Chapter 7
When Savvie had darted into her room and closed the door between her and Hunter, she’d stood for a long moment, holding her breath, listening for the sounds of his footsteps walking away.
He hadn’t moved for long enough that she’d had to draw another breath. Then the footsteps tapped softly, a door opened and closed, and silence reigned.
Savvie inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing her pulse to slow.
For a moment in the hallway, she’d thought Hunter was going to kiss her. He’d leaned toward her, his gaze on her lips, his face lowering to hers.
She pressed a hand to her chest to ease the ache that had settled in her heart. Sweet Jesus, she’d wanted him to kiss her.
And what would that have accomplished?
Not a damned thing.
Starting something with Hunter was a one-way ticket to heartbreak. Even if the Caldwell mafia wasn’t after her, any one of the family or allies of her previous hits could discover her identity and come after her.
She wasn’t concerned for her own safety, but she was concerned for the safety of those around her. Anyone she might care about would become a target to get to her. She couldn’t endanger Hunter, Kyla or anyone else in West Yellowstone by just being there.
She strode through the room, pulling the T-shirt over her head.
In the bathroom, she kicked off her shoes, dropped her jeans and stepped free of them.
Standing in her bra and panties, she turned on the water in the shower and let it warm.
When it was just right, she unhooked her bra, shucked her panties and stepped beneath the spray.
As water ran over her head and shoulders, she raised her face to the spray in an attempt to wash the Delta Force sniper from her mind.
It didn’t work.
The warm water caressed her skin and ran in rivulets over her chest and down her torso. She could imagine what it would feel like to have Hunter’s fingers tracing the droplets down the length of her throat, over her collarbone and the swell of her breasts to slip off the tips of her nipples.
Heat coiled at her core, spreading through her body, making her sex throb with a need she hadn’t experienced in a long time.
A laugh caught in her throat at the idea of need. Hadn’t Hunter said that if she needed anything, all she had to do was yell? What would he do if she told him she needed him for sex?
Hell, he was a guy. He might be okay with satisfying her need. What about his needs?
Was Hunter the kind of guy who’d expect more after sex? Would he want to make a big deal out of a one-night stand?
If he expected more, could she face him in a room full of his friends, knowing sex was all she could give him?
No. Sex wasn’t in the cards for her and Hunter. She was already in debt to these people for saving her life and getting her out of Miami before whoever was after her got to her first.
She poured shampoo into her hand and scrubbed the salt and sand from her hair. Then she scrubbed her body, her hands sliding over her breasts and down to the juncture of her thighs.
She didn’t need a man to satisfy her needs. Years alone had taught her she was responsible for her own orgasms.
Savvie parted her folds and touched the tip of her finger to her clit, swirling it around and around.
“You don’t need a man to do this,” she coached herself softly. Closing her eyes, she imagined a man touching her there, going down on her and flicking her with the tip of his tongue. She tapped herself, swirled and flicked.
She sucked in a breath and held it, willing the rush of sensations to take control and send her over the edge as it had so many times in the past.
Her mind drifted to the man in the room next door.
He was probably naked. Like her.
Standing in the shower. Like her.
Was he touching himself?
Her finger moved faster.
Had he been turned on by a near-kiss?
If she let him into her room, would he be a good lover? Would he be gentle? Or would he be so consumed by passion that he’d go hard and fast?
Savvie’s pulse sped, and her breathing grew ragged. “Hard and fast, please.” She alternated between thrusting her fingers into her channel and teasing her clit until an explosion rocked through her, sending a wave of release throughout her body.
By the time the rush faded, the water had grown cool.
Savvie turned off the shower, wrapped a fluffy white towel around her body and stepped out onto the mat.
Her heart still pounding, she stood for a moment, congratulating herself on her own ability to satisfy her needs sans a male partner.
The sudden knock on the door to her room sent her heartbeat back into overdrive.
She hurried across to answer, clutching the towel around her.
With her hand on the doorknob, she called out, “Who’s there?”
“Me,” Hunter’s deep tone answered.
Holy hell. She glanced at the bathroom door she’d left open throughout her shower. Had she called his name aloud?
Heat burned up her neck into her cheeks. “Just a minute.” Her gaze swept the room, looking for something she could throw on. Oh yeah, she didn’t have any clean clothes, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to climb back into what she’d just taken off.
“Hey,” his muffled voice came through the wood paneling, “I have a T-shirt and sweats for you. I can leave them on the floor outside.”
“No, that’s okay.” She pulled open the door wide enough for him to pass the items through. And wide enough, she could see him on the other side, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, zipped but not buttoned.
Savvie struggled to breathe. As she took the shirt and sweats from his hands, her fingers touched his and set her blood burning through her veins, headed straight south to her still-throbbing core.
His brow wrinkled. “Are you all right?”
“Y-yes,” she stuttered. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
“Your cheeks are flushed. Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?” He reached out to touch his palm to her forehead and then her cheek.
Savvie froze. She couldn’t have moved from where she stood if she’d tried.
Instead, she leaned her face into his open hand. “I’m fine,” she said, unable to get enough air past her vocal cords to be any louder than a whisper.
His frown deepened. “You’re a little warm.”
She wasn’t just warm. She was hot.
With nothing but a towel between her skin and his naked chest, she was getting hotter. All she had to do was loosen her hold on the towel…
He stared into her eyes for a long moment, his gaze slipping lower to her mouth, his head dipping downward.
All she had to do was rise an inch or two, and their lips would meet.
A shiver of awareness rippled across her skin.
Hunter’s hand dropped to his side. “You must be cold. When you’re dressed and ready, we can go down together. I can show you around the grounds if you’d like.”
She nodded and managed to say, “I’d like that.” And a whole lot more. “I won’t be long.”
He stepped back.
She closed the door and could have kicked herself for not closing the distance between their lips. The anticipation of kissing the man was heady. Would the reality be as titillating?
She’d never know because it would be a mistake. Jesus. How many times did she have to remind herself?
Savvie hurried to the bathroom, towel-dried her hair, found a new brush Mr. Jacobs had left for her and worked through the tangles from the wild ride among the ocean waves, holding tightly around Hunter’s middle.
Having seen his bare abs, she had a whole new appreciation for that waist she’d clung to for the long ride around Miami Beach.
Once she had her damp hair smoothed back from her forehead and lying straight down around her shoulders, she pulled Hunter’s T-shirt over her head.
It hung down to the middle of her thighs.
Savvie nixed the idea of wearing it as a dress just yet.
She had no panties to wear beneath it, and she wasn’t comfortable parading around the lodge among other guests with nothing underneath.
She pulled on the sweatpants Hunter had delivered with the shirt and cinched the drawstring tightly to keep them snuggly around her hips.
Her lady parts tingled at the thought that Hunter had worn these pants. Did he go commando in them?
“Get a grip, Savvie,” she chided herself.
She had gone a long time without getting laid. Now wasn’t the time to remedy that situation.
Finding the other victims of the human trafficking ring was more important than scratching her itch.
Even though they were still a little damp with saltwater, Savvie pulled on her tennis shoes and tied the laces.
With no makeup, her hair pulled back from her face, and wearing clothes that were too big for her, she looked like a homeless street urchin.
That was a good thing.
Hunter wouldn’t find her the least bit attractive.
As she stood at the door, she hesitated. At the last minute, she pulled the T-shirt up and knotted one side at her waist. She might look like a street urchin, but maybe a slightly hipper street urchin.
She yanked open the door and stepped out, nearly plowing into the man standing there.
Hunter chuckled, his hands coming up to grab her arms to steady her. “In a hurry? I wasn’t going to leave without you.”
The heat generated from where his hands curled around her bare arms burned through her veins and into her cheeks.
“Sorry. I took too long and didn’t want to keep you waiting.”
“You didn’t. I just got here and was about to knock?—”
“—when I plowed into you like a klutz. Silly me.” She bit down on her tongue to keep from uttering more inane words.
Now, she was a street urchin who couldn’t make adult conversation.
Where was the badass assassin, unafraid of anything and anyone?
She squared her shoulders. “Please, show me the grounds, and then, maybe, Kyla and Swede will have word on the other victims or have a computer I can use to help find them.”
The sooner they found the others, the sooner they could free them. Then she could disappear with a clear conscience and leave these people to continue their good work helping others. They’d be safer without her.