Brickell Avenue Ambush by Caridad Piñeiro

Author:Caridad Piñeiro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-10-04T19:29:49+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“I am,” Mariela said and closed the distance between them.

His lips were warm, soft at first, but as the kiss intensified, they became harder. More insistent, and something about that, about the force of it, sent a shiver of fear through her.

Sensing it, Ricky tempered his kiss and inched away, but he stroked his thumb across her cheek and then down across her lips. “I would never hurt you, Mariela.”

“I know, it’s just... I know,” she repeated, reminding herself that Ricky was nothing like Jorge. He was thoughtful and caring. The kind of man a woman would want at her side as a partner. But she’d sensed he had his demons as well.

“Let’s finish this up and see who the inspectors were,” Ricky said and settled back into his chair, giving her needed space.

They went back to work, adding the names of the individuals who had inspected each of the projects to Mariela’s list. Time and time again the same names came up.

“It’s too much coincidence,” Ricky said, leaned back and stroked his chin while reviewing the list.

“What do we do now?” she asked, skimming the names with a finger.

Ricky looked at his watch and then at the list again. “Let’s get phone numbers for these plaintiffs and call to see if they’ll talk to us. If they won’t, maybe their attorneys will.”

“I’m Jorge’s ex-wife. Do you actually think they’ll talk to me?” Mariela said and pushed the pad toward Ricky.

“Good point. But you’re not named in any of the lawsuits,” Ricky said.

Mariela raked her hair back with her fingers. “Still, his ex. For all they know, I had something to do with whatever shady stuff went on.”

Ricky nodded and blew out a rough sigh. “They may not think it was shady stuff, just bad construction.”

Mariela hadn’t thought there was anything underhanded at first either. By the time she’d had serious misgivings about Jorge’s business dealings, she’d been too busy avoiding his barbed words and then his fists. Between that, school and her parents’ illnesses, she hadn’t been able to do anything but focus on how to get out of her abusive marriage.

“You can’t blame yourself,” Ricky said, clearly sensitive to what she was thinking.

In truth, she didn’t blame herself. “I’m not. I was just trying to survive, but I want to make things right.”

Ricky stroked his hand across her back, his touch reassuring. “We will. Together.”

“Together,” she said, grateful that she no longer had to bear the burden alone.

He held up the pad of paper and smiled. “Let’s make those calls.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.