by Maya Banks
curly cap. She moved with ease, as though she experienced no pain or stiffness today.
“Good morning,” Hutch returned. “Sleep well?”
As soon as he said it, Sawyer coughed discreetly, and Hutch could have swallowed his tongue. His perfectly innocent question sounded staged. Damn it.
She frowned, and Hutch braced himself to dig his foot out of his mouth.
“I didn’t at first. Bad dream. Cam made cocoa though, and I slept great.”
The smile returned and she bounced—good grief, she actually bounced—over to Sawyer, stepped on the rung of his stool, hoisted herself up and placed a big kiss on top of his bald head.
“Morning. I see you’re as verbose as ever.”
He regarded her strangely. Actually he was looking at her like she’d just descended the alien mother ship.
Had the sex been that good? Hutch was starting to think of all the ways he’d never measure up.
He shot Cam a sideways glance, only to see him smiling softly at Reggie. Then Cam turned and met Hutch’s gaze. There was hope in Cam’s eyes. Hope that Cam hadn’t exactly been full of lately.
Hutch’s pulse sped up, and he cocked his head in question at Cam. Cam briefly shook his head and put a finger to his lips.
“No good-morning kiss?” she said teasingly to Sawyer.
Sawyer didn’t answer. Instead his hand shot out, curved around the back of her neck, and he yanked her to him, slanting his lips over hers in a hard kiss.
Hutch had to look away as anger surged through his veins. He’d never been comfortable with Sawyer’s hard edges. It worried him that Sawyer could frighten Reggie.
He shoved a plate across the bar toward her, but when he looked up she wasn’t there.
She pounced on him from behind, jumping onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and giggled in his ear like a goon.
Despite his dour mood, he grinned. Man, he’d missed her.
He promptly backed her into the refrigerator and winced when she tugged on his ear in retaliation.
“Hey, watch that shit,” Sawyer spoke up. “You’re going to hurt her ribs.”
Hutch stared at him in shock. Mister He-Man Hard-ass was going to lecture him on being careful with Reggie?
“Party pooper,” Reggie muttered in his ear. “I thought that was Cam’s job.”
Hutch snorted with laughter. He clutched the underside of her legs and hoisted her higher on his back. She giggled again and kissed the side of his neck.
He closed his eyes as her lips slid over his skin. How many nights had he lain awake, reliving her touch, how she’d felt underneath him, her smell and her taste.
She wrapped her arms tighter around him, hugging him against her slight form.
Then she relaxed, let her feet fall and started to slide down his back. He caught her and lowered her carefully to the floor. When she had her footing, he pivoted and pulled her into his arms.
He tilted her chin up and kissed her leisurely, enjoying the feel of her soft, full lips against his.
“Good morning, Reggie. You’re awfully chipper this morning.”
She grinned mischievously. “I feel much better today.”
“You’ll feel even better when you eat.”
She rolled her eyes and bounced back over to the bar, where Sawyer had moved down to give her the seat between him and Cam. She climbed up, moving closer to Cam as she settled onto her seat. They shared an intimate smile, and Cam reached out to touch her cheek.
“Good morning,” he murmured.
She looked almost shy. And a little uncertain. That look gave Hutch’s chest a little squeeze. It suddenly made perfect sense why she’d come into the kitchen bright and cheerful. She was terrified.
She leaned forward and kissed Cam then ran her hand over his face.
“You need to shave,” she said lightly.
She turned to her plate and picked up her fork. Hutch softened all over. She was nervous and trying to cover her awkwardness, and he and Sawyer certainly weren’t helping by adding to the tension.
“I’ve got to go grocery shopping today,” he said as he dug into his own plate. “Want to come with?”
Reggie looked up and smiled. Then she cast a sideways glance at Cam. “You’re not coming, are you?”
Cam laughed. “Afraid I’ll confiscate all your junk food before it makes it to the basket?”
“Hutch lets me buy it,” she said defensively.
Cam rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not going. I need to finish up those plans.”
She turned back to Hutch and smiled sweetly. “In that case I’ll go. Any chance you’d run me into Beaumont so I could pick up a few changes of clothes? I’d rather not . . .” She frowned and took a deep breath. “I’d rather not go back to the house.”
Hutch reached across the bar and took her hand. “Of course, baby. We’ll go wherever you need. They’ve opened a new grocery store over by the mall. Supposed to have a kickass meat counter.”
“Oh yum. Steaks.” She turned to Cam. “You’ll grill, won’t you?”
Hutch was so happy she was speaking in terms of being here awhile that he’d buy her an entire cow.
“You buy it, I’ll burn it,” Cam cracked.
She looked over her shoulder at Sawyer, who was still shoveling eggs into his mouth. “No, that’s Sawyer’s job.”
“Hey,” he said around a mouthful. “Like you cook any better? I’m thinking you make me look like a Food Network guru.”
“Don’t start, you two,” Hutch said with a groan. “Eat up, Reggie, so we can go.”
As she picked up her fork again, the phone rang. Or a phone. It wasn’t the main line. All three men looked around for their cell phones. Sawyer reached across the bar and snagged the offending phone, opened it and stuck it to his ear.
“Pritchard,” he said.
There was a long silence and Sawyer frowned. Then it turned into a dark scowl.
“Fuck. Are you shitting me? No, don’t do anything. One of us will be over to take care of it. Just sit on it until we get there.”
He closed the phone and dropped it on the bar with a grimace.
“We have a problem.”
“Obviously,” Cam said. “What is it?”
Reggie stared curiously at Sawyer, waiting for his response.
“Job site’s been shut down by the city.”
“Which one?” Hutch demanded. Plans were Cam’s thing. But Hutch and Sawyer oversaw the construction.
“The art gallery.”
“Why?” Cam asked.
“That I don’t know,” Sawyer said in a disgruntled voice. “That was Tom on the phone. Said someone from the city came out and cited three violations. Pulled the permit. Goddamn it. One of us is going to have to go down there.”
CHAPTER 21
Regina sucked in her breath as panic surged in her chest. She didn’t want one of them going off alone. It left the door wide open for whoever had a beef with her, or Hutch, or her father, or whoever the hell it was, to get to them.
“I can go,” Hutch said.
Sawyer sighed. “No, I will. It’s my project. You and Reggie need to get her shopping done.”
Shopping. Her brain worked overtime as she struggled to figure out how she was going to prevent them from splitting up. She couldn’t protect them if they were all in different places. Together, they posed a much more serious threat, and after two run-ins with the psycho trying to kill her, she’d had enough. Her body had taken enough punishment, and she had no desire for the wack job to get to her, any more than she wanted the guys in his line of vision.
“We could all go,” she blurted.
Three heads turned in her direction. Hutch frowned, and Sawyer stared curiously at her.
Oh boy. She had to make this good. Going from avoiding them all the time to suddenly wanting to be around them twenty-four seven?
“Well, I mean if you wanted to,” she finished lamely. “I wouldn’t m
ind getting out of town for a while.” She scanned all their faces as she said the last.
Cam’s expression was thoughtful. Sawyer’s was more calculating, and she could see he liked the idea of removing her from the immediate vicinity of the danger she faced. Hutch looked more undecided.
“And I do have to get some clothes,” she added when no one spoke up. “Not that I want to do any hard-core shopping, but surely there’s somewhere close to your house where I could pick up some jeans and a few shirts.”
She sounded desperate. She sank further down and picked up her fork to shovel the remaining bite of cold eggs into her mouth. They were never going to buy into her sudden change of behavior.
She clutched the empty plate and backed off the stool. “It was just a thought,” she said as she rounded the bar to dump her plate into the sink.
“I like the idea,” Sawyer finally said. “This might take a couple of days to wrap up, and it gets you away from here. Hopefully by then the police might have a suspect or even make an arrest.”
“I could finish up the plans at the office,” Cam offered. “Another hour or two isn’t going to make a difference.”
Regina turned to look at Hutch, who was still regarding her rather curiously. She would have said suspiciously, but she was going to ignore that thought. Besides, she had decided to stay with them regardless of the danger they might be in, hadn’t she?
“Are you sure you feel up to this, Reggie?” Hutch asked. “I know you’re feeling better, but that’s not the same as being ready to run off to Houston and go shopping.”
She made a face. “Shopping here or shopping there. It’s still shopping. Besides, I can kick back in your house there same as here, right?”
A prickle of discomfort worked up her spine. She’d all but invited herself, and while that would have never bothered her before a year ago, now she felt like she was assuming a lot.
“I, uh, suppose I should have asked if it was okay if I tag along and if you and Cam actually wanted to go back to Houston with Sawyer.”
Hutch closed the distance between them and pulled her against his chest. “Don’t be ridiculous, baby. You’re welcome anywhere we are and that’s a fact. You’re just going to have to let us catch up here. After a year of trying to pin you down in any one place long enough to exchange more than a few pleasantries, it’s a little hard to deal with the fact you’re here, and you want to be with us.”
Her chest tightened, and guilt blasted her despite the fact that she knew she wasn’t using or manipulating them. Okay, maybe she was manipulating them, but it was for their own good, and she did want to be with them. She’d just have to wait until later to sort through her feelings surrounding the idea of having all of them. Preferably when there wasn’t someone determined to kill her and possibly them.
She wrapped her arms around his middle and laid her head over his heart. “I’m sorry, Hutch.”
He took hold of her shoulders and gently pried her away from him.
“What are you sorry for, baby?”
She glanced over at Cam and Sawyer, who were still sitting at the bar watching with undisguised interest.
“For not having more courage. For being afraid. For not trusting you all.”
“Does this mean you’ll stay?” he asked softly. “Beyond the immediate future, after the danger to you is past, will you stay? Will you be with me? Us?”
She swallowed hard and again looked to Cam and Sawyer. There was hope . . . and fear in their gazes.
“I’ll stay,” she whispered. “I can’t make any promises—”
“Shhh,” he said, putting a finger over her lips. “All we want is a chance, Reggie. Just a chance. Nothing more.”
He followed his finger down to her lips and slid it out of the way just in time for his mouth to press gently against hers.
There was a reverence in his touch, such exquisite tenderness, almost as if he were afraid to hope, to believe that she had agreed.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and for the first time was able to shut out the fact that two other men were in the room, one of whom she’d made love to last night. She didn’t feel guilty for pouring her love into this kiss, nor did she worry over the possibility that Cam or Sawyer would feel excluded. There were only so many things she could control, and that wasn’t one of them.
So she relaxed and let go. Put all the longing and emotion that had boiled beneath the surface over the last long year into returning his kiss.
He wrapped his arms tighter around her, finally hoisting her up so that their mouths were even. Her feet dangled inches above the floor, and the pressure on her ribs started an ache in her chest, but she didn’t care.
“I need you, Reggie,” he whispered hoarsely against her lips. “God, I need you.”
“I need you too,” she said in return.
She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his as their ragged breathing whispered between them.
Finally he eased her down his body until her feet hit the floor again. She winced as the pressure against her chest released, and Hutch swore.
She shook her head before he could say anything. “Stop treating me like I’m breakable, Hutch.”
He hooked a finger under her chin and nudged it upward. “Not breakable, baby. Just very precious.”
What could she possibly say to that?
Sawyer cleared his throat. “I hate to break this up, but if we’re going to go, we need to head out pretty quick.”
“I need to call in and let my department know where I’ll be,” she said as she moved away from Hutch.
There was a lot more she needed to call and arrange before she left, and she needed privacy in order to do it.
“Then let’s get our shit together and get on the road,” Cam said as he got up from the bar.
One by one, they got up and headed for the stairs. Regina lagged behind and headed for Cam’s office. She needed quiet. And she didn’t need to be overheard.
She closed the door behind her and walked over to sit behind his desk, reaching for the phone as she did so. She dialed Michael Harvey’s number and prayed he’d be in.
A few moments later, he answered, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Michael, it’s Regina Fallon.”
“Regina. Glad to hear from you. I heard you’ve got a lot of excitement going on up there in Cypress.”
“Yeah, no doubt. Look, I need a favor, and I don’t have a lot of time to get into the whys and wherefores.”
“I’m listening.”
“I need a full on surveillance system set up at a residence outside Cypress. There’s a grove of trees set off from the house a bit that I’d like some trail cameras put in. And the house, I need all angles covered. If someone so much as sets foot on this property, I want to know about it.”
“I see. And when do you need this done?”
She winced. “Today. Tomorrow. No later than tomorrow.”
She heard him blow out his breath.
“Man, you know I’d help you out any way I could, Regina, but that’s a mighty tall order.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “But it’s important, Michael. These people are important to me. I’ve got some crazed lunatic trying to kill me and threatening people close to me. I can’t let him get close again. I want to shut him down.”
“Okay, tell me where. I’ll get a couple of men on it. We’ll get you squared away.”
She sighed in relief. “Thanks, Michael. Be sure and send me the bill.”