Chapter Three

"Any news?" I ask Finn, staring out the kitchen window at the beach. Two seagulls swoop low over the sand, pecking at what I assume is a hermit crab. Waves crash against the shoreline behind them, spraying upward where the water collides with a group of rocks. It"s so early that the sun hovers just over the horizon, turning the water a kaleidoscope of orange, green, yellow, and blue. The sky is cloud-free, promising more of the perfect weather that drew me to Santa Cruz in the first place.

I spend most of my time in LA rubbing elbows with four million other people. Doing what I do, dealing with the people I deal with…I crave solitude. I don"t want to deal with people when I get time away. I want peace and quiet. Santa Cruz offers that. I can spend days at a time in the condo or on the beach and never see another person. Never speak to another person unless I choose to do so. When I"m here, I can let my guard down and relax in a way I can"t in Los Angeles.

At least I could until I convinced Mila to stay.

She"s been like a ghost since I left her standing in the kitchen two nights ago. It took everything I had not to kiss her. But after seeing that sweet smile, I knew I couldn"t fucking go there with her.

I didn"t tell her that, though. I just walked out.

I"ve seen her twice since. Once from a distance as I jogged down the beach yesterday morning and once more as she slipped into the guest room last night. But just knowing she"s here has me on edge. Actually, that's a lie. It"s making me fucking crazy.

I don"t know if she"s avoiding me, but it certainly feels like it.

That"s making me crazy too.

For the first time since I bought the condo, being here has me more on edge than LA ever did.

"If they"re looking for you, they"re doing so quietly," Finn says, recalling my attention. "I don"t think they know you were the one who took out their boy."

Well, thank fuck for that.

"I want you to stay out of sight for a while anyway," Finn continues in that no-bullshit tone, dashing the little sliver of hope I had that he"d offer me an out. "At least until we"re able to figure out what the fuck they"re up to. I doubt we"ll manage to stop whatever they"re doing now that the guns are already in the wind, but we"re going to try."

"How long?"

He hesitates. "I don"t know. Give me a few weeks. Hopefully, we"ll know enough by then to make a move."

"Son of a bitch," I mutter, defeat bowing my head. Finn doesn"t take unnecessary risks, not when people like Guerrero are involved, and I can"t fault him for that. But I need something to do, something to focus on. I need to get the fuck out of here, not wait around for a few weeks. I told Mila she could stay, and I"m not going to take that back now, but goddamn. I"m not going to survive weeks of living under the same roof with her.

"I"m going to fucking strangle Brady," I growl.

"Cool it with that shit," Finn warns me as soon as the words are out of my mouth. "He"s fucked up enough over the whole situation without you giving him shit on top of it. You need to call him, man."

"Not happening." I don"t give a shit if he is messed up. I"m stuck here because of him, slowly going out of my damn mind over a girl who"s avoiding me like I"m the big bad wolf. Just thinking about her has me hard and aching for release. I"ve jerked off so much to the memory of her saying my name that my dick is raw, and it still isn"t enough. No way am I going to survive weeks of this shit.

I shouldn"t have told her she could stay. And I damn sure shouldn"t have told Tahani that I was fine with Mila being here when she called yesterday. Clearly, I"m not fine with it.

"He"s the closest thing to a brother you"ve got. He could use your support right now. Stop being a dick and call him," Finn snaps. "Consider it an order."

He doesn"t give me a chance to respond before he hangs up on me.

I drop my cell to the countertop and tip my head back, cursing under my breath. He"s right. Brady is like a brother to me, and I am being a dick, but Brady didn"t just slip up and blow the case, losing the guns and our shot at taking out half of the people Guerrero has stationed in Los Angeles. A fucking cartel member tailed him home to his wife and son, had them at gunpoint, and he didn"t have a clue. Had I not shown up when I did, who knows what would have happened to Carla and Andres?

There are rules in this line of work, and they"re inviolable for a reason. You keep your head down and your eyes open, and you don"t get caught. The rules keep people like Carla and Andres safe. They"re the entire fucking reason I"ve spent the last decade of my life keeping Tahani as far from Los Angeles as possible. And that shit fucking kills me.

My time with her has always been shorter than it should have been. I was just a kid when I met her mom, sixteen and wild as all hell. We spent a summer together, and that was that—or so I thought until I got a phone call fourteen years later from a precocious little girl claiming she belonged to me.

My entire world changed that day. When I met her for the first time a week later, I promised myself I would do whatever I had to do to be a part of her life and keep her safe.

Brady didn"t just put his family in danger. He put mine in danger, too. I was the one who shot Javier in the head when he aimed a gun at Andres. I"m the one they"re going to be looking for if they ever figure out that Brady didn"t kill him. It"s my family that they"re going to come after. My fucking daughter.

That shit isn"t okay with me.

And neither is lusting after her best friend.

Fuck if that"s stopped me, though. I"ve wanted Mila for four damn years. And for four damn years, I"ve fought it, refusing to go there. But a man can only take so much. I can"t have her, but I haven"t been able to touch another woman since I met her because she"s all I think about.

How fucked up is that?

I"m hung up on a girl young enough to be my daughter.

Tahani would kill me if she had a clue about the things I fantasize about doing to Mila. She would rip my balls off if she knew how many times I"ve gotten myself off to the thought of Mila"s lips wrapped around my dick while I fuck her mouth or how many times I"ve come imagining her nails in my skin while she rides me. She'd never speak to me again if she had an inkling of the kinkier shit I've thought about teaching her curvy best friend.

"Oh, um, hi," Mila mumbles from behind me as if simply thinking about her conjured her up.

I spin around to face her, only to bite back a curse as soon as my gaze lands on her. She"s in a bikini. A fucking bikini. Every dip and curve of her gorgeous little body is on display. Her skin looks like silk against the stark white fabric. Her tits practically spill out of the top, her nipples clearly visible through the thin fabric. The tiny bottom barely covers her juicy pussy.

Her hair is pinned up on top of her head, pieces waving wildly around her face. Her green eyes are wide with surprise, and her mouth hangs open as if she didn"t expect to see me here and isn"t sure what to make of me.

Every fucked up, depraved fantasy I"ve had about her over the last four years slams into me like a tidal wave, and I feel myself getting rock hard all over again. My dick strains against the unforgiving zipper of my jeans, throbbing with desire.

"Fuck!" I curse loudly.

She opens her mouth to say something, but I don"t wait around to hear what. Instead, I snatch my phone off the counter and storm out of the room, leaving her standing in the kitchen yet again.