“Great seeing you again, we can’t stay long.” Hunter’s hand pressed firmly at my waist. Confusion coiled my stomach. He was being possessive. I shouldn’t have liked it. I still didn’t know why I was teetering in these too-tall heels at his side, but I more than liked it. I loved it.
“Lovely to meet you.” I shook the imposing man’s hand when I was introduced. He was tall and had the look of a starved tiger in his eye, his gaze hungry for prey. It made the hairs on the back of my neck raise just as they had earlier tonight when I’d met John Ellis Walker.
“If you ladies talk for a minute, this guy and I have some business to take care of.” The man wrapped an arm around Hunter’s shoulders and hauled him out of the room.
“Been with Hunter long?” the bimbo purred as she sipped her fruity drink and looked out over the balcony.
“We’re not really together. I’m his PA actually.” I nodded to the waiter that stepped into the room. “Martini dry,” I requested and then turned back to the bustling crowd below. A line had wrapped around the block, and yet Hunter had skipped it and we’d been lead to the VIP lounge on the top floor. This was shady. All of it. Hunter had connections, almost as powerful as John Ellis Walker’s, I was sure of it.
“What would Hunter need a PA for?” the woman pressed.
“Excuse me, how do you know Hunter?” I asked, my nerves already on edge.
“Who doesn’t know Hunter?” the chick huffed and then downed her drink. “Where’s that waiter? VIP is open bar, and I know they try to drag their feet so I get fewer drinks.” She rambled on and I tuned out, my thoughts turning to Hunter and the man he’d left with. What could he have to drop off with this guy? And where had they gone—the bathroom for a drug deal? Or maybe I was over-reacting and it was something simpler, like a contract or check.
“Martini dry.” The waiter nodded to me before blondie cut in and rattled off her order. I sighed and took my drink just as Hunter returned, his eyes seeking me out almost immediately. Like a homing missile, he took confident strides directly to me before wrapping me around his torso. “Ready to go?” he whispered into my hair sending shivers burning through my body.
I only nodded, unable to form any words.
“You’re leaving; I’ll take that.” She swiped the drink from my hand and was taking a sip before I could even protest.
“Nice meeting you, Erin.” The oversized man took my hand in his own again.
“It was nice to meet you too…what did you say your name was again?”
“I didn’t,” he smiled a slick grin that had fear raising the hairs on the back of my neck. “Best to keep it that way, for your safety and mine.” He winked then, as if his last statement should impress me. I glanced to the blonde that had shimmied up to his side and was looking up at him with moony eyes.
“Of course.” I smiled with polite naiveté I was struggling to possess. “Have a good night.” I felt Hunter’s hand wrap in mine as he escorted me from the room.
“Now, to dinner!” Hunter led as we made our way back down the cushioned steps and out into the cool Chicago air.
“Sir.” The driver nodded when we approached, a slight wry grin on his face as he held the door for us. Crawling in, I felt Hunter’s rough hands whispering behind my bare thighs and I suddenly didn’t care where we were going, as long as it was just us, him and I, together. I didn’t know if I would get answers tonight, I didn’t even know if I knew the right questions to ask, I only knew that with his strong fingers twisted in mine, I felt safe and nothing else beyond that mattered.
Hunter ushered me out of the car with a firm palm at my back ten minutes later. “I hate this thing.” He worked his tie between his fingers and whipped it behind him across the leather of the car, then ran a hand through his formally styled hair. I smiled as I watched him transform into the comfortable Hunter I was used to seeing. The one that I knew, that I loved.
That I loved. The thought made my chest burn and my eyes tighten with tears.
It took my breath away, I thought I knew love, I thought I’d had love, but I’d been wrong, so wrong.
“Dinner first, then I take you home.” He tightened his hand, as if sensing my unease. “You okay?” He stopped and turned to me. His ruffled hair and dazzling verdant eyes glinted in the evening light. The white cuff of his shirt unbuttoned and the sharp black of his jacket lured me in, begged me to curl into his arms and hold on tight to him, tight enough for dear life.
“I’m…” I paused. “Okay.” I sighed, feeling like it might actually be true at this very moment and pressed up on my toes to place a soft kiss on his beautifully sculpted lips. I pulled away and watched as Hunter’s eyes fell closed, and right on that evening-lit street, his forehead fell to mine as he exhaled.
“Good. I promise I’ll tell you everything when I can, but I’d never let anyone hurt you, Erin,” he said softly, in a register lower than normal, that had love undoing my heart one beat at a time until it felt like it might burst. “I’m so glad you’re still here.”
“Of course I’m here. I’m your PA, you need me, right?”
“You’re right.” He stopped, his voice serious and deep with emotion. “I do need you.” His hands tightened around mine, and my tummy turned more twists than it ever had in my life.
“I HAVE A CONFESSION,” Hunter said after our dinner was cleared and we sat with a half-drunk bottle of wine between us at the private table.
“Oh boy, here we go.” I took another long drink of my wine in jest. He quirked a smile at me that allowed happiness and hope to bloom in my belly. For just a split second I forgot about John Ellis Walker and the bimbo and everything else that had left my head spinning. This was it. This was the real deal. I loved him.
“You know that secret you think I don’t know?”
My heart dropped then. Fell straight to the floor between my too-high heels and splintered into painful shards.
“I—I don’t know…” I stuttered, my brain running away with what he could or couldn’t know.
“This only works if I’m up front with you, Erin, and I haven’t been. But tonight it’s all on the table.”
“Okay,” I whispered, my brain still stalling on the idea that there was so much more that I didn’t know about Hunter, frozen in fear that he finally knew the one secret I’d carried down deep.
“Sometimes I get an assignment from JW, and with my certain skillset, well…I was hired to…” He pressed his bottom lip between his teeth, his eyes darting away. My stomach curled and burned, vomit making its way up my esophagus. This wasn’t going to be good. Not a chance.
“H—hired to what?” My hands shook beneath the stark white linen of the table where we sat. I watched Hunter’s throat constrict with a slow swallow. I imagined the lump that was probably lodged there, at least if it matched mine at all.
“I was hired to watch your husband.”
The End of Book One
BLINDSIGHT
Book Two
one
I SAT DUMBFOUNDED ACROSS from Hunter at the intimate corner table in the cozy restaurant, his words repeating on a constant loop in my head.
I was hired to watch your husband.
Your husband.
I shot from my chair and ran.
We each had secrets—he’d never hidden that—but I certainly had. I’d hidden my crumbling marriage under lock and key. And still here we were and he knew everything. He’d made me into a fool.
I stumbled out of the restaurant and straight for an idling cab at the curb, sliding across the cracked vinyl, tugging my dress down my thighs, and pleaded, “O’Hare. Departures, please.” I twisted my hands in my seat as tears threatened a violent descent down my cheeks. My life had been toppling. I’d run into a stranger on the street and taken him up on his offer before I could be backed into a corner. A desperate housewife with no income to escape.
A painful knot choked my throat. I felt like I’d become my own mother, trapped by circumstance under the thumb of a man. I felt
the slow numbing crawl of my old familiar defenses climbing up my body. My eyes failed to focus on the blinding car lights rushing by, my thoughts shutting down while I wished frantically for my own cool bedsheets against my skin to soak up my hot tears.
I thought I’d been safe with Hunter. I hadn’t questioned anything otherwise—I saw it in his eyes, felt it in my veins, but apparently his eyes had lied and his veins had pulsed with deceit more than love.
Hired to watch your husband. I couldn’t even fathom why. Brant travelled too much and worked too much, but he was safe and law-abiding—why on Earth would he need watching?
The cab finally pulled to a stop and I thrust him a few twenties, stumbling out into the night. Closing the door behind me, I sucked in every stubborn breath I had and stomped my way on confident steps into O’Hare.
Fifteen minutes later, I was shuffling up the line to the counter and cursing the ticketing agents for taking so damn long. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hunter was already close to finding me. He would check my house first without a doubt, so I calculated I had at least half an hour. And if maybe he thought I had family and friends in the city that I’d never mentioned, then I probably had plenty of time.
“Follow me,” a voice hummed over my shoulder before fingers wrapped around my elbow. I tightened my jaw and my eyes fluttered closed, an involuntary reaction, like Pavlov’s dog to the bell. But this time it wouldn’t work—it couldn’t work. He’d hurled my biggest secret straight in my face and then expected me to stay?
“Let go of me,” I gritted through an aching jaw.
“Not a chance. Follow me and we can talk this out, but there’s no running, Erin.” Hunter’s last words resonated the truth of this through me, coupled with the tough grip his hand pressed on my arm.
“Get your hands off me.” My body shook as I stood rooted to the spot despite Hunter’s palm pressing into my elbow. “Let go or I’ll scream,” I seethed, fury flashing in my eyes. I wasn’t some little pussycat to be cosseted and managed; I was a grown woman, and I may have globe-trotted with him, but he was a beautiful lying bastard and I wanted no part of it.
“You’ll be in danger if you leave the city,” Hunter said softly, his lips whispering across the shell of my ear. “I’m sorry.” His tone deepened before he clasped my hand in his own, his fingers tightening with a vice-like grip so I had no choice but to be dragged behind him. His strong jaw clenched with a determined ferocity I hadn’t seen before.
“I can’t walk in these heels,” I muttered and tugged at Hunter, forcing him to slow down.
“Fuck the heels.” He slipped them off my feet one by one and tossed them directly into an oversized trash bin before hauling me over his broad shoulders.
“Those are designer!” I seethed. “And put me down!”
“Leave ’em, Princess,” Hunter said as he walked through the doors to find his driver locked in a shouting match with a parking attendant. Hunter opened the back door of the dark car and slid me in, before pulling a bill from his wallet and shoving it at the attendant.
“Take me home,” I grunted and eyed the driver before rattling off my address. Hunter’s eyes narrowed and his gaze crawled up my legs one slow inch at a time as if taking me in, daring me to disobey him when he knew the power he exerted over me.
Hunter’s eyes finally softened before nodding to the driver. I hadn’t expected him to cave; I’d expected to have to fight for even that freedom.
“Where did you think you were gonna go, Princess?” Hunter’s hand landed on my thigh, his amused grin grating my last nerve.
“Hadn’t decided.” I crossed my arms and yanked my legs out of his reach. His grin curved and only made my anger burn hotter.
“Just the first place that took your fancy?” His laugh filled the car. “You need me more than I thought.”
The space filled with silence as I turned my gaze out the window. “I have friends! A sorority sister in Florida, my cousin in Austin! You don’t know everything about me, Hunter, despite what you may think,” I ground out and twisted away when his palm slid over my elbow. “Stop touching me,” I raged. “Did you know I was married the whole time?" My eyes peered up under watery lashes feeling so betrayed. So violated.
He only nodded in response. More tears surged down my cheeks, betraying me as his words had. Your husband.
“Why did you do this? What were you thinking?”
"That I had to keep you safe," came his simple answer.
I clenched my jaw as my patience with his half answers bubbled over. “Stop fucking putting me off,” I gritted, trying not to alert the driver before he could get me home.
“Your husband’s been stealing from JW to the tune of millions.” Hunter’s green eyes held my own with startling austerity.
“Wh-wh-what?” I stuttered as the puzzle pieces slowly aligned in my head. The long nights, the expensive trips, the luxury spending. How had Brant managed to acquire all of that in just a few short years out of college? It hadn’t rung any bells back then—we were blessed, living the dream without a care in the world. Or so it had felt.
“I returned from my last deployment in December. Within weeks JW was briefing me on a case. It was yours.” Hunter’s eyes turned to me as they shone with sympathy. “I worked Special Forces in the military—acquired a lot of skills and contacts JW found useful. I tried to tell him I was out of the game. No more jobs for me. I’m focused on photography full-time, but he kept on me. Said no one else could do it. And that’s the thing about JW, once you’re in, you’re in. There isn’t any getting out; he’s a master at holding an arsenal of obligation against you. The last guy that tried to get out of the game,” Hunter’s eyes averted. “Disappeared.”
My heart hammered as anxiety gripped me. I wanted to scream and run, lock myself away from this man and all the horrifying chaos he brought into my life.
“The more I looked over the file,” Hunter continued as I tried to focus on the words spoken in his haunting cadence, “the more I was drawn to you. I couldn’t understand why so much of the file contained information on you, and more than that, why he was so fucking intent on me doing the job.” He pushed a hand through his golden strands before turning to look out the blurred window. “I told him I’d do it to get him off my back, and the paycheck was good.” He turned and flashed an impish grin. “But I knew I had to do it because of you. I had a feeling you were blind to all of it,” he said when his eyes caught mine again. My stomach swam with his revelations as my eyes flared with violent frustration.
“You’re in danger because your husband wronged JW, and JW doesn’t play fair.” His eyes hardened on the last words. “JW believes in street law—guilt by association. If you weren’t with me, someone else would have eyes on you. Someone who cared less. There came a point where I thought it was more dangerous for you to be alone, and that bastard leaves you alone all the time, Erin.”
My heart thudded at his words and my stomach rolled, threatening to heave right here in the backseat. “No. No, that’s not true. I was never in danger before I met you.” My mind refused to believe it, even though it all made sense. The clues added up.
“’Fraid that’s not true, Princess.” His eyes glazed with empathy. “I can’t save your husband’s ass, but I’m doing my best to save yours.”
“Why?” I croaked, afraid to utter anything more.
“Because I don’t believe in coincidences, and you’re my silver lining, baby. We’re intertwined.” His hand tightened around my own in a reassuring squeeze.
It wouldn’t be long before I realized just how intertwined Hunter and I were. As if from the start, fate had put two strangers on the same course despite every wrong turn, bad decision, and bump in the road.
Hunter would save me but only after he ruined me. It would be the nature of our course.
two
“THANKS FOR THE RIDE,” I blurted before barreling out of the car and shutting the door on Hunter a few minutes later. I was running up the front s
teps as the car pulled away. I sighed with relief before fiddling on the front step with my keys in the lock.
“Let me.” A heavy palm pulled the quaking metal from my fingers.
I screeched and turned to find Hunter waiting patiently, big, sad puppy dog eyes and a charming little half-smile on his face.
“You’re lucky I don’t send your balls into your throat,” I spit and yanked my keys from him, jamming the correct key in the lock. “Go home, Hunter. Or should I call you Clu?”
“I can explain, ask me anything.” Hunter burst through the door behind me, hot on my heels, not letting up. No chance for escape, no leaving—he’d really meant it.
“Your explanations lead to more questions, so thanks, but I’ll pass.” I trudged up the stairs to my bedroom, thankful again to be back in my own space after the clusterfuck of explaining I’d heard tonight.
“Leave, Hunter!” I called from the walk-in as I was pulling my dress over my head.
“Not a chance,” Hunter said and I nearly jumped out of my skin when I turned to find him resting against the doorjamb of my closet, that same amused grin still dancing on his face. I narrowed my eyes, recognizing the look in his. I recalled his eyes crawling up my legs earlier, the hand on my thigh. Power turned Hunter on; he loved the chase. Adrenaline fueled his sex drive, and I was his target. Fuck, he had my thighs tingling and shifting with just that one look.
“Please leave. I just want a bath and a bed.” I pulled a silky robe over my shoulders and walked around him and back down the hallway, intent on the kitchen and wine. I should be pushing him out of my home, but the truth was I didn’t know if he was right. What if I was safer with him? And the other hard truth was that Hunter was the only person that held the answers.
I was walking back a minute later with wine in hand, thinking I could get him to open up just a little more if I let him stay, when I heard water turn on in the tub. I entered to find it steamy and foggy, bubbles frothing at the edges, and Hunter plopped directly in the center, his golden skin highlighted against the stark white bubbles. He was startlingly gorgeous and any woman’s dream, but instead…instead he was my nightmare Romeo, luring me into his net of passion and deception until I was caught and flailing.
Blindsight: The Series (Complete Erotic Suspense STANDALONE) Page 8