Lulu

The bed was empty when I woke, warm buttery light coming from beneath the curtains. I checked my phone. It was still early.

Reaching out, I felt Hunter’s side. It was still warm under my hand. I indulged the happy flutter in my belly. It felt weird, not squashing those feelings, allowing the happy to build and expand inside me. I could get used to it.

I wanted to get used to it.

I lay there a while, waiting for Hunter to come back, a stupid smile on my face. When some time passed, and he didn’t, I threw back the covers, tagged one of his T-shirts out of the hamper, and pulled it on.

Last night had been amazing, though there was one thing playing on my mind. When I went to the bathroom at Raul’s club, one of the girls had come in after me. She’d struck up conversation, had asked me a ton of questions. I assumed she was just being polite, but now I wasn’t so sure, something felt off.

I shoved it from my mind and checked on Josh. He was curled up under the covers, cheeks flushed from sleep, and didn’t look like he planned on waking for a while yet.

The shower was running when I walked past the bathroom. I stopped, bit the inside of my cheek, then backed up and pushed the door open before I knew what I was doing. Shutting it behind me, I moved in a little ways and leaned against the wall.

Hunter was rinsing off, his beautiful naked body all wet and delicious. He turned to me, brow raised in question when I didn’t say anything.

The water switched off, and he opened the door. “What’s up?”

I crossed my arms. Trying to stop the words building in my chest from breaking free. I failed. “Do you know a dancer at Raul’s club, Cassie I think her name was?”

His brows shot up. “Yeah. Why?”

Shit. Why was I even bringing this up? I knew Hunter would never fuck around. That wasn’t Hunter, but . . . well . . . it was niggling at me. “I noticed that she looked at you a lot last night.”

He studied me. “What are you asking me, Lulu?”

“She followed me into the bathroom, asked me a lot of questions . . . it was just . . . weird, I guess.”

He scowled. “What kind of questions?”

I shrugged. “Nothing much really. Just if we were seeing each other, if it was serious, where I was from, that kind of thing.”

His eyes darkened. He looked annoyed.

I cleared my throat, forcing my next words past my lips. “So is she an ex or something?” Saying that while trying to pretend I was all cool about it wasn’t easy. Because I wasn’t. The idea of another woman touching him made me want to scratch her eyes out.

He shook his head. “No.” He took a small step closer, expression softening and I knew I wouldn’t like what he said next. “But we hooked up a few times. She approached me last night at the bar.” He frowned. “I told her about you. Sounds like she already had the answers to her questions, ones that weren’t any of her damn business.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral, but my lips twisted all on their own. “You were dating her, and you only broke up with her last night?”

“Fuck no, and there was nothing to break up.” He thrust his fingers through his wet hair. “We were not a couple. We fucked, that’s it.”

This did not make me feel better. “When was the last time you hooked up?”

He was starting to look kind of pissy. “I haven’t been with Cassie since the night before I snatched you outside the hospital.”

“Hmm.” This was too much information. I really didn’t want to know this. Why the hell had I come in here demanding he spill his guts like that?

“She shouldn’t have said a damn thing to you. She sure as fuck shouldn’t have been questioning you.”

I knew exactly why she’d questioned me, why she’d tried one last time at the bar as well. Hunter King was a hard man to give up.

“You have no reason to be jealous, babe.”

“Jealous! You’re nuts.” I snorted. “I’m not jealous.” I was so jealous. Kermit the Frog-green, jealous. I knew I had no reason to be. No one could touch what we had, not now, not ever again. I just didn’t want that image in my head.

He chuckled and moved in, crowding me with his glorious naked body. “I’m not gonna lie to you. When I got out of prison, I fucked around. I went without pussy for a long time. You were lost to me, so I worked at making up for it.” He brushed my hair back at the side of my face. “But you’ve got nothing to worry about, Lulu.”

“Oh I know that.” I plastered a smile on my face. “Because if you ever came home and I got even a whiff of another woman, I’d skewer your manly parts and serve them up for your dinner.”

He grinned wider.

“Why are you smiling?” I demanded, pissed off he wasn’t clutching his junk in terror.

“You just said this place was home.”

I had. I ducked under his arm, ignoring that panty melting smile, and pulled open the door. “I’m going to make coffee.”

He slapped my ass. “Make mine a big one.”

I narrowed my eyes, and walked out, his deep, raspy chuckles following me all the way.

Dammit. Even when he was being an arrogant jackass, he was sexy as hell.

I was pouring myself a second mug when he finally walked into the living room.

“You should’ve gone back to bed,” he said as he strode in.

I turned to face him. Even though I’d seen him only a short time ago, my mouth went dry. He was an extremely good-looking guy; hell, to me no one else would ever measure up. He was beautiful, in an entirely rough, masculine way. But this morning, he was off the scale. He wasn’t wearing his usual faded black jeans and tee. No, today he was wearing a suit. Black and tailored to fit his body to perfection. The shirt underneath was black as well, and open at the collar. He wore his usual black boots, which made the whole look edgy and sexy. Not to mention the ink on his hands and neck. The way he looked made a girl want to peel that suit off just to discover where the ink stopped.

Of course, I had intimate knowledge of what he hid underneath, and I wanted another taste.

I knew my mouth was hanging open when he grinned.

“What are you wearing?”

“Suit.”

I scowled at him and his grin widened. “Why are you wearing a suit?”

“Van and I have a meeting with a new client. I’ll have to leave you here today.”

“Oh.” I didn’t ask what this new client wanted. I didn’t want to know. The less I knew about the jobs he did, the easier it was to live in denial.

He rounded the breakfast bar, sliding his arms around my waist when he reached me. Tucking my hair behind my ear, he leaned in and kissed me, full on, tongue sliding against mine until I was breathless. When he lifted his head, he said in that deep, sexy voice, “Morning.”

“We’ve already done this.” I was still feeling a little on the pissy side.

He smirked. “You didn’t say good morning, you threatened to skewer my manly parts.”

Damn the man, he was right. “Okay fine. Good morning.”

The smirk turned to a grin, then he glided the tips of his fingers along my hairline to the side of my neck. “Doc’s coming by later to take out your stitches.”

It took a minute for me to answer, not just because I was estimating how fast I could get him out of the suit, but because that had been one hell of a kiss and all my erogenous zones had gone up in smoke. “Okay.” I wriggled closer. “Are you in a hurry?”

His nostrils flared and he pressed his hips into mine. “Yes.”

“You can’t even spare a few minutes?”

“What I have in mind will take a fuck of a lot longer than a few minutes.”

I grabbed his butt and squeezed. “Are you sure?”

He ground against me harder and dipped his head, but the knock at the door had him lifting up again. This time it was my turn to growl. He dropped his forehead to my shoulder and chuckled, then kissed just below my ear.

“I promise I’ll take care of you real good tonight, babe. Make up for leaving that pretty pussy wet and aching.”

I felt my face get hot. I don’t know why; he’d always said stuff like that. My embarrassment just made the cocky bastard grin wider. All beautiful straight white teeth and rugged good looks.

I slapped his shoulder. “You have a dirty mouth, Hunter King.”

“You love it.”

My face got even hotter, and he threw his head back and burst out laughing. The jerkface was even sexy when he laughed.

I shoved past and stomped to the door, though I wasn’t exactly angry—sexual frustration was a better word for what I was feeling—and peeked through the peephole.

I pulled the door open. “Hey Jude.”

“Lulu.”

He was obviously my minder for the day. I knew Hunter wouldn’t leave me alone, not with Pierce still on the loose. Jude walked in, gave Hunter a chin lift, then headed to the kitchen to get a coffee. I slumped down on the couch, disappointed I wouldn’t get to peel that suit off Hunter until he came home tonight. He powwowed with Jude for a bit then walked over to me.

“Gotta go.”

“Okay. Later,” I whispered.

His eyes flared a little then he kissed me, and not just a peck.

“Later,” he said against my lips and strode out.

“You want coffee?” Jude asked me from the kitchen when the door closed.

I snapped out of my horny stupor and turned to him. “Ah . . . no. I’m going to grab a shower while Josh is still asleep.”

A few hours later, I was feet up, curled on the couch reading. Josh was sitting behind my bent knees, watching his favorite cartoon, eating a sandwich, and Jude was talking on his phone. That’s when the one in the kitchen started ringing. I put down my book and went to answer it. Hunter never used this phone, and I’d never heard it ring before.

I put it to my ear. “Hello?”

“Lucinda Frost?”

I stilled. “Who is this?”

“My name is Tomas, I’m sure you’ve heard of me. I’m a friend of Hunter’s.” His voice was deep and rough and sent shiver down my spine.

Hunter had mentioned him last night. I knew he wanted Pierce in a bad way. I also knew Tomas and Hunter grew up in the same neighborhood, and that they had a connection because of it, though I thought friends might be stretching it a bit. “Sorry, Hunter’s not here.”

“Actually, it’s you I want to talk to. You and I have a mutual . . . problem,” he said. “I think you know what I’m talking about. I’d like us to have a chat.”

“I don’t think . . .”

“It’s really in your best interest to comply.”

“I need to talk to Hunter first . . .” I started.

“Hunter won’t be in on this conversation.”

“I don’t know anything . . .”

“Your aunt Sara, she’s visiting a friend of hers in Hudson, yes?”

The sudden change in conversation threw me off guard. “Pardon?”

“Small world,” he carried on. “I have a friend there as well. He likes meeting new people.” He let the unspoken threat hang in the air.

I turned to Jude, who had finished his call and lifted a brow in question.

“You have nothing to fear from me, Lucinda, I give you my word on that. I just want to talk, nothing more.”

I didn’t answer. It was a lie and we both knew it. No matter how he worded it, he’d just threatened my aunt.

“You’re going to meet me in half an hour at the location I text you. I have questions for you and you’re going to give me the answers . . . then I’ll send you home, back to your son.”

Another thinly veiled threat.

I sucked in a sharp breath, feeling sick to my stomach. Jude was still watching me, so I forced a careless shrug and rolled my eyes, mouthing “telemarketers,” before turning away.

“When?” I choked.

“Thirty minutes. Give me your number.”

I rattled off my cell number. Then he hung up.

My mind felt like it was in a washing machine on the spin cycle, my heart a lump of lead in my chest.

Jude went to use the bathroom, and I quickly worked out a plan. It wasn’t a great plan, but I didn’t have much time to work with. I was scared out of my mind, but I didn’t have any other choice but do what he asked. I also knew Hunter would find me. He’d come for me. He’d turn this city inside out if he had to, but I knew he would. My scrambling brain couldn’t think of a way out, not when someone was poised and waiting to go after my aunt.

Scooping up Josh, I took him to his bedroom and tucked him into his bed, heart hammering. He was thankfully due for his nap and dropped off in a matter of minutes. I trusted Jude. We’d spent a lot of time with the guy over the last couple of weeks. I knew Josh would be okay with him.

I went to my and Hunter’s room, and dragged a gray hoodie over my T-shirt, then went to the closet and searched for some kind of weapon. I knew he had to have something here. Coming up empty, I went to his bedside table. I found a small switchblade and took it. If I had to do this, I wasn’t going in there completely helpless. Grabbing my purse from the dresser, I shoved it inside then strode to the living room. Snatching up my phone from the coffee table, I shoved it in the back pocket of my jeans. I headed for the door without missing a beat.

Jude was sitting at the breakfast bar and shot to his feet when he saw me. I ignored him and kept moving. “Hang on, Lulu. You can’t leave the apartment.”

“Josh should sleep for a couple hours,” I said then dove for the door. Shoving it open, I ran as fast as I could. Jude pounded after me, but I knew he wouldn’t leave Josh alone to follow me. I’d counted on it.

He yelled my name, pissed as hell and cursing up a storm. I ignored him and kept on running.

* * *

The scarred wood was smooth under my fingers, it was also sticky, and I made sure not to lean on it. I lifted my glass, took a sip of my Coke and stared at the entrance.

This place was the definition of a dive bar. Low lighting, classic rock pumping from the speakers, customers that looked like they were part of the permanent fixtures. I’d run out of Hunter’s apartment building, then ran some more until I was struggling for breath. The text giving me directions came a short time after that. I’d grabbed a cab and here I was—I looked down at the damp coaster under my drink—at Big Johnny’s.

I’d gotten a few looks when I walked in, mostly because I was panting, red faced, and sweating, but I’d ignored the looks, ordered my drink, and tried to blend in, taking a seat in one of the corners.

I checked my phone. I had it on silent and the awful feeling in my belly tightened when I saw all of Hunter’s missed calls and frantic text messages. I made myself ignore them.

A big guy—wide back and shoulders, huge thighs—walked in. He looked like a professional body builder. His hair was blond and cropped short, features broad and prominent. His eyes searched the bar until they found me then locked on. Fear spiked though me. This was my ride.

My jaw started to ache and I realized I was clenching my teeth. He moved toward me.

“Glad to see you can follow instructions,” he said when he reached me. “Let’s go, Tomas is waiting.”

Oh shit.

I curled my fingers around the switchblade in my purse and nodded, getting to my feet.

The big man tilted his head to the door. “We’re going to walk out of here now. If you make a fuss, resist in anyway, I’ll call our friend in Hudson, understand?”

Fuck. I had no choice but to go with him. He stood and I did too, gripping the knife tighter. He wrapped his fingers around my elbow and led me to the door. We stepped out into daylight. A typical overcast New York day. I struggled to breath evenly, panic hitting me hard enough to hyperventilate. He yanked me to the right, into an alleyway. A car was parked there. My fear reached its peak at that moment and I opened my mouth to scream, but his hand slapped over my mouth. Grabbing my wrist with the other, he pried the blade from my fingers.

He grinned down at me.

It wasn’t a nice grin.

I pulled at his hand, and he released my mouth.

“Get in, let’s go.”