Authors: The Hunter
He’d, of course, just grinned, a cocky smile that he liked to use a lot and made her insides turn upside down each time he did.
As dinner time approached, he started packing up his tools, but Suzie didn’t want him to go yet.
Foolish maybe, but she didn’t want the day’s camaraderie to end just yet.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” she asked. “We’re having fish and chips. Frozen variety. You’re more than welcome.” She didn’t expect him to accept. Hell, she didn’t really like the stuff, herself, but the kids ate it, and it fit in the budget.
“Oh, I don’t want to be any trouble,” he said, his gorgeous blue eyes smiling at her.
“No trouble,” she said a tad breathlessly. Staring into those eyes felt like swimming in an ocean, and she had to remind herself to breathe.
“Well, in that case then, I’d be much obliged.”
Obliged—who the hell said that anymore? Someone’s mother had raised him right.
Suzie bustled around the kitchen while the kids regaled Hunter with important facts. Like, did he know Jessica’s baby didn’t like to wear clothes? And Jared hated peas, and Mommy liked to sing in the shower? Yes, a guilty pleasure of hers, usually hits from the eighties, back when they had real music.
Hunter talked and joked with them as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Suzie, taking in this oh-so domestic scene, felt an urge to cry.
This is what it should be like everyday. A family sitting down to
dinner with a father and a mother and . . .
But this isn’t real
, she thought sadly, and that made her want to scream and sob and rail at the fates. If only
he
had been a different man, a better man, then maybe she wouldn’t have had to run, and the twins could have been raised with their father. She’d made her choice, though, the right one, and crying over it now wouldn’t change it. But still, the pang of what could have been made her sad, although, she put on a cheerful face for her crew.
“Food’s ready,” she announced, serving them.
Dinner, a chaotic affair with ketchup flying and milk cups getting spilled, was perfect as it kept her mind away from more melancholy thoughts. She saw Hunter throw questioning looks at her every so often, as if he could see beneath her mask of cheerfulness. Surely, he didn’t know her well enough to read her, but apparently, he did.
After they’d put the kids to bed, together again, he touched her on the arm and signaled they should go out back.
Suzie followed him to the back deck and sat down, the cool evening air making her arms pimple.
She wrapped her arms around herself tight to keep warm, but that did little to chase the coldness of her spirit.
Hunter sat down beside her, almost close enough for his thigh to brush hers. “What’s wrong? You look sad.”
“Me? No, just thinking about stuff. I really appreciate all the help you gave me yesterday and today.
Thank your girlfriend for me. I’m sure she’s missed having you.” Okay, so she wanted to know if he had a significant other.
Shoot me
.
“No girlfriend, I’m single. But you’re trying to change the subject. Something at dinner made your eyes go all sad. What’s wrong?”
Damn, figured he’d be perceptive and worse than a terrier with a chew toy. He just wouldn’t leave it alone. “You want the truth?”
12
“That would be nice,” he said, his blue eyes boring into hers, inviting her to spill her guts. So, what should she tell him that would get him off her back? Suzie had some secrets that were just too dangerous and painful to share.
“Seeing you with the kids, all happy and stuff, made me wish things were different. It made me realize how isolated the kids and I have been.”
Not to mention lonely
, she thought.
“Don’t you have any family around, or friends?”
Funny, how he never asked about their dad. Probably assuming a messy divorce.
“The only family I have left is my mother, and she’s not a person I want or need in my life. As for friends, once I got pregnant, they kind of drifted away, and I didn’t follow. Being a mom changes a lot, including your priorities.”
Not to mention fear. Hard to let someone close when you’re constantly afraid.
“That’s got to be lonely.”
“Oh, I’m never alone,” she said quickly. She didn’t want him to pity her. “I’ve got the kids, and they’re plenty company.” Yes, the conversation with them was so stimulating.
“I know you have the children, and they’re wonderful, but everybody needs someone to talk to.
Someone to call when the world is against you. Someone to brag to when things are good.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t exactly had the time,” Suzie said defensively. Why the hell did he care? “Who do you have?”
“I’ve got childhood friends back home, and my mom and sister. I don’t get to see them that much now, they live kind of far away, but I write to them when I can.”
Write? Who the hell wrote letters any more? Why not pick up a phone and call? Not that his life was any of her business. And this topic was getting uncomfortable. Time to change the subject.
“I know you’re a PI, but where do you work?”
“I’ve got an office downtown, but I work all over the place, depending on the case. I go out of town every so often, but I try to keep my work local as much as possible.”
“What kind of cases do you handle?” she asked.
“A lot of missing persons, actually. I seem to have a knack for finding those who want to stay hidden.”
Suzie shivered. That comment struck a little too close to her own situation.
He noticed her tremor and slid closer, the heat from his body radiating out toward her. “What about you? Do you work?” he asked when she didn’t reply.
“Yeah, I’m a web programmer.”
To her surprise, he perked right up. “Really? I love computers, but I am so inept when it comes to them. Owen, a friend of mine, says I need to get with the times and get online, but to be honest, I’m still clueless when it comes to surfing the net, as they say.”
“So how do you do your work? Isn’t everything done with computers nowadays?”
“Owen helps me out with that. He’s a whiz when it comes to finding out stuff. I tell him what I need, and he does his magic.”
“How do people find you? Yellow pages, Internet, newspaper?” she asked, trying to keep him talking.
“I get a lot of referrals.”
Surely that couldn’t be how he got all his business? “Doesn’t your agency have a Web site?”
For a moment, he looked startled, as if she’d said something startling. “Oh, you mean my PI agency.”
Uh yeah, what the hell else had he thought she meant?
“No, I haven’t gotten around to getting a Web site for it yet. Business is pretty good, so I haven’t really felt a need to,” he said, shrugging sheepishly.
“Well, if you’re ever looking, give me a shout. I’ll give you the neighborly discount.” She might even do a quick one up for free. In this day and age, when it came to marketing your services for prospective 13
clients, a person had to be on the net. She couldn’t believe he’d survived this long on word of mouth alone.
“Sounds good,” he said, smiling.
Suzie smiled back, her tummy swirling again as his eyes held her. She could see his face moving closer, and felt herself moving in, narrowing the gap. Her lips parted and . . .
A cold drop hit her nose. The first of many as the heavens opened up and started to pour. Suzie jumped up and ran to the house, while Hunter, with a grin, waved at her and then vaulted over the fence into his own yard.
Suzie stood there in the window, staring at nothing for a moment. The almost kiss stunned her. If it hadn’t rained, would he have kissed her? Would she have let him? Despite all her good intentions about not getting involved, her body seemed to have other plans. Treacherous bodily reactions! Didn’t her body understand that, while it might feel good at the time, the emotional pain she’d suffer later would last forever?
Apparently, her hormones didn’t care, if the ache between her thighs was any indication. Maybe she should go back outside and stand in the cold rain for a minute. Make that several minutes. Hunter had an ability to ignite a fire in her body that nothing short of a deluge would put out.
Suzie sighed and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Slipping into an oversized T-shirt, she settled down with a book she’d been meaning to read, but couldn’t get into it. Distracted by thoughts of him, like a lovesick teenager, mooning over a boy. Her thoughts caught in a re-run of the almost kiss. She wondered what his arms would have felt like, crushing her to his broad chest. How his lips would have felt, pressed hard against hers.
What an idiot I am for having the hots for a man I barely know.
She really hadn’t learned anything from her past. Just thinking about
him
made her shiver. Someone was surely walking over her grave.
Suzie snuggled down in her blankets, the gentle sound of the rain sounding so ominous now, the black night an encroaching beast that would devour her in its dark arms. Huddled in her fear, she fell into a jerky sleep. One with lots of running, chasing, and pain, lots of pain.
14
The growling sound of a motorcycle woke Suzie up. Rolling sleepily out of bed, she peeked out the window in time to see Hunter on a big, black Harley, gliding away down the street. Did the man not have an un-sexy bone in his body? Why couldn’t he drive a Vespa? And where was he off to so early?
Not that she cared, of course.
Suzie stretched, rubbing her bleary eyes, and looked at the clock. Gasp! Eight o’clock. How the hell had she managed to sleep in?
Oh God, the children.
She raced out of her room and right into the kids’ room. Rumpled beds, but no kids. Flying again down the stairs, she skidded into the living room and sighed with relief as two little heads swiveled around from the television they were watching.
“Morning, Mommy,” they sang.
“Morning, angels. How long have you been up? You should have woke Mommy.”
Like you usually do
at the crack of dawn everyday
, she thought.
“You were sleeping. We ma’e breafass,” said Jessica, holding up a sloppy bowl of cereal.
“Me too,” grinned Jared, holding up his own overflowing bowl.
They sure had. The trail of Corn Bran led from the living room right into the kitchen pantry while the milk they’d spilled lay in a puddle on the floor. Maybe she should get a dog. At least then her floors would be food free. She perked some coffee, needing her morning caffeine, while she cleaned up the mess, the first of several disasters the twins would surely make that day. Another thing no one had warned her about. Once you had kids you either lived in a borderline pigsty or you spent your time cleaning the same messes, over and over and over. . .
As she sipped her hot java, the bitter warmth waking her up, she wondered what to do today. With Hunter’s help, they’d managed to get almost everything organized yesterday, so today was looking good for groceries and other stuff. She wanted to pick up some cookie making ingredients. It occurred to her that the kids would really enjoy making some cookies for Hunter as a thank you. They could take them over to him later when he got home from work. Not that she was looking for excuses to see him. No, this was just the polite, neighborly thing to do.
An hour later and with only a minor clothing skirmish—Jessica didn’t want the pink T-shirt and Jared had to have his Spiderman one—she had the kids dressed and ready to go shopping. Stores beware!
They piled into the car, and with her local map, they headed off to the off key singing of “Old McDonald”, and for a little while, she managed not to think of her new sexy neighbor. Well, at least not as much.
* * * *
Hunter rode his purring machine to his downtown office and parked in his spot. By all the gods, did he love his motorcycle. The speed, the exhilaration, the totally warrior look. Back in the Realm, if you weren’t a wizard who could teleport, then horses were the way to go. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the poop everywhere they went. Maybe when he’d completed his mission over here, he could convince the council to let him bring his Harley back. He’d love to see the look on his fellow hunters’
faces when he rode up on his lean machine.
Setting his alarm on his bike, he pulled off his helmet and strode into the building that housed his office. He hadn’t planned on coming in today, but he needed some distraction. He couldn’t get Suzie and her kids out of his head. Well, mostly Suzie. He’d woken early with a throbbing erection and realized he needed to do something to get her off his mind.
15
He tried working out at the gym first, but pumping iron and sweating had only made the urge worse as he wondered what she’d look like covered in sweat while his body pumped hers. A tad distracting.
Where these randy thoughts kept coming from he didn’t know. So he’d decided to come into the office and see if anything had come in to occupy his mind.
In order to keep his business legitimate-looking to authorities and the government, he made sure to take enough regular PI cases to justify his expenses and salary. His real job, hunting those crossing the boundary, while a lot more stimulating, really sucked money wise.
The mail box only had bills, something this world seemed way too fond of. His answering machine blinked at him spastically. After pressing the play button, he listened to the one message.
“The Dragon has escaped.”
Uh-oh. That spelled trouble. Good, he needed a challenge.
Hanging his leathers on a hook, he locked his office door before moving a filing cabinet at the back of this office that hid a narrow door. When opened, it looked like a utility closet, but pressing a hidden switch swivelled the rack at the back and revealed an opening that led into the upper floor of the store next door. Hunter had gadgets and secrets, just like in one of those spy movies he loved to watch. Or like the people in this world loved to say,
so cool
.
The room he entered resembled a hacker’s wet dream—or so Owen assured him. Hunter wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but felt sure it had something to do with the state of the art computer systems, some not legal on the private market, that hummed throughout the office. Cables ran all over the place as well, connecting the massive network to the Internet and more. What would have been a logistic nightmare back in the Realm was the height of efficiency here. Need a name, address, looking for strange happenings—with a few keystrokes, the information highway had it all.