Exposing the Heiress

by Jennifer Apodaca

  “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.”

  Hot suspicion pulsed in her veins. “Has he threatened you?”

  Maxine pulled her mouth tight. “He’s made a lot of threats, including one that he was going to tell you I came onto him if I didn’t quit. He wanted me gone. I had too much influence over you.”

  It was true. Nate hated Maxine and tried a few times to find ways to get rid of her. “What happened?”

  “I laughed in his face and told him to do it. Then you’d know what a lying piece of shit he was.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She shook her head. “Nate would have spun it, told you it was a joke or something. You were figuring out that he’s an ass on your own. I could see it, especially in the last two months. You had enough people pushing you around, but no one is as awesome a friend as me.”

  That made her smile. “And modest.”

  Maxine waved that off. “Nate thinks he owns you. It’s freaking weird, and Parker just goes along with him. This is going to get ugly when Nate realizes he’s lost control of you. Stay away from here. You’re safer there with Hunt.”

  Fifteen minutes later, she closed her computer and headed inside to put it away. Noise in the kitchen stopped her. Hunt was browning meat on the stove. “Oh, I didn’t know you were in here.” She’d thought he’d probably be out in his studio.

  He glanced back over his shoulder. “Starting spaghetti for dinner.”

  Hugging her computer, his words from two days ago flooded her brain. If you ask me again, I won’t stop. She wanted that with him, wanted it all since they’d made out on the cliffs two days ago. She wanted to see, feel, and experience him losing control like she had. Did he think about it? Or was it just her? “Do you think about it?” It came out before she could censor her words. That was another thing he did to her—with Hunt she could be honest and real.

  He adjusted the heat on the stove, pivoted and moved up to her. “Think about what?”

  He was so close she could feel the heat of his skin. “The cliffs. Finishing what we started.” It came out as a whisper.

  Heat leaped into his eyes and he leaned closer. “The feel of you coming on my hand, the taste of your mouth and those moans you made live in my memory, keeping me hard and hungry for you. But I won’t push you for sex. You will only come to me if that’s what you want. What you need.” Tension snapped between them. “No one is going to use you again, baby girl.”

  Her stomach flipped, then fluttered. How did he affect her so deeply? Make her want with a longing that she’d never experienced before?

  He eased back a step. “Go put your computer away and get ready for dinner.”

  Indecision held her to the floor for several heartbeats, but finally she did as he asked. Hunt wasn’t going anywhere and they could talk during dinner. Going into her room, her heart froze. There on the dresser was a sculpture. Hunt must have put it there. Her pulse zigzagged in a wild beat as she realized what he was doing, showing her a piece of his sculpture. Like she’d shown him her pictures.

  She set the computer on the bed and went to the dresser with the wrought iron framed mirror. Lowering her gaze, she lost her breath. She carefully picked up the foot-high piece, lifting it to the afternoon light streaming through her window. Stunning and heartbreaking. A soldier forced to one knee by the weight of his rifle over his shoulder. The absolute weariness in the man, the heaviness of the rifle, symbolized the burden of responsibility and duty.

  The image was so powerful and compelling she couldn’t get her breath. Gently, she turned it one way and another to examine every line and nuance. Finally, she studied the cold determination on his face. “He’s going to get up again. Keep doing his job.” She could see it in the set of the soldier’s jaw, the way he leaned forward, trying to bear the unbearable weight he carried.

  Her eyes burned and her heart squeezed. This single piece screamed of a quiet battle raging within a man. Within Hunt. The piece was as beautiful as it was disturbing. Alyssa had no idea how long she stood in the slice of sunlight, studying the sculpture, absorbing every subtlety and meaning, her fingers tracking every line that Hunt’s fingers had shaped.

  His story.

  He’d shared that with her. Given her this part of himself that he hadn’t given to anyone else. All her uncertainty fled. Holding his statue, she spun and headed to the kitchen to find him stirring spaghetti into a pot of bubbling water. Next to that was the pan of
sauce he’d started when she came in from the terrace. It was the sight of his suddenly tense shoulders that pinged her chest.

  He knew she’d returned. Slowly he finished his task, then faced her with distant, cautious eyes.

  She carefully set the sculpture on the island. It was an effort to let go of it. Once she had, though, she rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him.

  “Whoa.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her to his face.

  “Thank you. You showed me a part of you, a piece of what you keep locked up. It means everything to me. That sculpture is powerful. I can’t decide if I love it or hate it, but if I had the chance, I’d buy it to have forever. It’s a part of who you are.”

  “It took me two days to choose the right piece.” Hunt stroked his fingers along her hairline. “It’s yours if you want it.”

  “You’re giving it to me?”

  “I want you to have something of me. Something I wouldn’t give anyone else.” He kept touching her, one arm around her waist, holding her off the ground, the other stroking her face.

  “I’ve decided how I feel. I love it because it’s your truth, your story. Thank you.”

  A smile chased out the hard lines and lingering shadows as he set her on her feet. “I did it for me. I need you to know me, to understand what I am and still not be scared of me.” His eyes heated and he skimmed his knuckles down her cheek.

  “I’m not scared.” Instead, despite seeing the quiet agony Hunt carried in his sculpture, there was something uplifting and empowering about this man’s trust. He’d shown no one else—not even his parents or Erin. “One second.” Alyssa picked up the sculpture.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m putting this in my room.” She quickly put it by her bed, and then returned.

  He arched a brow. “Afraid I’ll change my mind?”

  She grinned at him. “No, I want your full attention on me when I say this.” She didn’t want him looking at that statue and thinking that he was not good enough to touch her.

  “That right?”

  She took a breath. “You wanted me to wait a day or two, and I have. So here it is. This right now? It’s an escape, a moment in time where I’m out of the media spotlight and I can do this for me. Be selfish.” She put her hand on his chest, feeling his strong heartbeat through his T-shirt. “I’m asking you to kiss me.”

  Hunt turned, his back rippling as he clicked off the gas flame beneath the noodles and sauce. When he faced her again, all the doubt had left his face.

  The change was so sudden, she asked, “What are you doing?”

  He stalked toward her, intensity burning in his eyes. “What did I say would happen if you asked me to kiss you again?”

  Her mouth dried, her pulse danced a sensual beat. She reached out, slapping her hand down on the counter. In seconds, he’d turned this on her. She thought she was the aggressor, but he took control. And she liked it. “You won’t stop at a kiss.”

  A wolfish grin spread over his face. “You sure you’re ready?” He caught her arms, pulling her against all six feet of hard, warm male. “I’ve been controlling myself every damned second.”

  He held her easily, giving her a glimpse of his need. His breath feathered over her face.

  “If you say yes, then you’re giving yourself to me right here, right now. For this moment in time, you’re mine.”

  Excitement buzzed in her veins. If she said the word, he’d unleash the power he’d been holding back. No fear, just them. “Yes.”

  Hunt scooped her up, crossed a few steps, and set her on the barstool. “God, I’ve ached to kiss you again.” Sinking his fingers into her hair, he tilted her head and brushed his lips over hers. Then he plunged in, his tongue demanding entrance.

  Latching onto his shoulders, she kissed him back, tangling her tongue with his. Alyssa lost herself to the sensation of Hunt owning her mouth. Her lips throbbed in time with her wild pulse. Nothing had ever felt like this. So real and raw, an agonizing want burning between them.

  Spreading his hand over her lower back, he wedged between her thighs and tugged her into the hard ridge of his erection. He dragged his mouth along her jaw and down her throat, making her shiver. In just minutes, she burned. Needed. His lips scorched a trail to her shoulder. Desire heated her belly. He was giving her what she wanted, craved. “Wait.”

  Lifting his head, he locked stare on her. “Second thoughts?”

  Softening his hold on her lower back, he stroked her skin as if soothing her. That action swelled her heart and desire. Hunt had made her come at the cliffs and now he was rock hard for her, and if she said no…he’d stop. That made her want him more. “No.” She pushed his shirt up. “I want to touch you.” She ran her hands over the ridges of his stomach, feeling his muscles jerk. “Please.”

  Reaching over his head, he grabbed a handful of his shirt, yanked it off, and tossed it on the counter.

  She ran her gaze over his incredible inked shoulders and chest, catching sight of a bullet tattoo over his heart. Odd. She’d ask later. Right now, she molded her hands over the thickness of his shoulders, absorbing and memorizing the feel of him. Tracing the warm skin of his chest, and wrapping her hands around the bands of muscle on the sides of his abs then back to the front to that thin trail of hair leading down.

  His muscles undulated and he hissed in sharply.

  She glanced up. Color bloomed in his face, and his eyes burned. She undid the button on his shorts, eased down his zipper. His massive erection sprang out, long and thick. Alyssa traced the darker colored head, entranced by the soft feel. Wrapping her fingers around him, she pushed down his hard length.

  Hunt shuddered, his thighs and abs visually rippling.

  A hot sense of power roared in her ears. Her touch did this to him. Experimenting, she stroked the sensitive tip with one palm while jacking him with her fingers.

  Hunt slammed his palm down on the counter. Thrusting into her hand, he leaned toward her. “Kiss me.”

  She looked up and he sealed his mouth over hers.

  …

  She was trying to kill him. Jesus, he loved it. Her hand on his cock drove him to the edge, but her mouth? The way she opened to him wet and hot ripped down his spine. More, he wanted more of her and sucked in her bottom lip, then thrust his tongue against hers, absorbing the taste of her. So damned perfect.

  Instinctively, she matched his fierceness, stroking his cock harder, kissing him deeper, ripping away the last of his control. She stripped him raw. His orgasm hovered so close, he shuddered. Sheer will held it off.

  Breaking the kiss, he eased her hand off his dick and swept her up in his arms. “Need a condom, they’re in my room.” His heart pounded and he struggled to breathe beneath the searing heat and anticipation. “Then it’s my turn. Your clothes are coming off, and I’m going to touch you, kiss you and drive my cock into you while looking into your eyes.” He swallowed a deep groan at just the thought of thrusting into her heat. He took a step, determined not to stumble. Lyssie trusted him for sex and to keep her safe. “I can’t wait. Have to—”

  The front door banged open. “Where is she? Where is the runaway bride trending all over social media?”

  “Fuck.” Hunt snarled. In the space of a second he set Lyssie down, zipped up his shorts, and leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m going to kill my sister.”

  Alyssa stared up at him with unfocused eyes. “Erin always did know how to make an entrance.”

  Chapter Eight

  Hunt couldn’t believe his sister showed up now. Why the hell had he ever given Erin the codes to his alarm system? His entire body and mind burned for Lyssie, craved her in a way that went beyond sex. When he touched her, the darkness inside him, the one that drove him to his studio to vent his nightmares, pulled back. He dragged in a breath of regret and stepped back from Lyssie just as his sister blew in like a summer storm, full of wild wheat curls and boundless energy.

  Er
in skidded to a stop in front of them with furious eyes. “How long have you two been together?” She turned to Alyssa on the barstool. “All these years, I don’t hear from you. Nothing. And now you’re sleeping with my brother?”

  Alyssa cringed back. “Erin, no, it’s not like that.”

  An icy wind blew over Hunt’s lust. “We’re not together.” Not like that. They weren’t in a relationship. This was an agreement, one where no one got hurt.

  Lyssie stood. “I hired Hunt and his agency to help me with a problem.”

  “Really?” Erin shoved her hand in her purse and pulled out her phone. “Because this picture on RevealPop doesn’t look like a working relationship to me.” She thumbed through her phone, then turned it toward them.

  Lyssie stiffened at the mention of the tabloid journalism site. They both leaned in to see a full-color picture of Alyssa sitting on Hunt’s lap at the cliffs, the two of them locked in a searing, intimate kiss.

  “Oh God.” She jerked back, wrapping her arms around herself in a protective gesture. “It wasn’t a gun you saw, it was a camera. I haven’t even announced my breakup with Nate yet.”

  “Looks like social media did it for you,” Erin said. “Twitter has blown up with ‘runaway bride’ hashtags. And some that are less than flattering.”

  All the color drained from Lyssie’s face. “Eli. Nate will hear about the picture. What if he does something else to him?”

  Hunt caught her upper arms, cutting off her escalating panic. “Griff and his team are watching the boy 24/7. He’s safe. No one can get to him.”

  She calmed, tugging her arms free. “All right, thank you.”

  Before his eyes she deflated. This was his fault. He should never have kissed her out there. Hell, he’d done more than kiss her. Shit, there could be other, worse pictures out there. What the hell had he been thinking? It was his job to protect her, not expose her like this. She’d been trying to avoid media attention. “I’m sorry. I’m supposed to protect you and I let this happen.”