back to Vegas tonight, right?”

It wasn’t like I expected her to want to stay with me at the coast forever, but did she have to sound so ready to go home?

“Right. Bones and I got a late checkout, so we can stash your stuff in our room until after we’re done adventuring.” And with any luck, we’d stay another night. After all, Father’s associates had until this afternoon to make their decision, and the old man hadn’t ordered me home yet.

Markie slipped into the bedroom to change, leaving me alone and too curious for my own damn good. I pulled the device finder from my jacket pocket and scanned Markie’s suite. Cell phone, hotel phone, laptop. Nothing nefarious or unexpected. Relieved, I breathed deeply and slid the finder back into my pocket.

When Markie emerged from her room, she wore jeans and a blue and white three-quarter sleeve baseball T-shirt that hugged her curves in all the right places. A small bag hung from her shoulder, and she wheeled her suitcase while carrying her sneakers and socks. “Is this okay?” she asked.

I somehow managed not to throw myself at her feet and instead nodded. “Perfect.”

She released the suitcase handle, dropped the bag, and sat on the sofa to pull on her socks and shoes. “Where’s Bones?” she asked.

Bones and I scanned the Hummer earlier. It was free of all bugs and tracking devices, but he stayed behind to make sure the vehicle remained that way. “He’s waiting in the Hummer. Here, let me grab that.”

I wheeled her suitcase into my room. When I headed out the door, she grabbed my hand, stopping me.

“Angel, can we talk for a second?”

My stomach sank. We’d shared something special last night, and I was hoping she wasn’t about to reveal feelings of regret or guilt. “Yeah. What’s up?”

“I… I need something from you.”

Why was she stalling? What did she need? And why the hell was I so nervous about it? I nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“I need coffee. Desperately. Must have caffeine. I lived without it in Africa and I have no intention of going without while I’m in the states. I hope this day you’ve got planned out allows for that. Please?”

Coffee?

She wasn’t going to ask me to back off. Releasing a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding, I chuckled. It sounded nervous and maybe a little manic. “Of course. There’s a coffee shop next door, and we can hit that first.”

I texted Bones to get his coffee order as we waited in line. Then Markie and I stood in silence as last night’s events worried my brain. What had she thought? Was she at all interested in me? What couldn’t she do? Did she think I was pressing her for sex?

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “About last night—” I started.

“It was fun.” She dimpled. “The dancing, the margaritas, the beach, perfect night. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

She leaned into me, saying so much. Desperate to keep contact with her, I laced my fingers in hers. She didn’t pull away, and I was ridiculously happy we were holding hands like a couple of kids.

We joined Bones at the Hummer, ordered breakfast from a drive-thru, and headed out. Bones sipped his coffee from the backseat, positioning himself to watch for a tail. Markie didn’t seem to notice, because she was too busy trying to guess where we were going. By the time we turned into the safari parking lot, I thought she was going to burst with excitement.

“You didn’t get too much of this in Africa, did you?” I asked.

“Although the kids could sometimes be little beasts, I never actually went on a safari.”

The closest Bones and I had gotten was a show at the MGM Grand. Wanting to get the most out of the experience, I’d purchased a customized VIP package. We were ushered inside to a box truck, customized to look like a safari caravan with a gate around the back and a canopy over the top. We climbed in and the driver welcomed us through speakers mounted on the back of the truck’s cab as the vehicle lurched forward.

Markie was like a child—eyes full of awe and wonder, perma-grin stretched across her face—as we started along the path. We stopped for crossing rhinos, fed giraffes, chatted with gorillas, lazed around with the lions, held a lemur, petted elephants, and then walked through a butterfly world. Throughout it all, Markie beamed, excited by each experience.

“So it wasn’t like this in Africa?” Bones asked Markie as we trekked through the tropical butterfly world.

“I don’t think you understand what I did in Africa,” she shot back.

Bones spread his hands out. “Enlighten me.”

“Well, I went to work. To help. Not to sightsee.”

“None? At all?” Bones scoffed.

Markie stopped and turned to face him, crossing her arms. “Look, I don’t know how much you know about African current events, but there’s not a lot of safe areas down there right now. Boko Haram has—”

“Boko Haram?” Bones interrupted.

“The militant Islamic group that keeps beheading people down there,” I supplied. Then I smiled at Markie and added, “Bones watches the races. I watch the news.”

Markie nodded, ever patient. “Yeah, they’re scary dudes. Even though the villagers are great and extremely hospitable, they’re terrified of Boko Haram. If I wanted to be a horrible person, I could have asked, and any one of the locals would have taken me sightseeing. But they would have been risking their lives. And so would I. I can’t even begin to tell you what the Boko Haram would have done to me—a single white woman—if they’d seen me. I saw bodies and heard stories, and they were enough to keep me from leaving that orphanage. You understand?”

Bones nodded. “Wow. I didn’t know things were that bad over there.”

Markie shrugged. “There was a lot of good, too. Now if you’re done with this weird line of questioning, I want to go hold a python.”

I’d never seen Bones so thoroughly shut down. I expected him to get angry or ask something else, but he backed off with a shrug and a measure of respect in his gaze.

After the snakes, we watched cheetah races, and then were herded to the high ropes course. Bones took one look at the wooden ladders going up the trees and shook his head.

“Nope. Not for me. I’ll wait right here for you two.” He leaned against a tree, pulled out his phone, and began scrolling.

“You sure?” Markie asked.

“Oh yeah. No way in hell those flimsy little boards are gonna hold all this sexiness.”

Markie giggled, shaking her head. “Well, I’m going. Are you in or out, Angel?” She was staring up at the course, bouncing on her heels, no doubt excited as all hell at another chance to defy death.

“I’m in,” I blurted out before I could change my mind. Then I followed Markie over to get harnessed up. I’d never been on a high ropes course, but it didn’t look too bad in the video. Turns out, it was much worse. We went up a sketchy wooden ladder and then walked across a bridge that looked like it should have been in an Indiana Jones flick. We climbed another ladder until the ground was a long way down.

“You okay?” Markie asked.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “Yeah, no problem. No sweat. Heh.”

Yep, that sounded stupid.

Markie gave me a courtesy laugh and then closed the distance between us. “We can go back down if you need to.”

Her eyes were sincere and concerned and there was no way in hell I was backing out of this and making myself out to be a coward. Still, I appreciated her concern. “Thanks, but I’m okay. I just need a second.”

She dimpled at me. For that smile, I would follow her across a million rickety bridges and probably end up in a wheelchair for my trouble. I swallowed back my fear, pulled my attention from the ground, and followed her over a wide log, holding on to the rope above our heads for dear life. The log lurched forward, and I decided Bones probably had the right idea by staying on the ground. Markie turned and smiled at me, and I’m fairly certain I grimaced back. We reached the platform, and I was rewarded by her sharing it with me as we huddled together to catch our breath.

Her eyes were bright and excited. “That one was intense,” she said.