"It's a shame about that lunatic on the loose isn't it?”
He looked up from eating his cake and met his aunt's concerned expression. “What lunatic?”
"That man who's going around calling himself The Mighty Charger and attacking all those women.”
Hunter frowned. He had remembered reading something about it in the papers. “They haven't caught him yet?”
"No, and I'm concerned that most of the attacks have taken place not far from where Mallory lives. I hope she's taken every precaution to stay safe.”
He finished off the last of his cake before responding. “I'm sure she has.” He then remembered that she planned to go out with a girlfriend tonight. Had she returned home safely?
He stood quickly knowing he wouldn't rest until he knew for sure. “Look, Aunt Judith, I hate to rush off but I just remembered something that I need to do.” He walked around the table and gave his aunt a kiss on the cheek. “Lock the door behind me.”
And then he was gone.
So much for getting Mallory out of my life and keeping her there, Hunter thought, a half-hour later while parked in the yard of a vacant house that was directly across the street from where she lived. Her car was not in the driveway, which meant she hadn't come home yet.
If anyone would have told him that he would be spending a good portion of the night waiting for a woman to arrive back home just to make sure she got into her house safely, he wouldn't have believed them.
He eased his car seat back for better comfort and folded his hands across his chest. He had turned off the radio a while ago when nothing was playing that he wanted to hear. He glanced around thinking that he actually liked this older neighborhood of homes and knew that Mallory had bought the house a few years ago not long after her sister had gotten married. Up until that time, she and Barbara had lived together in an apartment while they had worked and attended college.
He straightened when he recognized her car as it pulled into the driveway of her yard. He exhaled a sigh of relief and watched as she got out and walked up to her door. Moments later she went inside and closed the door behind her.
He cursed softly when he felt an overwhelming urge to march up to that house and force her to answer the question he had asked her earlier. He'd never had a fetish for a woman's underwear until he'd made love to Mallory. She used to wear some of the sexiest and most colorful panties and he used to enjoy taking them off of her. For months after their breakup he would still fantasize about her. In fact he still did.
Hunter lost track of time as he just sat there in his car and stared at Mallory's house. Then he figured he had done the gentlemanly thing tonight by making sure she had gotten into her house safely. As he turned on the ignition to start up his car he decided that he would handle the case involving her brother-in-law as quickly as possible so that his life could return to normal.
But for some reason the prospect of that happening didn't seem real.
4
.
Boy, don't you look serious.”
Mallory glanced up from the huge calendar spread out on her
desk and gazed into the smiling face of her sister Barbara. She couldn't help but smile back. Evidently her emotional state was so apparent that Barbara sensed that something was wrong.
As always her sister's appearance into her office always brought a ray of sunshine. At five foot eight in stocking feet with a petite build, which they had both inherited from their mother, Barbara took great pride in the way she looked and always had the ability to garner a lot of men's attention. In fact, they both had, only Barbara was always the one with the willingness to return that attention. She had been able to balance with ease getting her schoolwork done and dating.
Not only was Barbara her sibling but she was also her best friend. With only a two-year difference in their ages, they had grown up as playmates and confidantes among the chaos that constantly seemed to go on in the Standish household.
Her father, a financial advisor with a major bank, went on numerous business trips and always returned home with sloppy evidence that the trips had been more pleasure than business. Instead of getting fed up with her husband's unfaithfulness, Olivia Standish was the dutiful wife, intent on making her marriage work and providing her daughters with a roof over their heads. However, their father finally took the decision out of their mother's hands when he arrived home one day and announced he wanted a divorce to marry his “young” assistant. Mallory would never forget that day for as long as she lived since it just happened to be on her twelfth birthday.
Although their mother had been devastated by her husband's departure, both Mallory and Barbara had thought, Good riddance, and had tried moving on with their lives. It didn't help matters when less than a year later their mother, still suffering from a broken heart, had gotten killed in a car accident.
For Mallory, the moral of the story had been to never grow up and fall in love with a man who had “playboy” tendencies. Yet she had done that very thing after meeting Hunter Sloan.
Barbara, on the other hand, had always looked at things through rose-colored glasses. Her take on the entire Standish family affair was that their father had been a class-ass jerk and that not all men were like him, and had been determined to fall in love with one who wasn't. She and Lewis had met four years ago after Barbara had completed college and gone to work for a huge marketing firm in San Diego. They had met one night at a nightclub and according to her sister it had been love at first sight.
Their courtship had been short and sweet and they had gotten married less than a year later.
Mallory had always liked her brother-in-law, although she did consider him somewhat too serious at times, the complete opposite of Barbara. But it always appeared that he loved Barbara immensely and went out of his way to make her happy. Other than their desperate desire to have a baby, she always considered Barbara and Lewis a happy couple and perfect for each other.
At least she had until that day she'd seen Lewis at the hotel. Like their mother, Barbara would be devastated if she ever discovered Lewis was cheating on her and Mallory hoped and prayed that was not the case.
Standing, Mallory quickly rounded her desk and crossed the room to give her sister a huge hug. “I'm always serious, Barb. You're the playful one. Besides, it's different when you run your own business.” She glanced back at the calendar on her desk. “Although business is good for the remainder of the year, I often wonder how I'm going to pull things off. For instance, in two weeks I have three big parties planned on the same day. Luckily, they're at staggered times but still that's almost stretching me thin.”
Barbara raised a concerned brow. “Then why did you do it, Mai?”
Mallory smiled. “To stay busy.”
From the look on Barbara's face they both knew there was a lot more behind her response. Every since her breakup with Hunter she had been working extremely hard to keep him off her mind. Now it seemed her attempt to do so had been a waste of time since he was definitely back on her mind and had been there since she'd seen him on yesterday.
And then there was the question he'd asked her . . .
"You need a life, Mallory,” Barbara said interrupting her thoughts. “Let me introduce you to this guy I was telling you about who works with Lewis. He moved to town recently from Atlanta and—”
"Forget it, Barbara. I'm not interested.”
Barbara took Mallory's hand in hers. “I wish you would get interested. I think he would be perfect for you.”
Mallory sighed. As far as she was concerned the only perfect guy in her book was Hunter. Although she knew their breakup was the smartest move for the both of them, she had to give him his due. There was an out-and-out sexiness that made any woman want to tumble between the sheets with him. Hunter Sloan was fabulous in and out of bed.
Deciding she needed to change the subject and quick, she asked. “And what brought you by today? Although I'm always glad to see you, I wasn't expecting you. When we talked l
ast night you didn't mention that you would be stopping by.”
Barbara folded her arms across her chest. “I took some time off from work today to do a few things and decided to visit. I was worried about you. I didn't like the way you sounded last night. It was as if you were keeping something from me.”
If only you knew, Mallory thought, feeling somewhat guilty, and wondering what Barbara would think if she knew that Mallory was having her husband investigated. She sighed, not wanting to think about that since she felt that she was doing the right thing and that it was for Barbara's benefit and future happiness. She didn't want Barbara to become like their mother.
"I'm fine,” Mallory tried to assure her. “Like I said a few moments ago, I've been busy a lot lately.”
"There is more to what's going on with you than work, Mai, so don't pretend otherwise and I know it's all because of Hunter Sloan. The way I see it, if you're going to be miserable without him in your life then you may as well be miserable with Hunter and go back to him.”
Mallory's eyebrows lifted. “What are you talking about?”
Barbara grinned. “I'm talking about you being sexually deprived. I bet you haven't slept with a man since Hunter.”
Mallory frowned. “There is more to a relationship than sex, Barbara.”
Barbara's grin widened. “And I agree, but I also think a person shouldn't be alone and miserable. You were always the uptight one, not me. I know you aren't into casual relationships, and that's cool, but you loved Hunter. I can't believe he didn't have any feelings for you, no matter what he said.”
Mallory shook her head as she gazed at Barbara. This was her sister who thought everyone should be in love and happy. “Well, he didn't have feelings for me and I've accepted it and moved on. I admit that even after six months it's hard, but I'll survive.”
An hour or so after Barbara had left, Mallory was still thinking about the words she had said. Yes, she would survive and eventually she would get over Hunter. However, in the meantime, she would continued to be sexually deprived and was determined to get over that as well.
There was more to a relationship than sex, but at the moment it was a part she definitely missed. Hunter sat in his parked car and watched as Lewis Townsend walked out of the Federal Building where he worked and strolled across the parking lot to his dark blue sedan.
Keeping at a comfortable distance, Hunter started his car to follow behind Lewis when he pulled into traffic. It was lunchtime and it seemed the man had a destination in mind and Hunter had a feeling it wasn't Burger King. Nor did it appear that he was headed for the same hotel Mallory had seen him at yesterday. He took the interstate and that led in an entirely different direction.
Hunter sighed. He wasn't crazy about getting involved in Mallory's family's affairs but then it was a job. He cursed softly knowing that when it came to Mallory there was nothing he considered as business, even this, as much as he wanted to. During the four months of their affair they had shared an intense physical desire for each other and he had begun getting petrified that it would lead to something more serious. The last thing he had wanted was to begin developing deep feelings for any woman and when he'd discovered he was doing just that, he had thought the best thing to do was to cut out, which is precisely what he'd done. But now, six months later, after seeing Mallory again, he was finding out that out of sight had not been out of mind. He had thought of her a lot, he had craved her a lot. And last night, like a number of other nights, the memories of her had filled his dreams.
His thoughts were momentarily interrupted when Lewis pulled into the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel. Making sure he wasn't seen, Hunter parked in a space across from where Lewis parked his car, then watched as the man got out of the vehicle and, after glancing around a few times, went inside.
It didn't take long for Hunter to get out of his car and follow, still maintaining a safe distance. He hated admitting it but the way Lewis was nervously glancing around and making sure he wasn't recognized by anyone would lead anyone to believe he was definitely doing something he shouldn't. You could tell the man was an amateur at being discreet. If he wasn't in the process of being unfaithful to his wife, he was certainly giving the appearance that he was. No wonder Mallory's suspicions had been raised.
Hunter pulled what appeared to be an ink pen from his top pocket. In truth, the instrument he held in his hand was a miniature digital camera that could pick up a subject as far away as a hundred feet. It had been costly but over the past year had proven to be highly effective. He decided to take a few shots of Lewis to show Mallory later.
Moments later Hunter stood behind a huge planter and watched as Lewis was given a passkey without signing in, which meant someone was already waiting for him in one of the rooms. Hunter folded the newspaper he was holding and watched further as the man crossed the lobby and entered the gift shop. Lewis emerged a few minutes later with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He glanced around again before stepping into the elevator.
It would have been too risky to get on the elevator with the man since they had met once before. Hunter knew the only thing he could do for now was to sit and wait. All Mallory had asked for was evidence that the man was cheating on her sister, and so far in Hunter's book the man's actions were conducive of that, although he felt he needed more proof. The next step would be getting pictures of him and the woman together. Today, he would merely report back to Mallory on what he'd seen and let her decide if she needed for him to investigate things further.
Hunter went into the coffee shop to wait out his time. An hour or so later, a smiling Lewis Townsend stepped off the elevator. After glancing at his watch the man quickly made his way out of the hotel.
Some men have all the luck. What a way to spend your lunch hour, Hunter thought as he stood. There was no need to follow Lewis since chances were he would be returning to work. Knowing there was a strong possibility that Lewis had been involved in some sort of a sexual romp reminded Hunter of what he wasn't getting and hadn't gotten in over six months.
Automatically, his thoughts fell on Mallory.
Damn, he wanted her, and just thinking of how he wanted her made him go hard. He needed to call her to set up a meeting to discuss what he'd seen today. But he intended for their meeting to be more than that. He couldn't ignore his intense desire for her any longer. Fate had her stumbling back into his life and he wasn't exactly sure what to do about it. He shrugged, knowing that wasn't entirely true. The one thing he was sure of doing was making love to her again. His sanity depended on it.
Squinting his eyes against the sharpness of the midday sun, Hunter walked out of the hotel planning the seduction of Mallory Standish.
5
.
As Mallory brought her car to a stop in front of Hunter's home she thought she needed to have her head examined. Why on earth had she agreed to meet with him here instead of at his office or some other neutral place?
The thought of being alone with him in such close quarters didn't sit too well with her. But he had taken pictures of Lewis that he wanted her to see and since her last appointment had been with someone who lived within a mile of his home, his suggestion of meeting him here had sounded logical.
However, as she got out of her car she knew there was nothing logical when it came to Hunter Sloan or her love for him. Considering everything, she should have gotten over him months ago, but she hadn't and now he was back in her life, even if it was just on a temporary basis.
When she reached his door she felt heat sizzle down her spine.
Her body was remembering other times she had shown up here and what she'd always gotten once she crossed over the threshold. Trying to convince her anatomy of what not to expect was a job in itself and the way her breathing was quickening meant she wasn't being convincing enough. Taking a deep breath she rang his doorbell and listened while it echoed through his home.
He opened the door on the second ring. Mallory almost stopped breathing when her gaze met those of
the strikingly handsome man standing less than a few feet in front of her. With his shirt unbuttoned and his belt hanging out of the loops, it was apparent he was just about to change clothes. Bur still he looked so smooth and suave that she felt her toes curl in her shoes.
She stared at him for a moment then released a long-suffering sigh. “I hope I'm not too early.”
The corners of his eyes creased in a way she'd always found irresistibly sexy as he stood back to let her enter. “No, you're right on time,” he said smiling, closing the door behind her. “I got home a few minutes ago and hadn't had time to set things up. I thought you could view the pictures from my computer.”
She unconsciously slid her tongue over her lips. “All right.”
"Do you mind if I shower first?”
She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”
"I said that I'd like to take a shower before showing you the pictures.”
His statement nearly paralyzed her. There had never been a time when she had been in his home when he'd taken a shower and she hadn't joined him, whether she needed one or not. Vivid scenes of them in the shower stall began playing around in her head. Blood pounded through her body, especially the parts he had once touched, which meant she was tingling everywhere.
She knew the sensible thing to do was to tell him his shower needed to wait and that she wanted to see the pictures now so that she could leave. But there was a part of her that didn't want to be sensible, and it was reminding her that he had graciously taken this case on very short notice and she should be more appreciative. However, sexual need was replacing appreciation and she knew if she hung around she could get into trouble.
"Maybe I should come back later,” she said and wondered if he could hear the frustration in her words.
"There's no need. My shower will only take a minute.”
Mallory doubted that. Nothing Hunter did only took a minute. He could take the word slow to a whole other level and put the word anticipation right up there with it. No one had ever kissed her the way Hunter kissed her: slow and thorough. He would take his time like he had all day and all night. She cleared her throat. “Yes, but if you're busy then—”
An All Night Man Page 3