When Hunter turned off the Jeep, Lina heard the muted breathing of the surf beyond the boulevard, flat waves lapping against the sand. The salt air was sticky on her skin, cooler than Houston had been, but still warm enough to make the thought of walking on the beach alluring.
“You need help getting out?” Hunter asked as he came around the Jeep.
“I’m not a baby.”
“No argument there,” he said, standing next to her, close, breathing in her presence. “But I’m betting you’re stiff from playing on concrete and then taking a long drive.”
Lina took off her seat belt, grabbed the purse she had hung on to through all the chaos, and started to slide out. It was a good thing she used the roll bar to steady herself, because Hunter was right. Her knees were crying. He braced her until she worked some of the stiffness out.
“Bad?” he asked.
“Not enough to matter.”
But she didn’t pull away from the arm encircling her waist. She liked it there. She liked having Hunter close. He smelled of cheap restroom soap with an underlay of darkness, salt, and man.
Breathe, she reminded herself.
She did, and felt his scent race into her lungs, her blood. The sudden uptick in her heartbeat owed nothing to fear and everything to being a woman close to a man she wanted.
This is crazy, she told herself.
No. Crazy is what I’ll be if he doesn’t step away.
Nothing that had happened during the day had made Hunter less appealing to her. Everything he’d done had simply increased what had already been a compelling sensual lure. She tried not to lean on his strength, but he was there and her legs were stiff, he was warm and she was cold.
She hoped he didn’t know how much she needed him close, then closer. This afternoon she had learned the difference between almost-blackmailers and murderers. In her new world, Hunter was an angel. A dark one, yes, but they were the most intriguing kind.
“Doesn’t look like much, but it has what we need,” Hunter said.
Still holding her, he leaned back into the Jeep. One-handed, he snagged his computer from under the passenger seat. When he straightened, his breath was against her ear, his arm around her waist comforting…and more, much more.
She forced herself to look away from him, to tear through the sensual web weaving around them, binding them closer.
The coastal scrub was kept away from the house by the concrete walkway that was covered with a fine coat of sand and a fringe of dirt that was blue in the moonlight. Toad calls and insect noises ebbed and flowed with the sound of the waves. The front steps were weathered gray wood.
“Looks real good to me,” she said.
“I haven’t been out here to clean up for a while,” Hunter admitted. “I’ve been too busy with work to come to Uncle Danny’s summer place.”
“You’re sure he won’t mind us using it?”
“I talked to him on the phone while you were asleep. He told me the usual.”
“Which is?”
“To leave it better than I found it. He probably wants me to fix the gutters or something.” Hunter sounded more amused than irritated.
Motion sensors kicked on. Spotlights pointed the way to the weather-beaten porch. There was a scurry of critters racing for the shadows.
“Just like being on a dig,” Lina said, laughing.
“So long as they stay outside and don’t bite, my uncle don’t pay them no never mind,” Hunter said.
His drawl sounded just right, like he’d grown up with it. One accent for the city, one for the country.
Another light went on inside the house. At the end of the driveway Lina saw a tiny garage. Its door was closed.
“Is your uncle here now?” she asked.
“No. He only likes Padre in the summer. Then he complains about all the damn people. Think that’s why he likes it,” Hunter said. “Under all the gruff, he’s a people person.”
“What about you?”
“What do you think?” Hunter asked with a sideways look.
She smiled slightly. “I don’t think you’re a people person.”
“Gold star on your forehead, sweetheart. I’m real choosy about who shares my time. An hour wasted on social chitchat is an hour of my life I’ll never get back.”
“And here I am, invading more than an hour,” she said unhappily.
His arm tightened, pulling her even closer, until she could feel the flex and play of his thigh along her hip. The easy power of him pleased her in ways that kept surprising her. She’d never been much for the macho type, having seen way too many of them in Mexico. But Hunter…Hunter simply was what he was, no fuss, no bother, no strutting.
“You can invade my life anytime you like,” he said, “for however long you want. Besides, I’m a blackmailer, remember?”
“Better than kidnappers and murderers.”
“I’m relieved.” And he was. He didn’t want Lina angry to be in his company. He simply wanted her.
Hunter stepped up onto the narrow porch that ran along the front of the house. Computer in one hand, he pulled a key from his jeans pocket with the other. Despite the weathered appearance of the door, the lock was bright and well oiled. The door opened without a creak or grind.
“Come on in,” he said.
He put his computer on a dusty table and headed straight to a surprisingly complex security system across the room. Quickly he punched in a long code. Lights on the panel flickered from red or orange to green.
“I bet your uncle installs security systems along with rescuing debutantes,” Lina said, setting her purse next to his computer.
“It was the original business. Then things started going to hell south of the border and he expanded the menu options for customers. Personal security training, threat evaluation, kidnap negotiations, bodyguards, whatever the customer wants—as long as it’s legal.”
“So you’re a bodyguard, too?” she asked.
His mouth flattened. “Only when I don’t say no fast enough, and only for very short periods—corporate meetings across the border and such. I don’t have the social skills to be a high-level bodyguard. And I don’t want them.”
You could guard my body anytime, Lina thought immediately.
She had just enough self-control left not to say it aloud. For the first time in her life, she wanted to have the kind of affair that women wrote memoirs about. With Hunter.
“So your uncle comes to a crowded place and complains a lot,” she said, struggling for a neutral topic. “Does he complain about other things?”
“Only on the days that end in y.”
She laughed softly. “Sounds like Abuelita. ‘Why don’t you dress better, Lina?’ ‘Why don’t you have a man, Lina?’ ‘I can’t wait forever for my great-great-grandchildren.’”
“Children are a gift,” he said without thinking as he locked the door behind them and reset the security system.
“You sound like you have personal knowledge,” Lina said.
And then she held her breath, waiting for his answer.
“I do. Did. She and her mother died.”
Lina’s hand went to Hunter’s arm. She wanted to say she was sorry, but the words were so useless. She put her arms around him and held him, just held him, wishing she could take away the kind of pain that no one should have to know.
“It was years ago,” he said, holding her in turn.
“Not for you,” she said huskily. “It’s there every day you wake up, fresh as dawn.”
His arms tightened. For long minutes they just stood, sharing warmth and life. Slowly Hunter released her. It was that or take her to the nearest flat surface and eat her alive. But she was too vulnerable right now and he had just enough self-control left not to take advantage of her.