by Zara Chase
“I fixed the door up for you, babe.” He handed Anais a new set of keys.
“Thank you,” she replied. “How was it?”
“No lasting damage, but unfortunately your computer was taken.”
“Shit!”
Hunter wasn’t surprised. Even if this hadn’t been a burglary, the perpetrators would want it to look like one.
“They probably want to find out what you know,” he said. “I assume you kept a record of everything you’d learned about Gary’s disappearance online?”
“Yep, but I’m not stupid.”
She reached into her purse and waved a memory stick beneath their noses. Both men laughed.
“Clever girl,” Lewis said. “Your paper files had been disrupted, and I couldn’t find Gary’s cell phone records.”
“That’s okay. I scanned them into the computer and they’re on this stick, too. Not that they will do us much good, but I believe in being thorough.” She paused. “Did they trash the place?”
Lewis hesitated. “It wasn’t too bad. But they did leave you a message.”
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and showed them a picture he’d taken of the bathroom mirror, Leave it Alone scrawled across it in lipstick. Anais shuddered.
“Definitely not a burglary then.”
“No. I took more pictures in case you want them for your insurers.”
“Thanks, but if I do that I shall have to call the police, get a crime number and stuff, and I’m not sure I’m up for that. If it’s just a case of replacing my laptop, I think I’ll take the loss. It needed replacing anyway.”
“That would probably be best.” Hunter poured a glass of wine for Lewis, and then topped up his and Anais’s glasses. “We have a spare laptop here you can use until you replace yours.”
“That would be great, thanks.”
“No problem. Any sign of watchers?” he asked Lewis.
“No one that I saw, but there was a bug.” Anais gasped. “I left it where it was. They might think the one they left on your car fell off. It happens. But if the one in the apartment gets moved, too, they’ll know you’re on to them. All the time you don’t go back there, it can’t do any harm.”
“I guess not, but I hate the thought of strangers being in my apartment, going through my things, invading my privacy.” A combination of anger and fear flitted across her expression, severely testing Hunter’s restraint, which had never been one of his strong points. If ever a woman needed consoling it was Anais, and Hunter only knew how to console a woman in one way, which was totally inappropriate in this situation. He shared a glance with Lewis, willing to bet his thoughts were running along similar lines, and shrugged.
“Look at it this way, babe,” he said. “You must have discovered more about Gary’s disappearance than you realized, and there’s obviously more to it than you’ve been told. Otherwise why would these people bother to put the frighteners on you?”
“Yes, but I have no idea what.” She sighed. “I’m left with more questions than answers.”
“That’s where we come in.”
“I know.” She blinked several times, as though trying to keep her emotions in check. “Don’t take any notice of me. I’m cranky because I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“You’d be less than human if you weren’t shaken,” Hunter replied, winking at her. “But you’re not in this alone anymore. We now know for sure that someone, somewhere has something to cover up, and we’re just the people to find out what it is.”
“Thanks for that. I’d be climbing the walls if I was still in this alone, and I do appreciate you putting your own business aside to help me.” She stood up and reached for the bag of clothes Lewis had brought back for her. “Do I have time to freshen up before dinner?”
“Sure, take your time,” Hunter replied.
“I’ve got that, babe.” Lewis took the bag from her and headed for the stairs.
“I’m starting to feel spoiled,” she said with a nervous little laugh.
Lewis came down again a short time later and threw himself into the seat Anais had just vacated.
“So, what do you make of it all?” he asked.
“I think we’re in serious shit,” Hunter replied.
“I take it you’re not talking about the search for Anais’s former nearest and dearest.”
“You know damned well I’m not.”
“Yeah, I hear you buddy.” Lewis stretched both arms about his head and sighed. “But she’s fragile, and she’s a client. We can’t make a move on her.”
Hunter grunted. “You think I don’t know that? All I know is having her living here but off-limits is gonna be a nightmare.”
Lewis chuckled. “She’s really got you thinking with your dick.”
Hunter fixed his buddy with a dour look. “And you’re not?”
“I hear you, partner.” Lewis canted his head, his expression reflective. “Still and all, she’s not in a good place right now. Besides, she’s relatively innocent. She’d never play our games.”
“Oh, I’m not so sure about that. I was getting vibes earlier. I don’t think she realizes…well, what the fuck. It doesn’t matter. You’re right. We need to give her some space.”
“So, we’re agreed then, we keep it strictly business?”
“If we can.” Hunter grunted, feeling restless, moody. “So, what’s your take on her problems?”
“Either Gary fell into a swamp and got eaten by a reptile.”
“Not likely, given he was such an expert with the big wide outdoors—”
“But the blood on the stock of his gun?”
“If he was attacked by a gator he would have gotten a shot off,” Hunter said. “We need to find out if he did. Anyway, if he wasn’t killed by a predator his death must be connected to one of his deployments overseas.”
“Yep, I agree with you. He pissed someone off and they wanted rid of him.”
“Which implies he was into something he shouldn’t have been. So we need to find out where he was deployed. We’ll get Raoul to do some digging into his archives for us.”
Lewis chuckled. “You mean the military’s archives.”
“Whatever.” Hunter paused to savor his wine. The rich ruby liquid trickled down his throat, taking the edge off his discontent. “What was her apartment really like?”
“Not as bad as I figured it would be. Nothing else was taken but for her computer and probably some papers. Cupboards were pulled open but it wasn’t trashed. I put everything back and tided up so it won’t be too much of a shock for her when she moves back in.”
“That was thoughtful.”
Lewis shrugged. “You know me. It was just that lipstick thing on the bathroom mirror that was freaky, but I cleaned it off, too. She had some bits of jewelry in a box and they weren’t taken.”
“Definitely not the military then. They don’t leave messages in lipstick.”
“Nah, they prefer blood.”
“We need to get some clues on who we’re dealing with so we know where to start looking. I’ll call Raoul after dinner and set him to work. Right now, I need to finish off in the kitchen.”
“I’ll open another bottle,” Lewis said.
Anais joined them just as Hunter was serving up the food. Both men turned to look at her and whistled in unison. It was the first time Hunter had seen her with her hair down. The wait had been worth it. It cascaded around her shoulders in a riot of curls, and he itched to run his fingers through its thickness. She wore no makeup, but then she didn’t need to, and had put on a light, floaty sundress—no bra. She looked good enough to lick. All over.
She blushed beneath their admiring glances, and reached for the salad bowl still on the kitchen counter.
“Here, let me help.”
“We’ve got it covered,” Lewis replied. “Come and sit down, darlin’, and we’ll get you some more wine.”
Hunter sensed Anais relaxing as the wine did its work on her nerves, and his food warmed her
insides. He and Lewis entertained her with chat that had nothing to do with her problems, and she appeared to appreciate taking a break from them. Hunter tried not to imagine how much strain she’d been living under these past two years, and especially recently since she had decided to look into her husband’s death and hit so many brick walls. If he let his sympathy take over, he would be worse than useless to her.
“You guys are such good housekeepers,” she said at one point. “I’m surprised you don’t have kids. You’d make great dads.”
Hunter and Lewis shared a glance. “Neither of us is fixated on procreation,” Hunter said. “Don’t get me wrong,” he added with a sexy smile, “we like the theory part. We’re definitely up for all the work that goes into making kids, it’s the responsibility that goes with parenthood that puts us off.”
“Oh, but it doesn’t have to be scary. It’s supposed to be the most fulfilling job in the world,” she replied with a wistful sigh.
“Kids don’t come with an instruction manual though, do they, darlin’?” Lewis asked.
“Sorry,” Anais said, grinning at them both. “I’ve obviously touched a nerve. Besides, it’s none of my business.”
“It’s just something we feel kinda strongly about,” Hunter said, topping off her glass.
They finished their meal talking about other stuff. With the dishes stacked in the dishwasher, Hunter showed Anais into the airy room he and Lewis used as a study.
“Here you go,” he said, pulling out a chair at one of the desks. “Feel free to call this laptop your own. I suggest you load your stuff onto it, while I call Raoul and bring him up to speed with your problems. You okay with that?”
“Yes, don’t worry about me. I don’t need entertaining.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask what she did need, but Hunter manfully restrained himself. He left her to it and made his calls. She was at the laptop for over an hour and when she emerged from the study, she was stifling a yawn.
“That’s it,” Hunter said, standing. “You need to get some rest. You said earlier you haven’t been sleeping well. Go hit the sack.”
“You’re right, perhaps I will call it a night. In the morning I’ll show you all the records I have of Gary’s stuff. It’s on your laptop now.”
“That would be great.”
Lewis made do with waving and blowing her a kiss. Hunter knew what he would infinitely prefer to do, because he felt the exact same way.
“Sleep well, darlin’,” he said.
* * * *
Sleep well. That was easy for them to say. She was tired, weary to the bone, and the thought of sleeping a full eight hours, secure in the knowledge that no one could get to her, was almost as intoxicating as the excess wine she had drunk. But Anais knew almost as soon as her head hit the pillow that it wasn’t going to happen. Her mind simply refused to shut down. She was used to working solo and found it hard to cede control, sit back and let others do the worrying for her.
Why were bad guys with access to tracking devices so keen for her to stop looking into her husband’s death, she wondered. What did you get yourself into, Gary? Whatever it was, the people trying to warn her off seemed to think she knew. Did she? Had she discovered something significant without realizing it?
Hunter and Lewis seemed confident they could get to the bottom of things, but could they? It wasn’t the military who had stolen her computer and threatened her. The guys hadn’t said as much, but she wasn’t completely stupid and had worked that much out for herself. She was annoyed with them for holding out on her, but at the same time enjoyed feeling cosseted and protected. How girly was that? In her own defense, it had been a while since anyone gave a shit about her, including Gary, she thought with a jolt. Especially Gary. All the time he had been posted overseas she hadn’t felt lonely because he was still the old Gary she had fallen for. But something had changed about the same time as his career took a nosedive. Once he was with her all the time, she felt more lonely than when they were separated.
Anais admitted to herself then something she hadn’t been ready to acknowledge before now. She had fallen out of love with Gary before he died. There, she’d said it, if only inside her head. It was a liberating feeling, too. Gary had given her the cold shoulder, cut her out of his life, and what they had once shared was beyond redemption. Was that why she had tried to find out what happened to him? To assuage her guilt?
Possibly.
Gary’s loss wasn’t the only reason why she was unable to sleep. Hunter and Lewis occupied way more of her thoughts than they should. She was curious about them and, if she was honest, totally turned on by the way they both looked at her as though they were mentally undressing her. More than one man had hit on her over the years, assuming she was a lonely soldier’s wife in need of a little fun. None of them had come close to tempting her. And yet now she was fantasizing about not one, but two disturbingly poised males. She told herself she was being ridiculous, but her body was having none of it. They had woken her up in all respects, but were now presumably sleeping down the hall from her, oblivious to her frustration.
It was all very well for them, she thought moodily. Hunter had told her they didn’t have women in their lives. Maybe not permanent fixtures, she thought mutinously, but she was willing to be bet they were active players. Guys who looked as good as they did were hardly likely to lead celibate lives, but had made it obvious they never mixed business with pleasure. And they looked upon her as a business assignment.
Damn!
She had finally gotten to the stage where she might want to broaden her sexual horizons and the guy—make that guys—she’d be willing to do it with were off limits.
Anais tried to tear her thoughts away from her hosts by returning them to Gary. Perhaps there was something she had overlooked on her computer that had gotten her noticed by the guys threatening her. Giving up on sleep, she threw back the covers and padded quietly downstairs, wearing just the oversized T-shirt she slept in. She didn’t want to wake the guys, but she did want to take a look at everything she had so far compiled with a fresh eye. If that failed, she’d simply get on with some editing until she was ready to sleep.
In the end, she did neither of those things. Instead she scrolled through all the photographs she had downloaded from her memory stick, a visual reminder of her life with Gary going back to their college days. Tears streamed down her face without her being aware of them. Their relationship had gone horribly wrong, but so slowly she had barely noticed the changes until they were no longer communicating and it was too late to fix whatever had broken. She hadn’t expected the hearts and roses stage to continue, but had never expected to lose Gary either, which she now accepted is what had happened. What were you into, Gary? Why didn’t you feel you could share your problems with me?
She became aware of a presence and looked up to see Hunter standing in the open doorway. She gasped at the sight of his bare chest. His bare everything. The boxers he wore were barely adequate to cover his genitalia. The sight of such a fine specimen of the masculine form took her breath away, and she didn’t seem able to look away from him.
“I heard a noise,” he said softly. “Are you okay?” She nodded, her throat too clogged for her to be able to speak. “Hey, you’re crying? What is it?”
He was beside her then, wiping the tears from her face with such a gentle touch that she was lost to all reason. All her pent up emotions, the feelings she had been holding in check for so long, bubbled to the surface and her trickle of tears turned into a flood. She wasn’t sure quite how it happened, but the next thing she knew, Hunter was sitting in a comfortable love seat in the corner of his office, and she was on his lap, her arms twined around his neck.
Chapter Five
This so shouldn’t be happening, even though Hunter had known it would the moment he saw she was crying. His self-restraint could definitely use some work but, in his own defense, he’d always been a sucker for a woman’s tears. Shit, she wasn’t wearing a g
oddamned thing beneath that T-shirt. Not even panties. He knew it the moment he lifted her from her chair and into his lap, but he didn’t let it stop him. He wasn’t wearing a whole lot of anything himself. Jeez! He was in deep trouble, but knowing it and resisting his deep fascination for their highly addictive client were too very different matters.
Anais’s tears had dried up and she looked at him through eyes that smoldered with something other than distress. Eyes that suddenly seemed way too large for her fragile face. Eyes that were asking an age-old question, although he was unsure if she realized it.
“I’d best take you back to your room,” he said, his voice rough, ragged.
“I won’t be able to sleep.”
“You might surprise yourself.”
“I want to stay with you.” She looked as taken aback as he felt when she said the words, almost as though she didn’t intend for them to be said aloud. “Don’t send me away.”
“Honey, what you’re asking me. It’s not a good idea.”
She maintained steady eye contact with him, her highly-kissable lips way too close to his, a slight frown marring her brow. “You don’t want me?”
“Now you know better than that.” Hunter expelled a throaty chuckle. “I think the evidence speaks for itself.”
She sent him a smug smile. “Well then.”
“Anais, you’re in a highly emotional state right now. You don’t really know what you want. I don’t want to take advantage of your vulnerability.”
“This is too embarrassing for words.” She shook her head, sending a cascade of hair tumbling over her face. Helpless, Hunter reached up a hand and tucked it back behind her ear. “I’m throwing myself at you, and you don’t want to know.”
Shit, now he had upset her. He ran a hand down the length of her back, bringing it to rest not on her backside, which was his stopping point of choice, but innocently on the small of her back. “In case you still haven’t gotten the message, I want you so much it’s frigging painful, especially when you don’t sit still.”
She stifled a giggle. “Then what’s stopping you?”