Until Noon (7 page)

soft, caressing motion, his fingers coming to rest at her opening. Stroking her slick flesh, he moaned. Desperate to eat all of her succulent sex, he tried for sanity, a way to draw this out, make her beg—and gave up. Pulling her clit into his mouth he slid two fingers into her hot wet channel, her responsive cry vibrating through him.

“So good,” he murmured, his words mumbled against her body. “Taste so damn

good.”

Over and over he sucked on the aroused bundle of nerves while his fingers easily

thrust in and out of her body. She moved beneath him, riding his fingers, arching her hips up to him for more intense contact.

“I want to taste you too,” she gasped, pulling on his hair. “Come here and let me

put my mouth on you.”

He rolled to his back, reluctant to break the intimate contact but eager to feel her

mouth on him. He remembered well how talented she was with it, the pleasure she

brought to him. Closing his eyes he offered himself to her.

When her hot, wet mouth closed over his cock, sliding down its full length, he

nearly levitated off the bed.
Holy shit!
With one hand, she cupped his balls while she wrapped the slender fingers of the other around the base of his shaft. In a rhythm he’d never forgotten she slowly moved her lips up and down, her fingers following her

mouth, while her other hand rhythmically squeezed his sac.

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

Her tongue was like a flame licking his cock with each retreat, her lips hot velvet as they slid back down again. Needing to touch her he slid one hand between her thighs,

finding her cunt and slipping two fingers inside. She moaned at his touch, the sound

vibrating against his cock, which he didn’t think could possibly get any harder.

They fell into a rhythm, his fingers stroking in and out of her as her mouth moved

up and down on him. His balls tightened and he knew before long he’d be ready to

explode.

“Let me up to get a condom,” he rasped, trying to push himself up on his elbows.

Pilar shook her head. “Can’t,” she mouthed around his thick shaft. “Want to do it

this way. Want to taste you too.”

He fell back on the pillow, giving himself over to the sensations she was dragging

through his body. He added a third finger in her pussy, moving them faster now.

The sexy little noises she was making only stimulated him more, made him increase

the slide of his fingers. His body tensed, his balls tightened. Gritting his teeth to hold on for that last possible second, he pressed his thumb against her clit.

“Now,” he shouted. “Come now, Pilar.”

As his cock pulsed and he spurted his release into her mouth she clamped down on

his fingers, the muscles of her cunt flexing as her own orgasm rolled over her.

When she’d drained the last drop from him, when her own body had finally grown

lax, she slowly released his now limp shaft, lifted herself from his hand and collapsed next to him, her head on his shoulder.

“I had forgotten how good we were together,” she sighed.

“I hadn’t.” He threaded his fingers in her silken hair. “Although sometimes I

wished I could. In our line of work, as you know, connections like this can be

dangerous.”

“I feel the same way.” She tucked her body closer to his. “Are we sure us being

together is a good idea?”

He rolled to his side so he could look at her. “Don’t doubt it. We have something

between us,
cara
. I’m not willing to let it go. I don’t think you are, either. And I think if we work together on Tony’s murder and the oil situation, together we can be better

than each of us alone.”

She was silent for a long moment. “I’ve never really worked with anyone before.”

“Neither have I. But I have a feeling this was supposed to happen.”

“I think you may be right.” She snuggled against him. “And I’m more than happy

to let you keep convincing me.”

He smiled as he settled her against him. Something good might come out of this

after all.

34

Until Noon

Chapter Five

Pilar showered, started a pot of coffee and popped muffins from the freezer into the

microwave. Raul was sitting on the side of the bed, speaking into his cell phone when she came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a huge towel. He looked at her and held up

one finger, asking her to wait.

“Uh huh. Yes.” He nodded his head. “Okay. Can you put all that in an email and

send it to my phone? Right. Good. Thanks, Maddie. Oh, any word yet on Junior’s

arrival?” He held the phone away from his ear and laughed as a loud voice burst from

the speaker.

“Okay, okay.” He chuckled. Then his face sobered. “Thanks for the info. I’ll get

back to you after our meeting when I hope to have something to share.”

He disconnected the call and sat there, unselfconsciously naked, cell phone in hand

while his eyes raked over Pilar. She was the one clothed, yet beneath his studied gaze she felt completely nude. Self-consciously she pulled the towel around her more tightly.

“What was that all about?”

“Maddie’s pregnant with her first child. Her husband, Dan, is apparently driving

her crazy, trying to lock her up in cotton wool until delivery and she’s about ready to kill him.”

Pilar laughed. “I can imagine.”

“But to answer your question, yes, she scheduled an appointment for us and had

some background info for us. Let me shower and I’ll fill you in.”

Her eyes followed his magnificent body as he strode naked into the bathroom.

Again she asked herself if she was making a big mistake here. She had dedicated her

life to being a loner, painfully aware of what happened when relationships intruded

into her business. But maybe it was time to put the past where it belonged. Because

Raul Cordona didn’t seem about to go away, nor did she think she wanted him to.

Time to turn the page, Pilar. And he’s right that the two of you can work this case better
together.

While he showered she called her contact at the EU to gather the latest information

and find out what chatter there was, if any, about the murder. By the time she was

dressed and Raul joined her fully clothed in the kitchen, she had the coffee and muffins on the table.

“I didn’t take you for a baker.” He nodded at the muffins.

“That’s good, because I’m not. I have a great bakery down the street, a freezer and a microwave. That’s as much cooking as I do.” She sat down opposite him, moved a

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

muffin onto a small plate for herself and broke off a small piece. “So. What did you find out?”

“Maddie spoke directly with Augustin Tafoya, the president of Roca Oil. He

confirmed that Tony was investigating incidents at the refinery that could easily be

called attempted sabotage. He told Maddie he’d have copies of Tony’s reports for us

when we get there.” He took a sip of the coffee. “Your turn.”

“There are definite rumblings that the Russians are making noise about stepping

into the breach left by the fall of Libya.” She chewed a bite of muffin thoughtfully, waiting to see if he would follow with any conjecture, not just about Russians but about Russian mafia gangs who controlled oil flow from the Bosporus. When he didn’t, she

decided to state the obvious about Russian businesses in general. “The problem being, of course, that the Russians already supply a small percentage of the oil to the EU. If they were to take control of Roca in some way, they’d have a stranglehold on the EU.

The member countries would have to do their bidding or be in an emergency situation.”

“I know the Russian oligarchs have little to no scruples,” he said, “but do you think they’d go so far as to sabotage an established company like Roca?”

“If they want to eliminate them from the game, why not? That’s what we need to

find out.”

Raul looked at his watch. “Then we need to finish up here and get going. Our

meeting with Tafoya is in forty-five minutes. One other thing to keep in mind,” he

added as he carried his dishes to the sink. “Maddie said the Eight Annual Global

Refining Summit is scheduled for Barcelona next year. She pulled up a demographic

chart showing the percentages of the participants. Right now the Russians only account for eight percent of the oil. A bigger stake in the game would put the EU under the heel of their boot.”

“Then we have to figure out how not to let that happen.” She let her prejudice

against the Russians and their methods of operation show in that statement. Still, she let it stand. She had never made a secret of her dislike for them or the way they operated.

Nor did Raul argue with her. If he had latent negative feelings about the corrupt

Russian oligarchs controlling the flow of oil to Western Europe, she could only applaud him. And since he didn’t question her, she would do him the same honor.

They took Raul’s SUV to the Roca refinery, situated in the harbor of Barcelona. As

they walked from the parking lot to the offices a stiff wind blew in across the water.

Pilar huddled deeper into her coat, staring out across the wind-whipped waves. The

wind had whipped the water into whitecaps, rippling beneath the sun. Far out in the

bay, islands rose as if they’d erupted from the ocean floor. There wasn’t much green

about them that she could see, just boulders and rocks and crags of all sizes, and here and there a massive house.

Who on earth would live out there in such a bleak environment? The owners of Roca
perhaps?

36

Until Noon

But then Raul was opening the door to the lobby for her and she wiped the islands

from her mind. They took the elevator up to the top floor of an ultra-modern building, glass, steel and sunshine shining down on the expanse of the harbor of Barcelona.

Just as they stepped off the elevator, she got a beep on her cell phone. “Wait, Raul. I have to take this. It is my associate from last night who, as one might say, took out our trash.”

“
Sí
, Manuel, what is it?” she asked her forensics specialist in the local EU office.

What he said had her halting in her tracks. “Repeat that, please. You are certain? And his passport?”

When she clicked off, she stared at Raul. Shivers ran up her spine at the news her

colleague had given her.

“Want to share the wealth?” Raul asked her.

“He has an identification on the man who attacked us last night.”

“The one you so carefully stabbed?”

“He is no gypsy. No homeless man. But an employee of a Russian export-import

company out of Genoa.”

“What’s he doing in Barcelona?”

She arched both brows. “Good question. Manuel asked but our friend is not

answering. He speaks only to request his lawyer.”

“A smart thug, the worst kind,” Raul mourned.

“Right, but hear this. The export-import company is owned by a conglomerate that

also owns an oil company.”

Raul grinned. “Now we are getting somewhere. What’s the name of it?”

“He didn’t say, but he’s pulling down all the information about it that he can and

sending a file to me on my computer.”

“Terrific.” Raul took her arm. “Let’s hear what
Señor
Tafoya has to tell us in the meantime.”

Augustin Tafoya wasn’t a tall man but he had an imposing presence. Everything

about him spoke of power and control. He had a thick head of black hair liberally laced with silver and Pilar was sure for the cost of his suit, she could have fed a Catalan family of four for a month. But he had an impeccable reputation and was considered

one of the most knowledgeable people in the European oil industry.

“Sit down, please.” He greeted them cordially but there were lines of tension in his

face. “Thank you for coming.” He sat behind his desk, shaking his head. “Terrible

business about Tony.”

“Yes, it is.” Raul sat in one of the chairs facing him, Pilar took the other, noting that Tafoya focused more on Raul than her. If the man assumed that he could favor Raul in

this interview, he had another think coming. “He and Adam Molloy were friends for a

long time and Adam’s after blood for his murder.”

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

“I can understand it. Well.” Tafoya leaned his elbows on his desk and tented his

fingers. “I have copies of his reports for you,
Señor
Cordona.”

“And one for me, as well, I do hope,” Pilar put in, her gaze level on Tafoya’s.

“Forgive me,
sí
,” He tipped his head in deference to her, then pressed a button on his intercom. In quick Spanish, he asked for another copy from his assistant. “But let me give you a capsule overview.”

“
Muchas gracias
,” she told him, ready to be civil now that he had the right

perspective.

He nodded politely then ran his fingers over his report. “We hired Tony when we

began to experience a number of strange episodes here.”

“Describe them, will you?” Raul asked.

“Hoses disconnecting for no reason. Lines clogging. A tap left open so we had a gas

buildup. Even some damage to one of the tankers waiting to load up from the storage

tanks.” He shook his head. “Nothing that looked too obvious, just inconveniences. But it damages our reputation when we aren’t able to operate on time. News of

inefficiencies travel. If we didn’t have such a strong reputation for delivering top

quality goods, our customers would begin to look elsewhere. Not just other companies

but other countries.”

“And that would be bad for Spain as well as for Roca,” Pilar put in. “But the EU