Once Hunter and Kat got up to their room Kat said, “I like her.”

Hunter chuckled. So did he, unfortunately. She wasn’t going to like him once she found out that he was lying about who he was…and he had her father arrested. He still shook his head every time he thought about skinny Larry with the pockmarked face, receding hairline, and large nose as Claire’s father. “She seems okay,” he said. Kat cocked an eyebrow at him, but she let it go. “I’ll change for dinner in the bathroom. You can change out here,” he told her.

“Change? What are you wearing?”

“The papers I picked up downstairs say that dinner is casual, so I’m going to put on my jeans and boots. After we eat, maybe you can keep Claire occupied with that baking stuff and I can do some snooping around out by that cottage she lives in.”

Kat wrinkled her nose but said, “Okay.” Hunter could tell that she was aching for some excitement. He liked David a lot, but the man was going to have to turn up the heat if he was going to keep this one satisfied…and Hunter meant with life, not in the bedroom. He grabbed his bag and went into the bathroom to change. Before he came back out, he knocked and Kat gave him the go-ahead. With each dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and boots, they went down for dinner.

The dining room was just off the room where they’d checked in. It was huge, with two extra-large, heavy-duty oak tables that looked hand-made, and ten chairs around each. Only one of the tables was set, and a middle-aged couple sat on one side and a young couple with a baby on the other. Hunter and Kat said hello to everyone and found seats. Another couple, two men in their early thirties, came in and sat down next to Hunter. They were introducing themselves when Claire and another woman came in, both pushing a serving tray.

“I’m glad to see you all could make it,” Claire told them with a smile. Hunter wasn’t sure if he imagined it or not, but she seemed to lock eyes with him a little longer than she did the others. It made his cock do a little dance in his jeans. His stomach took over, though, as soon as she pulled the lid off the meat and set it in the center of the table. The other woman set out large bowls of mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and what looked like fried squash. There were hot, buttered rolls and corn on the cob as well.

“Wow, Claire! This looks amazing,” one of the men next to Hunter told her.

“Thank you, Bobby. Hopefully, it tastes as good as it looks.” Claire and the other woman pushed their carts back into the kitchen and the dark-skinned woman came back out with one that now had coffee, tea, and water on it. She was almost finished serving the drinks when Claire came back out and took her seat at the head of the table. “For those of you who don’t know Paula, she’s my right hand in the kitchen and a good friend.”

The lady smiled and gave everyone a little wave. Hunter was sizing her up, wondering just how good a friend she was. Would she have any information about Larry? Would she tell him if she did? He almost regretted going along with Chase’s idea that he’d be less suspicious with a wife. If he’d come as a single man…maybe a little seduction would work. As it was, he couldn’t risk making Claire think he was a dog and having nothing to do with him altogether. “It’s nice to see all of you,” Paula said. She looked at Claire then and said, “I’m going to set the desserts on the cart and then I’ll be taking off.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat first?”

“I’m sure, thanks. I’ll have to fix Pete and the kids something at home anyways. You all enjoy your meal,” she said, before leaving. Once she was gone Claire looked around the table and said:

“Dig in, guys.”

Dinner was delicious and conversation at the table was kept moving by gentle questions Claire asked each person or couple. She cooed over the baby, and Hunter had to keep reminding himself not to stare at her. When she got up to take dishes into the kitchen and bring out the dessert, Kat reminded him as well. Whispering close to his ear she said, “You’re doing it again. Damn, you’re going to blow your own cover.”

He didn’t bother denying it that time. “I’m sorry. I’ll rein it in. You set to make conversation with her about the baking or whatever? I’m going to excuse myself when she brings the dessert back in, to make a phone call.”

“Sure, I’ve got this. Should I text you if she leaves for some reason?”

“Yeah. I’ll have it in my breast pocket where I’ll hear it vibrate.”

“Here we go,” Claire said, as she came back in, pushing a dessert cart. She was letting the young couple choose when Hunter stood up and said:

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to pass on dessert. I have a business call I need to make.”

“Oh, no,” Claire looked up at him. “I’ll save you something, Tom. I’m sure your wife knows what you like, she can pick something out for you.”

Hunter looked down at Kat and smiled. “Yeah, she knows exactly what I like.” He almost broke when Kat gazed up at him and mouthed the word “Claire.” Rolling his eyes at her, he bent down close to her ear and pretended that he was giving her a kiss on the cheek as he whispered:

“You’re hilarious.” She giggled. Claire moved the cart around the table to the gay couple, and this time Hunter didn’t imagine the way her eyes locked into his. His feet felt heavy and he was practically rooted to the floor, lost in those eyes…until he heard Kat clear her throat. That seemed to get Claire moving too, and her face might have colored slightly. Damn, he wished that he was alone.

He walked out the front door of the beautiful home and down the steps to the cobblestone path that led around to the back. He followed it, surrounded by colorful, fragrant flowers, and wondered what it would be like to live in a place like this. He chuckled at that thought. He knew himself too well. He’d be like Kat and after enjoying it for a short time, he’d start to crave the adrenaline and chaos again. Maybe it was a good thing that he could never have the gorgeous woman inside. He might not want to let her go.

The back of the house was as beautiful as the front. Two of the upstairs windows had balconies, framed in wrought-iron gates. The attic window was stained glass and two hand-carved picnic tables sat underneath a large shade tree. The cottage sat about twelve feet from where the tables were, partially hidden by a giant shade tree of its own. It was the same color as the big house and it had a big picture window in front and colorful blooms in the window boxes. It looked to Hunter exactly like the kind of place where Claire would live, just from what he’d seen so far. But again, there was Larry…him he couldn’t picture in such a nice place.

Hunter looked over his shoulder toward the big house. He didn’t see anyone looking out any of the windows, but he pulled out his phone, just in case, and held it to his ear as he walked around the cottage. When he got to the back, he slid it back in his pocket and looked out at the view from that side. There was a rocky beach a few steps away and beyond that, the water looked like it went on forever. About a mile to the right was a lookout point and a small parking lot, and sitting up high on a rocky cliff to the left was a tall, white lighthouse that looked out across the bay. Hunter looked back at the little cottage and he wondered if Claire woke up in her bedroom to that view every morning. It must be nice. His apartment looked out onto the brick building next door. Occasionally he did wake up to “Homeless Harry” taking a piss on the wall, but it wasn’t quite the same.

There was no one at the lookout point; the beach was too rocky and the water too cold for anyone to be there that late in the evening. Hunter got closer to the cottage and with his back to the wall, he slid over to peek into one of the windows. It was a bedroom and once Hunter was sure there was no one inside of it, he took a better look. The bed was a queen-size with a brass frame. The comforter on top of it was blue and gray and it looked like it was stuffed with down. There was a wooden dresser with brass knobs and two nightstands with pretty glass-and-brass lamps on them. A rocking chair sat in one corner and framed photographs of people he couldn’t see clearly from his vantage point sat on a shelf next to the bed. There was a small vanity with bottles of lotion and perfume and cosmetics on top of it. The whole thing was neat, comfortable-looking, and feminine, and Hunter could picture Claire inside…he could also picture himself in there with her…in the bed…naked…

He sighed and moved on to the next window. That one was small, and before he even got up on his toes to look he was sure it was a bathroom. There was a glassed-in shower next to an old-fashioned claw-foot tub. The toilet wasn’t visible, so he assumed it was directly under the window, but next to that was a sink, surrounded by a marble vanity. On top of that sat a cup that matched the mermaid décor on the walls and inside of the cup sat not one but two toothbrushes. One of them was blue and from where Hunter was, it looked brand new. The other one was an apricot color. Hunter wondered what a woman who lived alone would need two toothbrushes for. He was ashamed of himself for hoping it was Larry’s toothbrush, although the man didn’t look like he’d ever used one. He wouldn’t be ashamed if that hope was simply so he could catch the old thief. But to himself he had to admit that he was hoping she didn’t have a boyfriend. He knew that was a moot point. He couldn’t have her. She was going to hate him…and soon. He was about to slide over to the last window when his pocket buzzed. He expected it to be Kat, but when he slid the phone out, he saw that it was David. He mumbled a curse before putting the phone to his ear.

“David, what’s up?”

“Kat’s not answering her phone. I just wanted to check in…”

“She’s fine, David, I promise. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

“I know. She’s probably more capable of taking care of herself than you or me, either one. I just missed her.”

“I’ll have her call you…”

“Actually…could you have her come out to the lighthouse once everyone is asleep?”

Hunter looked across the sand out to where the water was beginning to slam into the rocks that lined the bottom of one of the cliffs. He looked up at the small lighthouse perched near the edge of the cliff. “No way…aren’t those things manned by the Coast Guard or something?”

“Nah, that’s old school. Most of them are electronic these days.”

“So then how did you…? Shit, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

David chuckled. “You’ll send her out?”

“Yeah, it might be late, though. I don’t want anyone to see her.”

“I’ll be here all night.”

“Kids,” Hunter said.

David laughed again. “Yeah, that five years or so you have on us has done wonders for you, I’m sure.” Hunter thought, if David only knew some of the places he’d been naked in. He wished it was him getting naked in the lighthouse…but not with Kat. He liked her a lot, but his parts south had their sights set on the girl with the aquamarine eyes, the pipe, and the bail-jumping daddy.