The Cartel Lawyer by Dave Daren (ebook reader below 3000 TXT) 📕

“Yes,” I said with a reassuring grin. “I just can’t wait to get my client out of that place.”

“You’re a good man,” she said with a nod of her head before she opened her door.

I put the car in park, turned it off, and then walked around to offer her my arm.

“What floor do you live on?” I asked as I looked down at her kitten heels and wobbly stance.

“The top floor!” she declared while she pumped her hand in the air.

“Then I’ll help you up,” I chuckled.

“Sounds like a plan,” she mumbled as she searched her bag for her keys.

She pulled out a keychain on a lanyard and then marched toward her building with me right behind her. She led me over to an old lift elevator, and I braced myself as I stepped onto the rickety machine. It jolted and shook before it began to rise, but thankfully it reached the third floor without falling apart.

“Is this you?” I asked when she stopped in front of one of the doors and began to fumble with her keys.

“Yep,” she said with a smile and a roll of her eyes. “I’m not so drunk that I can’t find my own apartment.

“Just want to make sure,” I teased.

“I do appreciate that,” she told me as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. “I’m really glad I met you.”

“I’m glad I met you, too,” I said.

I was about to turn toward the rickety elevator, my job done since she was back home safe, when she threw herself into my arms and planted a kiss on my lips.

I was still processing what had happened when she shut the door in my face.

Chapter 14

“Wow,” I whispered to the closed door.

It wasn’t an articulate moment on my part, but my brain still hadn’t kick-started again after the beautiful Brazilian reporter had kissed me. My lips still tingled with the pressure from hers, and I vaguely remembered the pillow softness of her bow shaped mouth against mine.

I licked my lips as I started back to the slow elevators, and I tasted the sweetness of coke mixed with the spice and bite of a good rum. I grinned as I stepped onto the elevator as I thought about the fact that she had made the first move. As exciting as that was, I would need to see what she thought about it when she was a little more sober.

The drive back to my apartment was quick, and all too soon I had parked my ancient blue Honda into its usual spot. I waved at the young goon in his black car, and it occurred to me I hadn’t seen him around Eloa’s apartment complex. He’d made it back to my home before I did, probably to keep an eye out for me, though I was sure a full report would be made to Alvaro and Osvaldo, and I wondered how that would go.

My mind wandered back to Eloa’s soft lips as I climbed the steps to my apartment, the faint taste of rum and coke that still lingered, and the slightly saucy grin she’d given me before she shut the door in my face. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, and with her honey-brown eyes and golden skin she was sure to catch any man she wanted.

The image of her round backside in her tight black shorts hung in my mind as I turned the key in my apartment door. I half-expected to see Alvaro on my couch again, but the apartment was thankfully empty, so I stripped down and headed straight for a very cold shower.

Icy water washed over my head and down my body as I tried to force my mind to think of anyone or anything but Eloa. The gorgeous woman lingered long after I’d started to prune, and with a sigh, I shut off the water. I needed something else to clear my mind, something a good run often helped with, though I’d just taken a shower and the idea of taking a run right after that seemed counterproductive.

I laid in bed with my eyes closed while I tried to get my mind to stop daydreaming about the feel of soft lips on mine, and the ample curves of the Brazillian bombshell. But it was a losing battle, and I finally gave up and traded my bed for my running shoes.

The man across the street had started to doze off when I strolled up to his car with my hands in the pockets of my gym shorts. He jolted awake the second he heard the scuff of my shoes on the black asphalt.

“Still up?” he asked with a sly grin.

“Going for a run,” I huffed. “I’ll be back when I’m done.”

“I’ll be here,” he shrugged.

“Not going to join me?” I asked with a chuckle.

“I’m not the one trying to get a woman off my mind,” the young man countered as he settled into his seat again and closed his eyes.

I sighed as the goon slipped back into a light sleep. I just needed to clear my head so my usual two-and-a-half mile trail would be enough, and then I could finally get some rest.

It was almost three in the morning as I jogged the nearly empty streets of Miami. The city was still asleep, and only a few other weary souls slogged out to their early morning shifts with coffee and dead looks in their eyes. They paid no attention to me as I ran past, and it wasn’t so hard to imagine that I’d wandered into some zombie apocalypse. I envied them for the sleep they must have enjoyed if only for a few hours as I left them behind in favor of the park near my apartment.

The smell of