Exposing the Heiress

by Jennifer Apodaca

  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 h
er 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.”