Читать книгу First Class Seduction - Anita Bunkley - Страница 13

Ramón slid the bacon and spinach omelet he’d just made onto a plate and sat down at the breakfast table in his condo. It was only seven-thirty in the morning, but he had already completed his daily three-mile run, showered and was looking forward to breakfast. Ramón wasn’t much of a cook, but he could put together a hell of an omelet. Since he watched his diet carefully, he ate a light lunch and dinner was most often a steak and fresh vegetables at the Big Tex Steak House two blocks from his house.

With a flick of his thumb, he scrolled through messages on his cell phone while eating, replying to those that required a response, deleting a bunch of spam. The three days he’d spent in Acapulco with his brother had put him behind schedule, but now that he was back in Houston, it was time to get on track and back to work.

After he finished reading and responding to his e-mails he shifted his focus to the workday ahead. He had two commercial estimates to prepare, a whole-house installation to inspect and equipment to pick up at the electrical supply house. But before he did any of that he wanted to drop by the assisted living center and say hello to his dad.

While plotting his day, his cell phone rang and he quickly recognized Lori’s name and number.

“Vida-Shield Security,” he said, using his business greeting and tamping down his excitement over the fact that she was calling.

“Ramón Vidal, please,” Lori said.

“This is Ramón.”

“Oh, great. This is Lori Myles…from the airplane. Remember me?”

“Of course. How could I forget?” Ramón responded, intentionally lowering his voice in an attempt to sound relaxed and calm. “Glad you called. Wasn’t sure you would.”

“Well, before you get too excited…I have to tell you, this is not a social call. I need your help.”

Ramón squinted at the sliding-glass door leading onto his patio, where hanging baskets of ivy and ferns created a lush, quiet retreat. He considered her remark and decided that it was better to be needed than ignored. At least she’d turned to him. “Okay…shoot. What can I do for you?” he offered as casually as possible, thrilled that she wanted his input on whatever was on her mind.

“I’m not sure where to start. I’m still so angry I can hardly talk about what happened.”

Ramón’s initial pleasure at hearing from Lori quickly shifted to alarm. She sounded so intense. So frightened. And so different from when they’d chatted on the plane. Something terrible must have happened. “What’s going on?” he asked, listening as she described the scene that greeted her when she arrived home. He got up from the table and began to pace his kitchen, frowning at the floor, disturbed by what she was telling him.

“All right. I know you’re upset, but try to calm down,” he encouraged, sensing how nervous she was. During the flight to Houston, she had been the epitome of calm, a poised professional woman who was totally in control of her emotions, but now she was rattling on in a nervous sputter that sent off bells of alarm. “Are you okay?” he wanted to know when she finally paused to catch her breath.

“I’m fine,” Lori assured Ramón.

“Where’d you sleep last night?”

“Next door…at my neighbor’s house.”

“Good. How do you feel today?”

“Shaken up and mad as hell. I don’t understand why my burglar alarm didn’t alert the police when the vandals broke in.”

“Do you have a wireless alarm?” Ramón inquired.

“Yes, I think so,” Lori replied.

“That means your keypad, circuit board, backup battery and siren were most likely all in one unit,” Ramón added.

“Yeah, probably so. It came with the house, so I never paid much attention to what kind of system I had,” Lori said.

“Well, the burglars could have completely disabled your unit before it had time to send a signal to the police.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Ramón confirmed. “Happens all the time.”

“The detective who came out to take the report was nice,” Lori added. “But he wasn’t very encouraging. He said there’ve been a few incidents like mine since school let out. Local kids who are bored, he thinks.”

“Yeah, sounds like that,” Ramón agreed. “But that doesn’t make them any less dangerous than hard-core criminals. If I were you, I’d take this seriously.”

“I plan to. That’s why I called. The vandals destroyed my system. Smashed the control box and stripped all the wires. Think you can you fix it?”

“I can try, but if you have an all-in-one unit, I’d replace it. They’re extremely vulnerable and create a false sense of security. What you need is a hardwired cellular system that communicates an alarm signal in less than thirty seconds. Let me take a look at what you have and we can go from there. I can come over this morning, if you want,” Ramón offered, surprised by how easily he was agreeing to rearrange his schedule and how much he already cared about Lori.

“Would you?” Lori asked.

“Of course.”

“Great. The crime scene investigators were here at daybreak. They got what they needed and left. Now I need to find someone to deal with all this paint,” she went on, voice raw with indecision. “This mess is gonna require a lot more than a mop and a broom. Paint is everywhere. My mirrors are shattered. The carpet is ruined. I can’t…I don’t…”

When Lori’s voice cracked and the phone went silent, Ramón flinched, stung by Lori’s frustration, as well as her shock over what had happened. He’d been in the home security business long enough to sense how she was feeling right now. She was hurt, stunned and confused about what to do.

“First thing you need to do is call your insurance company,” he offered.

“I did. They’re sending someone out today,” Lori said.

“Good. I can give you the name of a restoration company I’ve used. They do a good job and accept whatever insurance pays.”

“That would help a lot,” Lori replied, clearly relieved.

“Be sure to take pictures before the cleaning service deals with the paint, too,” he added.

Having been inside vandalized homes more than a few times, Ramón could visualize the scene: precious treasures trashed, carefully appointed décor ruined. In an instant, everything that had once been clean and shiny was now dirty and ugly, sullied by an intruder’s touch. The emotional toll that such an incident took could be very heavy.

“Okay, I’ll bring some plywood to board up your broken window,” he told Lori, wanting to do whatever he could to ease her anxiety. No way was he going to let her go through this alone.

“What’s your address?” he asked, grabbing a pen to scribble the street name and number on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt as he calculated how far away she lived. “Hold it together, okay? I’ve got a quick stop to make and then I’ll call you when I’m nearby.”

Tomás Vidal wiped a tear from his eye and then looked at Ramón, who was seated beside him in the recreation room of the assisted living center. “What a wonderful thing to witness,” Tomás whispered in a quiet tone. “My boy is now a federal judge. Amazing, but not surprising. He worked hard to make it, you know? I remember when your mother and I left Mexico and came to Texas. Xavier was just a boy. And now he’s a big-shot judge. I only wish your mother could have lived to see this day.”

Ramón closed the DVD player they had been viewing, set it on the coffee table and looked at his father, his mind suddenly turning back to the days they had spent together deep-sea fishing in the Gulf. Setting out before dawn, looking forward to a day at sea and a huge catch to bring home had been wonderful. But those days were gone forever. Never again would he go fishing with his father, whose health was deteriorating very quickly. It pained Ramón to see Tomás Vidal withering into a shell of a man right before his eyes. His father’s thick black hair was now nearly all gray, his once bright eyes no longer shone with the gleam of life that Ramón remembered and the skin around his thin lips was more puckered with tiny wrinkles than Ramón had seen on his last visit. With each passing day, Ramón knew his time with his father was getting shorter, so he wanted to make each moment they spent together count. Bringing along the DVD of Xavier’s swearing-in ceremony had brightened Tomás’s day and given him much to discuss with his fellow residents at the assisted living center.

“Pop,” Ramón began. “I know Mom is up in Heaven watching us right now and she knows what’s going on.”

Tomás laughed and winked at his son. “She always knew what was going on with you two boys. Not much escaped her, you know?”

“For real,” Ramón replied. “She was on my case every day.”

“That’s why you and Xavier turned out to be such fine young men. Because your mother taught you how to appreciate what you have and how to make the most of the talent God gave you.”

“I’ve tried to make you proud, Pop.”

“And you have,” Tomás agreed, reaching out to take hold of Ramón’s hand. “But there is one thing I want you to do, Ramón. Time is moving on, son. You need to do what your brother has done. Get married and start a family so I can enjoy more grandchildren before I leave this world.”

Tilting his head back, Ramón let his father’s words sink in, realizing how true they were. He gave his father’s hand a firm squeeze, and said, “I’m working on that one, Pop. Just be patient, okay?”

When Ramón walked into Lori’s house, he did a double take and then smiled. The last time he’d seen her she had been dressed in her GAA uniform, looking spiffy and totally in charge. Now she was wearing black stretch pants, thong sandals and a skimpy white halter top that showed off smooth tan shoulders and a lot more cleavage than he had seen on the dance floor. She looked like a teenager with her hair, now freed from its neat French twist, falling loosely around her face in a soft cascade of jet-black curls that brushed cheeks devoid of makeup.

Lori propped her broom against the table in the foyer and grinned at Ramón, sending a jolt of pleasure straight into his gut.

“Hi,” she said, wiping her brow with the back of one hand. “You just called! Either you were already close by or you broke the speed limit getting here. Which is it?”

“I wasn’t that far away. Stopped to see my dad.”

“Really? Where does he live?”

“Old Mill Assisted Living Center.”

“Oh, yeah. Over on Huffman near Broad?”

“Right. After I left him, I headed straight here. And yes, I did keep an eye on my rearview mirror for any black and whites that might be on my tail,” he said with a wink, knowing he’d rolled through that last stop sign at the intersection leading to Lori’s street—after looking both ways, of course.

During the drive to her house, he’d thought of nothing but how shaky her voice had sounded on the phone, how anxious and panicky she must be. He was not about to leave her house until he had done all he could to make her feel safe. “Give that to me,” he told Lori, taking hold of the broom. “Go sit down and watch TV or something. Let me take over from here.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said forcefully, tugging on the broomstick, her eyes squinting in earnest. “Sweeping up glass, I can do. Fixing a trashed alarm? No. So you get busy with the alarm, while I clean up the rest of this glass.”

“You’ve got a deal. Show me where the control box is and leave it to me,” Ramón agreed.

“It’s in the garage. And it’s stifling hot out there. I can hook up a fan if you want.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” Ramón commented, following Lori through the kitchen toward the door to the garage. However, walking behind her, what he really wanted was to place both palms on her sweet round hips, which were so deliciously encased in her black Capri pants. The sight was too beautiful for words. Sucking in a breath, he ripped his eyes away from her perfectly shaped rear end. The last thing he wanted was for Lori to turn around and see the growing bulge in his pants, though he knew there was no way to slow his growing desire to possess her completely.

Once Lori restored as much order to her trashed bedroom as possible, she stripped her bed of ruined linens, stuffed them in two heavy-duty trash bags and headed through the kitchen to the garage. There she paused in the doorway and drank in the delicious sight of Ramón, shirtless, standing in the garage with his back to her while removing the broken control box.

Lori’s heart did a jerky flip, sending pulses of heat between her legs and into the pit of her stomach. He looked so damn good with his longish black hair tied back with a red handkerchief and his smooth V-shaped torso glistening back at her. Lori ran her tongue over her bottom lip and gulped back the surprising surge of desire that rose within her. As she watched him twist wires and adjust levers, she realized that he was singing the song they had danced to in Club Azule. Was that a coincidence, or was he trying to send her some kind of a message?

Damn he’s hot! Why did he have to take off his shirt? Show me so much skin? Tempt me like this when the last thing I need is to get tangled up with a stranger?

“There’s a radio over there on that shelf,” she said casually, stepping into the garage.

Ramón’s head swiveled around in surprise. He flashed a killer smile at her, sending more pulses of heat through Lori, who drew in a short breath to cool down. After depositing the trash bags in the large rolling bin, she went over to the cluttered shelf, picked up a battered boom box and handed it to Ramón. “Here. Put it on any station you want. Then you won’t have to sing to yourself.”

Ramón reached out, as if to take the radio, but covered her hand with his instead. With an insistent tug, he guided her closer, slipped his hands beneath her arms and cupped her elbows with his palms. Only the small blue radio that Lori was holding prevented her body from molding flush to his. “No, thanks,” he replied in a husky tone. “I’d rather listen to my own singing…unless it rattles you.”

His remark slid over Lori like a layer of sweet syrup, easing through her veins to pool in her chest. He had a way of saying the most mundane things in the most sensual way, stirring up emotions that threatened Lori’s composure.

“Don’t worry. You could never rattle me, unless I allowed you to,” she countered, setting the radio down, shifting her hips to one side while eyeing Ramón with a dare of a gaze.

“Never?” he repeated. “You sound awfully sure about that.”

“I am.”

“Hmm. Okay. Let’s give it a test. Does this rattle you?” he whispered, feathering a finger along the side of her neck and down to rest on her bare shoulder.

“Not at all,” Lori replied, luxuriating in the shivers initiated by his touch, knowing it was pointless to deny that she was getting all hot and bothered. “In fact, that feels pretty good,” she admitted, knowing she was telling the truth.

Encouraged, Ramón graced her with a misty half smile and then dipped down to graze his lips across hers in a brush of a kiss before pulling back to check her reaction. “How about that?”

Lori felt the muscles in her tunnel of love contract, relax and then tighten again as she connected with the yearning expression darkening his features.

“Getting close,” she admitted, watching him with guarded eyes as his self-assured smile widened, brightening his face.

With just a touch on her cheek and a light brush of a kiss, he’d turned on the kind of sexual heat that Lori knew spelled trouble. There was no denying that his effect on her was too dramatic to ignore, too delicious to dismiss and too intensely inviting to pass up. However, she planned to keep a tight rein on the pace of this rapidly evolving encounter and not get caught up in the drama of too much togetherness too soon. Yes, Ramón did rattle her, but she liked the feeling of not knowing what to expect. He made her want to do things she shouldn’t even be thinking about, let alone hoping would happen.

Ramón’s heart was racing like a video on fast forward. In front of him stood the most beautiful and exciting woman he’d met in a long time, with her gorgeous face, vibrant energy and a teasing attitude that turned him on. He flattened his palms on the backs of her arms and inhaled her scent—delicate, sweet and as intoxicating as deep red wine. God, how he’d love to ease her down on the concrete garage floor and take her this very minute, and from the signals she was sending out, she just might be down with such a move.

During his drive to her house, he’d thought of the delicious press of her thighs on his, the warmth of her breasts filling his hands, the touch of her fingers on the erection that was now swelling in his pants. Now with tentative steps, Ramón guided Lori to the side of her car and positioned her back against the driver’s-side door. He leaned over her, inching closer until the buds of her hardened nipples burned twin spots of desire into his bare chest. Bracing his hands against the car on either side of Lori’s face, he locked her in place and studied her features with languorous eyes, not about to rush her into anything, though he sure as hell wasn’t going to let an opportunity like this pass him by.

Lori stilled under Ramón’s piercing, dreamy brown eyes, knowing he was waiting for a go-ahead signal from her. Her body was taut, aching for his touch—and she didn’t want the feeling to slip away. What she wanted was to feel him all over her, inside her, tasting and teasing and probing places that were in desperate need of attention.

What the hell? How far can things go inside my garage? she rationalized, arching forward and flattening her breasts against his chest while stifling the moan of joy that crept into her throat. She let him push her back against the car, inviting Ramón to press closer and devour her mouth in a deep, probing kiss. As their tongues explored and flicked over each other in their search for satisfaction, Ramón’s fingers worked on the knot in the straps that held Lori’s halter top in place. When the soft white fabric fell to her waist, Lori gulped back her need, parted her legs and guided Ramón to stand between them.

Lowering his head, he lifted one warm breast to his mouth and slid his tongue across the nipple before suckling it with a pull that ignited emotional flames in Lori. She welcomed the burn of his tongue and the scorch of his fingers, loving the blistering press of his pleasure-tool as it grew hard against the flat of her stomach.

“Hey, Lori!” Brittany’s voice bounced against the closed garage door and jolted Lori out of her self-indulgent trance. “Ohmigod! It’s my neighbor,” Lori hissed, forcing Ramón to back away so she could pull up her halter top and re-tie the straps.

“Not a word,” she whispered to Ramón as she pressed the button to raise the garage door, pushing an explosion of black curls out of her eyes.

“Hey, there you are,” Brittany said, walking into the garage, her focus shifting from Lori to Ramón and then back to her neighbor. “No answer at the front door, so I thought you might be out here.”

“Right, right. Just emptying the trash. Come on through,” Lori rushed to say, beckoning Brittany forward. “Brittany, uh, this is Ramón Vidal…from Vida-Shield Security. He’s fixing my alarm.”

“Oh, yeah. I saw his truck in the driveway. Hello, Ramón,” Brittany said with a nod in his direction. “Good idea to get that thing back up and running right away.” She turned back to Lori. “Need any help cleaning up over here?”

“Thanks, but I think we’ve got it covered,” Lori huffed, throwing a nervous glance at Ramón, who nodded his agreement and said, “Yeah, we’re doing just fine.”

Lori cringed at the hint of a smirk that tugged the corner of Ramón’s mouth and the sexy tone he’d used, certain that Brittany must be wondering what was going on.

“Ramón is gonna fix the broken window in the dining room, too,” Lori rushed to say. “And he’s arranged for a cleaning company to come out and deal with the paint.”

“You two are moving right along, huh?” Brittany observed.

“That’s right,” Ramón replied, reaching for his screwdriver and resuming his work. “Best to move quickly when you have a lot of ground to cover. Won’t take me long to make Lori safe again.”

“That’ll be a relief,” Lori remarked with a fast roll of her eyes at Ramón while making her way toward the door leading into the house. “Come on in, Brit. I can use a glass of water.”

“Me, too,” Brittany concurred, fanning her fingers in front of her face. “It’s too damn hot to stay out here.”

As soon as they were in the kitchen, Lori closed the door and leaned against it, her attention sharply focused on Brittany. “Okay…I know you didn’t come over here just to offer your help or get a glass of water, did you?”

“Hell, no. When I saw Mr. Security Expert get out of his truck, I knew I had to see this guy up close. Is he for real? Shit…where’d you find a hunk like that to fix your alarm system?” she asked, stabbing Lori with a skeptical expression. “The Yellow Pages or a personal hookup?”

Adopting an amused, but pensive expression, Lori paused, and then said, “Personal connection.”

“Okaaaay…so, he’s a friend?”

“I guess you could call him that,” Lori hedged, removing two glasses from the cabinet, which she filled with ice and cold water from her refrigerator door.

Brittany tapped a long acrylic fingernail on Lori’s kitchen counter, signaling her curiosity. “He’s a new friend, then? One I have neither seen nor heard of before today, and one who is hellafine.”

“On that we do agree.” Lori laughed conspiratorially.

“When did you meet him? Where?” Brittany demanded, accepting her drink from Lori.

“He’s the guy I told you about…the one I met on the plane yesterday. Well, no…before that when I danced with him in the club in Acapulco,” she finished in a stammer of words.

A burst of laughter made Brittany step back. “When you said he had it goin’ on, you really meant it.”

Lori locked wide innocent eyes on Brittany. “Did I say that?”

“You did.”

“Yeah, well, what’s your take?” Lori probed.

“I’m not saying anything,” Brittany shot back. “Just observing, and from the looks on your two faces when I walked into the garage, I’d say he’s in more trouble than you.” Chuckling, Brittany sipped her water, and then jerked her head toward the closed garage door. “Come on, let’s go back out there. I want to see more of your gorgeous new friend. In fact, I have a few questions for him.”

Back in the garage, Ramón had bad news. “Sorry to tell you, Lori, but your system is not worth repairing.”

Lori grimaced, shoulders sagging down in disappointment. “Damn. What do you suggest?”

“A whole new system,” he stated in a serious tone, going on to describe his most popular home security alarm. “It has a multilevel digital alarm that’s virtually tamperproof. I can take the measurements today, plan it out for you and install it tomorrow if you want.”

“Well, I guess so. Think insurance will pay?”

“I’m sure they will. If you give me your agent’s name, I’ll verify everything before I proceed,” Ramón offered, clearly enjoying the fact that he could be of help.

“Okay, I’ll get his member,” Lori said, turning to go inside.

“Ramón,” Brittany started as soon as Lori had left the garage, “What’s your opinion of burglar bars?”

“Not always a good idea,” he said, kneeling to put his tools into his toolbox.

Brittany walked up behind Ramón and stared at his bare back, shaking her head in admiration while mouthing the words, Too damn fine! “Why not burglar bars?” she asked.

Ramón stopped what he was doing and looked up at Brittany. “Well, they could cause more harm than good,” he said, sounding like an authority. “If you get trapped inside a house with those bars when you need to get out, you’re doomed. If you decide to install them, just make sure they have release latches on the inside.”

“Makes sense,” Brittany replied, unable to tear her eyes off Ramón when he stood up and pulled his T-shirt over his head, just as Lori retuned with the insurance agent’s number.

“Thanks,” he said, appraising Lori with obvious longing. “Tomorrow, I’ll install an entirely new system. There are several models to choose from. If you want…”

“Whatever you recommend,” Lori interrupted, confident that he would not steer her wrong.

“As long as it keeps those punk-ass vandals out,” Brittany spoke up. “Summer vacation has only just started. Who knows how bad this might get over the summer? We all gotta be prepared.”

“You might want to think about starting a community-watch program out here,” Ramón suggested, snapping on his red baseball cap.

“Humm. How’s that work? Are the police involved?” Brittany wanted to know.

“Oh, yeah. They partner with citizens’ watch programs all the time. They’ll help you organize patrols, provide training and serve as backup when you need them.”

“That sounds like a good, proactive approach. What would we have to do?” Lori inquired, intrigued by the idea of taking an active role in protecting herself.

“You just get the residents together and form teams to walk or drive the streets. You’ll send a message to the criminals that you’re not gonna sit back and let them take control of your neighborhood,” Ramón replied, going on to tell Brittany and Lori about other subdivisions in the area that had decreased crime substantially after starting such a program. “Act now and you put the punks on notice.”

Lori gestured toward Ramón, head slanted to the side. “Think you could come and demonstrate your ultrasafe home security systems at our next homeowners’ meeting?”

“Be happy to,” Ramón replied, tossing a spool of duct tape into his toolbox. “I’m at your disposal. All you have to do is tell me what you want.”

Lori blinked, tamped down a smile and exhaled a soft breath.

“Aaall right…” Brittany said, filling the awkward lull in a too loud voice. “Where do we start?”

“Call your homeowners’ association president and suggest a meeting with a rep from the police department who could come out and explain what’s involved,” Ramón offered.

“Well, Detective Washington was very nice. Maybe we should ask him to be our liaison,” Brittany volunteered.

“I’m sure you’d like that,” Lori agreed with a You’re-not-fooling-anybody look.

“He knows our situation and knows what’s going on,” Brittany said.

“Why don’t you give him a call?” Lori suggested.

“I will. I’ll call him right now and see if he’ll agree to help us,” Brittany said. With a choppy finger wave, she hurried down the driveway and across her lawn to disappear inside her house.

As soon as Brittany left, Lori lowered the garage door and turned to face Ramón. “Come on, I’ll show you where the broken window is.”

Without a word, Ramón reached out and slipped his index finger under the strap of Lori’s halter top. “Or we could pick up where we were before your neighbor interrupted.”

Lori hesitated for a nanosecond, seriously considering his proposal, but knew better than to act on her out-of-control desires. She quickly removed his hand from her halter top strap and said, “No way. We have too much to do. We can’t be messing around like this anymore.”

Lori pivoted around and started to walk away.

Ramón stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Why can’t we do both?” he softly urged, voice rough and low.

“Because well, we just can’t,” Lori stuttered, flustered by the beam of lust he was shooting at her in a seductive squint that was impossible to ignore. Now that she’d allowed him to sample her private treasures, he clearly wanted more. And she did, too.