“I was just going to suggest a change of vehicle. Xander is on the ground in L.A. now. I’ll have him call you to arrange something. Got a place to stay?”
No, and night was coming in a few hours. Del was exhausted and needed somewhere she could feel safe. “We could go to a motel.”
But Tyler didn’t love the idea. Carlson would expect that in L.A. He had too many eyes and ears in this city. Motels were public. It would be too easy for Carlson to get a dirty judge to issue a warrant for their arrest and a SWAT team to come after them.
“I don’t think that’s wise,” Jack said. “If you’ve got eyes on you . . .”
Clearly, Jack was thinking right along the same lines, and Tyler wasn’t about to put Del in more danger.
“Any other suggestions?”
“Leave it up to Xander. He’s from that neck of the woods. Money can buy you a lot of security, and Logan says he has a shitload of it.”
“I’m not looking for a handout or a babysitter, just a little help.”
Jack laughed. “Xander likes playing at the edges of this dangerous shit, so if you want his help, you’re going to have to suck it up and take it all.”
Just fucking dandy. “All right. We’ll try to find someplace to lay low until he calls.”
The line went dead. For all Jack’s good-ol’-Cajun-boy routine, he still had a lot of Special Forces and suspicious bastard in him. Tyler related.
He tossed the phone on the dashboard, aware of Del’s stare. “Now what?”
Before he could shove his rage down again and find an answer, his phone rang. PRIVATE CALLER displayed.
“What?” he growled into the phone.
“Tyler?” a man asked.
“Who wants to know?”
The man on the other end of the line laughed. “All you sons of bitches are cautious. It’s Xander.”
He relaxed. The cavalry had arrived—damn quick. “Yeah. Thanks for the vehicular assistance across country.”
“No sweat. Your truck is making its way back to Lafayette as we speak. May likes driving it. She’ll drop it off with Alyssa. I guess they know each other.”
“Really?” Tyler frowned.
“Same profession, at least once upon a time.”
In other words, they’d both been strippers. “Thank May for me.”
“No worries. I have something really special in mind.”
Tyler heard the playful lechery in the other man’s voice. “Great. Spare me the details.”
Xander laughed, something robust and genuine. “I’m not great at sharing anyway. Ask my brother. But that’s another subject for another day. Tell me where you are and what you need.”
“A new car. A place to stay, if you’ve got one. We have to start tracking down some people and information.”
“Done.” Xander didn’t hesitate. “Can you meet me at the little regional airport in Santa Monica in thirty minutes?”
Tyler gauged the number of miles to the destination versus the traffic. “Yeah.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
“Since we’ve never met, how will I know you?”
“You got a pretty girl with you?” Xander asked playfully.
He gnashed his teeth and gripped the phone. “Yeah, but I don’t fucking share at all.”
Xander laughed. “I’ll find you.”
Ending the call, Tyler frowned. He had no idea how to take the bastard. A prankster or a player? With a shake of his head, he tossed his cell back on the dashboard. God, more shit. It all just pissed him off.
Del’s brow furrowed. “That didn’t sound like it went very well. How well do we know this guy?”
“Jack says he’s rich, knows L.A., and has connections.”
“What is he, a drug dealer?”
“Logan wouldn’t make friends with a criminal, guaranteed. He’s as true-blue as they come. Xander apparently helped him save Tara from something really dangerous before they were married, and they’re tight. Logan says he’s a stand-up guy. I have to guess that Xander likes yanking people’s chains a bit.”
“Great.”
They spent the next few minutes in silence, Del using Tyler’s phone to send Alyssa texts to check up on Seth and finding that all was well. Knowing that seemed to calm her. He was glad one of them was coming down from the rush. Tyler still felt like a ticking bomb.
“Thank you,” she began. “For everything you’ve done. You didn’t have to—”
“Stop there.” Tyler sent her an unyielding glare. “Yes, I did. It’s your problem, and Seth’s problem. Therefore, it’s my problem. Because I care. Don’t act like I’m doing you a huge fucking favor. I want to take care of you, and you know it. I’m trying to prove it. After watching Eric damn near molest you, I’m not really in the mood for the distance you’re trying to put between us. You say you just want to fuck until we sort all this out, and no way am I turning that down. But don’t pull this overly polite shit and try to keep walls between us.”
“But—”
“No,” he growled. “Remember, we did it your way two years ago and it was a huge clusterfuck. It’s my way now. And if you don’t stop, you’re going to find out exactly how possessive and insistent I can be. As it is, I’m fighting my inner caveman. After watching Eric put his hands all over you, it’s all I can do not to go back and beat the fuck out of him. Or stop the car right now, strip those annoying clothes off of you, and get you underneath me.” He pulled the sunglasses down to the bridge of his nose and looked at her with a blatantly masculine demand. “Your pick.”
DEL blinked, then blinked again. Holy hell. This was affable, laugh-a-minute playboy Tyler?
“I—I . . . Neither.”
“Buzz! Wrong answer. Try again.”
“What is the matter with you?”
“You really have to ask?”
No, she supposed she didn’t. The situation with Eric had been beyond tense. Tyler might be laid back most times, but apparently he had a big ol’ alpha streak, and she’d just run smack into it. He was edgy, his thumb tapping rapidly on the steering wheel.
“You’re awfully . . . aggressive.”
“Welcome to the real me. When you were married to Eric, you saw the pal, the prankster. You saw the guy who didn’t take much seriously because I didn’t have anything to be serious about. I still want to have fun, but when it comes to you, I’m serious as a fucking heart attack.”
His words should scare her. But it felt so good to be so wanted. It was probably temporary. He’d never been a forever kind of man. If she let him, he’d screw her out of his system. That was probably for the best. She couldn’t imagine trying commitment again.
“Tyler, we said we would just . . . be together while this stuff is going on.”
“No. You suggested that. I never agreed. I walked away once because you asked me to. I told you, I won’t do it again.”
Del saw the signs for the turnoff to the airport. She grimaced. “When have you ever thought about settling down with one woman in your life? You, who nailed a different woman every night, sometimes more than one? You used to get drunk and talk about your daddy running off. Your mother told you that you’re just like him—and you agreed. You can’t be hearing your biological clock ticking since you have a son. So what’s with the sudden change of heart?”
Tyler gripped the wheel. He looked mad. Madder than mad, actually. “Maybe I don’t want to buy into the old bullshit anymore. So my mom thought I was a deadbeat. I can’t prove that she’s wrong. But there’s a huge difference between marrying a girl straight out of high school that you knocked up and wanting a woman who makes you feel whole. Even when everything between us was supposed to be bad and wrong two years ago, I felt a connection to you. A . . . completeness. I’m beginning to realize that I’ve never given another woman a chance because they weren’t you. I’d built rituals around you, Del, like Tuesday tacos and Sunday afternoon movies, not because I loved the cuisine or the flicks, but because I loved—”
“Don’t say it.” Del’s heart pounded. She shouldn’t, but she wanted to hear the words. God knew how badly she wanted the father of her son—and the lover in her fantasies—to care about her. “You’re mixing up friendship and protectiveness with anything more lasting.”
“You don’t know shit about how I feel. But you keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. I’ll be right on your sweet ass, tackling all your misconceptions until you believe me.”
Before she could get a word in, Tyler released her and swung the car into the asphalt lot, shoved the car in park, then hurtled out the door.
Del ran to catch up with him, blinking like she was seeing him for the very first time. And maybe she was. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I’m sorry.”
He stopped, then backed her against the trunk of the car. “You’re making me crazy. I need you. I need to know that you’re safe. I need you naked now, with those pretty blue eyes all wide and dazed, your sweet thighs spread, and my name on your lips.”
She swallowed. Tyler made that sound way too appealing. The bottom fell out of her stomach, and she dug her fingers into him, trying to figure out how things had gotten out of hand so quickly. Before she could say a word, he propped his foot up on the bumper of the car and leaned in. No mistaking his erection, long and thick behind his zipper. Then he fisted her hair and gently pulled, positioning her lips right beneath his. He devoured her, no pleasantries. Just all possession and heat. And she melted against him with a moan.
She was probably setting herself up for heartbreak, given her skittishness since the divorce and the number of women Tyler had taken to bed. She couldn’t forget the times he’d said that he’d rather cut off the protruding parts of his body with a dull, rusty knife than commit to one woman. What had changed about him, really? And why, when he touched her, did the craving dig in? Her brain shut down—and her heart took over. Every time he touched her, Tyler made her feel like not only the most important woman but the only one in the world.
This time was no different. She wrapped her arms around his neck, knowing it wasn’t smart, knowing she’d probably wind up alone and hurt . . . but she couldn’t bring herself to care. It would be easy to tell herself that she needed a balm after Eric had made her feel dirty and used. But it was more than that. Way more. The first time Tyler had kissed her, she’d felt a zing all the way to her soul. Some part of her had been overjoyed when she’d learned she was pregnant because she’d known she’d have a part of Tyler forever.
Damn, she had it bad for him.
He angled his head to get deeper into her mouth. So hot, so single-minded. Delaney felt every nerve in her body light up in anticipation. When he cupped her breast and thumbed her nipple in the middle of the parking lot in broad daylight, she couldn’t find the will to care. He was a drug to her system, and she was addicted.
“I can’t get enough,” he murmured against her lips. “I’ll never get enough. Every time I taste you, I only want more.”
“Well,” said a masculine drawl behind them. “Unless you’re trying to attract attention or you’d like to get arrested for public indecency, you need to save it until I can get you a room.”
With a gasp, she broke away from Tyler and glanced around him to see the familiar face of one the richest, most notorious, and most gossiped about playboys in Los Angeles.
“Xander Santiago?” She gasped, then turned to Tyler. “This is Logan’s friend? He’s your idea of laying low?” At Tyler’s nod, she shook her head. “We’re doomed.”
Chapter Twelve
XANDER didn’t try very hard to suppress a grin as he held out a hand to Del. “Nice to meet you. I guess you’ve heard of me?”
Who hadn’t? Anyone who lived around here knew all about the money—and the exploits—of the infamous Santiago brothers. Tyler could hardly believe this was Logan’s buddy from a Dallas BDSM club. Then again, if Xander was into tying up women and spanking them, he’d have a more difficult time keeping a lid on that in this city, where everyone knew his face. With a private plane, the middle of the country and relative anonymity was just a few hours away.
“Of course I do. My name is Delaney.” She shook his hand. “I’m an L.A. native.”
The other man smiled at that, his hazel eyes sparkling with mischief under his sleek brows and two-hundred-dollar haircut. Tyler had no trouble understanding why he’d had so many women all over the country willing to help him out. Besides being sinfully rich, Xander was a good-looking SOB and a natural flirt. Tyler fought the urge to punch him in his perfect face for caressing Del with his stare.