Page 42 of Exposed
Nate nodded and focused his gaze ahead of him. Hector’s big, heavy feet scuffed the carpet behind him and Nate worked his jaw.
Hector’s footsteps grew quicker, closing the distance between his and Nate’s slow gait. Nate stopped at the elevator and jabbed the button. Hector’s bulky form sided up to his and Nate nodded again. The elevator hummed, but dropped down to the bottom floor. Christ.
“S’cuse me,” Hector’s gravelly voice boomed behind him.
Nate turned and met his stare. “Yeah?”
“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” The elevator purred to life with a soft beep as it passed each floor. Nate kept his gaze steady, but arched his brows together.
A beat passed. Nate lifted the side of his mouth and the doors swung open. “You mean other than around the ship? No, I don’t think so.” He kept his tone light, stepped into the elevator and Hector followed.
Hector hit the floor’s button below them. He was going back to his room.
Nate hesitated as the doors closed, and then selected a few floors lower. He wouldn’t be able to go to Dylan’s stateroomnow, not when Hector would be getting out on the same floor. It would be too much of a damn coincidence.
The doors shut and the cart whisked smoothly down. Hector tapped his cigarette against his closed fist. “Nah, there’s something else. Weren’t you at dinner a few hours ago?”
Nate groaned inwardly and bit back the smart-assed comments that hovered in his throat. Three hundred other people had been at dinner, it was an obvious as fuck possibility.
“Yeah, I was. Sorry I don’t recall seeing you,” Nate offered with a polite shrug. The elevator dinged and the doors shot open to Hector’s floor, but he didn’t budge from his spot less than two feet away.
“You left, didn’t you? Right in the middle of dinner?”
A cold sweat prickled the center of his back. He flexed his hands in his pockets, ready for Hector to piece the rest together. Hector was an observant motherfucker.
His teeth sank into the back of his tongue and he focused carefully on his words. “Yes, I had an important call I needed to take in my room.” He pulled his hand from his pocket and dragged it over his head and to the back of his neck. “If this is some kind of pickup line…”
Hector’s face pinched into a scowl. His dark eyes flared. Shit, he’d pissed him off.
“A friend of mine went missing on deck during dinner. Did you see anything weird when you left?”
Nate extended his hand in the air. “Sorry, man. I didn’t see anything, I hope he’s all right.”
Hector gave one curt nod, and then stepped over the threshold. “See you around.” He shoved the end of the unlit cigarette back in his mouth and lifted his hand.
Nate waved and the doors closed on Hector’s brooding glare.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
CHAPTER 14
Maddie focused onher slow, even breathing as the light to the ensuite bathroom flicked off. Laying facing the wall, she couldn’t see Carlos but her senses prickled as he moved through the dark room. The sheets beneath her were soft and cool on her skin. The flutter of clothes landing on the floor reached her ears and her fingertips tensed against her cheekbone.
Carlos had been up for hours talking with Hector. She’d pretended to be asleep, staring at the ceiling in the darkened room, waiting for Carlos and Hector to storm in after finding someone who had witnessed her fight with Tony. But that moment never came. If Carlos found out she’d lied about seeing Tony on deck, the charade was up. He’d kill her before she could even get a scream off to Nate.
He cleared his throat and the sheets lifted, followed by a sharp dip in the bed as he got in not-so-quietly. Her heart knocked inside her ribcage. She’d never be at ease sleeping beside him.
Please, pass out. Please, pass out.
She’d been seeing Carlos for more than two weeks and by some stroke of good fortune had managed to dodge having sex with him. Last night he’d been out until the early morning hours with Tony and Hector.
Tonight, it was just her and Carlos under the sheets. Her mind rolled through the rolodex of excuses. Nate’s scent still clung to her skin despite their shower, her cheek still tickled from the soft abrasion of his five o’clock shadow, and the place that still throbbed for him still held his orgasm.
Her eyelids twitched as Carlos shifted in the bed, inching closer to her. She’d worn the most chaste pair of pajamas she owned, cotton pants and a Henley shirt. If it were Nate beside her, she’d be butt naked, eager and ready for him.
Please God, don’t make me have to have sex with this creep.
Carlos’s hand rested on her hip and the scruff on his face brushed against her ear. Ice filled her veins and her muscles seized. His hips thrusted forward, jabbing her in the butt with his dick. She flinched at the invasion and fluttered her eyes.
