Page 94 of Devil's Claim

Jago shoved his coffee cup away and also stood, flanking my side seconds later. “That’s exactly the way Genevieve and I felt at the beginning.”

“Don’t go shoving your love affair into my face. Trust me that Christine hates me. I broke into her apartment. I stole her away from her life. I killed the father of her child. Dangerous actions don’t endear you to a woman with an attitude.”

“You might be surprised. Do yourself a favor, Kruz. Open your mind to possibilities.”

“Meaning what?”

He moved closer to the window, staring at the landscape of the vibrant city as I’d done seconds before. “Don’t rely on your past to shape your future. By all rights, we should be dead and buried.”

“Morbid for only ten-fifteen in the morning.”

“Maybe so, but you know I’m right. Get the contract drawn up but be ready to make changes. Significant changes. If I were you, I’d use the relationship you’ve obviously already built in your favor.”

“Meaning what?”

Jago tipped his head and by the mischievous look in his eyes, I could tell he had something up his sleeve. “Take her out to dinner tonight. Make it special. Discuss the contract there.”

“A little tough to do when you have a cute kid relying on your attention and I refuse to leave Maverick with one of my men. Maverick will eat them alive.” I laughed because it was the truth. The kid was… amazing.

“We can handle that.”

“That? Who are you talking about?”

“You know Genevieve,” Jago said and headed back to his desk. “She wants to babysit.”

Hell. Soon the leadership of the Torres Cartel would be considered old family men instead of brutal savages.

I wasn’t entirely certain how I felt about that.

CHAPTER 23

Christine

“Everyone is looking at you. I guess you are someone famous,” I told my dinner companion.

Kruz finally took his eyes off me long enough to scan the dining room. Given our table was a distance away from every other patron in the restaurant, I had a feeling he’d called ahead and made ‘arrangements.’ Even the host had ushered us in ahead of several people standing in line.

“Why would you say that?” he asked.

“Give me a break. Since we arrived, everyone has behaved as if you’re royalty, fawning over you with both excitement and extreme nervousness. It’s the same reaction we received at McDonald’s. They are looking at you wondering if you’re going to create a disturbance. You have bodyguards, one standing right over there in the corner pretending to be a statue. Don’t you think his presence is particularly oppressive to all the fine diners?”

His laugh was boisterous. “First of all, I couldn’t care less about what anyone else thinks in this town or in any other city. Plus, I have news for you, my lovely bride to be. Everyone in Barcelona already knows me. If anyone is looking, they’re looking at you, wondering who you are to me.”

“And what would you tell them if they had the nerve to ask?”

He offered a smile and a lift of his glass as if in a salute. “I’d tell them I was the luckiest man in the world.”

“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “You could have any woman you wanted. I see three right across the room that would promise to have your babies for one night with you.”

“Perhaps I don’t want any other woman. Only you.”

His heated gaze and the smoky tone of his voice were electrifying, but I refused to be unnerved by the man. Not right now. Not when there was so much at stake.

He’d insisted we go out to dinner, asking, although I’d say commanding, that I wear a dress he’d had some minion purchase during the day. Granted, it was as beautiful as the one I’d worn to the party, the single item he’d purchased while in the States I’d refused to take with me. Only this time, the dress matched the color of his tie perfectly.

Tell me that wasn’t planned.

What were we doing, attending a prom?