Exposing the Heiress (8 page)

Was he really any different from everyone else who used her?

…

Alyssa cleaned up the patio, throwing away water bottles and laying towels out to dry while Hunt walked his sister out to her car. Done with that, she went to the wrought iron table and pulled out her camera to look at the shots she’d gotten tonight.

She heard the sliding door open. Her skin tightened and her pulse skipped.
Hunt.
Was he coming out to talk to her, or to go in his studio and lock her out?

Or did he want to finish what Erin interrupted earlier?

Needing some way to get control of the sensation that was careening out of control, she switched her camera to video and watched him in the display window as he strode toward her. The pool lights danced off his sandy hair and dark tats streaked over his shoulders and biceps. It made her happy to capture them on video, where the fluidity of the lines would show better than a picture.

Hunt stopped but Alyssa moved around him, getting a close-up on the script of one bicep then the other. “Stay still.”

“Hey, you’re the cover girl, not me.”

“Quiet, I’m working here.”

“Is that right?” He pivoted until he faced her. “In your bikini?”

“That’s the beauty of being behind the camera. It doesn’t matter what I wear.”

“Oh, it matters to me.”

His voice had pitched low, trembling in her chest and belly. Alyssa homed in on the one tat she’d seen for the first time earlier tonight. Holding the camera with one hand, she traced the bullet inked over his heart. “Why?”

His eyes shadowed. “Superstition. It was my first tat.”

“What does it signify?”

“The bullet meant to kill me. If I have it, then another sniper doesn’t.”

A shiver forced her to pull her hand back to hold the camera steady. Something shifted in her head, and adrenaline flooded her veins. “Did you want to be a sniper?”

He backed up a step, sliding onto a barstool. “Are you interviewing me?”

“Yep.”

“For?”

Alyssa lowered the camera, pausing the video. This was the man who’d shared one of his sculptures with her. She wanted to tell him about her website. Would he laugh at her? Think it silly and a waste of time like Nate and Parker?
Be brave
. “It’s my dream.”

He arched a brow. “To interview me?”

“There’s that ego again.” She rolled her eyes. “I meant finding out people’s stories. Not famous people, but real people. Like Treva, she’s incredible. And there are so many more like her. Some I do in still shots, others I do videos with my voice over. I would love to get stories like the man who owns the taco stand. Surviving a roadside bomb, that can’t be easy, but he does it. Maybe when I get my life sorted out, I can talk to him, see if he’d be open to the idea.”

Hunt leaned back, stretching one arm along the bar. “This is what you’ve been working on.”

She wanted him to know. “I’m working on a website to launch soon. It’s called Streets of Valor. Getting stories in a picture or video of people who overcome adversity or do incredible things.” Passion burned in her chest.

Hunt went absolutely still. “Don’t put me on your site.”

Is that what he thought? “I never do that without permission. I always get signed releases. I know what it feels like to be exposed that way, like the picture of us that’s out there now.” Dropping her eyes to her camera, she added, “This was just for me.”

“All right, ask me a question.”

Her doubt cleared and she restarted her video. “So did you want to become a sniper?” She’d known he’d wanted to be a Marine, but not a sniper.

Hunt shifted, leaning an elbow on his thigh. “Yes. I thought I would track down the worst mass murderers, the men who strapped bombs to children, sent them into a crowd and killed dozens. Men who masterminded flying airplanes into buildings full of innocents.”

The intensity rolling off him and the way his eyes looked right into the camera gave her chills. This was the kind of reality few people would ever encounter in their lives. “Did you?”

“I absolutely saved countless lives. I became the Nightmare Ghost Hunter that terrorists around the world feared, but there’s always a cost. Killing changes a man, and it’s all too easy to become the very thing you kill.”

The truth of that sliced into her. “But you didn’t.”

“No. I left before that happened. And every day here at home, I keep a careful lock on that part of me. The killer.”

His honesty stunned her. “Is that really what they called you? Nightmare Ghost Hunter?”

Hunt reached out, taking the camera from her and turning it off. “You pull more out of me than anyone else.” He cupped his warm hands around her hips. “I never talk about this.”

She liked that he talked to her and wanted to reassure him. “No one will see this unless you want to share it someday, maybe with your family.” A sense of power filled her. Not cruel power like Nate tried to exert over her, but the power to help the man she cared about. “If you trust me, I can show you what you look like through my eyes. I understand that you were a sniper, but that was one part of the bigger picture of who you are.” A courageous, honorable man who deserved to love and to be loved.

He rubbed his thumbs over her hip bones. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me right now, showing me what you really love? Owning your passion about your website? That’s hot, baby.”

He found her sexy like this? Her pulse danced all over the place, blood rushed in her ears. Every brush of his fingertips shot straight to her nipples. Need pooled in her belly. It happened so fast, she could barely breathe.

“Drying hair tumbling around you, that ridiculous excuse for a bikini clinging to your breasts, outlining your stiff nipples.” His eyes rose to hers. “Begging for my hands and mouth.”

Hot intensity rolled off him. Her nipples tightened to the point of pain, crazed for his touch. Alyssa couldn’t move, frozen to the spot beneath his sizzling scrutiny.

“I want you, Lyssie, exactly as you are now, wild, free, not holding back from me or yourself. I’m not taking you into my bedroom, shutting off the lights and having polite sex.”

Nothing they’d done together yet had been polite and she wanted more. Streaks of heat traveled to her core and clenched hard. She dug her fingers into the thick muscles of his shoulders. “I don’t want polite sex.” She wanted this. Them.

“I’ve got one thin thread of control left.
One.
I’ve had a taste of you, and now I’m damn near crazed with the need to possess every inch of you. No holding back. You’ll give me everything, letting me kiss, touch and fuck you into screaming pleasure.” Hunger glinted in his eyes. “If you’ve changed your mind or you’re not ready, walk away. Go in the house and I’ll go in my studio. But if you stay, you’re mine.”

Her heart stuttered. She could barely see the younger man she remembered. This man pumped out danger, protection, and primitive sexual need, but the sexiest part was that her needs were as important as his. It hit her then, he wasn’t holding back either. He was letting her see him right down to his erection tenting his board shorts.

She leaned close to him. “I’m staying.”

Whatever control he had snapped and he surged up, lifted her, and sat her on the padded seat of the stool. Before she could adjust, he crashed his mouth to hers. He took possession, sliding his tongue against hers. With his hand in her hair, he tilted her head back and took the kiss deeper. Brushing the tip of his tongue along the roof of her mouth sent wild tingles through her.

Alyssa forgot to breathe, could only feel. Heart pounding and blood rushing, she dug her fingers into his thick shoulders.

Dragging his mouth from hers, he stared into her eyes. “I want to see you.” Hunt lifted his fingers to her nape where her top was tied. “No one is here, just us. I made sure of it by electronically locking down the gate to the property.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re for my eyes only.”

She believed him, trusted him.

Drawing it down, his gaze locked onto her breasts.

The cool air hit her damp skin with vivid awareness. Would he be disappointed? She’d definitely been in the small stack line in the boob department.

“Beautiful. So damned perfect.” He tossed her top to the bar and cupped her, rubbing his thumbs over the turgid tips.

Hot streaks arced right to her core, making her squirm. She tried to sit still, not wanting him to stop.

His eyes narrowed. “Tell me.”

The growl in his voice ripped away another layer of resistance. “Don’t stop.”

“This?” He rolled them, firing a blazing trail to her womb.

“Oh God.” Her lower stomach clenched. Sizzled. She couldn’t sit still. “Yes. It’s never enough.”

“Good girl.” Hot approval rode those words. He sank into her mouth and kept up his sensual assault on her breasts, then kissed a path to her ear and whispered, “I’m going to lick your sweet nipples, then graze them with my teeth.” He tweaked the already tender buds just enough.

A sound she didn’t recognize spilled from her throat. A plea. Her breasts were a fast track to her libido, and he’d cared enough to figure that out.

“Oh yeah, you like hearing what I’m going to do to you, as much as I liked you demanding to touch me earlier.” He skated one hand down her belly, circling her belly button, then dropped it to her thigh and drew his fingers up and up.

Chill bumps chased his touch.

He licked the shell of her ear, then down over the curve of her jaw. Too many sensations. “Hunt.” She clung to his shoulders. Outside, with the pool lights shimmering their watery glow, she watched as he skated his mouth to her nipple and dragged his wet, slightly rough tongue over a distended tip.

Lightning arrowed straight down. Hunt wedged his hips between her legs, his thick erection brushing her inner thigh through his board shorts. Leaning in, he teased her nipple with the lightest edge of his teeth. She couldn’t bear it and sank her fingers into his hair, holding him to her.

“My brave, sexy girl. You take my breath away, then give it back with every sigh or moan.” He edged his fingers up to the top of her bikini bottoms. “Use my shoulders. Lift up.”

More excitement flared at the thought of him stripping her bare. He tugged the bottoms off, then he was back, his hands on her thighs gently spreading her open to his perusal. Heat rushed through her veins and her heart pounded in her ears.

“When I see you like this, sharing yourself with me, you’re the light that’s been missing in my world. Pretty, yet powerful enough to bring me to my knees.”

The look on his face was like nothing she’d seen before and it filled the part of her starved to be accepted and cherished.

Hunt brushed the pad of his finger over her nub then down to her folds, and back up. His harsh face darkened with dusky color as he teased her cleft with feathery strokes. Bracing an arm behind her back, he said, “Lean back. I have you.”

She rested against his powerful arm.

Hunt covered one of her nipples with his mouth the exact second one long finger penetrated her, gliding past her sensitized wall. He circled his thumb around her aching clit, ramping up her desire, setting a pace of in and out with his finger, round and round with his thumb, all while licking, sucking her nipples.

Riotous sensations erupted. Never had she been so vividly aware of her body and desire. Pleasure built and Alyssa dropped her head back, giving herself to the feel of him. His hot, wet mouth, his long, knowing fingers. Every stroke sent lightning whips. Tension tightened. Alyssa gasped as her orgasm detonated. So powerful, she cried out.

Hunt tugged her against his chest, his fingers stroking her as he said in a rough growl, “Next one will be when I’m thrusting deep inside you, feeling you squeeze my cock as we both lose control.”

That sent another wave of pleasure rippling through her.

Chapter Nine

Something snapped inside him. A need so fierce, Hunt obeyed it blindly.

He had to get inside Lyssie—make her his.

He couldn’t hold back, the drive pounded mercilessly. Holding her with one arm, he shoved down his board shorts, his engorged, eager cock springing out. Once he kicked them away, he fisted her tangled hair and eased her head back. Her eyelids fluttered, pupils swollen. She’d given him that gift, coming for him without reserve. “I need you. This.” The words scraped up his throat.

He wasn’t in control. He knew it. Didn’t care. Not when it was with her, his Lyssie. Joining their mouths, he tasted the half a glass of wine she’d had out by the pool, and that sweeter vanilla flavor that was all her.

Lyssie skimmed her hands down his sides to his hips and stroked her thumbs in the hollows of his hip bones, driving him mad, shooting streaks of heat to his balls. The soft skin of her inner thighs brushed his hips, fueling his compulsion to bury himself inside her. Tugging her forward on the stool, he guided the swollen tip against her entrance.

The warm slick feel of her bathing his sensitized head combined with her tiny gasp as he pushed in shot down his back. Hunt surged into her. With one hand on her back to brace her, he lost his mind in the blazing hot feel of her molten walls closing around him.

Nothing in his life had ever felt like this.

He pulled out, thrust in, and took her mouth, licking in deep as he plunged again—and again.

“Oh God.” Her body bowed beneath his and she dug her hands in his hair.

Jerking his head back from her mouth, he took in her flushed face and unfocused gaze. So beautiful, needy, and
his
. That shoved his impending orgasm back just enough as he powered into her. “Can’t hold back. Are you close?”

“Not quite. Please.” She tugged on his hair, her hips bucking while urgency built in her eyes.

Her sweet begging totally undid him. Every instinct he had roared to life. Reaching between them, he slid his thumb over her clit, feeling her thighs tremble in response. A low moan spilled from her throat. She dropped her head back as her pleasure exploded. “Hunt!” It came out shrill and wild, her fingers digging into his shoulders.

Hunt drove into her and growled, his release destroying him. Savage pleasure took him apart, wave after wave. Minutes or hours later, he could barely move. Buried balls deep in Lyssie, he didn’t want to leave. Heavy contentment filled his chest as he stroked her hair and the soothing sounds of the night surrounded them.

Until his gaze caught on his board shorts where he’d kicked them away.

The still-wrapped condom spilling out of the pocket.

“Oh hell.”

Lyssie lifted her head. “What?”

He should be more panicked, more freaked, but her skin was flushed and her eyes soft, easing that flare of worry trying to ignite in his stomach. He ran his fingers down her spine, feeling her body flutter around his dick from his touch. “I forgot to use a condom.” That never happened. Except with Lyssie.

“Oh. I didn’t think of it either.”

That flicker of tension returned.

She stroked his shoulder and biceps, tracing a finger over his tat. “But I should be safe. I timed my last birth control shot to last until…” A tiny frown gathered between her eyebrows. “That is, I should be covered for another couple weeks.”

He leaned his forehead against hers. She hadn’t wanted to mention her wedding, none of that outside shit belonged here with them. “This is what you do to me, drive me to lose my mind. But we’re using condoms from now on.” The last thing he wanted was a kid, or to leave Lyssie pregnant and alone.

…

“Morning.”

Alyssa opened her eyes to see Hunt’s bedroom. She lay on her side, her back to his front, his arms around her. “I fell asleep with you.” She couldn’t believe she’d done that. The last thing she wanted was him worrying about her understanding this was just sex. For him anyway. “I meant to go back to my room.”

“I wanted you here.” His voice was morning rough and sexy. Hunt pressed his hand to her belly, tracing her tat then touching the tear suspended in the middle. “What does it mean?”

Turning her head, she got the full impact of Hunt looming over her. “It’s a dragon tear.”

Gently brushing it, he kept his eyes on her. “What’s it for? You don’t have any other tats. This means something.”

“Are you interviewing me, Marine?”

“Not on camera. No way in hell would I let anyone else see what I’m seeing.”

“What’s that?”

“The real Alyssa Brooks, naked and uncensored in my bed and hot as hell.” He leaned closer. “The woman I let interview me on tape and trust not to let that get out.”

That humbled her. Hunt had trusted her to capture him on her camera and not expose his dark struggles to the world. Shifting to her back, she laid her hand over his resting on her belly. “This is where I carry Eli. I gave him up, but I won’t forget him. I loved him so much, Hunt. I didn’t want to let him go.” In a blink, she was back in that hospital room, her baby boy in her arms. So tiny, fragile and beautiful. Love had overwhelmed her, nearly crushing her.

“Do you regret it, Lyssie?”

His words pulled her back. “I regret that I failed him, failed to be the mother he deserved, but I did the right thing for him. I was too young and broken.”

He flipped his hand, threading their fingers. “You didn’t break.”

“Almost.” She was done hiding. “I’d been pretty spoiled and sheltered my whole life, and suddenly at seventeen, I was pregnant and scared. Then the accident that killed my mom and…” She wasn’t sure how to describe it. “Remember that song ‘Tears of the Dragon’ by Bruce Dickinson?”

He nodded, stroking his thumb over hers where their hands were joined. “You loved it when I had it playing in the studio.”

Every touch of his fingers reached deeper inside her. “That’s how I felt, stumbling in the dark, tears I couldn’t cry choking and drowning me. I had this inked with the tear red for the piece of my heart that my son will always own.” She swallowed the emotion building in her throat. “I gave him up, but I will never stop loving him.”

With his arm beneath her shoulders he pulled her to him. “You’ve never cried? My girl who used to cry at commercials?”

He’d always teased her about that, his whole family had. “Before I had him, yes, but that morning, I couldn’t. I didn’t dare. I’d have truly broken and I refused to do that. What if he needed me at some point? Or wants to find me when he’s an adult?”

Hunt cupped her face. “That’s strong, and I’m damned proud of you. You made a hard choice not for yourself, but for your son.”

“I hope so. Mark and Janis seemed like people who would love him. I hope I chose right.” She believed they were what her boy needed.

“I have something for you.”

The shift in subjects had her struggling to catch up. “We just woke up. When—”

“
You
just woke up. My phone woke me a while ago.” He reached back and picked up his cell. “It’s a video.”

“Of what? Wait, is this about the picture that was in the media yesterday?” As upset as she’d been, there was nothing she could do about it. It was out.

“No. Yesterday, you were so worried about Eli after that picture of us kissing went viral, I asked Griff to see if he could get permission from Eli’s parents to do a short video of him for you.”

Her gaze latched onto the sleek black phone in his hand. “You have one?” She couldn’t quite get her breath as ferocious longing to see Eli clawed at her. She shoved up to a sitting position.

Hunt sat next to her. “It’s only a few minutes long. Do you want to watch it alone?”

Alyssa pressed her sweaty palms together, excitement and anxiety colliding in her belly. “No.” She didn’t want him to leave her. All those times she got that once-a-year email with a picture and a few quick details of his life she’d been alone. No one to share that moment with, to talk about how he had her mom’s eyes, or that he was getting so big. No one with whom to share the child who had changed her in significant ways. “Will you watch it with me?”

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “Ready?”

No. Yes.
She didn’t know so she nodded her head, eyes fixed on the screen of his phone. In seconds, everything else slid away as she watched the slender boy with brown hair and long legs chasing a soccer ball. He had on tan shorts and a T-shirt.

Eli stopped the soccer ball, jumped over it, and kicked it in the other direction.

Alyssa leaned forward, drinking him in as the camera zoomed in. His hair was lighter than hers, his eyes had some green like her mom’s had, and he laughed. “I did it!”

A tall bald man strode into the scene and scooped the boy up in his big hands. “You’re going to be better than me soon.”

Pride filled Eli’s eyes and he hugged the man.

“Doesn’t mean you can beat Mom.” Janis walked up to them carrying the ball, her face beaming. “Let’s do this, boys.” She dropped the ball and kicked it.

Marcus put Eli down and a couple minutes later they were all laughing and struggling to steal the ball. In the last scene, Janis tripped, going to her knees. Eli forgot the ball, racing to his mom and hugging her. Janis lifted her eyes to the camera as she wrapped the boy in her arms and mouthed two simple words.
Thank you.

The video ended.

Her eyes filled and nothing could stop the storm of tears, the collision of happiness and grief.

Hunt pulled her onto his lap, holding her close. “Let go, baby. I know it hurts, it’s okay to cry.” He kissed her hair. “But know this, you made the right choice out of love.”

…

Hunt rested his arm on the kitchen island and eyed Sienna on his laptop’s Skype connection. “What have you found?”

The other woman leaned back in her chair. “I’ve talked to both Alyssa’s former assistants, and they insist they were not spying on her for Madden.”

“Do you believe them?”

Sienna snorted. “No. But I’m sure he paid in cash and there’s no way to trace it now. Both of them were at work when we think someone got into Alyssa’s house under the guise of a dress delivery. They’re a dead end.”

Hell. “What about the guy in Arizona that tampered with the car?”

“James Frye. Local mechanic with a record. His story is he was looking for his lost dog.”

“Under the car at four a.m.?” Hunt took a drink of his coffee.

“Yep. The cops haven’t found any money trail, so if he’s been paid it’s cash.”

Shit. “Madden’s had the kid watched for a while and likely has a contact there handling this. He’s been careful to keep his hands clean, ensuring there are as few ties to him as possible by having others do his dirty work for him.” Hunt wanted answers to find a way to neutralize Nate as a threat to Lyssie, but he didn’t want this case to end because then he’d lose her.

“Yeah, but he might have done his own dirty work in the past. I got the police report on Lorelei Madden’s death. Time of death was around eleven thirty at night, the assumption is she was asleep, got up to go downstairs for some reason and fell. Her son found her the next morning when he went by for their Sunday morning breakfast. His 911 call was logged in at 8:52 a.m. The scene appeared to be an accident, but the neighbor, an older gentleman, told the cops to look at the son. Said Lorelei was becoming increasingly afraid of him.”

The back of his neck tingled straight down his spine. “And?”

“Autopsy said death was from the fall. Plus Madden’s alibi checked out. He spent the night at his girlfriend Tami Nash’s apartment. She said they were watching a movie at eleven thirty.” Sienna raised her eyebrows over her glasses. “I talked to the police detective. He wasn’t convinced the fall was an accident, and the fact that Madden benefited from a substantial life insurance policy added to the suspicion. There just wasn’t enough evidence to make an arrest and the girlfriend stuck to her story. I’m going to get Adam to follow up with her, see if she still sticks to her story.”

“Adam?” Now his boss, Adam Waters, was involved in the case.

“Alyssa’s high profile and I’ve been keeping him up to date. He offered to take this witness since you need to protect the client and we thought Miss Nash might need someone with more tact than Cooper.”

He started to agree when a new voice interrupted. “Hunt?”

He snapped his head up. Alyssa walked toward him wearing tiny shorts and holding her phone, strain weighing down her beautiful face. He surged up and reached her in two strides. “What?”

“A text.” She held out her phone.

He took it from her cold fingers and read the screen.
You can’t hide. And you’ve just shown the entire world you’re a classless slut. No wonder you got knocked up at seventeen. That ends now. I expect you to be home and ready to call a news conference Monday morning at which time you’ll explain that you got cold feet and made a terrible mistake that you regret. The wedding is on and we will be married. Don’t be a problem. I may not be able to get to the kid, but I can always get to you or anyone else I choose. You piss me off any more and you’ll pay in ways you never imagined.

Rage slammed into his chest. He set the phone down to work on tracking it later, but Madden would be smart enough to use a burner. He wrapped his arm around Lyssie. “Has he ever called you a slut before?” Hunt really needed to get his hands on this guy.

“No, but he always said I was no better than common actresses and needed to remember it.”

He didn’t like that shit. “Your mother was an actress.”

She nodded. “He admired her. Thought she was smart to use a few lucky breaks to build an empire.”

“Lucky breaks?” That really ticked him off. “Your mother was a child actress who—”

She held up her hand. “I know the story, but if she hadn’t landed that key role,
Cry for Melissa,
as an adult, her career would probably have faded away like so many other child actresses. Instead, it sent her into a rare level of stardom and then she did what she really loved, writing and producing. Nate didn’t disparage my mother, he pushed me to be exactly like her.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not my mother, and she wouldn’t want this for me, I know that. I’m not letting Nate or Parker do this to me.”