Chapter Eight
Kenna squinted against the bright light streaming in from the window to her right.
God, who left the curtains open? She lay on her side and rubbed her forehead. With the pain slicing through her skull, she was pretty sure someone was driving a metal spike into it.
She rolled in the other direction in an attempt to give her eyes some reprieve, but she bumped into something large, warm, and solid. She froze. Extending an arm, she placed a hand on the object, gently traveling along its hard surface. Skin. It was hot, bare skin. And given the peaks and valleys, that skin was protecting firm, bulging muscles.
Oh no. She didn’t. Did she?
She dared a peek at the person next to her.
Don’t be Bear.
Please don’t be Bear.
Not that anyone else would be better. She didn’t pride herself on getting drunk and going home with random men. But Bear. She definitely couldn’t go home with him.
The man lay face down, his shirtless back toward the ceiling. Wide shoulders sprawled across the bed, spilling over onto her side. Long dirty-blond hair fanned his pillow. His face was turned away from her, but she could see the faint outline of a beard across his cheeks and jawline.
Shit. Shit. Motherlode of all shit.
Lifting the crisp, white cotton sheet enough, she saw he was wearing black boxer briefs, and she breathed a big sigh of relief. It was one thing to fall asleep together. It was quite another if he were naked.
While her intention was to lower the cover and get immediately out of Dodge, she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from the round, sculpted mounds that stared back at her. The bottom edges of his briefs rode up to the underside of his ass, accenting just how full the object below was. It also drew attention to his extremely long, chiseled legs. Bryan had always been athletic and bulked up easily, but now, as a man, he exuded a new level of masculinity. In a man’s body.
She swallowed down her rising need. The temptation to have him was most definitely there, no matter how badly she wanted to deny it. And in a situation like this one, in full view of his body, it was difficult to remember that she didn’t want him.
Or at least shouldn’t want him.
Finally, after some struggle, she convinced herself to roll away. Slowly and quietly, Kenna shimmied out of the bed and tiptoed to the other side of the room. She was still in the same tank and skirt she’d been wearing last night. Her shoes lay across the room in front of a dresser.
Kenna started to reach for her shoes, but something caught her eye on the nearby table. A half-torn piece of paper on what looked like hotel letterhead. She stole a quick glance at Bear, who still slept in the same position, then bent to get a closer look at the paper.
At the top of the page someone had scribbled, Avg height. Dark hair. Lean. Then she saw a list of men’s names.
Suspects! Bryan must have been able to obtain a list of suspects from hotel security!
Another quick glance at Bryan, then she snatched the paper from the table, grabbed her shoes, and raced like hell out of the room. She needed to work through most of this list before Bryan tracked her down and killed her.
Kenna lounged poolside with a wide-brimmed sun hat, oversize sunglasses, and her pink bikini. She peered over a magazine at a guy treading water in the deep end. According to the hotel employee who brought her a pineapple martini, the man was Joseph Landry. The fifth name on the list.
There were twenty total names, and given the rip at the bottom of the page, there were most likely more. Which she’d search for if the guys on this list ended up being duds. Like the first four who were either too short or too old.
This one, though. He fit the profile perfectly.
She’d watched him enter the pool about ten minutes ago. He was lean with dark hair. He had an air about him. Confident and authoritative. He exuded power. She could sense it from here. When he walked along the edge of the pool toward the diving board, she got a clear shot of his back. He looked damn similar to and had the same smooth manner as the man she’d seen walking down the hall when her mom’s ring had been taken.
This could be her guy.
When the thought sank in, her palms grew clammy, and her pulse kicked up.
Patience.
He swam for a while, leisurely doing laps, so she used the time to reflect on the past few days. She and Bryan had gotten along really well last night. Laughed, even. It was…nice. And made it easy to remember how it felt when things were good between them.
She missed that most. How much fun they used to have together. No one used to make her smile like Bear.
A long, deep breath and also a sip from her drink later, she watched Joseph leave a trail of wet footprints behind him as he approached his beach chair to gather his belongings. He threw his towel over his shoulder, slipped his feet into thong sandals, and donned metal-framed sunglasses. Sliding what looked like his room key card into his pocket, he turned and headed in the direction she’d come from when she’d left Bryan’s room.
Flip-flops already on, Kenna stood and picked up her towel, taking off after Joseph as fast as she could without being obvious.
Kenna held up her phone and snapped a few pictures of his backside as he walked up a stone path, passing well-manicured shrubs and richly colored flowers. Joseph turned once and looked in her direction, so she acted like she was taking a selfie.
Slowing her pace so as not to tip him off, Kenna pretended to gaze at one of the flowers. The man continued the ascent up the hill toward the main hotel. When she thought he was far enough ahead where she could still see him without being obvious, she started after him.
That’s when a tall brick wall stepped in front of her, and a hand gripped her wrist. Tipping her head back, she met Bear’s furious blue eyes.
“Clever,” he said. “You plan all of that last night just to get the list?”
She laughed in his face. “Yeah, sure. I came up with the master scheme of getting rip-roaring drunk just so you’d take me back to your room, and I could steal the list from you. You’re the idiot who left it out in plain sight. If you didn’t want me to take it, you should’ve hidden it better.”
He peered down at her with an unreadable expression. “You left this morning.”
She shrugged. “So?”
“You were in my bed.”
“But I wanted to be in my bed. You were the one who placed me in yours.”
“Maybe I wanted you there.”
Maybe she wanted to be there.
No, she didn’t. What her brain and her body wanted were two very different things. Her body could want him all it wanted. But her head and her heart weren’t going to forgive so quickly. If ever.
“Look,” she said, peering around him at Joseph’s retreating back. “As much as I’d love to reminisce about old times, I’m onto something. So I’ll catch you late—”
His hand tightened around her wrist. “You’re not going anywhere.”
She tugged against his unbreakable hold. “I think I found him. The thief.”
His anger evaporated immediately. He released her and shot looks all around them. “What? Where?”
She pointed. “That way. Come on.” Without waiting for him, she stepped around his large frame and ventured in Joseph’s direction. She spotted him about thirty yards away, getting ready to enter the lobby. “Hurry up!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” His footsteps sped up behind her as she increased her own pace.
They reached the front door of the hotel about the time Joseph was crossing the grand foyer. He turned left toward a bank of gold elevators.
“He’s getting away!” She threw open the door and busted into the lobby.
“Where is he? Which one?”
“There.”
Joseph had pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head and was looking down at his phone as he waited for the elevator doors to open.
A deep, irritating chuckle sounded next to her. When she looked at Bryan, he wore an expression like she’d lost her mind.
“Landry?” He could barely get the name out between a string of heavy snorts. “That’s your suspect?”
“Yes. Why? How do you know him?”
The man in question stepped into the elevator, and before the doors closed, Kenna almost sprinted and threw a hand between. But the doors shut, and her supposed thief got away.
Whirling on Bryan, she said, “Speak. Now.”
“Landry’s not your thief.”
She crossed her arms. “How do you know?”
“Because he’s my boss.”
“Just because he’s your boss—”
Bear sobered immediately. “It’s not him.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“He’s a by-the-book kind of guy. Never steps out of line for anything. There’s no way he could take a piece of gum from someone without asking them for it first.”
Her heart sank. Well, damn.
“But he looked like the man I saw outside my hotel room. Exactly like him, in fact. Same build. Same hair.”
“Really?” Bryan scratched his beard. “I guess I could talk to him.” When her eagerness must have shown on her face, he said, “But only to see if he noticed anything or anyone suspicious. Not to interrogate him.”
“But if he—”
“He’s not.”
“But he could—”
“No.”
She stomped her foot. “Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Discrediting what I say. I’m not ruling out anyone who fits the profile. I know what I saw. As far as I’m concerned, he’s still a suspect.”
Bear’s expression was impassive and he stayed silent a moment, seeming to think her statements over. Then, “Okay, fine.”
That was a surprise. “Seriously? Just like that? You’re not going to continue arguing with me?”
“What’s the point? You’d keep going on about it forever, and we’d miss the real thief.”
True. She would. She hated being wrong.
“But I’m telling you: it’s a waste of energy,” he said. “It’s not Landry.”
It did seem unlikely that an important guy at the DEA would steal family heirlooms—and for what reason?—but she’d already learned once that good guys couldn’t be trusted to always do the right thing.
She lifted her chin. “You have your hunches, and I’ll have mine.”
One corner of his mouth went up, and he mirrored her move with his arms. “You’re just as stubborn as you used to be.”
“Look who’s talking. Guess some things never change.”
“Guess not.”
Their gazes met and something passed between them. Something familiar. Charged. Meaningful. He must have felt it, too, because he cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
He held an open palm out to her. “I’m gonna need that list now. Or…” He smiled as his gaze skimmed down her bikini-clad body, making tingles erupt everywhere it touched. “Am I going to need to search you for it? Given that tiny scrap of fabric you call a bathing suit, there are only so many places you could hide it. I’d want to be sure I covered every inch.” His eyes went to the apex of her thighs.
She’d been in such a rush to catch Landry, she didn’t bother to throw on a cover-up. While she might be in a bikini, it certainly wasn’t a G-string. It was tasteful and covered all the necessary bits. But based on the way Bear’s expression heated, she wished she was in a brown paper bag. From head to toe.
She backed up a step. “Lay one finger on me and see what happens.”
He stepped forward.
“I’m serious.” She took two steps backward, a rush of excitement racing through her at their familiar cat-and-mouse game. “You’ll lose some beloved body parts.”
“Give me the list, Kenna.”
“No. I’m making better headway than you.”
“Damn it, woman. Give it to me.”
Her heart was ready to beat out of her chest. “Say please.”
“Now,” he growled, reaching for her.
“No!” she squealed and took off.
Kenna made it four steps through the door and out into the hot afternoon before a strong arm wrapped around her midsection, pulling her back. She lost her footing, but the arm around her held her up. Feet dangling, she was pinned against Bear’s chest. Although he wore a fitted T-shirt, he might as well have been bare-chested. The friction of his body against hers brought on an onslaught of memories she thought she’d buried. But now she remembered every aching inch of him. Every moan he’d coaxed from her. Like it was yesterday.
“How far did you think you’d get?” he said. “You know I always catch you.”
Yeah, she knew.
“You can put me down now,” she said.
His mouth brushed her ear, the whiskers from his beard rough against her heated skin, and a powerful shudder wracked her body. “I can’t trust you not to run.”
“I promise I won’t run.” Far.
There was a pregnant pause, then he lowered her to the ground and slowly released her.
“I’ll save you the extra effort on the remaining names,” he said. “None of them fit your thief’s description.”
“That’s only half the list, though, right? Aren’t there more?” She remembered it was ripped at the bottom, as if it had been torn in half.
“There’s another list, yeah,” he said. “I gave it to Reese. Figured we’d cover more ground between the two of us. He said he has two more guys to check out who match the description. He’s scoping one of them out on the beach now.”
“Excellent, let’s go—” She took a step, but his arm pulled her back. Broadcasting her frustration across her face, she hurled it at him like an anvil. “Get off me. I want to go to the beach and—”
“Reese can handle it.”
“But he never saw the guy, I did. I can ID him.”
“Like you did with Landry?”
She held off the eye roll that was seconds from exploding. “Bryan, let me go.”
His face suggested he was struggling with some sort of internal battle. After a few moments, he said, “I’ll make you a deal. Stay out of Reese’s way and I’ll take you with me to review the security camera footage.”
“Security footage?” she asked in what she hoped was a composed voice.
Bear lifted an eyebrow.
Damn, so her voice wasn’t as calm as she’d hoped. She relaxed her features and tried to appear nonchalant.
A slight pinch of his lips told her she wasn’t fooling him, but he didn’t say as much. “The guy in security told me the video’s ready. I’m going down there in a few.” He paused. “If you can behave yourself, you can come.”
“Deal,” she said a little too hastily.
He eyed her. “Understand that we do this my way. If I think you’re in danger or interfering, I won’t hesitate to ship you off to Estelle’s hotel room and keep you in the dark on this whole thing.”
“I get it. I’ll behave.”
For the most part.