Secure Location - By Beverly Long Page 0,35

“I always thought you were a pit bull. Those other sales reps didn’t have a chance.” He listened, then glanced at Meg. His voice got more serious. “I’m not exactly here on a vacation,” he said. “I’m...helping Meg.”

She sat down on the bed. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

“Hang on, sis.” He held the phone up against his chest. “My sister won a sales contest. It’s a trip to Las Vegas. It’s this weekend. Her husband is out of town on a business trip. She had a babysitter lined up but the woman has the flu. So she doesn’t have anybody to watch her little girl.”

“Oh.” Meg could feel her heart rate accelerate. Elsa didn’t have any other family in Texas. “You should do it,” she said.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “We’re not any closer to finding the creep who’s been hassling you.”

“Maybe because he’s not any closer to me. Maybe he’s had his fun and he’s moved on to his next victim.”

He hesitated and then put the phone back to his ear. “As usual your big brother can bail you out. Drop off the rug rat anytime. I’ll have her tossing back shots by noon.”

He listened, laughed and said goodbye. When he clicked the end button, he was shaking his head.

“This should be fun,” he said. “Where should we take her for lunch?”

We. Elsa’s little girl would be almost four, twice the age of Missy when she’d died.

Meg could feel her chest pull even tighter. She felt light-headed, almost dizzy.

She couldn’t help Cruz. She couldn’t watch over a child. She just couldn’t.

“I...I have to work, Cruz. There’s no way I can help you.”

He cocked his head. “You have to work all weekend?” he asked, his tone puzzled but still pleasant.

“Yes. Yes, I do. Scott gave me a special project. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

She could see the muscles in Cruz’s jaw tighten. “I’m not trying to get in the way of your work, Meg. But I thought we might spend some time together. Especially after last night.”

He sounded so wounded that she almost caved. But if he knew about the past, he’d realize that both he and his niece were better off without her.

“Last night was...nice. But it didn’t change anything.”

“Nice?” He threw off the blanket, grabbed his briefs off the floor and yanked them on. Then he started to pace around the room. “Are you kidding me?” He ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end. “Nice?” His voice was louder, harsher. “Thanks for the time in the sack, Cruz. I had an itch and you scratched it so very nicely. Now, I’m good to go for another year or so—” he threw her a look that could kill “—or until I get up close and friendly with my boss.”

She felt stiff and old and so brittle that if she bumped into anything little pieces would fall off. With as much dignity as she could, given that she was still naked, she gathered up her discarded clothes from the night before and walked over to the connecting door. She paused, her back to him. Without turning she said, “For what it’s worth, Cruz, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Then she walked into her room, dumped her clothes in a pile, stepped into the shower and started to cry.

Chapter Ten

Cruz stood in the lobby of the hotel and drank his coffee. It was hot and strong, just the way he liked it. But there was nothing that could take away the bitter taste in his mouth.

He’d been a damn idiot. Had opened up the playbook and read something into last night that wasn’t on the page. All Meg had been looking for was a few hours of hot sex. She’d tried to drink her way to oblivion but when that didn’t work, she’d decided to screw her way to it.

He crushed his now-empty paper cup. He wanted to hate her for it. At the very least, he wanted to be able to walk away from her.

But he couldn’t do either. It wasn’t her fault that he’d made it more than it was. She hadn’t promised anything. Certainly hadn’t pledged her love. Had simply gone for his belt buckle and he’d been happy to let her nimble fingers and other equally pliant parts do their thing.

Just sex. That’s all it was.

Amazing sex. So good that after she went to her room to shower, he’d gone from being so angry that the top of his head