She expected him to be annoyed. She did not expect him to give her a look that made her stomach flutter.
“You had a long day not to mention a long journey.” His voice was surprisingly sympathetic. He turned back to Martinez. “I need to take my guest home.”
“My men will escort you out of the favela,” Martinez said. “Different route, but safer.”
Before Charly could protest, Antonio swept her up in his arms and started walking away with her.
“Andrade, we still need to talk about this,” Martinez called after him.
“Call Renata. Make an appointment.”
“Dammit, you know she hates me.”
“Not my problem,” Antonio said.
“You don’t have to carry me,” Charly said, then yawned again.
“Can’t have you falling at my feet.”
“Nonsense.” But she snuggled closer. His body was warm, and she was starting to get chilled.
Before she knew it, it was lights out.
6
Though Antonio’s instincts were pointing to the target of the sniper as Sousa, the shooting still rattled him.
He glanced over at Dr. Bennett. They were in the back of the Mercedes SUV. She was laying across the seat. He even didn’t mind that she propped her feet on his lap. He felt a bit guilty that he put her to work immediately, guiltier still she’d almost had her head blown off had the sniper been sloppy. She was too important an asset to lose. He needed to do a better job of protecting her.
A smile touched his mouth. Poor woman didn’t argue one bit when he helped her through the makeshift chemical shower at the back of the truck that followed the Anriotech team. With their suits decontaminated, Charly even let him strip her from it.
The death of Pierre Hudson only stressed the importance of finding this Doctor Z and whoever was helping him.
His eyes met Oscar’s in the rear-view mirror. An approaching car illuminated his driver’s face and revealed the crinkle in the corners of his eyes. What did he find amusing?
“Almost there, Patron.”
What? That was quick.
Had it been thirty minutes already?
The doctor shifted in the seat and he stiffened as her socked foot grazed over his cock and his fucking prick stirred.
Que porra é essa. What the fuck?
“You might want to wake her up,” Oscar said as they turned into the gated estate.
“She’s fine.”
“What? What?” She startled awake and swung her legs to the floor of the vehicle to slip her feet back into her clogs. Antonio breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t maim him, but he continued hardening beneath the zipper of his jeans. He tried to ignore his inappropriate thoughts about the doctor.
It was a good thing instead of getting out from his side, he followed her out of the Mercedes, because the moment her feet touched the ground, she nearly took the hinges off the door when she stumbled.
“Oh shit,” she said, and Antonio swept her up in his arms again.
“Can’t have you get a concussion,” he said as a dazed doctor stared up at him. “We need that brain of yours for the next few days.”
“Thanks,” she grumbled. “I think it was my blood pressure from getting up too quickly. I think I’m fine.”
“Why deny yourself the express service to your bedroom?”
“If I wasn’t too comfortable right now, I’d have something to say about that.”
“Thank God,” he murmured as he skipped up the steps to the mansion.
He barely made it up to the top of the steps when the door was flung open and Renata, Luis, Nico, and Ida rushed out to greet them.
“What happened?” Renata demanded.
“Is she hurt?” Luis asked.
Antonio strode past the group. “Ida, follow me.”
“Antonio,” Renata’s exasperated voice called out to him. “What of Pierre?”
He stopped and turned to her. “His body is with the medical examiner.”
“He’s really dead?”
He nodded grimly. “We’ll discuss it in the morning.”
“The news said there was a shooting.” Luis kept pace with him.
“The Corindo gang leader was shot. Probably silenced,” Antonio replied. “Sousa was his name.” He shrugged. “Someone else is going to take his place.” He did not elaborate that the target could have been Dr. Bennett or himself.
“Who killed him?” Nico asked.
“Sniper. Probably the one who hired him to kill Pierre.”
“Are you sure?” Renata asked.
Irritation from their questions started to grate on his nerves. He stopped at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the rooms and faced everyone tailing him. “No. Nothing is sure. Martinez will contact you tomorrow, Renata. We’ll go to the office early. Right now, take your rest,” Antonio exhaled heavily. “It has been a long damned forty-eight hours and I’m exhausted.”
“I can take her, chefe,” Oscar offered. “If you want to retire to bed.”
His grip tightened around Charly. “I got her. She weighs nothing.” He jerked his head at Ida to follow him and left his audience.
At the top of the steps, his housekeeper asked him, “Is senhorita okay?”
“I expected too much from her,” Antonio admitted. “The poor woman was about to fall on her feet.”
“I’m awake, you know,” the doctor mumbled. “I don’t care if I’m being needy right now. Just so you know.”
A chuckle rumbled up his throat. “It’s okay to be needy.”
Her nose burrowed further into him. Antonio had a natural avoidance of clingy women but he didn’t mind it with Dr. Bennett because theirs was clearly a working relationship. She was not even the type of woman he liked to fuck. He liked his women with meat on them. Was he trying to rationalize his unexpected arousal earlier? That was a simple fluke.
When they arrived at her door, Antonio told Ida, “Tomorrow, transfer her things to the bedroom beside me.”
“What? Why?” said the sleepy woman in his arms.
“It’s a better bedroom,” he replied.
Ida unlocked the door for them and hurried to switch on the nightlamp.
He laid her on the bed and backed away.
The doctor braced up on her elbows and split a look between him and Ida.
