“So, Nick, how’d it go?” Solana took a sip of her coffee and sat down, never once looking up at her visitor.

“We didn’t kill each other and we weren’t thrown in jail again. I’d say it was a success.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. You have no idea what you’re getting into with Ben.” Still no eye contact. She didn’t dare. He was a prick. A gorgeous prick.

“Then why don’t you tell me, Miss Romero?”

He said her name right. Perfectly as a matter of fact. Flipped r’s, accent on the right syllable and vowels pronounced as though Spanish were his native tongue. Raising an eyebrow to assure he wouldn’t see the crack in her tough skin, she finally looked up. “You’ve been practicing.”

Sitting back with cocky self-assurance, he smirked. “Ben taught me. Said you get your panties in a knot if people say your name wrong.” Her eyes had to be the darkest he’d ever seen. And full of anger and hostility. And so damned enticing.

“Ben’s words?”

“Ben’s words. He’s a real charmer.”

“Hmmm…that he is. Okay, Nick. I think you need to meet with him again this week; pick him up from his home; see what his life is like a bit.”

“Fine. Oh and, while we’re bein’ picky, it’s Nick, not Neeck.”

Oh he was a smart ass, wasn’t he? “Fair enough, Nick…do you need a map to find his house?”

“Nah, I took him home the other day.”

“Did you go inside?”

“Nope. He wasn’t happy I drove him all the way home as it was.”

“Good move. He probably had no intention of heading home. You thwarted him.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured. He got antsy by the end of the visit.” Leaning back in his chair, he finally felt a little more comfortable around this woman, and with the prospect of spending some time with this kid. “So, what’s the big deal with seein’ his house?”

“It’s a light into his world. I think you need to understand it if you’re going to reach him. Might bring your little cocky attitude down a notch or two, which can’t hurt.”

Okay, now she was just playin’ nasty. “You know, I’ve seen poverty, Solana. Hell, I grew up in it some.”

“Not like this you didn’t. You wouldn’t be where you are if you did, not with your attitude.”

“You sure seem to know all about me.”

“All I’m sayin’ is, you can’t react. He can’t feel any judgment from you on this.”

“Like you’re givin’ me?”

Their eyes were immovable from one another now, both angry. Both incensed at the other’s attitude. Both wanting this conversation to end, but knowing they were trapped here. Realizing she had to work it out with him, she softened her gaze and tried her last ounce of patience.

“I apologize. You’re right, I don’t know you. But, he knows there’s something better out there; he doesn’t see a way to get to it. Any judgment from you will only shut him off.”

“Maybe he needs to learn that better isn’t always…better.” Now having his tough stance battered a bit, he looked down and started biting his nails. Truth was, better sometimes totally sucked.

Narrowing her eyes at the man, she had to stop and reconsider her words. There truly was something troubling him. Maybe he had some reasons for his outlandish behavior as well. But, he wasn’t her concern. Ben was.

Standing to pace and hopefully erase any invading thoughts about Nick’s well-being, she finally stopped in front of the picture window, wishing the view was more, well…picturesque. “Does he know who you are, yet?”

“No, but he knows why I’m doing this.”

Whipping around, almost tossing her coffee out of its mug, her dark eyes flared, her accent thickened with every word. “I specifically told you not to tell him! You couldn’t honor that one request!?”

“I didn’t tell him a damned thing, Solana! We were taken to the police station the same night and he recognized me! I wasn’t going to lie to him!”

“There are hundreds of people at that station every night. I can’t believe he would have known you from that alone.”

“Well, he did, okay? I was drunk. And loud.” His voice softening again, embarrassment taking over, he lowered his gaze to his freshly bit fingernails. “And, uh…I guess I made an impression.”

“Perfect. Now he’ll have no respect for you. You’re just a fellow criminal to him.”

She was a piece of work. He wasn’t allowed to judge Ben, which made sense, but here she was, all over his business. This was nuts. “Were you with us the other day?”

“Obviously not.”

“Then you don’t know how it went and how he sees me. Maybe we found some common ground in that, huh?”

“What? That neither of you have an ounce of common sense or maturity? This is just,” Slamming her mug on her desk, she started pacing, hands still doing half of her talking. “…I’m going to get this rearranged. You can work with someone else.”

“No! No!” Wondering why he was suddenly so passionate about Ben…about any of this, he took a deep breath to calm down, lower his voice, take his time. “Solana, please. Give me a chance with him. Just like I told him, someone thought we were a match. Might as well see if they’re right.”

“What if they weren’t? What’s that going to cost Ben?”

“You really think I’m that damned bad of an influence? I got drunk and was an idiot one fuckin’ night.”

Raising an eyebrow, hoping it’d elicit the truth, she waited for him to go on.

With a slight glare, he got it. Cute. “Okay, so I do that a lot lately. I got caught one night. But, I’m not…he’s not going to be an axe murderer because of me, for God’s sake.”

“But maybe because of your influence he won’t be one, Nick. If he doesn’t see you as anymore than a troublemaker like him, you might as well be buying him his spray paint for his next vandalism outing.”

“I thought I wasn’t allowed to buy him anything.”

“What!?” She finally met his eyes and dammit, she had to smile. For the first time, she saw what made the girls swoon. A smirk and a twinkle in his eye that could probably sweet talk the most uncompromising of judges into a lighter sentence after he’d shot his whole family, no less got a little drunk and rowdy one night. “You’re a smart ass, you know.”

“So I’ve been told. So, do we have your go ahead on this? Can Ben and I give it a try?”

“I’m not sure I have much of a choice about it anyway. I’m just scared for Ben. He’s…he’s not on a good path right now. I don’t want anything or anyone, especially some pop star screwing it up.”

“You know, that’s my job. It doesn’t define me.” Maybe it did, but he wasn’t about to continue to let it define him. There had to be more to him than love songs, pelvic thrusts and tour busses. There just had to be.

“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m just not interested in wasting Ben’s life while you try to figure out your own.”

“I won’t waste his damned time or yours, Miss Romero.” Nick stood and offered his hand, pulling back when she refused to shake it. Sick of this whole conversation, he made his way to the door wondering what the hell he’d done to deserve such a shitty attitude. He was going to make this work with Ben. Failure wasn’t something he handled well. Getting along with her was going to have to be secondary. “Tell Ben I’ll pick him up tomorrow at 2.”

Letting her eyes land in his, she sighed and sat back down feeling a bit humbled at his apparent desire to make this work. He was pissed and she’d caused it. That truly wasn’t her plan. She just knew that Ben needed a positive force in his life, especially from a man. She wasn’t completely convinced this one was the right one.