His steel-blue eyes speared her with contempt.
Going to be tough to sell them as lovers.
He announced, “I’m getting a shower. Make yourself at home since you think you are.” He pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the corner.
She’d seen him that night in the mansion, but she’d been pressed for time and had poor lighting.
Just that movement showed off cut muscles from his shoulders to his hard stomach. Arm muscles rippled when he moved. Then he turned and she got a heat-inducing look at his wide shoulders and strong back. Thick brown hair cut short on the sides and ruffled from the shirt gave him the look of a man just waking from a night of sex.
When he’d smiled that one time, she’d wanted to kiss him again. He’d tasted too good for her sanity that first time.
She hadn’t kissed anyone in a long time. Really long time. She’d been on a mission to save children. Coop accused her of being too uptight to let a man get close to her.
She was not her mother to hand control over to a man.
Two years without dating seriously hadn’t seemed like a big deal. She’d been content, or so she’d thought.
Her body picked a hell of a time to come out of retirement.
Sam turned to her as if eyes in the back of his head had caught her ogling him.
She jerked her attention away, but not before he noticed and made a smirky noise. She lifted the shoulder bag and took it to the bed, pausing to listen.
Water started running in the shower.
She glanced over to the open door. He clearly cared not if she’d watched him shed his clothes. Steam boiled over the top of the shower, filling the room.
Just to get him back, she should have watched and let him know being naked would not intimidate her.
Not even naked with water pouring down his slick skin while he soaped everything and paused to grab himself and start ...
Whoa!
She slapped a hand over her eyes as if that would hide the erotic image of him bathing. When this was done and she had Phoebe somewhere safe, it was time to get back into dating. She’d never had a problem keeping her mind on a mission in the past. Allowing her mind to stray with Grumpy would be stupid.
Emptying her bag on the bed, she sorted out the change of clothes for this shower. They’d be leaving by daylight. They just needed to put on a quick show for the woman called Angela.
Her intel resource had found no blood connection between Sam and Angela. In fact, Angela’s life had been well concealed behind a wall of attorneys. She clearly had money and liked her anonymity.
That alone reminded Hallene to be careful around Sam. Only while she held a threat over Angela’s head would he play ball, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to skew the rules.
She’d never put an innocent person in danger, but she made up her own rules when it came to saving Phoebe.
Kovac had better not be in league with the Collector or whomever the Collector might have as a partner. As of now, it sounded as if Kovac was caught in a blackmail scheme.
If Hallene found out differently, he’d discover just how dangerous she could be.
There had been no witness to Phoebe’s kidnapping. When Hallene tracked her down to a party at a local bar, she’d asked around about Phoebe. No one saw who she left with. Phoebe had no close friends. Hallene couldn’t hold that against the girl.
Hallene had found out just who her real friends were when her father died.
The people around her only wanted to hang out and have fun until her family scandal tainted her.
Phoebe ran with a money crowd who were just as shallow. Had someone lured Phoebe into the kidnapping? Or had someone taken advantage of Phoebe’s naivete?
That wouldn’t help right now but was something to keep in mind. Hallene dug around quickly through drawers in a high chest and came up with no weapon, but she found a phone. Opening it up, she found no tracker. This was a burner phone. She shoved that into her bag and glanced around for another place to keep a weapon. Her gaze lifted to the top of a tall bookcase. She slid her hand until her fingers touched a weapon she pulled down.
The Baretta M9 had no suppressor this time. She slipped it into her shoulder bag. Her weapon was hidden in her vehicle, but she had a knife inside a fake hairspray can in this bag.
