The Cartel Lawyer by Dave Daren (popular books to read .TXT) 📗

I focused my attention on the road instead as I neared my apartment, though the constant heavy breathing that came from my phone was hard to ignore. I was grateful when I heard the beep of the machine as she turned it off, but the sound of her drinking water also tempted me to picture the breathtaking woman as she worked out.

“Tonight?” she asked when she’d finished with her water, and I could almost picture her dabbing a towel across her forehead as she left the treadmill behind.

“Yes,” I answered. “Unless you’ve already eaten.”

The sun had almost completely set behind the city horizon as I pulled up to my apartment building. The last golden rays of daylight drifted down the streets while the bright mango, lavender, and dusty rose clouds began to give way to the darkness of night. The evening air had begun to cool, and the salty breeze carried the scent of the ocean.

“I haven’t,” she replied. “But my car is in the shop right now, so we may have to wait until tomorrow when it’s finished.”

“Oh,” I said as I put my ancient blue Honda in park and grabbed my briefcase. “I could pick you up if you want.”

I didn’t want to wait any longer than necessary to tell her that I had to step away from the case. She could find another lawyer to help her out since she had a really strong case against the facility, and I needed to focus on getting Camillo released.

“Or we can relocate dinner to my place,” the Brazillian bombshell suggested.

“I think I can make that work,” I said while I climbed the stairs to my apartment. “I’ll change into something more comfortable and head over. Is half an hour okay?”

“Sure,” she replied. “That’ll give me time to wash up.”

“Is your gym close to your apartment?” I asked as I let myself into my home.

My eyes swept around the wide open space to check for Alvaro, though I knew that the tall shadowy man wouldn’t be able to beat me to the place when he’d still been in Osvaldo’s office when I left.

“Yeah,” Eloa responded. “It’s part of the community area that makes up the bottom level of the warehouse.”

“That’s very convenient,” I said with a grin as I set my briefcase down on the counter. “I usually just go for a jog in the park near my house. It’s about a two and a half mile loop.”

“Oh I bet that’s beautiful,” the gorgeous woman responded as she began to climb the stairs to her own home.

The sound of her footsteps echoed around the open space of the converted warehouse, and she began to breath harder as she picked up her pace.

“It is really nice,” I answered as I tried to ignore her breathing in my ear. “I usually go for a run in the middle of the night when there’s not many people out.”

“Miami is beautiful at night,” the reporter said. “The lights of the city are as close to stars as we can get.”

“They are pretty peaceful,” I agreed. “It always helps me to clear my head and make sense of whatever case I’m working on.”

“That’s how I feel when I’m on the treadmill,” Eloa said. “But when something is really giving me trouble, I go to the weights.”

“It shows,” I said with a smile as I put my phone on speaker and began to undress. “I’m about to jump in the shower. I hope you don’t mind jeans and a t-shirt.”

“I don’t,” the beautiful woman replied. “I’ll wear something comfortable too. See you in about half an hour.”

“See you then,” I said before I disconnected.

I took a deep breath in as I forced myself to stop thinking about the gorgeous reporter and the way she’d panted in my ear as she climbed the stairs to her apartment. I would need a cold shower before I joined her for dinner, a long one, though I was fairly certain that I would need another by the end of the night.

The drive to Eloa’s apartment was quick as I’d hit a good patch of fast moving traffic, and soon I was pulling up to the curb outside of the renovated warehouse. I checked my rearview mirror before I climbed out just to be sure my hair had been tamed into something presentable and my glasses hid at least some of the bags under my eyes.

There were only a few flights of stairs to reach her apartment, but by the time I had made it to the landing, I had started to run out of breath. I put one hand on the wall as I forced myself to take a deep breath in and then slowly let it out as my heart calmed it’s chaotic rhythm.

As soon as I could breathe like a normal human being, I ran my hands through my hair and then knocked on the door. I could hear music on the other side of the wooden slab, some pop song I didn’t recognize, but it was quickly paused as she came to open the door.

“Hey!” the gorgeous woman said as she gave me a long up and down look.

She had her long brown hair tugged up into a ponytail that swung behind her head as she looked at me. She had taken the casual look seriously with pale-gray shorts that were rolled up to show most of her muscular thighs, bare feet, and a loose black crop top with a kitten on it that was barely long enough to cover her ample breasts.

“Hey,” I said with a grin that matched hers as I tried not to look at the hint of flesh at the bottom or her shirt.

“Thanks for coming here,” she said while she spun