Worth the Risk (18 page)

Hours later, Hannah blinked against the ultra-bright midmorning sun rising over the Rockies and Stephen’s beautiful face hovering above her.

“Last one up is a rotten egg.” He bent, pressed a kiss to her lips, then proceeded to tuck the sheet under her tightly and roll off the edge of the mattress. “I won.”

She looked up at him, standing beside the bed, naked and glorious and…ready. “You cheated.”

“So punish me.”

Groaning, she wiggled her arm from his makeshift cocoon and slung it across her eyes.

Stephen laughed and she heard him move away. She listened to the spray and splatter of water as he took a shower.
Is he singing?

Naughty thoughts danced in her mind as she imagined joining him. Not to sing, but to lather him up, lick the droplets of water from his body. She’d never known sex had a scent, but a sultry musk lingered over the silk sheets and she smiled. It was impossible not to.

Last night—and later—had been perfect. Tender. The right time and the right man.

Twenty minutes later, with coffee in hand, they sat together on the white leather couch. Well, he sat, dressed and looking sharp in dark jeans and a light-blue shirt. Confident and relaxed with it untucked, sleeves rolled back at his wrists, one giant foot propped on the low coffee table. While she lounged against the other end, rumpled and sleepy-eyed, wearing only a robe.

He sipped his coffee and worked on his laptop, intermittently typing with one hand and rubbing her feet nestled in his lap. She felt like Cinderella waking up to find the prince was still there. “What are you working on?”

“Not working, just playing.”

“Like solitaire or like making a bazillion dollars?”

He just smiled. “Somewhere in between. I ordered us some breakfast.”

“I should get dressed.”

“No.” He tightened his grip on her foot. “I told you. I like you in a robe.” He gave her a hot look and she decided to stay where she was.

He glanced over. “You look happy.”

“I am. I slept.”

His brows shot up. “Is that so? Well, I’ll have to make sure you
sleep
more often.” Raising her foot to his lips, he gave her toes a quick nibble, then a squeeze.

She dropped her head back against the plush arm of the couch and moaned as his skilled fingers worked her feet. Just the two of them, sharing a sunny morning. She’d wanted normal. Was this it? Would she recognize it?

Whatever
this
was, it was pretty damn good.

She decided to take advantage. It was so rare that she ever looked at him when he wasn’t already looking at her. He really did have the most exceptional face and she knew his body now, every strong, sleek line of it.

“You keep looking at me like that, Goldilocks, and I’m going to rub more than your feet.”

“Promise?”

His brows arched in surprise. She surprised herself, flirting and taunting a wolf so soon after she’d left his den. But now that the fire had been lit, she craved more of his touch. Her stomach fluttered when he closed his laptop, moved it and his mug to the table.

With her feet still in his lap, he leaned over her, his hands on either side of her head. He didn’t look at her with pity or concern, or like she was broken. More like some kind of phoenix that had risen from the ashes, beautiful and strong. The victor, not the victim.

“You’re going to need to put that coffee down before it gets spilled.”

He relieved her of her own mug, then pounced, going for her neck first, and she burst into a fit of giggles and squeals when he rubbed his whiskers and nipped at her throat.

A knock at the door interrupted their play. He groaned and slowly rose from the couch. “Whose idea was it to order breakfast?” His lips quirked and laughter shone from his eyes as he pointed at her. “Don’t think you’re saved.”

Still smiling, she sat up and reached for her coffee, never imagining she could be so happy, so carefree with a man. Two newspapers lay on the low table in front of her.
The Wall Street Journal
and
Daybreak Las Vegas
. She chose the second and flipped through to the social section. “Let’s see what’s news in Vegas this morning.” She turned the pages and froze.

The news in Las Vegas was her.

A split photo in full color covered half the page. On one side, Blair Sinclair in Stephen’s arms, on the other, herself, sprawled on the floor, her face bunched in an ugly cry. The headline read:
Beauty or Beast?

Her eyes quickly scanned the text underneath.

Beauty or beast? It seems that’s just what millionaire playboy Stephen McKinney has to choose from, and the beast certainly came out last night.

She skimmed the information on both of them, more about him and Blair than about her.

Since McKinney was seen leaving with a visibly shaken Walker in his arms, it seems, at least for now, he’s chosen the beast.

Her chest squeezed painfully. Unlike the struggle to breathe in a panic attack, this felt more like her heart breaking. The paper bunched in her fingers. Leaving her coffee, she spun and escaped to the bedroom.

She shouldn’t be here. He didn’t need the mark on his bio and she didn’t need to risk the ultimate heartbreak. It was right there in black and white and color. What he liked and what she would never be.

“Hey, babe.” Stephen’s voice followed her. “They forgot the syrup. Doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. They’ll be right back. Hannah?”

Biting her lip against the tears, she stuffed clothes into her bag.

“Are we playing hide-and-seek now?” She heard the smile in his voice. Heard him stop in the doorway.

“Hey. You getting dressed?”

She yanked on the outside zipper of her overnight bag, fighting to swallow around the knot in her throat, bracing against what Stephen would say. Or more likely wouldn’t. He was too much a gentleman for that.

He stepped farther into the bedroom and all playfulness was gone. “What are you doing?” He picked up the paper she’d dropped on the bed. Didn’t take him long. “Son of a bitch!”

He was furious, of course he was. And embarrassed. Sorry he’d taken her? This was the second time she’d freaked out on him. Because she
was
a freak.

“Hannah. Stop.”

Damn zipper. She pulled again harder. Those weeks chained up had changed her, tainted her. Maybe ruined her. There were things she could do. Things she could be. And there were things she could never do and never be.

“Hannah.” Stephen wrapped his arms around her from behind, trapping her, halting her movements. “Baby, stop.”

She couldn’t. Her stomach was sick and her shoulders shook in an effort not to cry. Over their perfect morning ruined. How every insecurity slammed into her, dragging her back into a past she wanted to forget.

But Stephen wouldn’t let her go. He kissed the side of her head and turned her in his arms. “Look at me.”

“I’m sorry. This is—” She shook her head and one lone tear slipped down her cheek. “I shouldn’t be here. You didn’t ask for this.”

“I asked for exactly this,” he said, taking her face in his hands. “More than once if I remember.”

But why? That’s what she wanted to ask but didn’t.

“I’ve been in the papers before,” he said easily. “I will be again.”

He slipped the robe off her shoulders, ran his tongue along her collarbone. A soft intimate slide that made her shake in a different way.

“I want you.”

“But, Stephen—”

“Now. Again.” He took her mouth slowly, tenderly, like he’d taken her body.

She thought of the woman in the bathroom, thought that she should be careful. Should remember how very badly this could go even without her past. But she’d been careful all her life. She didn’t want to be careful now.

He continued his convincing, moving them to the bed, and she stopped asking questions, stopped looking for answers and reasons, and lost herself in Stephen.

“So we’re going to have a party? And then I can keep riding here?”

“That’s the plan. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.” The two of them navigated the even ground along the fence under a blue sky.

Hannah turned in her saddle to look at the girl riding beside her. Allie sat upright in a standard English saddle, holding the reins perfectly between her fingers. She’d made that much progress. Hannah still held a lead rope clipped to the horse’s bridal, but only as a precaution. Hazel wasn’t going anywhere she didn’t absolutely have to go.

It had been two weeks since their trip to Las Vegas, and plans for the awareness day were moving incredibly fast. It gave Hannah hope, but also made the possibility of loss extremely real. Breaking the news to her brothers and listening to them rant had also made it real. Though protective as always, they’d reluctantly agreed to limit their “help” to working on the awareness day project. As opposed to charging en masse into the city planner’s building.

Stephen had been out of town for two days, closing a deal in Texas, but he was coming back today. They texted and called several times a day and her heart turned over every time. The way he said he needed to hear her voice, that he had to make sure she was tucked in tight before he could go to sleep. It felt protective but in a very good way. In a way she was afraid to think about too much.

She and Allie were still a good distance from the barn but she recognized Stephen, standing at the fence in all his gorgeous splendor. Would she ever get used to the sight of him? Her stomach flipped and fluttered. Every time it was the same. Butterflies. Happiness.

She’d missed him—realizing just how much was scary. The way he smiled with his eyes first before the slow sexy curve of his lips. The way he kissed her, which was incredible and made her insides melt, but even more, the look in his eyes just before their lips met. Like he was always a little bit surprised she was there. The way he held her hand while they watched TV or sifted his fingers absently through her hair as she fell asleep.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Allie asked, pointing toward the gate.

That was the second time she’d been asked that question. She still wasn’t sure. “I guess.”

“Do you kiss him?”

“Um…” She slid a glance at Allie, who didn’t seem at all embarrassed by the question.

“If you do he’s your boyfriend.”

Well. A six-year-old seemed to figure it out easily enough.

“Unless he kisses other girls too and then maybe he’s not.”

Hannah got a bad feeling in her gut. Did Stephen kiss other girls?

“My brother kissed two girls so now he doesn’t have a girlfriend at all. If you kiss two, then you don’t get to have a girlfriend. That’s what Dad told him. But maybe they just don’t like him. He is kind of gross.”

Oh, God.
She was an idiot. Should she assume they weren’t exclusive or assume they were? Should she ask? Wait for him to say something?

Stephen’s smile grew as they neared the gate. So did hers. He was here, that had to mean something.

He opened it for them and they passed through and stopped.

“Hey, girls.” He patted Hazel’s neck and took the lead rope. “Look at you up there. You’re a regular cowgirl.”

Allie beamed with pride. Hannah beamed at the man. She swung from the saddle and he gave her a chaste kiss. Even that made her gooey.

“You girls finished for the day?”

“You’re never finished with your horse right after you ride,” Allie told him. “You have to take care of them first. Brush them, give them water, that kind of stuff.”

“You’re right. You know a lot about horses.”

“Hannah taught me. She could teach you stuff too.”

“Yes.” Stephen sent her a look that made her blood hot and her nipples tingle. “I bet she could. Come on. Let’s get you down and get to work.”

Stephen took Winnie’s reins and Hannah moved to help Allie.

“I can do it,” Allie said.

“Okay.” Hannah stayed back. “I’m only here if you need me. Which I’m sure you don’t.” Allie fisted a bit of mane close to Hazel’s neck, leaned forward, and pulled both feet out of the stirrups. With great effort, she raised her prosthetic leg, having only her hip to maneuver an entire leg.

When she got stuck midway, Stephen moved to help but Hannah stopped him with a hand on his arm. Allie needed to do this. And she did. She got the leg over, turning herself onto her belly as she went. She hung there a second, both feet dangling. “Okay. Here I go.”

Hannah held her breath. It was just two feet, but Allie only had one solid foot to land on.

Stephen applauded her dismount. “A perfect ten.”

She could have kissed him, would have if Allie hadn’t been looking over her shoulder, smiling like she’d landed an Olympic vault.

But in a blink, the girl’s expression turned serious as she peered up at Stephen. “Do you kiss other girls?”

Oh, God.

“I asked Hannah,” Allie went on, “but she didn’t know. I just wondered, because you can’t be her boyfriend if you do. You’re handsome, but so’s my dad.”

Mortified, she choked out something like a cough. And on top of the kissing question, was Allie trying to set her up with her father?

“Allie.” Lexie called her from the barn.

“Sorry. I have to go now.”

As if we’d all like to stay and chat about it some more.

Lexie met her and together they walked Hazel slowly but steadily into the barn. Cheeks burning, Hannah stared after them.

“Well,” Stephen said cheerfully.

Yes. Well.

“Hannah.”

“What?”
Please don’t ask me to look at you.

“Look at me.”

She really, really didn’t want to. But she did and found him fighting a smile while she was dying from embarrassment.

“Do you think I kiss other girls?”

She dropped her gaze and studied the buttons on his shirt. Small, white, four holes. “I don’t know.”

Stephen took her chin firmly between his thumb and finger and forced her eyes up to meet his. “I haven’t kissed another girl since the first time I kissed you over a bowl of ice cream. I haven’t wanted to. Haven’t even thought about it.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t stop the joy that burst inside her. “I haven’t either. Kissed anyone, I mean.”

“Good to know,” he said, fingering the ends of her braid and grinning like her answer was no surprise.

But then he caught her face in his hands and she didn’t care. He bent and planted a devastating kiss on her that didn’t last nearly long enough. She opened her eyes, dazed, and practically floated into the barn.

Together they settled Winnie and as soon as her door was secured, Stephen pulled her into his arms, lowered his head, and kissed her until she was boneless. She looped her arms around his neck.

“I missed you.”

He’d said it enough times via text, but it was so much better hearing his voice, feeling an extra-tight squeeze in his arms. He pulled back and studied her a moment. She knew he hated that she had nightmares without him there.

“I’m fine.” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“It was worth it. But if you feel bad,” he said, giving her bottom a squeeze, “maybe you should kiss me again.”

She did, making it count, until a deep throat-clearing interrupted. Nick stood at the barn entrance, looking especially deadly.

“
More
than worth it,” Stephen said, overly pleased.

Hannah smacked his shoulder.

“I need to go into the office, but I’ll see you tonight.” Then he kissed her again, quick and hard on the mouth.

Boys
.

“Good to see you again, Agent Walker,” Stephen said as he passed.

“McKinney.” Nick turned and watched him leave.

“Good grief.” She went into the tack room and Nick followed, seeming even more irritated than usual.

“I brought out the extra grill. Zach’s bringing out another one Saturday morning.”

“Great. Thank you. Did Zach manage to guilt any of the guys at the station into helping out?”

“I’m sure he did. You know they all think of you as their little sister.”

Hannah climbed up on a trunk to reach a special strap she needed.

“So you’re still seeing him?”

She looked down at her brother. “Are you sure you’re in the FBI? Because your powers of observation are pretty dull.”

“Ha-ha. One can hope. But that’s not why I’m here, exactly.”

“And why are you here? Exactly.”

He held up a sheet of paper. “Did you see this?”

“I have no idea, since I don’t know what it is.” She came down off the trunk slowly, accepting Nick’s helping hand. When she was on the ground, he held up the paper and she got a blow to the stomach. It was a printout of the Vegas newspaper article. “How did you get that?”

“I’m in the FBI,” he said, with a ghost of a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Not my finest moment.”

“I knew something like this was going to happen. I
knew
it. Not even a month with McKinney and here it is.”

She reached for a saddle blanket. “You know, I’m oddly okay with it. Stephen makes me okay with it.” She couldn’t control the goofy smile. “I’m surprised you didn’t go after him when you had the chance.”

“Oh, I will. Don’t worry.”

“No. You absolutely won’t.”

He stabbed his fingers through his hair and cursed. Poor Nick. Always looking for a culprit. He didn’t know what to do when he couldn’t find a target.

“You can’t blame everything on Stephen.”

Nick said nothing for a solid ten seconds. Probably searching for something or someone to blame for everything that had gone wrong in his life. The one he should be blaming for most of it was standing right in front of him.

“I’ll get the grill,” he said, then kissed her cheek and left.

The man really needed a hobby.

“Fucking politicians.” Stephen slammed down his office phone. His first thought when Hannah had told him about her meeting with the city was a simple one—buy the land. Didn’t matter if she wanted him to or not. It was hers, a part of her, and he would make sure it stayed that way. But nothing was ever easy when dealing with the government. Did anyone there actually work?

He’d done a good amount of research since their return from Vegas and he didn’t like what he’d found. The letter Hannah had wasn’t a will, and the government was under no obligation to recognize handwritten wishes. But they could.

So why didn’t they? What was their endgame? To use it? To sell it? Should he be looking at the city or the state?

The business world might be cutthroat, but at least you always knew the end goal was money and everything was for sale. It all depended on how badly the buyer wanted it.

He dropped his pen and smacked the arm of his chair. He wanted to hit something. So far all he’d hit were dead ends. He glanced at the time on his computer. After six. He wasn’t going to get any further today, not with the government and their damn day-spa hours. Besides, he’d accepted a dinner invitation at his parents’. It had been a while. Not since he’d been invited, but since he’d accepted.

He shut it down, closed it up, and grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair on his way out the door. He needed to speak to Dave again about that inside information, but his partner was getting more and more difficult to reach.

Stephen walked to his reserved spot, rethinking what he knew and what he still needed to know as he drove. He’d never come across a piece of land he couldn’t get, and he wasn’t going to start now.