Chloe’s senses were bombarded all at once by the different smells of various foods wafting throughout the air, at least six different bands playing six different styles of music from six different corners of the festival, and the enormous crowd of people filling the streets. There was music, food, and purchases to be made from all corners of the globe, and Chloe inspected every one of them. Cautious that such a large festival might bring Jack Lawrence up from New Orleans, or any associates who might recognize her, she was able to let herself get lost in the festivities, while at the same time paying close attention to her surroundings. That was a habit she would never be able to break, and it was also how she knew she was being followed.
She’d noticed him earlier in the day when she had stopped at one of the stages to listen to a band. While standing in the crowd, she glanced around the people surrounding her and saw him staring at her with his knee-melting smile. Both his hands were full, a drink of some kind in one and food in the other. Instantly attracted, she wanted to return the smile, but didn’t want him to take it as an invitation to approach her, so she turned around and left. Not paranoid, but not completely comfortable, she decided to take another walk around the festival to test herself and make sure that every warning of possible danger was all in her head. She strolled through the various rows of vendors and stopped at one for a few minutes, leaving with a pair of earrings and matching necklace. As she continued to walk past local businesses whose doors were open and happily welcomed customers during the festival weekend, she could see his reflection in the windows. He was still following her, and, surprisingly, she was okay with it. Realizing her need to be overly cautious was all in her head, she stopped and calmly turned around to confront him. When he stopped in front of her, he smiled and the pit of her stomach tightened.
“Hello, strange man who has been following me for the past forty-five minutes,” she said coolly with curiosity filling her thoughts.
She could see that he was obviously trying to think of something to say so she waited for him to speak again. She would give him thirty more seconds and if he didn’t speak, cute or not, she was going home.
His smile widened. “I guess there are some people I can’t follow without being caught. I’m Hunter.”
“I’m Chloe. You know, you’re not very good at following someone.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t let my boss hear you say that.” She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him. “I’m an FBI agent.”
Her eyes widened and panic struck her momentarily. FBI? This was the perfect time to make an excuse to get away from him, go home, and pack her bags to leave town, but she didn’t feel any threat.
“You’re not wanted, are you?” he asked in a joking manner.
Involuntarily, she looked at him with all seriousness in her eyes and slowly shook her head. “Not by the FBI.”
She could tell he was trying to determine if she was kidding or not, but he laughed all the same. They stood across from each other in silence for a few minutes, each taking the time to look the other over carefully. He was beautiful, with a square jaw, straight nose, perfectly shaped ears, broad shoulders, and eyes that seemed to pierce through her. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved button-down shirt. There was no way the conversation, or the fantasies, would continue until she knew something for sure.
She cleared her throat, not believing what she was about to ask and hoping he didn’t think she was some crazy lady with a fetish. “Can I ask you a favor without having to give an explanation? Would you mind rolling up your shirt sleeves? Just to the elbows will be fine.”
He seemingly found her request amusing as he threw his beer in the garbage can, rolled up his sleeves, and rotated his lower arms with no clue what she did or didn’t want to see. She felt absolutely foolish, but had to make sure there was no indication he was part of the Family.
He began to roll his sleeves back to their previous position. “Got a thing for arms?”
“Sorry. It’s just…” Stupid, she thought to herself. She waved her hand in front of her in an effort to make the cloud of idiocy forming around her vanish.
Neither of them seemed to notice hundreds of festival visitors passing by them in all directions while they stood across from each other. The more he smiled at her, the more her stomach fluttered. She knew this was simply lust at first sight and nothing more. The fact that he had no tattoo on his arm made her want to talk to him, but her wall wasn’t coming down.
“So,” he said in an effort to keep the conversation going, “are you enjoying the festival?”
“It’s quite an event with so much to see.”
His eyebrows shot up with realization. “This is your first time.”
She nodded. “I was told, by more than one person, that the festival was one thing I absolutely had to experience.”
“There’s a restaurant down the street,” Hunter said. “We could get a table. While we walk, we can have our awkward silence while we try to think of things to talk about.”
Oh, she liked him, and showed it with the smile she gave him. He extended a chivalrous arm in the direction of the restaurant to let her take the lead, but she stood still. He looked at her, a little confused.
She gave a slight laugh. “While I appreciate the ladies first gesture, I don’t know where we’re going. I’ll follow you this time.”
***
They sat across from each other in the back of the restaurant with a half-eaten plate of appetizers between them that had been sitting there for at least four hours. Surprised at how comfortable she was talking with him, Chloe caught herself starting to be a little too honest about who she was and had to stop herself. She could tell Hunter was nervous by the way he would clear his throat and run a hand though his hair when he wasn’t sure what to do or say next.
They started with easy topics like where they grew up and their families. Hunter was the oldest of three boys, born and raised in New Orleans. One of his brothers, two years younger than Hunter, was career military and currently stationed in Germany. The other brother, five years younger, was a professional burden on society, happy to feel the world owed him and mooch off whoever he could to avoid taking on any real responsibility of his own. His dad took off when he was eight and had no idea where he was. He briefly told her about Amy but didn’t go into too much detail.
Chloe had made up a somewhat imaginary world about her past, some false information mixed with a little bit of carefully worded truth—dead mother, only child, privileged childhood, Michigan winters were cold and she didn’t miss them, business school, she and her father didn’t see each other often but she would try to get together with him when she was in the area. She told him about her friends growing up, omitting that they were her employees, who were paid for giving sexual favors to the elite, as well as acting as couriers of illegal contraband and whatever else they were ordered to do. It wasn’t exactly like she could come out with the truth that she had run away from a sadistic father, changed her identity, and paid for a new life.
“I like the puzzles,” he told her when she asked what he liked best about his job.
“Puzzles?”
“You know, every story has clues. Like the first time I go to a crime scene. It’s not all neat and orderly. I go in, look at the clues, and try to piece everything together.” The way he smiled and sat up straighter when he started his explanation showed this was obviously a subject he was passionate about and she found it endearing. “See, the thing is nobody ever tells the whole story. Everybody lies. It’s like there are six different jigsaw puzzles scattered all over the floor and I have to try to sort them out and put them all together in a few hours. I’m good at filling in those holes.”
“So you’re the type of guy who always believes everyone is hiding something and you’re going to be the one to find out what it is.”
“I am sorry to say that I am that guy.”
Chloe nodded and looked out the window, noticing the sun would be going down soon and the swarm of people participating in the celebration outside was getting bigger. “So, you come to the festival every year?”
“Every year.”
“To stalk women?” she teased.
“Naturally.” He smiled at her and she knew the attraction was definitely mutual. “We have festivals in New Orleans too, but every year I take the opportunity to get out of the city for a few days.”
His smile made her want to reach across the table and touch him just to make sure he was real. He made her feel the same way Christopher once did and she wasn’t sure what to do because that was the feeling she had been wanting and dreading for too many years. Her stomach was in knots—she wanted him, knew he would be temporary, and she was okay with that.
“I’m sorry,” the waitress they didn’t see approach said, a little embarrassed, “but my manager says he needs the table because you guys have been here for hours and haven’t ordered…” The glare Chloe was beginning to give made the waitress forget what she was trying to say.
Hunter watched silently, surprised curiosity on his face. The daggers in Chloe’s eyes were gone as fast as they appeared and she pursed her lips together and smiled. The waitress started shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, waiting for some kind of response—either for them to order something or leave the restaurant. Something in Chloe’s mind clicked and she decided she didn’t like being asked to leave, especially by a man who was too much of a coward to come over and do it himself.
Her features once again hardened, but her voice was casual as she reached into her purse, producing a hundred-dollar bill and holding it out to the waitress. “Who’s the manager?”
The waitress looked over her shoulder at a group of coworkers and one middle-aged, overworked, and underpaid manager staring back at her, curiosity steaming off their heads like water over hot coals. Chloe locked eyes with the manager, narrowing her eyes and daring him to come over to their table. Hunter watched in awe as the manager stood paralyzed in Chloe’s glare. The waitress was obviously confused and looked to Hunter for some kind of clarification, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders and wait to see what happened.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Chloe said to the waitress, “would you please tell your manager we’re not ready to leave yet? This will cover our bill, and your tip, until we do.”
Hunter looked on with rabid curiosity as the waitress locked eyes with Chloe, debating what to do, until Chloe raised her eyebrows to indicate she needed to make a choice quickly.
The waitress snatched the money out of her hand and smiled. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
The waitress walked away and Chloe smiled as she reached for her glass, catching Hunter watching her out of the corner of her eye, his mouth slightly agape with surprise and approval.
“Wow,” was all he could say.
One side of her mouth curled in a grin. “I know we’ll probably be leaving soon, but that was fun. Don’t you think?”
“I have to say you certainly seemed to enjoy that. What now?”
“We both know the answer to that question but you need to know this isn’t the beginning of anything.”
She studied the reaction on his face and saw that he not only understood what she was saying, but he also wasn’t a one-night stand kind of guy and the decision he would make in the next few minutes wasn’t easy for him. She needed to let him know that whatever his decision, she wouldn’t hold it against him.
“You don’t seem like a casual sex kind of guy to me,” she stated.
“Not usually, no,” he confessed.
She smiled and thought, Not only a gentleman, but a gentleman with morals. If I fall for him, I’m completely screwed. Whether it was passion or lust, she wasn’t prepared to break any of her rules and poke a hole in the protective bubble she had built around herself.
Hunter forced the final decision. “Your place or mine?”
“You paid for a hotel room,” she said with a flirtatious smile. “Wasting money is a terrible thing.”