“Are you okay?” Claire asked Hunter for about the tenth time that evening. They’d had dinner and were sitting out back of her cottage with a fire going in her little fire pit. It was cold, but it was a clear, beautiful night and Hunter had barely said two words throughout it all. She knew that he’d gone to the prison earlier to see the man who could possibly tell him where to find his brother’s killer and she’d tried to talk to him about that, but it was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it. He just didn’t seem like himself, and she was worried about him.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re so quiet. If you have other things to do, it’s okay. You don’t have to be here.”

“Are you serious?” He reached for her hand and she gave it to him. “You think that I don’t want to be here? I’m so sorry if I gave you that impression. There is seriously no place on earth I’d rather be.”

She smiled. “Thank you, but I want you to know you can talk to me. I can tell that you have a lot on your mind.”

He nodded. “I do. This guy I talked to today…he’s messed up in the head. He couldn’t tell me much more about the man that killed my brother than what I already knew…except…”

“Except what?”

“He said that he met this guy when he was in training to be an Army Ranger, which doesn’t make any sense to me. The guy that I’m chasing, the one that was arrested and a DNA match for killing over a dozen women, the one that shot my brother right in front of me…he was never in the military. I know his history inside and out, and there is no way that he was in the military. And then there was his tattoo…the one he described is completely different from the one the guy I’ve been chasing has.”

“So, it’s not the same guy?”

“My head is telling me it’s not, but my gut is telling me different. I’m going to Boston tomorrow to check out the bar where Jon says he last saw him and see if anyone else there knows him or where to find him. I’m also going to call Ft. Bragg and see if they’ll tell me anything about their instructors, but I doubt I’ll have much luck with that.”

“Yeah, I’m sure a military base won’t be excited about releasing information about their personnel, huh?”

“I’m sure they won’t. Hopefully I’ll have some luck at the bar.”

Claire looked at Hunter’s arm. He’d stopped wearing the sling, but he still kept it close to his body and when he didn’t thing she was looking, he rubbed it with his other hand. He wouldn’t take the pain meds anymore and he was back to riding his motorcycle, but Claire could tell that it was still causing him pain. It had not even quite been a month since he’d been shot. She worried that he was pushing it too much. “Is someone going with you to Boston?”

“Yeah, I asked Levi to go with me. Dax and Cody are out of town, checking out a lead on Josiah Miller, so he’s got some free time.”

“Is Angel doing okay?”

Hunter nodded. “She’s tough. I don’t doubt that she’s traumatized by what that asshole tried to do to her, but she and Dax have the best relationship of any two people I’ve ever known, so I’m sure that he’ll help her through it. I have a feeling she’ll be just fine in the long run. She has a lot of support, not just Dax. Her brothers dote on her and I don’t know anyone in that club who doesn’t care about her. Levi’s girl Zoe is staying with her and Susie while Dax is out of town, and security is tight on the ranch again. I just heard that Dax hired some of Trayvon’s guys to help out with that.”

“The street gang is doing security at the ranch?”

Hunter chuckled. “Yeah, imagine that,” he said. “They’re patrolling the outside perimeter, which adds an extra layer of protection if this crazy bastard Miller tries to get back at Angel or anyone on the ranch. Trayvon and his crew want Miller almost as badly as Dax does, and although I wouldn’t count on this truce holding up long after they catch the guy, for now they all seem to be getting along. I think she’ll be just fine, eventually.”

“And her brother? The one that got shot that night, is he okay?”

“He got discharged from the physical rehab center he went to after the hospital a few days ago and he’s home now. Their two older brothers, the fishermen, came home and are there with him. From what David says, he’s as arrogant and annoying as ever. I’ll bet his brothers can’t wait to get back out on the open sea.”

Claire smiled. “I guess that must be a good sign then, huh?

“Yeah, Kyle Brady’s arrogance is eighty percent of his personality, so if that’s intact, I’d say there’s hopes for a full recovery.”

“Good,” she said with a laugh. “Speaking of people you find annoying, I spoke to my father today.”

Hunter felt a rush of heat to his face. He felt badly that she knew how annoying he found Larry, but he had a hard time hiding it. “How’s Larry doing?”

“He’s great. He loves the hotel and he seems to be taking full advantage of all the amenities. He called me as he was soaking in a bubble bath.”

Hunter groaned at the visual that gave him and Claire laughed again. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, anything.”

“After you went through that…trauma…in Italy, because of a man, what made you stick with Larry once you got here and realized how messed up he was? Didn’t it worry you that he’d take advantage of you too?”

“Yeah, I was worried. It’s hard to explain. My whole life I convinced myself that things would be better if my parents were together and I had a real family. After everything that happened, I just had to find him and know for sure.” She laughed and said, “Obviously, I figured out quickly that things probably would have been almost as bad if they’d actually stayed together. But there was just something about Larry that was so endearing…” Hunter looked like he was trying to control his facial expressions, but on that note, he lost it. Claire folded her arms and waited for him to finish laughing. When he did, he apologized and she raised an eyebrow at him and went on, “Anyways…what I discovered about my father is that for whatever reason, he’s more child than he is man and that gets him in a lot of trouble. But he has a good heart, and he loves me. I used to have these horrible dreams, nightmares, about what happened to me. Larry heard me screaming one night and he broke into the cottage to check on me. When he found me shaking and crying, he sat and held me until it passed. After that, I let him stay in the guest room and any time I had a bad dream, I woke up to him holding my hand and telling me everything was going to be okay. He never even asked what the dreams were about, and I never told him. I didn’t honestly think he could handle those emotions, but I don’t think people give him enough credit for what he can handle. He does his absolute best when it comes to me and he would never hurt me, not on purpose anyways. Knowing that is important to me, and although our little family is an odd one, I finally feel like it’s complete.”

“What about your mom?”

“What about her?”

“Have you talked to her? Is there any chance the two of you can work things out?”

Claire nodded, slowly. “My mother has always wanted to work things out. She says she never blamed me for what happened, and I believe her, now. At the time I was too messed up to see it. The way she acted and looked around me wasn’t because she blamed me, it was because she blamed herself. She told me that so many times…but until recently, I wasn’t ready to process it, I guess.”

Hunter squeezed her hand. “You’ve come a long way. I hope you’re proud of yourself and all you’ve accomplished.”

“Well, the truth is, I’ve gotten lucky in a lot of ways. It was lucky that I found Larry at all, and lucky that I took a job here at the Inn. It was lucky that the owners took such a liking to me and made me their manager when they retired…”

“Oh, stop it. I’m a firm believer that people make their own luck. If you hadn’t been smart and capable then the people who own this inn would have never given you so much responsibility. You do a fantastic job here.”

Claire smiled. “Thank you. I love it here and now that I don’t have to worry that my dad is going to get shanked in jail, I’m happy.”

He laughed. “That’s the only reason you’re happy?”

“Sure,” she said with a devious gleam in her eye, “What else is there?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I was wondering if maybe there was someone special in your life? Maybe a guy who sets your world on fire…”

“No, nothing like that…” She squealed as Hunter reached over and wrapped her up in his arms. He started tickling her and she howled as he told her he wouldn’t stop until she admitted that he set her world on fire. “Okay! I give!” she screamed. “You set my world on fire!” He stopped tickling her, but didn’t let her go. With a fake pout of his lip he said:

“You know a compliment isn’t really a compliment if you have to beg for it.”

“Aw, I was just kidding,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing the side of his face. She ran her lips across his, which he still had set in a pout, and said, “Forgive me?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “It still hurts.” Claire kissed her way down the side of his chin and across his neck.

“Forgive me, yet?”

Hunter’s breaths were shortening as he said, “Not quite…”

Claire slid off his lap and took his t-shirt between her hands. She pushed it up underneath his arms and kissed her way across his chest and down his stomach to the top of his jeans. She felt his body convulse as she dragged her tongue along the waistband of them. She could see his cock already hardening underneath them. With her lips pressed into his hot flesh she said, “I just don’t know what else to do. Maybe you could tell me what it would take?”