Not that he was going to turn his brother-in-law in. Hunter had learned long ago not to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. And if the bad guys wanted to take out the bad guys … well, there were worse things in the world. As long as innocents didn’t get caught in the crossfire, he didn’t really give a shit.
He immediately thought about Dani.
How innocent was she in all of this? She was Max’s fucking sister, for God’s sake. Sister. Not cousin like Hunter had believed. Then again, Max had seemed quite shocked by that revelation as well.
Her entire life was a lie. He had to wonder why she’d taken the Davidson name rather than Adorite. What had been her plan there? Hunter figured it had something to do with him or his family. How else had she ended up in his life?
He should’ve known it was too good to be true. She was a phenomenally beautiful woman. And he meant that in a very serious way. It should’ve dawned on him that she was an Adorite. Hunter had seen Max’s sisters. They were all runway-model beautiful, but Dani was world class in every way. Long legs, hips that he could grab on to, thick, shiny hair, chiseled cheekbones, eyes that were more gold than brown, a nose that fit perfectly on her face, and her lips…
God, he didn’t want to get started on her lips.
Sure, Hunter had met his fair share of beautiful women over the years. He didn’t consider himself conventionally handsome. Not like Kye was. Not by any means. But he did have a certain look that attracted the ladies. The eyes helped. People were generally captivated by his nearly colorless eyes. Some found them odd, but women generally found them appealing. Other than that, Hunter was in excellent shape, but that was mostly due to genetics. In fact, he’d earned his six-pack abs when he was in high school, with very little effort. He attempted to eat right and work out, although he was laxer than he probably should be considering he was in his thirties.
Hunter grabbed a glass from the cabinet, filled it with ice and water, then leaned against the counter while Kye filled his plate.
Anger surged in his veins, but he’d long ago learned to ignore it. He wanted nothing more than to find out what Kye had been thinking going undercover for RT. Why he hadn’t bothered to share those details with Hunter.
He already knew the answer, so perhaps that was why he didn’t bother to ask. He and Kye hadn’t been on good terms when Kye stormed out of his house that night. To the point Hunter hadn’t expected to ever see Kye again. Maybe he should be grateful to RT for keeping Kye around.
He did his best not to admire the man. It wasn’t easy, considering. Hell, Hunter hadn’t had sex since the night Kye stormed out of his fucking house. Although he could’ve found a way to get some, it really hadn’t been important to him. Someone probably needed to remind his dick that he still wasn’t interested in sex. Didn’t matter that Dani and Kye were under the same roof for an undetermined amount of time. Hunter had to keep his hands off. Both of them.
Of course, thinking about staying away brought his thoughts back around to Dani and how he’d allowed her to waltz right into his life and turn it upside-fucking-down. He should’ve been suspicious when she just appeared out of the blue. They’d met at a coffee shop of all places. Right place, right time, or so he’d thought. While he had been waiting for a phone call, ready to be sent on another job, Dani had walked in. His eyes had followed her from the moment she stepped through the door until she asked if she could use his extra chair because the table beside him had been robbed of seating. Rather than nod, he’d suggested she sit with him.
The rest had been history. They’d shared plenty of laughs and some apocalyptically good sex. Amazing sex. The kind that threatened to blow the top of a man’s head off when he came. She hadn’t batted an eye when he’d told her what he wanted from her, how he’d wanted to share her with Josh. Or how he’d wanted to share Josh with her.
Yep. He’d been a dumb ass. Blinded by lust.
He’d been her mark, and Hunter had welcomed her with open arms. Then he’d gone and fallen in love with her and asked her to marry him. It was no wonder she never showed at the church. She’d apparently gotten what she needed from him. That or he’d thwarted her plan by pushing for something more serious.
Thinking about it made his stomach cramp and his chest hurt. He’d thought his world had ended when he lost Dani. And as though God hadn’t finished punishing him for whatever sins he’d committed, Hunter had lost Josh, too.
No way could he ever forgive Dani for what she’d done to him.
No fucking way.
And unfortunately, that meant sex was completely off the table.
For the time being.
DANI SQUEEZED HER EYES SHUT, trying to block out the memory. It had been at the forefront of her mind since Hunter shoved her into the backseat of the truck and she’d laid her eyes on…the man in the front seat.
“Bastard,” she whispered.
“Joe…” Dani felt as though she was going to die if he didn’t hurry up and do something. “Please.”
“Please, what, baby?”
“I need you.”
“What do you need, baby?”
Kye’s delectable mouth glided over her neck, her collarbone. He continued lower until his tongue rasped over her nipple. She curled her hands around his head, trying to get him closer. Needing more than he was giving her.
When he finally closed his lips around her nipple and sucked, Dani’s entire body drew tight, a desperate moan escaping. “Joe…oh, God. Don’t stop doing that.”
She ground her hips against him, needing friction on her clit. She could feel the rock-hard length of him against her thigh, knew he was as eager as she was. But he was taking his time, not going fast enough. She needed more, and she wasn’t too embarrassed to let him know it. Sliding her hand between their bodies, she found his cock, fisting it tightly.
“Please … Joe … I need to feel you inside me.”
Joe.
Dani had spent those nights with a man who didn’t even exist. She had allowed him to kiss her, to slide inside her body. In fact, she had allowed herself to get carried away on hopes and dreams that should’ve been left alone. She had thought for a brief moment that Joe could somehow be important to her.
“Ugghh,” she growled, anger making her head hurt.
Dani smelled something cooking and her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since dinner last night. Still, she refused to go out of the bedroom, not wanting to run into Kye. As a matter of fact, she never wanted to see him again. Him or Hunter. She knew Hunter was back because she’d heard the deep rumble of his voice. He had one of those voices that was pitched ridiculously low. A sexy, gravelly tenor that made her think of erotically dark sex.
She snorted.
Thinking about sex and Hunter was not a good combination. It was bad enough she sometimes remembered the moments they’d spent together. All the things she’d given up by walking away. The man had pulled her sexual fantasies—even some she hadn’t realized she had—right out of her, made her crave the eroticism only he could provide. Well, he and Josh.
It brought back the memory of that first night Hunter had shown her a world she hadn’t even known existed. A pleasure unlike any other. That night had resulted in several more with the three of them getting quite cozy. Oddly enough, she’d never gotten close to Josh—outside of the bedroom, so to speak. But she had spent plenty of time naked with him. Without even meaning to, she’d developed feelings for the man.
Pulling herself out of the past, Dani took a deep breath. She wondered what had happened to Josh. Did he still work for Sniper 1 Security? She had to assume Hunter was no longer with Josh. She got the sneaking suspicion something was going on with Hunter and Kye. They had a history at the very least, she was almost positive. Was Kye the reason Hunter and Josh had broken up?
Truth was, when she’d gone off the grid, attempting to hide from the sins of her past, Dani had refused to follow up on Hunter or any of his family and friends. She told herself i
t was to protect them. Dani knew what Samuel was capable of. Hell, the bastard had looked the other way when Samuel’s own crazy, fucked-up brother had tried to take his share of the family business from Samuel’s fifteen-year-old daughter. And though Samuel hadn’t had anything to hold over her at the time, Dani knew he would still exact his revenge given the opportunity.
Not that any of it mattered anymore. Samuel was dead; Max had taken over the family. Yet Samuel’s legacy still lived on, and clearly someone wanted to kill her because they’d figured out who she was. Dani didn’t pretend to understand what it was all about, but that didn’t mean she was willing to sit back and wait for her death sentence.
She needed a plan.
Dani glanced at the bedroom door and sighed.
It looked as though she was going to have to face Hunter and Kye after all.
THE INSTANT DANI JOINED THEM in the kitchen, Kye felt the tension in the room rocket up to thirty on a scale of one to ten. Four months ago, he could’ve blamed all of it on Hunter and Dani. Now…well, now Kye knew Dani had a bone to pick with him as well. And he had every intention of explaining himself, but he wanted the opportunity to do so in private.
Which meant he had to focus their attention elsewhere. These two had some serious issues to deal with, yet it was obvious neither of them had any intention of doing so. Unprovoked, that was.
Fortunately for them, Kye was there to help move things along.
“So…” Kye reached for his beer. “Tell me how the two of you know each other.”
Hunter pierced him with a ball-shriveling glare, but Kye didn’t back down. He took a long pull on the bottle and glanced between the two of them. No, he’d never been the kind to nose his way into Hunter’s business. But that was before. Before Hunter put this rift between them, before Hunter forced Kye to play his hand.
Not that it had worked. He’d hoped that by walking away, Hunter would realize what they had going on between them. Perhaps track him down so they could find a way to work through it. Hunter Kogan was as stubborn as they came, though. Not once in the four months since Kye left had Hunter ever tried to contact him.
Lifting an eyebrow, Kye glanced between the two of them, waiting for someone to answer.
Dani was the first to show any sign of acknowledgment. She put her napkin on the table and grabbed the glass of iced tea. “We met at a coffee shop.”
Hunter didn’t stop eating. He didn’t even look at them.
“Yeah?” Kye grinned, glancing down at his plate. “Hunter always did like coffee shops.”
“How did the two of you meet?” Dani asked, her question directed more at Kye than Hunter.
“I applied for a job.”
“Interesting.”
That caught his attention. Kye peered up at Dani. “How so?”
“Is that how you came to be following me?” she asked Kye, her face a stony mask. She wasn’t going to give anything away.
“Actually, no,” Hunter answered. “That was all RT’s doing.”
Kye stared at Hunter, feeling the full extent of his hatred. Yeah, they’d be talking later, too.
“Not that I believe that,” Dani said as she took a drink of her iced tea.
“I’m not the liar in this game, sweetheart,” Hunter growled, pointing his fork at Dani.
“Nope. Never. You’re the martyr, Hunter. Always have been, probably always will be.”
Kye couldn’t help but watch the two of them. There was a wealth of anger surging in the air, but there was something else, too.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Hunter asked, his eyes narrowed.
“Oh, nothing.” Dani focused on her food, but now Hunter was staring at her.
Well, it was more of a glare actually.
“Don’t act like you know a fucking thing about me,” Hunter grumbled, his voice so deep, so rough, Kye couldn’t look away. His protective instincts reared, ready and willing to stand in front of Dani if Hunter wanted to go at it.
“Oh, trust me,” she said flippantly, “I would never do that.”
Kye knew this was going to get ugly, but like a badly mangled car on the front end of a Mack truck, he couldn’t seem to look away as the pair stared one another down.
“So, what’s with the tone?” Hunter demanded.
Dani shrugged. “It’s just…” She glanced at Kye, then back to Hunter. “I thought you already had a partner. Seems they’re replaceable, depending on—”
Before Dani could finish her statement, Hunter was on his feet. He slammed his fists onto the table and got right up in her face. “Josh fucking died, Dani. Have a little bit of a heart, would you?”
As Hunter stormed out of the room, Dani’s eyes widened and Kye was fairly certain he saw tears building. He swallowed hard, unsure what to say. Should he comfort her? There was no way she could’ve known about Josh.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Had she not bailed on Hunter all those years ago, she would’ve known.
Still, Kye wasn’t sure she deserved that.
“You okay?”
Dani’s head snapped over, her eyes slamming into him. It was as though she didn’t realize he was still sitting there. She cleared her throat as she got to her feet.
Without another word, she walked right out of the room.
Leaving Kye alone with his beer.
“This is going to be fun,” he muttered to himself.
*
Two hours later, after he’d cleaned up the kitchen and done another perimeter search, Kye decided to call it a night. Neither Hunter nor Dani had emerged from their respective rooms and he didn’t figure they intended to. Since there were only two bedrooms, Kye was going to get to sleep on the couch. Yay. Six feet six inches crowded on a five-foot couch. So much fucking fun.
Sure, there was a pull-out bed, but he couldn’t imagine it was all that comfortable. He’d just as soon sleep on the floor. Probably have less body aches in the morning if he did. Then again, maybe he would just stay up, keep an eye on things.
He yawned.
Or maybe not.
He’d been up for thirty hours and it was catching up to him quickly.
Kye glanced at the door to Hunter’s room. He really needed to check in before he tried to get some sleep. Someone had to keep an eye out and he knew Hunter would be awake. The man didn’t look like he slept all that much these days.
With a resigned sigh, Kye walked over to the door and rapped his knuckles lightly on the wood. Hunter grumbled something, but Kye couldn’t quite make it out. Choosing to take it as permission to enter, Kye opened the door.
He didn’t get the damn thing open all that much when he found a very naked, very hard Hunter lying on his bed, jacking off roughly.
“Shut the goddamn door,” Hunter snarled, his eyes never leaving Kye’s face. He didn’t try to hide what he was doing.
Kye could see the heat simmering in his eyes. The man might’ve been pissed off after what happened at dinner, but there was no denying he was horny as hell.
Instead of doing as instructed, Kye stood there, leaning his shoulder against the frame, his eyes glued to the way Hunter’s hand moved crudely over his dick. His own dick stirred. A natural response to something so…hot.
“You gonna stand there and watch?” Hunter didn’t sound bothered by the idea.
“Yeah,” Kye exhaled roughly. “I think I will.”
“Fine by me.” Hunter continued to fist his cock, his eyes closing as he did.
“You thinkin’ about me?” Kye asked. There was no teasing in his tone. He wanted to fucking know. It’d been a long damn time since he and Hunter had been together, but that didn’t mean Kye had stopped thinking about him.
“No.”
“Liar,” Kye retorted.
Hunter’s eyes flew open. “Is that what you want? For me to think about you when I jack off? If I said I was, would it bother you?”
“Not at all.”
Kye’s dick was swelling, but he fought the urge t
o give in. He wasn’t about to let himself get carried away. He knew it would take nothing more than a strong wind for him to give in to Hunter.
And everyone knew that was the last damn thing he needed.
TWELVE
HUNTER KNEW HE SHOULD’VE ORDERED Kye out of the room. The man would’ve listened if Hunter had put some real effort into it. Instead, Kye was standing in the doorway watching Hunter jack off while Hunter secretly wished that Dani would come out of her room, too.
It was a stupid wish, he couldn’t deny that. But having both of them there in the same house … Fuck. He was having a difficult time focusing on anything other than them. He hated himself for it, but try as he might, he couldn’t stop the fucking fantasies from overwhelming him.
Forcing his eyes open, Hunter trained his gaze on Kye. He saw the heat, the desire, the pure need reflecting back at him, but he also noticed sheer determination in Kye’s blue eyes. The man wasn’t going to give in. And Hunter didn’t blame him.
“How long’s it been?” Hunter asked him.
Kye didn’t respond, but Hunter knew he understood what he was asking. Had he fucked Dani? Did the two of them get together in the dark of night to work off a little restless energy?
Ah, fuck. The thought should’ve angered him, but it didn’t. Simply thinking about the two of them together made his dick so fucking hard it hurt.
“Since you’ve suddenly lost your voice, why don’t you put that smartass mouth to good use,” Hunter growled, gripping his dick firmly.
“Give me two good reasons why I should, and I’m on it,” Kye taunted.
Yeah. They both knew Hunter didn’t have one good reason, much less two.
Once again stroking his dick, Hunter gave himself over to the fantasy. If he could have nothing else, he could have that. And if he had to be plagued by it, no reason Kye shouldn’t be as well.
“I think about it all the time. Your mouth on my cock. Hot, wet…” Hunter groaned as the mental image took root. He couldn’t block it out. “The way you look at me when you deep throat my dick.” Another groan ripped through him and his hand slowed momentarily. “And I think about plowing into your ass, the hot depths of your body squeezing the fucking life out of me.”
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