She didn’t hear the front door open, nor did she hear the big bounty hunter approach her small washroom as she showered. Despite her naïve attempts at seduction, she hadn’t planned on his seeing her naked as the day she was born pretty much the moment they were reunited. Yet, that was exactly what happened. Lucy set her phone on the back of the toilet lid, shut the shower off, shoved the shower curtain back and came face to face with a huge, grim, surprised Mack Hudson. Her mouth fell open for about a second and a half before her shocked brain caught up with her mouth and she started screaming bloody murder.
Suddenly she found herself grabbed by the arm and pulled from the tub, then shaken until her screams stopped.
“Lucy,” he growled. “It’s me, Mack Hudson. Your sister’s partner. Open your damn eyes and look at me. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He shoved a towel into her hands and she clutched at it blindly while cowering against him for a moment before opening one eye to peek at him. She slowly wound the towel around herself while looking up at him. She found herself staring up into a pair of seriously annoyed bloodshot blue eyes. Gorgeous, beautiful, swoon-worthy blue, blue eyes! Her sopping wet hair was hanging in wild strands down her back. The way his big, rough hands held her against him, steadying and calming her at the same time. Now this had the makings of a seriously romantic moment. If only she could stop her teeth from chattering from the cold.
“M-Mack?” she breathed his name, her wide eyes finally taking in the huge body that filled her tiny bathroom.
He sighed heavily and tried to step back from her. She began to sway, suggesting her body was giving way to the rush of adrenaline and shock from finding him in her washroom. She reached out for him again, gripping his shirt weakly. She fluttered her eyelashes, hoping she was giving the correct combination of helpless and “kiss me.” Then a wave of dizziness actually swept over her from blinking too much and she was forced to stop. Darn, this was not at all going how she’d planned.
She licked her lips and lifted her eyes to his, hoping he was picturing that kiss. “Wh… what are you doing in here Mack?” she asked huskily.
He moved so suddenly she found herself getting dizzy again as he pulled them both out of the washroom and into her kitchen. Well that was a good space to be in! They could smell the blueberry muffins in there. She’d always heard that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Although, at present, she was undecided about whether she wanted Mack’s heart. She mostly just wanted his lips, his muscular chest and… oh, she definitely wanted to run her fingers through his spiky blond hair.
He watched, seemingly intent on her mouth, before answering. “I saw the light up here, thought someone broke in. You didn’t lock the door.”
Her eyes widened for a moment. “Oops,” she said guiltily. “Sometimes I forget. We never locked the door back home. Vlad would murder me if he knew I forgot something like that.”
Mack raised an eyebrow and snorted. She assumed it was because her brother-in-law was a mobster and presumably killed people once in a while in his line of work. But so far Vlad seemed like a very nice mobster and she assumed he only killed the people that really deserved it.
“You didn’t set the alarm either,” he pointed out gruffly.
She grimaced and shrugged. “Uh… forgot?”
His frown grew even more fierce. “Why the fuck are the Sitnikovs letting you live in this shithole? You clearly can’t take care of yourself. I could’ve raped and killed you just now and been out before anyone knew a thing.”
She gasped and stood up straighter, pushing her full chest out against the towel. “I can so take care of myself,” she snapped. “Just because I forgot my door this once doesn’t make me a blithering idiot. And I have a bodyguard! He just… he’s just… well I’m not sure where he is actually.”
She felt a small slice of concern and went to the window to peek out into the darkness. Her towel flirted with the edge of her bottom as she looked for her supposed bodyguard and she tugged at it with her hand. What if something had happened to him? She suspected the whole Russian mob thing was dangerous business. Perhaps she should be protecting her bodyguard, not the other way around. Maybe she should invite him to stay inside with her where it was safer.
“You don't think anything happened to him?” she asked, worried, glancing back over her shoulder to get Mack’s opinion.
Mack shook his head in disgust and shoved a hand over his head, spiking back his short blond hair. He ran a hand over the blond stubble on his cheeks. “I’ll look into it.”
“Okay,” she said softly, turning around to look at him. She crossed her arms in front of her realizing exactly how little she was wearing. He shifted, crossing his arms over his broad chest and spreading his legs apart. His heavy combat boots looked huge on the delicate woven rugs. He wore a pair of faded jeans with a tear in one knee and an old grey T-shirt that moulded to his chest.
“Why are you staying here?” he demanded after they surveyed each other for a minute. “No offence, but I don't see good ol’ Vladimir letting you out of his sight. He’s a controlling fuck, pardon my language, and you are an innocent in a lion’s den in a city like this. Seems a weird choice to let you live on your own in this area.”
She smiled a little, flashing him some teeth. “He didn't have a choice,” Lucy explained softly. “Rumspringa is about choice and experience. Amish youth are meant to go out and experience independence, which I can’t do under the constant supervision of my indulgent brother-in-law. With Jane’s extremely convincing arguments, and threat to move out with me, he helped set me up here with a security system and a round the clock bodyguard.”
“Both of which failed,” Mack growled in annoyance.
“Yes… well,” she replied, glancing toward the window.
A movement on her bed drew her gaze. Then she saw the exact last thing she expected would be in her apartment when she’d been hoping Mack would invite himself in. A stripy gray hell beast was curled up on her bed licking itself while gazing malevolently at her with its vicious gleaming eyes. She had zero choice but to scream bloody murder and launch herself at Mack.
And like the hero he was, Mack grabbed her right up off the floor, pulled his gun and pointed it at the horrific animal while she whimpered in his arms.
“Get it away from me!” she shrieked, clenching her fingers against his rock-hard abs. She stroked them a little just to make sure. Yes, they were very hard.
His fingers brushed against her bare bottom and he groaned out loud while juggling both her and the gun. He frowned down at her. “The cat isn’t yours?”
“No!” she cried in terror, hiding her face in his chest so she wouldn’t have to look at the awful creature. “I hate cats! The way they move… the way they look at you… ugh… oh, oh, is it coming over here!?”
She peeked over her shoulder when she heard the springs on the mattress shift. The cat was indeed standing on the bed and stretching. It jumped off the bed and started to wander toward them. Lucy screamed again and began climbing Mack trying to get to higher ground. She knew cats had claws, maybe this one would try to climb him too!
Mack chuckled in her ear and cupped her bare bottom in one large hand while she wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him like a vine. Her wide, terrified eyes were glued to the furry beast that dared to intrude on her space and her breath constricted as her heart tried to claw its way out of her chest.
“Easy, darling,” Mack breathed in her ear, taking four long strides to the bed and easing her down. “It must have followed me in.”
“Take. It. Away!” she gasped, nearly hyperventilating while she scrambled away from the edge in case the cat decided to turn around and come back at her.
Mack scooped up the cat and stepped away from the bed, valiantly protecting her from the giant creature that had started happy growling in his arms. He headed for the door with the offensive beast then turned to look back. “Lucy.” He waited for her to look at him. She shud
dered, her eyes glued to the cat. “Lock the fucking door, or I’ll make a call to Sitnikov.”
She nodded quickly. “Yes, Mack. Anything you want.”
She licked her lips and ignoring the cat, looked imploringly into his eyes. She tried to tell him without words that he was more than welcome to come back and kiss her once he disposed of his burden. He grunted, clutched the hell beast to his chest and left.
Well that hadn’t gone how she was hoping at all. Lucy shuddered when she thought about the vile demon contaminating her bed, clutched her towel around her chest and slid off the bed to get a muffin.
Chapter Three
“So, do you work here for real or did management just hire you to hold the counter down and stare all day at that god-like blond with the mean scowl?”
Lucy rolled her eyes to the side and contemplated Amber who had taken up a perch on the stool next to her, mimicking Lucy’s exact pose of elbow on counter and chin in hand, brow furrowed in concentration. Lucy laughed and straightened up on her stool, sending her elbow lightly into Amber’s side, pushing the woman sideways. Amber was seven years older than Lucy’s twenty-one, but the two women had become fast friends within hours of Lucy’s employment at the small, retro-style diner.
“Obviously, I get paid to look this good,” Lucy said jokingly, tossing her wavy brown hair back and batting her eyelashes.
Amber laughed. “The size of your tips sure makes it seem that way.”
“Oh, shut up. As if you don’t make just as much.”
“Yeah, but that’s due to the short skirt and maximum makeup effect,” Amber retorted as they settled back into their staring-at-Mack-Hudson poses.
They contemplated the sexy-as-sin bounty hunter while he drank his coffee and glared down at his tablet, ignoring his audience of two. His daily trips to Lucy’s place of work had become a habit since he’d found out she started working at Dalton’s Diner. She’d expected a protest from him, given the way he’d reacted to news of her living in Jane’s old apartment, but so far, he hadn’t said anything about her job. Just came in every day, sat in her section and ordered a coffee. Nothing more, nothing less.
“What we all looking at?” Another waitress, a little older than Amber, dropped heavily onto the stool on Lucy’s other side while tying on an apron that matched the cute dress uniforms Dalton asked them to wear. They weren’t sleazy or anything and they matched the old-school vibe of the diner so none of the waitresses objected.
Lucy glanced over at Kendra briefly before returning her gaze to the gorgeous hunk of male exquisiteness in her sights.
Kendra followed Lucy’s gaze and a slow grin curved her generous lips. “Ah, break me off a little piece of delicious cop,” she murmured, settling herself into a similar pose as the other two. Elbow on counter, chin in hand. She’d just come on shift, despite there only being two customers in the shop. The lunch rush would hit soon and the clientele would shift in a flash.
“Bounty hunter,” Lucy corrected her in a distracted murmur.
“Don’t care what kind of law enforcement he is so long as he keeps doing whatever it is that makes him look like that,” Kendra said with a purr. “Man like that looks like he knows what to do with a set of handcuffs, baby.”
“Amen sister,” Amber agreed and the two women high-fived over Lucy’s head.
They all turned back to focus on Mack Hudson, taking a chorus of breaths that slipped out in a sigh of unison as he unfolded his big, tall body from the booth. It was just so hard not to admire that kind of incredible masculine beauty. Every part of him was honed to muscular perfection, from his jean-clad thighs and ass as he bent to retrieve his leather jacket from the booth to the chiseled jaw, intense blue eyes and a face made for the big screen if it weren’t for his perpetual scowl.
He strode straight toward the three waitresses, shoving his leather coat over his broad shoulders as he walked. Kendra and Amber scrabbled off their stools and pretended to busy themselves with nothing in particular in the near vicinity while Lucy remained helplessly rooted to her seat, staring at him as he approached. Wordlessly he handed her a ten-dollar bill, folded into three, same thing he did every day. Lucy reached out and took it, allowing their fingers to touch for those few seconds. Sparks ignited. Warmth suffused every part of her, turning her face a bright shade of pink. She shifted uncomfortably on the stool, aware of the gathering moisture in her panties.
Without a single word he turned away and left the diner. Lucy swiveled on her stool and watched him leave, a sigh of longing escaping her lips.
“I think my ovaries just exploded,” Amber groaned perching a hip on the counter next to Lucy. “That man is hotter than men have any right to be and he only has eyes for you, sweetie.”
Lucy shook her head, her lips forming a small pout. “He’s been coming in here every day for three weeks and he won’t make a move. Besides, there are too many obstacles in our way for any kind of relationship to work between us.”
Kendra laughed, stacking napkin holders on the counter. “Okay, girl. Stop thinking long term. You’re only twenty-one. Believe me, you have plenty of time for fun and games before you go settling yourself on just one man.”
Amber snorted and waved Kendra’s assessment away. “What obstacles, sweetie?”
“Well, besides my Russian babysitter,” Lucy said with a jerk of her head toward the Lincoln Continental complete with a bored looking, tattooed gangster that perpetually took up space in the parking lot on Lucy’s shifts. “I’m pretty sure Mack thinks he’s too old for me.”
Amber nodded thoughtfully. “I have zero doubts Mack Hudson can take care of your bodyguard in a heartbeat if he wanted to. Next issue, how much older is he?”
“Fifteen years.” But who’s counting?
Kendra whistled. “Stay away from that one, he’ll have history! A man that good looking with no woman at home? No way, no how there isn’t a story there.”
“Jesus Ken, go fill the damn napkins and leave the poor girl alone,” Amber growled in exasperation, giving the other woman a small shove. Kendra grabbed an armload of holders and strode away. Amber turned back to Lucy. “Okay, yes, fifteen years is definitely a gap at your age, but it doesn’t have to be the end of something awesome before it even starts! Sometimes you act very mature for your age, and… and maybe he’s very immature for his.”
They eyed each other for a second and then burst out laughing. “Gee thanks,” Lucy said with a roll of her eyes, pushing off her stool. “I’ll hope for an immature bounty hunter, who, at a guess, given his forever frown, has some anger issues.”
“Okay, scratch that,” Amber agreed, blowing hair out of her face and reaching for her notepad to rip off the top page, covered in scrawls from the day before. “I still think you’ll be fine. We just need to teach you how to loosen up and make some moves. The way he looks at you… well, we can’t just let that go to waste, sweetie.”
Lucy gave Amber a small smile, appreciating the other woman’s attempt to make her feel better. “Thanks, Amber, but we both know I’m hopelessly naïve. I don’t think I’m a match for someone that’s probably seen and done the things Mack Hudson has seen and done in his life. I mean, look at him!”
“Oh, I have!” Amber laughed. “Again, and again, and again.”
“Shut up!” Lucy giggled, bumping her friend with a hip. She reached for her apron and wrapped it around her waist.
Miraculously, she put the object of her fascination out of her mind for the next several hours and finished her shift. She really enjoyed the diner. She’d tried working with Jane in the office below her little apartment, but the two sisters quickly determined that, though they were awesome sisters, they were not good co-workers. Lucy wasn’t used to being idle though and had set out to find work, which wasn’t easy in a big city when her only experience was farm work. Dalton had taken a chance on her and she was happily working at the diner now for almost a month.
She was packing her stuff up at the end of her shift when Am
ber approached her again. “You know what you need?”
“What’s that?” Lucy asked, pulling her short blue-jean jacket over her uniform and buttoning it down the front.
“A night on the town!” she announced, her eyes lighting up. “Come on, Luce! It’s Friday night and you don’t have to work tomorrow!”
Lucy was torn. She really wanted to go out with her new friend and see what the big city was all about, but at the same time she knew Vladimir wouldn’t approve. She bit her lip, should she call Vlad and ask for permission? Then she shook her head, of course she shouldn’t! Rumspringa was not about asking! It was about new experiences. And she was going to have a new one.
A slow grin spread across her lips. “Count me in!”
Chapter Four
“I think Alexandr might have told on me,” Lucy yelled at Amber over the pounding music as she pointed at her bodyguard. She eyed the stoic looking Russian who had been trailing her around since her last bodyguard mysteriously disappeared after leaving his post that one time Mack had let himself into her apartment and almost kissed her.
The guy whose name she couldn’t remember right at the moment - because tequila seemed to be an incredible memory eraser - was looking down at his phone with a concentrated frown as he furiously typed. Damn. She probably shouldn’t have told her bodyguard where she was going for the evening. She was sure the man intended to ruin her good time. But she also knew that Vladimir would have her back at the mansion and out of a job in the snap of his autocratic fingers if she stepped too far out of line. He considered her to be his responsibility; the little sister that needed looking after now that his own little sister was all grown up and married off.
In His Sights (Fire & Vice Book 7) Page 2