“Why not let me introduce you to Ignacio?”

“I don’t want you attached to this. I can introduce myself.”

“Blake—”

He leaned in and kissed her. “You might be playing with your life, Kara, but I’m not.”

She grabbed his arm. “Don’t get killed. I’m not done with you yet.”

His lips lifted. “Sweetheart, I’m not done with you either and I don’t die easily. You’ll figure that out soon enough.”

He was out of the truck before she could stop him and knocking on the window to tell her to lock up. She did as he wanted and sat there, watching him saunter away, relieved he’d had someone drop weapons at her door. He’d armed himself to the hilt. Oh, how a day changed things. She went from him being a threat to her worried about the threat to him.

“He’s still a threat, Kara,” she whispered, warning herself not to forget something so important.

She spent the next twenty minutes reminding herself of that fact, and that twenty minutes turned to forty. She was nervous. What if something had happened to Blake because of her information?

Kara ran her hands down her black jeans, trying to contain her nervous energy. She’d had enough of the sitting-duck routine. She grabbed her purse, and slid the gun inside. She found a piece of paper in her purse and left Blake her cell number. Next she snatched the truck key and put it in her black leather jacket, for easy access if she needed to get out of here quickly.

Once she was out of the truck, she headed toward a building she’d found that offered good coverage for photos just across the street. Five minutes later, she’d squatted behind a wall and removed her binoculars to check out the pier and hopefully locate Blake.

Scanning, she found the pier and her blood ran cold to see it empty. Something was not right. Something was—

“Hola, Kara,” came a familiar male voice that made her blood run cold.

Kara glanced up to find Ignacio standing above her with a gun in his hand. Blake might not be able to keep that promise he’d made earlier. Ignacio wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, and there would be no pleasure involved.

Part II

Chapter One

“She’s with me and if you don’t drop the gun, I’ll take you to visit my pops.”

Relief washed over Kara at the sound of Blake’s voice and the sight of him holding a gun on Ignacio, though she had no idea what the heck he meant by visiting his “pops”. Maybe it was some sort of slang term Ignacio understood but, truly, she didn’t care. Only seconds before she’d thought she was dead, about to be shot to death in a dark corner, squatting behind a brick wall. Turned out the retail strip she’d thought a perfect spot to spy on the pier, where the Alvarez Cartel shipped off insane amounts of illicit drugs under Ignacio’s supervision wasn’t so perfect at all.

“Your pops?” Ignacio snapped. “What the hell does that mean?”

Okay, so apparently Ignacio didn’t understand Blake’s slang either, but it was distracting him from firing the gun so it worked for her. Kara used the opportunity to ease her hand inside her purse, and close it around the base of her Glock.

“Pops,” Blake said with a snort. “My father. The man who donated sperm to birth me so I could hold this gun I’m pointing at your head. Comprende?”

Ignacio chuckled, but it sounded strained. He wasn’t amused at Blake’s arrogant, nonchalant smart-ass remarks. Kara was, or she would be if Ignacio wasn’t still pointing the damn gun at her. “So our new head of security needs his father to do his dirty work?” Ignacio asked.

Blake shrugged. “What can I say? My pops gets pretty lonely. I hear being dead does that to a guy, though. Would you like to find out for yourself?”

Despite her obviously dire situation, Kara had to choke back laughter that would surely get her a bullet in the head. Oh my God, Blake was crazy and she loved it.

“Do you know who I am?” Ignacio challenged indignantly. He was all about being the boss man’s nephew, but didn’t seem to mind stealing from the drug shipments behind his uncle’s back. Of course, he didn’t know they knew that yet.

“Yep,” Blake confirmed. “I know who you are. Now ask me if I care.”

Kara’s lips twitched. Oh yes. Blake was a piece of work all right. It was almost like he was daring Ignacio to shoot him. Oh God. Her stomach knotted with realization. Blake did want Ignacio to try and shoot him. He was taunting Ignacio into turning the gun on him. Blake was risking his own life for her; a man she was sure would kill her if he knew the truth of who she was and what she was after. Could she get any more confused or conflicted over this man than she was now? Because damn it, she knew he was aligned with the cartel and was easily someone who would kill her if he knew her secret, but still, she couldn’t bear the idea of him dying to protect her.

The cold steel of her weapon comforted her only slightly, considering she couldn’t see Ignacio’s face through the drape of his long, dark hair to gauge his reaction. The barely lit corridor of the building they were in front of didn’t help either, nor did the late hour, but she didn’t miss the way his shoulders bunched and his spine stiffened before he added, “My uncle—”

“Won’t care if I kill you,” Blake assured him. “Not if I give him a good reason for doing it. And I’m real damn good at justifying why I kill people. Put the gun away, or I’ll prove just how good. Of course, you won’t be around to be impressed, but I’m sure your replacement will be.”