by Zara Chase
“Yes, but there’s nothing interesting there. He wasn’t a great one for technology. Just the odd communication between him and pals, making dates to go fishing, stuff like that.”
“What about his cell phone?”
Her expression closed down. “He had it with him.”
“We’ll need to look at his phone records, see if any numbers jump out at us,” Hunter said.
“Okay, but the military already did.”
Hunter shared a glance with Lewis, both probably thinking the same thing. If a guy went missing on a routine training exercise, why did they need to examine his phone records? This got weirder by the minute. The more they found out, the more it smelled like a cover-up.
“Do you know where he was stationed before being reassigned to training duties?”
“No.” She shook her head. “He wasn’t allowed to tell me, and I’d long since learned not to ask. Seeing him come back in one piece was enough for me.” Her faraway expression told Hunter she had regressed to the past. “Those were the best times. He was always stoked after doing whatever it was he’d been sent away to do. That all changed when his life offered nothing more taxing than a training exercise. I couldn’t reach him after that. He was like a stranger.”
Lewis finished his beer and stood up. “Okay, sweetheart, give me your apartment address and an idea of what you need me to bring back here.”
Hunter watched Lewis working his charm on Anais. She visibly relaxed beneath the heat of his full-wattage smile as she gave him a verbal list of the things she needed. She was already a different creature from the frightened female they had collected from that pay phone only an hour or so ago. He got the impression she had learned to be self-sufficient—most military wives had to be—and didn’t often let anything scare her. Having their backing had already seen a revival of her spirit. That was good, just so long as she didn’t try and go off some place on her own.
Her perfect husband had been into something he couldn’t control, that much was already obvious to Hunter, and probably to Lewis as well, but Anais wasn’t ready to hear it yet. Whatever Gary had going, he’d pissed off the wrong people and paid a heavy price for it. He had died somewhere in the vast expanse of the Everglades and the chances of finding his body were practically nil. The sorts of people he had gone up against had put a tracker on a woman’s car and vandalized her apartment, so were not to be messed with. Well, not without the sort of help Hunter and Lewis specialized in.
Gripped by a quite violent desire to keep Anais safe, Hunter already knew this was more than just another assignment. There was something about Anais that had gotten under his skin. Okay, so she was a classy babe, but he and Lewis had a ready supply of those coming on to them all the time and they had learned to be selective. He’d been impressed when Anais told them Gary was the only man she had ever known. She seemed to think it was something to be ashamed of, rather than a refreshing change.
She and the saintly Gary had been childhood sweethearts, and she had stuck to her wedding vows. Obviously, that situation must have changed over the past two years. She was a sensual woman with personal needs, just like everyone. Hunter scowled, not wanting to think about the faceless men who must have queued up to comfort her, with the ultimate intention of getting inside her panties.
That was what Hunter wanted to do as well, rather desperately as it happened, but it wouldn’t, well…happen. Not yet at any rate. He would help her figure out what had happened to Gary, and then see what developed. He didn’t even have to look at Lewis to know he felt the same way. There was already a buzz in the atmosphere between the three of them. Persuading a widow with virtually no experience of men into a ménage wasn’t something to be rushed, and ménages were where it was at from his and Lewis’s perspective.
“Okay, I think I’m set.” Lewis winked at Anais as he picked up the keys to the truck and headed for the internal door to the garage. “I’ll swing by the hardware store and pick up a new lock, then get the stuff you need, babe. Play nice without me, guys.”
“I’ll start dinner,” Hunter said.
“Good plan.”
It was quiet when Lewis left them, the atmosphere fuelled with expectancy, or was that just wishful thinking on Hunter’s part? He glanced at Anais, who had resumed her seat. She seemed embarrassed to be alone with him, and looked everywhere except in his direction. Hunted didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable, and blamed himself for allowing sexual tension to mess with his mind. He felt guilty for having lascivious thoughts about a woman still grieving for her lost husband but, shit, life was for the living, and just looking at Anais gave him a raging hard-on. Nothing he could do about that.
“You want me to show you the guest room?” he asked.
“Oh yes, if you don’t mind.”
She placed her glass aside and stood up. Hunter headed for the stairs, acutely aware of the floral fragrance that clung to her and the soft sound of her breathing as she followed behind him. He threw open the door to the guest room. It housed a queen-sized bed and light oak furniture. The drapes were drawn back and the view from this room, just like all the others in the house, looked directly onto the water.
“There’s a bath through there,” he said, pointing to the door.
“Thanks, this is luxury. Are you sure I won’t be in the way?”
Oh, you will be, sweetheart, but not for the reasons you suppose. “Not at all.”
“I, err…well, this is a bit embarrassing, but obviously I need to pay you.”
“Don’t worry about it. If we get results, then we can talk money.”
“But you can’t work for nothing.”
“That’s up to Raoul. Sometimes the military employ us, and we charge them top dollar.”
Anais’s smile lit up her entire face. Shit, what was she doing to him? Tight jeans clung to long, slender legs and a neat ass he’d give a month’s pay to spank. A skimpy tank top sculpted her tits. He could see her pert nipples through the lacy bra that supported them, and the sight was slowly driving him out of his mind. How the fuck was he supposed to function when he appeared to have a near-permanent erection each time he so much as looked at her?
“That seems only fair,” she said, “but I still think I should pay you. I did okay when Gary was lost. The military pay me a pension, and I earn a good wage with my editing.”
“But without a body I guess you can’t claim on life insurance.”
“That’s true, but not why I want to find out what happened.”
“Hey, I wasn’t suggesting it was.” Hunter held up both hands. “I know you need answers for your own peace of mind.”
“Yes, I do.”
There was an awkward pause. “Look, I’ll leave you to get settled, and go down to start dinner.”
She smiled again. Don’t do that! You have no idea what that smile does to me. Well, she’d soon get a pretty damned good idea if she glanced down.
“There’s nothing to settle until Lewis comes back with my stuff. I’ll come and help in the kitchen if you could use some company. I like cooking.”
The corners of his mouth turned up. “Your company’s welcome any time.”
* * * *
Was he flirting with her? Lewis had been earlier, no question, but Hunter was harder to read. He had made her feel welcome, and secure, but she still wasn’t sure how he really felt about her invading his personal space. He seemed like a private person who didn’t give much away about himself. Her staying here seemed a bit above and beyond, but he was right to say she couldn’t go back to her apartment until they found some answers. The only alternative was a hotel, and that thought didn’t appeal, so she’d try it here for a day or two and see how it went.
At least the guys had backed her theory that something was off about Gary’s disappearance. They were right. The military worked by a strict code of rules, and would never stoop to intimidation. So who the hell would? She trusted these two to help her find out. She didn’t know them, but they made her fe
el cherished in a way she hadn’t known since Gary was taken off active duty and his entire attitude toward her had changed.
Hunter Griffin was a real enigma—a mixture of machismo, intelligence, hunky good looks…and cooking. Somehow that didn’t quite fit. She asked him about it when they reached his state-of-the-art kitchen, just to break the tension she felt blossoming between them.
“I learned to cook when I was a kid,” he said, pulling ingredients from the fridge. “It was that or starve to death. I’m the oldest of four, but feeding us didn’t rate high on our mom’s agenda. It was either junk food, or one of us had to learn to cook. I didn’t want to turn into a lump of lard by filling myself with empty calories so I learned to cook.” He shrugged. “Now I find it therapeutic.”
“Well, it’s a hell of a view to keep you focused while you cook.” Anais glanced at Hunter rather than the water outside the kitchen window as she spoke. “What’s on the menu tonight?”
“How does stuffed pork tenderloin, saffron rice, and salad sound?”
“Delicious. What can I do?”
“You take care of the rice, I’ll stuff the meat and we can toss for who makes the salad.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
They worked in companionable silence for a few minutes, Anais becoming increasingly aware of the strained atmosphere as she watched Hunter’s long fingers stuffing the meat with dried apricots, pine nuts, and fresh herbs. It was sexual tension, she realized, wondering if it was in her imagination, or if Hunter felt it, too. If he did, he gave no sign.
“We need a decent red to go with this,” he said, after he’d sealed the meat and placed it in the oven. He moved to a well-stocked wine cabinet, examined the labels, grunted when he found a bottle that met with his approval, and expertly removed the cork. “Food and drink rate together as the second most sensual pleasures on this earth, and it’s a sin not to fully appreciate them.”
She looked up at him, their gazes clashed, and then locked. Anais’s physical reaction to her emotional turmoil was extreme. A tremor ran through her body as he devoured her with eyes that definitely wanted. She became conscious of liquid seeping from her pussy and sensation uncoiling deep in her gut.
“Am I supposed to ask what the winner is in the sensual stakes?” she asked, the desire she felt surging through her making her bold.
He sent her a sexy smile that made him look more handsome than ever, if exceedingly dangerous. Her mother’s warning about never playing with fire ran through her mind. Given her current circumstances, getting burned might not be so bad. No pain, no gain.
“Baby, if you need to ask, your husband was doing something wrong.”
His reference to Gary spoiled the mood, and they both appeared to realize it. Anais broke eye contact with him and rummaged in a drawer, searching for silverware.
“I’ll set the table,” she said.
“Sorry,” he said at the same time.
She blinked. “For what?”
“Never mind. I’ve got the salad. You do the table.”
“How do you plan to find out more about what happened to Gary?” she asked, desperate to break the taut silence that now prevailed.
“First off we need to find out where he was posted abroad.”
“But the military won’t say.”
Hunter chuckled. “We won’t ask them. Raoul has access to information you could only dream about. I’ll have a word with him later. He’ll soon have something for us.”
“What can I do?”
“When Lewis gets back with your files, you’ll have copies of Gary’s cell phone accounts in them, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“We need to see what numbers he called regularly, follow them up, see where they lead, stuff like that. You can help by telling us who his friends were, who he was closest to in the squad. People often tell their buddies stuff they don’t tell their wives.”
“I spoke to a few people myself, but didn’t come up with anything that helped.”
“You did, babe, you just don’t know it yet. If you were just pissing in the wind, people wouldn’t be tracking your vehicle, or warning you off.”
“I suppose.”
Anais noticed a pretty scented candle in a holder sitting on the dresser in the dining nook. She reached for it and placed it in the center of the table, wondering at two guys having things like scented candles in their house. Presumably it was a present from one of their girlfriends. The thought brought her up short. She hadn’t stopped to consider they might have significant others, but it stood to reason that two guys who looked the way they did must have women all over them. Jealousy surged through her. It was a unique feeling. Anais couldn’t remember ever being jealous before in her entire life, and here she was getting all possessive over not one but two guys. She got herself back on track by remembering she was just another assignment to them.
Nothing more.
Looking more closely at their living space, she noticed a few other things. Throw pillows, healthy pot plants and other feminine touches.
“Look,” she said. “I don’t want to cramp your style. Like you said, I’ll be perfectly safe here, so don’t let me stop you doing whatever it is you normally do.”
Hunter looked bewildered. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m sure you…you have women, and I—”
“You sure are pretty when you blush,” he replied, chuckling.
“Oh, for goodness sake! I’m just trying to be thoughtful.”
“We’re cool. Lewis and I aren’t seeing anyone right now.” Anais frowned. He made it sound as though they shared. She had heard some people were like that, but had never thought to meet any of them. “We run a fishing charter business. That pretty much takes up our time.”
“Oh, then you’ll be out a lot of the time.” God, she sounded so disappointed. So needy. Get a grip, girl!
“No, business is slow this time of year. We have a couple of employees who can take care of it while we’re helping you out.”
“In which case, I shall definitely pay you the going rate.”
He moved as stealthily as a cat, making her jump when she felt his large body up close behind hers. The musky scent of his cologne and the even more enticingly smell of hot man mingled with the aroma of fresh herbs, making her senses reel.
“We’re here to help,” he said, his breath sending a tingle down the back of her neck as he spoke. “Money doesn’t come into it.”
“Why?” she asked, somehow forcing herself to move away from him. “Why would you want to work for nothing?”
He shrugged. “All of us who work for Raoul got pretty damned frustrated when we were in the service with all the red tape and rules and regulations. We saw so much shit go down, so many people get away with stuff they shouldn’t, and there wasn’t a fucking thing we could do about it because we’re the good guys and we play fair. Raoul had more cause than most to get frustrated by it.”
She leaned a hip against the work surface and found enough composure to look at him without blushing. That had to be progress. “Why is that?”
Hunter paused, as though he had said too much. Then he met her gaze and did a what the hell shrug. “He was married to a Palestinian lady who worked with the Americans, trying to broker peace. Some overambitious colonel sent her into a situation that Raoul and just about anyone else with two brain cells to rub together know would end in disaster.” Hunter paused. “His wife finished up getting captured and killed. Raoul and Zeke went in after her, got caught and badly tortured, but managed to escape. I don’t think Raoul has ever gotten over it, partly because there was fuck all he could do avenge his wife, and he wasn’t allowed to separate that miserable colonel’s head from his shoulders. The military take a dim view of that sort of thing.”
“That’s so sad,” Anais said, feeling hot tears pricking the backs of her eyes.
“Yeah well, what we do now is Raoul’s way of coping. He likes to think we might be able to save
someone else going through what he went through. It’s also his way of thumbing his nose at the powers that be.”
“I don’t think anyone could blame him for that.”
“Right, we’re all set here.” He led the way back to the seating in the lounge. “Lewis should be back soon. Let’s have a glass of that red while we wait for him.”
Without waiting for her to answer, Hunter poured two glasses and handed one to her.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Hunter seated himself across from her again, which disappointed Anais. She wouldn’t mind having one of his muscular thighs pressed up against hers. Shit, she’d been living for too long with just a vibrator for company, obviously.
“That can’t be your fishing charter boat,” she said, pointing to the small, open craft moored to their dock, desperate for a neutral topic that steered well clear of her growing fixation with Hunter.
“No, we use that for getting around the waterways. It’s faster in the winter when the roads are clogged with traffic, and most bars around here have docks for visiting boats.”
“Ah yes, that makes sense I guess.”
Anais was pleased when she heard the garage door open. Shortly thereafter Lewis appeared, toting a hold-all stuffed with her possessions.
“Honey, I’m home,” he said. “What did I miss?”
Chapter Four
Hunter was glad of the interruption. An hour alone with Anais was enough for him to know that keeping his hands to himself was going to be a challenge, especially since he was getting responding vibes from her. He wondered if she knew she was giving them off. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d crossed swords with a less predatory woman. It was refreshingly frustrating—heaven and hell combined. He and Lewis weren’t in the habit of issuing women with open-ended invitations to invade their living space, especially ones who were off limits but what was done was done. They would just have to fall back on military discipline or, if that failed, take a bunch of cold showers.
“Hey, Lewis. Any problems?”