Exposing the Heiress (6 page)

He placed their helmets on the bike, then reached for her hand and led her to the line. He couldn’t see her eyes behind her sunglasses, but her face was flooded with color. So damn pretty. He wanted to put that pink glow on her skin with his kiss and—

Nope, not going there. Instead he focused on her question. “The owner is a veteran, lost his leg to a roadside bomb. Lost a lot of friends that day too. He doesn’t want to be in the middle of town. Here there’s only one road in and out and that gives him a sense of control.”

She angled her face toward the shack, her lines screaming compassion. “How long have you known him?”

“Years. Found this place when I was home on leave.” Hunt had become more and more solitary, taking long motorcycle rides.

“And most of these guys, they’re vets too?”

Her words pulled him back to the beautiful woman wearing his jacket. It was too big for her but she didn’t seem to care. She was more interested in the people around them than herself. “Most, yeah.”

“Do you know them all?”

He shrugged. “No, but they won’t bother you. These guys want their space. Stay out of their way, and you’ll be fine.” They were quickly moving up the line. “What do you want to eat?”

“Two carne asada tacos and extra guacamole. Iced tea.”

Hunt turned to place their orders, paid, and handed Lyssie her box of tacos and chips with extra guacamole. They found a picnic table and dug in.

“I didn’t think to bring cash with us. Sorry. I’ll pay you back at the house.”

Hunt set down his drink and taco and shoved up his shades. “For two tacos and a drink?”

“Plus yours.” She threw it off, not really paying attention. “These are so good.” Closing her mouth around another bite, her eyelids drifted shut and she let out a tiny sound.

A moan.

Damn. That was hot, but wait, she was distracting him. “That what you usually do?”

She grabbed a paper napkin and wiped her lips. “Eat like this? No, but man I have to find tacos like this back home.”

“Alyssa.”

She stopped halfway into another bite.

He could feel her eyes on his, questioning. “Do you pay for everyone else around you?” Like that bastard she’d been engaged to?

Her eyebrows drew together over her sunglasses. “Nate liked flashing the company credit card, so not really. Although I usually reimbursed the company if our meals were private, but…” She shook her head, clearing some memory. “Anyway, this is different.”

“Damn right. You are one of mine and you don’t pay me back for a couple tacos.”

Her tongue darted out as she licked her lips then said, “One of your what?”

Hunt finished off his first taco, and eyed her. “Friends. The kind I drop everything to protect.” That clear enough for her?

Her face broke into a huge smile. “Hmm, so who else is on this list?”

Hunt rolled his eyes yet his guts twanged at her very real grin. “Well, my boss Adam has a couple dogs. They are both on the list. But you’re right below them.”

“Ha ha. I’m not sure you’re on any of my lists.”

The mood from earlier in his kitchen had lightened, and he was glad to see her having fun. “I’m on your Hot Guy Crush list.”

“You just fell below the dude who made these tacos.” She picked up her second one and bit into it. “Oh yeah.”

His blood heated and raced south. When the hell had watching a woman eat messy tacos become sexy? She had a tiny spot on her lip and he itched to lick it off.

She glanced around. “You know what I like?”

“Me. We’ve established that. And FYI, I can kick taco guy’s ass so he drops below me on your Hot Guy Crush list.” He was only half joking. The idea of her crushing on any other man annoyed him.

Alyssa laughed. “Until you make tacos like this? You’re second. He’s first.”

“Nope, I’m first. I brought you here. You’d never have known about these tacos if I hadn’t shown you.” He leaned forward. “You’re the only person I’ve ever brought here. Put me back at number one.” He heard himself, felt the dumbass grin tugging his mouth. She brought out a side of him he hadn’t seen in years.

“That’s a coveted position, Marine. You want it, you’re going to have to earn your way in.”

This woman had been featured in magazines as one of the most beautiful executives, but those pictures didn’t hold a candle to her now. The wind and helmet had teased pieces of hair from her braid, her skin was slightly wind burned, his black leather jacket had bulked her up, and she was gorgeous. “I’m first, cover girl. We both know it.” He pushed his empty box away and wiped his hands. “Now tell me what you like?”

After taking a drink of her tea, she said, “I like that no one’s here to be seen. No one cares what everyone else looks like. They really do leave us alone.” She shoved up her sunglasses, her eyes connecting with his. “Is that why you haven’t shown anyone else this place? You like the solitude?”

Ah, she had been listening. “Come on, I’ll show you. This is where you can take some pictures.”

…

Alyssa took his hand and followed Hunt along a rocky, steep trail leading down. The scent of the ocean, foliage, and damp earth surrounded them. When they stopped at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, Alyssa caught her breath. Jagged rocks led down to foamy water. In one spot, rocks stretched out into the ocean like a finger. “It’s breathtaking. Untamed and yet peaceful.”

Hunt held out her camera. “Go ahead, you know you want to.”

Oh, she did. She stripped off her jacket, laid it on a nearby boulder and took the camera. Quiet flowed through her as she raised her camera and began taking shots. This place felt alive and powerful, a true representation of Mother Nature. Finished with that, she turned and began snapping pictures of Hunt. He’d taken off his jacket too, leaving him in faded jeans and a T-shirt stretched across a wall of muscle. With his legs braced apart, arms crossed, and his eyes constantly moving and scanning, he gave off a sense of a predator ready to spring at any second. But when his gaze slid to her, his mouth softened in a familiar half smile that woke up her entire body.

You’re the only person I’ve ever brought here.

He’d shared this with her, only her. Alyssa’s heart clenched as she realized how big a step that must be for Hunt. And that wasn’t all—he’d shared what he sculpted in that locked room—death. He didn’t want that to touch her, but he’d brought her here, to another private part of his life.

Before she could chicken out, she switched to her stored photos in her camera and pulled up one of her favorites. She blurted out, “Do you still want to see what I take pictures of?”

Hunt dropped his arms and closed the distance between them. “Very much.”

What would he think? Her shoulders tensed until her neck ached. “It’s just pictures.”

He shifted his weight, leaning into her. “That you care about.”

Sucking in a breath, she nodded. “This one is of Treva and her service dog. This girl is special. At fifteen, she was hit by a car while riding her bike, and the accident left her a paraplegic. I met her through the canine companion program. Her dog, Sabrina, goes with her everywhere, including college. They have this amazing bond.”

“Show me.”

She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat and tilted her camera so he could see the viewing screen. Treva was bent over in her wheelchair and the dog was stretching up, pressing her muzzle against the girl’s cheek. In it, Alyssa saw an authentic and touching moment of affection that transcended species. But would Hunt see it? She rocked on her feet and bit her lip. Every second that he studied the picture felt like an hour.

Finally he shifted his eyes to hers. “Capturing that friendship is art.”

That made her want to share more. She flipped through her pictures and found the one she wanted. It was a twenty-something man in a hospital bed, his tattooed arm stretched to clasp hands with an older man in another hospital bed. The caption read:
Son gives father kidney to save his life.

“How did you get this?”

“The son is a sound engineer for Dragon Wing and I heard about him donating a kidney to his dad, so I asked him if I could take a few photos.”

“It’s moving and beautiful.”

Her throat tightened while her chest swelled. “Thank you.” The intensity of his gaze caused her nerves to tingle with the urge to lean into him. “And for bringing me here. The bike ride, the tacos, this view, it’s perfect.” They stood so close, the heat and bulge of his biceps brushed her shoulder. Alyssa sucked in her breath. “Uh, I should put this away.”

“I should let you. Walk away, Lyssie.”

His voice dropped to a sexy growl, freezing her in place while his eyes churned like the sea below them. The wind swept over the cliffs, whipping his hair around his harsh face. “Do you know how damned hard it was to put you in bed this morning and walk away?” He laid his hand on her face and dragged his thumb over her lips. “I wanted to kiss you until you woke, slow and soft, your body heating as I tasted you. You’d have let me do that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” Did her answer get lost in the roar of the waves and the pounding of her heart? The heat of his stare and the way he stroked her lips unleashed spirals of heat in her belly. Her nipples tightened beneath her shirt.

“I wouldn’t have stopped there. I’d have peeled off your top, then your pants, until you were bare for me.”

She squeezed her thighs together, her skin aching at his words and the sensual images.

“Unless you told me to stop.”

Her eyes snapped to his. “I wouldn’t have.” Right now, out here in the small clearing on the cliffs secluded by rocks and trees, she blurted out the truth. “For years, I’ve done what everyone else wants me to do. Been what they wanted.” Wrapping her hand around his, she pressed his palm to her cheek. “But you, Hunt, you’re what I want.”

Hunt pulled the camera off her neck, set it in her bag, then fisted her braid in his hand, lowering his mouth to hers. Her stomach flipped as his taste triggered a wild hunger. Opening beneath him, she slid her tongue against his while her hands roamed over his T-shirt, desperate to learn the shape of him. To feel the years of experience and training that had taken the boy into this man.

Wrapping his arm around her waist, he lifted her, sat on a boulder and pulled her down to straddle him. Tugging her head back, he trailed his hot, damp mouth over her jaw to the delicate spot on her throat.

Oh God. Streaks of heat and pleasure raced to her nipples. Hot chills chased over her nerves, and she pressed down on his hips while digging her fingers into his thick, silky hair. A moan rolled out of her mouth when he rocked his erection through her leggings and panties. The ache there opened wide, desperate. Biting her lip, she tried to pull Hunt to her mouth.

His lips closed over her nipple shielded only by the thin fabric of her T-shirt. “Oh.” She arched her back and the hot wet sensation went straight to her clit. When he switched to the other nipple all thoughts melted. It’d never been like this, as if her body recognized this man and melted for him. She tugged on his hair.

Raising his head, his eyes collided with hers. “Lyssie.” Her name erupted from him in a gravelly tone. Cupping his other hand around her head, he pulled her in for another kiss. His mouth fused to hers, filling the starving places in her as he stroked her belly beneath her shirt, sliding his fingers over her tender skin up to her nipples and down. “I can’t stop touching you. Kissing you.”

“Don’t stop.” Hunt’s touch, his hands and mouth, felt too good. Her belly coiled and tightened. Need clamped hard. She jerked her head back, gasping. “Hunt, oh God. It’s been too long, I’m too close.”

His gorgeous eyes flared into light and dark, hot and cold, need and emotion. “I love when you do that.” All the while, he stroked up and down her stomach, his fingers capturing a nipple then down. The hottest thing was the way he looked at her, his eyes consuming hers.

“What?”

“When you tell me exactly what you’re feeling. What you need.” He leaned closer. “You can say stop anytime.” He slid his fingers beneath her pants but over her panties, circling her clit. “Jesus, you’re wet, swollen. So fucking hot.”

She dug her fingers into the slab of his shoulders, but it was his eyes that kept her pinned as he slid his fingers beneath her panties, stroking her clit, faster, harder, until all she knew was hot pleasure twisting tighter and Hunt’s gaze darkening with heat. “That’s it, baby girl. So goddamned sexy.”

A bolt of white-hot pleasure streaked down. Her muscles froze. Her breath locked. A second later, the tension exploded in an orgasm. Sounds spilled from her mouth while her body spun out in a wave of pulsing sensation.

Chapter Seven

He’d never seen or felt anything as breathtaking as Lyssie coming apart from his touch. This moment filled an emptiness inside of him. She had trusted him fully, completely. Drawing in a breath and savoring the feel of a warm satisfied woman in his arms, he felt a flicker of hope. Was he changing? Finally getting control of the trained killer inside him?

His cock throbbed with vicious need, but he’d wait. She’d already given him more than he deserved. Instead, he lifted her off her knees and across his thighs to cradle her against him. Hunt rubbed her back, easing her down from a sexual high he didn’t think she’d experienced before. Shudders ran through her, but her muscles relaxed. However, she had her head buried in his neck.

Tugging her braid, he looked into her eyes. “You okay?”

Color stained her face. “It’s never been like that. I didn’t…” She trailed off and she turned her face away. “It’s been a long time, I guess.”

“You better not be apologizing.”

That got her attention and that flicker of shame lost out to a smile that punched him in the chest. Her eyes glowed with golden lights. “It was pretty amazing. I wasn’t thinking about anything but how good it felt to be kissed and touched by you. You totally ruined boring sex for me.”

Hell, he didn’t want to think of her having sex with anyone but him. Possessiveness drove him to take her mouth again, driving his tongue into her sweet heat. But it wasn’t enough.

It’d never be enough. The kiss fired his lust into full-bore flames. He tugged his mouth away, dragging in air.

“Are we stopping?”

Her brown eyes shimmered. Strands of her hair had escaped the braid to whip around her face. Her mouth was pink and swollen from his kiss. She took his breath away and destroyed his self-control. There was no resisting her, not if this was what she really wanted.

“Only long enough for me to get you home. Then if you want this, we’re going to finish this with both of us coming. Hard and wild.” He was losing his mind and too damn close to fucking her right here out in the—

A flash. It came from that cluster of trees ahead and to his left.

Instinct kicked in. His blood iced. Lust forgotten, Hunt lifted Lyssie up, twisted and shoved her over the boulder. “Get down.” Yanking his gun from the ankle holster, he leaped up. Had it been the sun glinting off the metal of a weapon? Adrenaline powered through him as he trained his gun to the area the flash came from.

Lyssie grabbed his arm. “What’s going on?”

“Down!” He snapped the command while scanning, straining to see, hear or feel any sign of trouble. “I saw a flash.”

She crouched behind the boulder. “From what? A camera?”

Hunt swallowed the instinct to order her to be silent. If it was a gun, they already had Lyssie and him in their sight. “Sun glinting off something. Let’s go.” The switch had been flipped and he was in 100 percent protect or kill mode. Keeping his body between Lyssie and the area it came from, he took her arm, quickly helped her climb over the boulder and headed to his bike. Someone had gotten into Lyssie’s house. Had they found her here in Sonoma?

The other men they passed took in the gun he held and the hardness on his face and scattered. He ushered Lyssie on his bike and headed home.

Once back at the vineyard, Hunt set the alarm, then strode into the office that overlooked the front terrace and slapped his hands down on the desk. Anxiety burned up his spine, the adrenaline keeping him wired, edgy.

That flash… Shit. What had it been? Turning, he saw Lyssie in the doorway gnawing on her lower lip. He needed to work through every possibility. “Have you had death threats? Aside from Nate’s threat?”

She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned back against the doorjamb. “Not since my mom died. Police handled those.”

Shit, that distracted him for a minute. “What kind of death threats?”

“Some of my mom’s fans—you know the type. They were angry, believing I killed her. But nothing came of it. It was just a few unhappy people venting about the spoiled, worthless heiress. Most were more a social commentary than threat. The world would be a better place if I died instead of my mom kind of thinking.”

She’d been seventeen, damn it. What was wrong with people, saying shit like that? Never mind, that was seven years ago and he needed to focus on the present. Lyssie attracted worldwide attention. “Nothing since then?”

“No. Who would know I’m here?”

“There’s always a way.” They’d already checked her phone for any tracking devices and turned off her GPS. And Hunt made sure they weren’t followed. But they weren’t hiding her as much as keeping her safe, so it was possible she’d been found.

“Do you really think it could have been a gun?”

Her question hammered him. For a few minutes out there today, he’d begun to wonder, to hope, that maybe he was changing, becoming more man than killer. For the last few days, there’d been moments in his studio when his need to sculpt nightmares and death had softened into a desire so sculpt beauty. To sculpt Lyssie. Out there on the cliffs, he’d had that fragile hope that she was bringing him back, resurrecting the man he’d once been. Then he’d seen that flash and the switch had flipped. Now she stood there, chewing her lip, hunched in on herself.

“We can’t discount any possibility.” Tiredness crept in as the adrenaline drained. He dragged his gaze over her.
Shit.
“Your hand.” He strode to her, grabbed it up, turning her palm over to the angry red scratches and scrapes. “I hurt you.” Dropping her hand as if burned, he backed up to the desk.

“It’s a scrape, not even bleeding.” She pushed off the doorjamb, slipped out of his jacket, and approached him. “What happened out there? It was so quick, we were kissing and you were telling me you wanted me then
boom
you were suddenly ready to kill.”

He stared down at her. It was the truth and there was no sugarcoating it. “I was ready to kill. It’s what I’m trained to do.” More. Make her understand. “It’s what I am, Lyssie. A killer.”

…

Shock vibrated through her body. She knew he’d been a sniper, that he’d said killing got to be too easy, but… “No. You’re a man who did a job.” A hard one that had obviously marked him. “But you’re home now.”

“You don’t get it. The only way I could do my job was to learn to shut down. It became automatic, a switch. Now that I’m home, I still have the same switch. Today, when I saw that flash, the switch flipped and I was a sniper. So heartless that I threw you over a goddamned rock.”

Alyssa flinched at the rage in his voice. Unable to bear it, she stroked the bulge in his jaw. “You didn’t throw me. It was more of a gentle shove. You think you’re the first bodyguard to physically move me when they saw danger?”

“You’re not afraid of me?”

“I could never be afraid of you.”

Regret etched onto his face. “You say that now until something worse happens and you see what I really am.”

“What do you mean?”

Hunt got up and went to the floor-to-ceiling window. With his back to her, he said, “I really thought I could leave it all behind, come home and be normal. I began dating Rachel, a kindergarten teacher.”

He didn’t look at her, but stared out to his memories.
Memories of another woman.
Alyssa shook that off; she didn’t have any right to be jealous. “What happened?” Did he love her and lose her somehow?

His shoulders tensed, bulging beneath his T-shirt. “We were dating a few weeks when we stopped at the mall on our way to dinner. She wanted to pick up a gift for her father.”

Going to him, she reached out to put her hand on his back. His muscles contracted, but she kept her hand in place, just letting him know she was there.

He sighed. “A man stormed into the store with an automatic rifle and started shooting. That was it, the switch in me flipped. I shoved Rachel into a clothing rack and went into full sniper mode. The police weren’t there yet and it was a bloodbath. Pulling my gun, I circled around him, lined up a shot and took him out.”

Her mind spun, thoughts tumbling so fast she dug her fingers into him to find her balance. “I heard about that shooting.” Witnesses talked about the man who killed the gunman, called him a hero. That was Hunt? Just home from the war and walked into that? “But I never heard you were connected with it.”

He shifted his eyes to hers. “My name wasn’t released. I was cleared, there were plenty of witnesses and I had a license to carry my gun. The case was closed and the media had bigger stories to move on to.”

“God, that must have been awful. Here you just left a battlefield… Wait. What about Rachel? Was she hurt?” Her pulse jacked up. Had his girlfriend been shot? Had he lost her?

“She needed a couple stitches in her head from where I’d thrown her into the clothes rack.” After a weighty pause, he added, “When I tried to help her stop the bleeding, she freaked and screamed at me not to touch her. She saw me kill the gunman and was horrified.” Hunt’s temple bulged, tendons stood out on his neck. “She tried to crawl away from me.”

“Oh, Hunt, it was just shock.” Right?

He shook his head. “That’s what I thought too, but a week later, we met up for coffee and she told me she couldn’t be with someone like me.”

“I’m sorry.” Her chest ached for him. “Did you love her?”

“No. She was so normal, a kindergarten teacher.” He stared out into the bright sunlight. “I thought I could be normal too, but that day proved I’ll never be normal.” He fisted his hands on the casing of the window. “She was scared of me.”

The pain in those last words burned her heart. Ducking beneath his arm, she wrapped her arms around his waist. “You saved her life and a lot of other lives. She should have been grateful, not scared.” Whoever this Rachel was, Alyssa didn’t like her.

“Lyssie, she needed stitches. I shoved her in pure instinct, just like I tossed you over the boulder.”

She pressed her face against his chest. “You didn’t toss me, you
urged
me over.” With a tiny bit of force. “I’m sorry she got hurt, but that reaction is unfair.”

“It was honest. She told me the truth and believe it or not, I appreciate that. Rachel’s a nice girl—”

She tensed with a pang of unfamiliar jealousy.

“—and she told me before I cared too much. Letting her go was easy enough, but I won’t forget that fear in her. I won’t put another woman through that. You saw how easy it was for my switch to flip today.”

“Hunt—”

He tugged her head back. “I shouldn’t have kissed and touched you out there today. I took you on a ride because I wanted to share the tacos and the cliffs with you, not seduce you. I don’t deserve to touch you like that.”

“You do.” She reached up to run her fingers on the hard cut of his jaw. “I asked you to kiss me, I begged you to keep going.” She hated that he was pulling back from her. He’d given her so much, she wanted to give him whatever he needed—comfort or sex or both.

His eyes burned. “If you ask me again, I won’t stop until we’re both so satisfied we can’t walk, but not today.” The harsh lines on his face softened. “I can see it in your eyes that you want to comfort me like you did when you were a little girl and you came into my room to give me your stuffed dog, but you can’t. Stuffed animals, sex or love can’t fix this. I made choices that changed me forever and I won’t subject a woman or children to that.” He tugged her hand off his face and held it for a second. “I don’t want to hurt you. Make sure you understand that what we can have is a few days or weeks of sex together, but it’s not a relationship. Or we can stay friends like we are now.” He dropped her hand and walked out.

She hadn’t been able to save her mom. Hadn’t been able to keep her son. Why would she ever think she could help Hunt?

…

“Okay, spill it. What’s on your mind?”

Sitting out on the terrace, Alyssa shifted her gaze from the view of the vineyards down to Maxine on the computer’s Skype program. They’d begun canceling wedding plans, which would set off a firestorm. That’s why Alyssa waited until Friday afternoon when the news cycle slowed.

Wishful thinking.

She shook that off. She didn’t owe the world an explanation about her private life. Refocusing on Maxine, she said, “What do you mean? We’ve gotten a ton done here.”

Maxine lifted her chin so that her perfectly straightened blonde hair brushed her shoulders. “No, I’ve gotten a ton done while you stared off into space, dreaming of your bodyguard.”

“Hush.” She looked around, concerned Hunt could be standing behind her. The man moved like a ghost when he wanted to. “We’re friends.” He’d told her to take some time, think about what she wanted, and understand that they didn’t have a future together if they crossed the line from friends to lovers.

“Friends that kiss you into an orgasm.”

Maxine had pulled that little detail out of her. “It’s too soon, right? Even if it’s a fling, I just broke up with Nate and—”

“Stop it, Alyssa.” Her assistant’s face softened. “I don’t know Hunt, so maybe it’s a fling for him, but not you, and that’s what has you scared. You have real feelings for him. Before now, they were a fantasy, a dream, and safe. Now it’s real, and you feel for him unlike you’ve felt for anyone else in your life.”

Maxine knew her too well. “But—”

“Not done. So yeah, you might sleep with him, fall hard and end up hurting if it has to end. What you have to ask yourself is which would be worse? To take this time with Hunt and have the memories even if you get hurt? Or chicken out and always wonder?”

Dang. She had a point. The accident that killed her mom had taught her that life could be cut short. She didn’t know how many chances at something special she would have.

“Changing the subject, any more leads on who got into your house?”

Anxiety twisted her stomach. Maxine didn’t know that Eli existed or that he’d been threatened, or that their family car had been tampered with. “No. They had a key and the alarm code. Nate gave it to them.” Alyssa didn’t know how this was going to end. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when Nate gets back this weekend.”

“Doesn’t matter because you’re staying there with Hunt. Shark-Nate-O is dangerous.”