Broken for Me_Be for Me_Hunter

by Natalie Anderson

  “I’ve been doing that all my life and I know it’s not everything. It’s good to reach out to others sometimes too.” He regarded her with those velvety-dark eyes.

  Yeah? Well she wasn’t about to reach out to him. She was firmly staying on her side of this big block of wood.

  “Do you reach out to others?” she asked skeptically. This was the guy who seemed unbreakable. Not to mention isolated in all his serious silence.

  He cocked his head, his gaze still intent on her. “I have a couple friends.”

  She knew his friends. Logan, Rocco, Connor. Nice guys. “What, you’re telling me you guys sit round and emote?”

  “Nah, we don’t converse, we beat the crap out of each other.”

  She rolled her eyes but knowing those guys, he was probably telling the truth. He didn’t have those muscles from doing nothing. And she understood that exercise addiction, she had a few muscles too—liking to work out her kinks with sweat and effort.

  “Who are you going to beat the crap out of here?” she taunted softly.

  He didn’t answer but the slowest smile spread across his face.

  “You’re here on your honeymoon?” She’d meant it as a tart put-down but the second she voiced it, jealousy struck at the thought of him with another woman. In turn that jealousy angered her. She didn’t want to care—she didn’t want his attention. She refused to want it.

  Yet she’d liked him looking for her. Liked being the sole focus of his eyes. And when she’d first seen him on this island, her heart had stopped. She was still recovering from that shock.

  “You know I came here alone,” he said. “You watched me walk up the beach all by myself.”

  “Maybe she’s on the next boat.”

  “Maybe she’s already here.” As he watched for her response, something kindled in his deep, dark eyes. “How do you roller-skate in this sand?”

  The change of subject threw her momentarily. “I don’t.”

  But she’d roller skated at the pop-up pizzeria every night as part of her persona.

  “That’s a shame. I wanted to see your wheels spinning some more.”

  “My wheels?”

  “Okay, I wanted to watch your ass. You have one hell of an ass. Not to mention the most sensationally long legs.”

  Heat burnished her skin. Trembling, she brushed a strand of hair back from her face.

  His gaze followed her movement. Suddenly his eyes narrowed and that hint of smile vanished. “Why are you wearing a wedding band?”

  “It makes it smoother if guys think I’m not available.”

  “But you’re not married,” he clarified.

  “No.”

  “So you are available.”

  She paused. “That depends on whose asking.”

  “I’m asking.”

  She was silent.

  He actually smiled. “You’re too scared to say, I figure that’s good.”

  “I’m not scared of you.”

  “The hell you’re not,” he softly called her out.

  “If I was scared of you, I’d have called my boss over. Or I’d have stopped talking and gotten one of the guys to serve you. You don’t scare me. I know you’re not about to hurt me, if you’d wanted to do that, you would have done it months ago. What I don’t know, is why you’re here.”

  “Sure you do.”

  Her stomach flipped as his soft smile emerged again. So rare. So freaking gorgeous. But she shook her head. She didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to think it. Because she couldn’t let this happen. She’d run away from New York for this very reason.

  “I came for you.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Hunter prepped for every possible scenario. He envisaged what could go wrong, how he’d deal with the unexpected, how he’d escape. But in all his imaginings he’d not nailed how seeing Luisa Williams in the flesh again was gonna feel. Luisa with her smokin’ hot, sexy body and that tart tilt of the chin as she turned her back on him.

  It felt good. Adrenalin surged through his veins, as if he was about to enter the ring for the fight of his life. For the last six months he’d worked relentlessly from one case to the next. Traveling half the globe and back again. It wasn’t that he needed the money. He was trying to forget the raven-haired, wild woman who’d looked at him with such need in her eyes. Who’d tempted him with just a look. Only she’d not stepped closer. She’d turned and fled.

  And he couldn’t forget her. Try as hard as he damn well had, he couldn’t shake her from his dreams.

  In those hours when he’d been waiting for planes at the airport, when he’d been driving down endless freeways, when he’d been alone in his bed at two in the morning… Invariably his damn thoughts had turned to her.

  She’d sucked every inch of his attention from the second he’d first seen her all those months ago in New York. A slim, streak of a woman with long dark hair and even darker eyes that slid over him like a silken scarf of fire. Almost always she’d been clad top-to-toe in black—like cat woman. Though one time she’d been dressed as a man, down to a fake mustache and all. Still sexy and fascinating as fuck.

  But now she wore a demure navy skirt and a pale shirt, the resort uniform. Understated, subtle, everything Luisa Williams wasn’t. She was the free-spirited pixie keeping everyone hydrated and happy. Her hair was swept back off her face and hanging in a long braid down her back. She was brilliant and full of zest. It was her vibrancy he’d first noticed, him and the rest of the world. Despite that customary black clothing, she had an impenetrable aura around her—a tempting, joyous light that had an addictively acidic side. She was like one of those hardboiled candies, both eye-catching and sweet, yet tart as—and once you started, you couldn’t stop sucking, they were so damn delicious. Not necessarily all that good for you, but utterly irresistible and always leaving you wanting more.

  She’d not danced near him, in fact the opposite. But her eyes were like embers, leaving burns on his skin with every look. Now she was staring at him. And this time she hadn’t turned away.

  It was kinda lunatic to chase a woman he barely knew halfway around the world. But it wasn’t only him who felt this. She did too. For a while he’d wondered if he was turning into some psycho stalker sicko, thinking that he was her fated ‘one’ or some rubbish. But now he was here and now he was certain—that flush on her skin, that parted, pouty mouth told him what he needed to know. Her long, lean limbs and gutsy attitude called to him. Her expressive personality was the absolute contrast to his quiet one. He wanted her. She wanted him. It was just sexual attraction. Pheromones and hormones and instincts at their most basic. If they let it free, it would pass. Desire was a feeling just like any other. And all feelings passed.

  “You came for me?” Her cheeks pinked even more. “That’s really flattering of you.” She drew a breath and forced a fake ‘customer-service’ smile. “But totally unnecessary.”

  “It was necessary.”

  “Why? What are you going to do now? Abduct me and take me back to Manhattan, to save me from… what?”

  He smiled again as the tight feeling binding his chest for the last few months finally loosened. Now he’d seen her, now he knew. “Maybe I’m here to save myself.”

  “From what?”

  The most severe case of blue balls ever known to man. “Maybe I just need some time in the sun.” And she was the sun.

  “On an island for honeymooning couples?”

  “Maybe I picked this place because I know everyone will leave me alone here.”

  “That was my plan,” she said pointedly.

  “I know.” He gave in. “Maybe I was worried about you.”

  “Why on earth were you worried about me?” She laughed, but it wasn’t genuine. “I have the best life ever.”

  Yeah, right. All that traveling, she was running from someone or something. Most likely an ex-lover. Or family. Or both. Part of him didn’t want to know. It wasn’t his problem. He couldn’t let it be his problem, he had
enough of his own. But he had to admit he just wanted to know she was okay. And she was. Still smiling. Still strong. More gorgeous than ever.

  A few years back he’d been trained to follow orders. To obey, unquestioningly. Now his work was all about asking questions. Many times he didn’t get answers or not the ones he wanted. But he still kept asking. It was the one thing he could do.

  “You’re all independent and free and don’t need anyone, I get that,” he said roughly. “I live that myself. But don’t you want someone, sometimes?”

  “That’s why you’re here? Because you have the hots for me?” She folded her arms across her chest, her eyes gleaming.

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  This attraction between them—almost a compulsion—was weird. He knew it. She knew it. But they were both lost in it.

  “It’s a long way to travel for a quick fuck,” she said quietly.

  “Is that what it’s going to be?” He grinned at her.

  She blinked. “That’s all it ever is.”

  That was revealing. “I don’t do quick.”

  “Oh please, you have quick fuck written all over you,” she said in that tart way he relished. “You are not the kind to go all soppy and give a girl stuffed toys and chocolates and protestations of love. You see a woman you want and you screw her to within an inch of her life.”

  She was right of course. Completely right. Damn it. He did like a good, hard, physical fuck. But when he did get the chance to be with Luisa, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be quick. He’d waited too long and he wanted her too much to squander it that way.

  “Is that what you want me to do to you?” he asked quietly.

  She looked at him, not saying a word. But her eyes said it all.

  Yeah, he’d been so right to come here. Why couldn’t he hunt something for himself for once?

  “You don’t want the soft toys and the whispers of love?” he prompted.

  “What’s with all the questions?” she needled. “Do you always turn everything back onto who you’re talking to?”

  Of course. He never liked to admit anything. Keeping his cards close to his chest was the only way to keep them safe. This he knew. “Do you?”

  She looked at him, frustrated for a second. Then laughed. “Please tell me you did that deliberately.”

  He stayed silent and just watched her react to him.

  Her slightly-too-wide mouth was already in the most gorgeous curve. Her whole body radiated vivacity. She had the most expressive face of anyone he’d ever met and she was often comic.

  Chelsea had taken their friend Min’s advice and started a social media campaign for the pizzeria and the pictures of Luisa in her roller skates and crazy ensembles were the most popular. Of course they were when in every single photo her luminous vitality shone—it couldn’t be contained within her body—the light gleamed from her coal eyes.

  She was an entertainer, which was why she worked in hospitality so often. And the fact those jobs were often readily available for short term. She could earn a mint in tips, he’d seen it happen. She had the most zest for life of anyone he’d met. Sure, he spent too much of his time with people who weren’t in the happiest of places and who needed serious help. Hurt people. The box of fluffy ducks that Luisa could be was poles apart from those. But she wasn’t like that all the time—he knew that too. Her energy was incredible, but nobody could be that up all the time. She had her down moments. Her loneliness. She was just a pro at masking it. And sometimes her tart-toned jokes were too close to the truth. There was something more to her that she hid. Something that he saw when she took those very occasional glances at him. The too-quick ones. It wasn’t fear and he was glad about that. But it looked a lot like pain—and that was something he knew too well.

  So he couldn’t leave her alone.

  In his work, if he had the chance to help just one person, he put himself on the line. That was his calling. But this time he was helping himself. Ridding himself of the ache had since setting eyes on her. He wanted her and he knew she wanted him. He just wanted her to stop running from the inevitable and finally admit it. Sometimes he attracted needy people because of his appearance—the muscles, the hardness, the lack of smiles. He looked like he could dole out pain. And he could. Just not in the bedroom. That facade he played up for his friends. In truth he liked getting his women off with the rich and velvety variety that was vanilla. So the irony was he scared off some of the women he’d truly wanted and attracted others who wanted hurt with their heat, wanted hurt more than they wanted him. It wasn’t his jam to hurt a woman that way. But Luisa didn’t want that hurt, she did just want him. And that scared her.

  “Why couldn’t you let it go?” she asked softly.

  “You think I haven’t tried?” He cocked his head and watched as she dragged in another uneven breath. “Have you let it go?”

  Color flooded her cheeks.

  “I hate unanswered questions.” He rested his hands on the wooden bar between them. “Why did you run away? Am I really that scary?”

  “What makes you think you were what I ran from?” Luisa challenged him, desperately trying to hide how close to the truth he’d hit.

  “If not me, what was it?”

  “Did it have to be anything? Maybe my work visa ran out.”

  “You never had a work visa.”

  She smiled in amusement, yeah, he was too astute for comfort. “I just felt like moving on. I get itchy feet. I love to travel. A lot.”

  “So you never spend more than a few weeks in any one town?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “And that’s not the definition running away?”

  “No.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s exploring. That’s being free.”

  “Free from what? People? Expectations? Pressure?”

  “What’s with the analysis?” she asked.

  “What’s with the defensiveness?”

  “Again with this, really?”

  “So you have some bucket list you’re working your way through?” He guessed.

  Luisa stiffened. “I don’t believe in bucket lists.”

  “No?”

  “I have an anti-list. For every item I tick off, I add at least two more.”

  “An infinite list?”

  “Exactly.” She fired up, pushing back on his damned questions. “It’s my fuck-it list. Because you only live once and what are you going to do once the bucket list is done? They’re limiting, don’t you think?” Her bucket list was infinite. Because she wasn’t dying. Nothing and no one would hold her back. She was free. “So I think, fuck-it, I’m gonna do it. Just the once.”

  “So you do everything just the once?”

  She nodded.

  “Then why not me? Why don’t you fuck me just the once?”

  She’d walked right into that and she’d known she was. She’d pushed it, just to see if he’d challenge her in that way. Now adrenalin shot along her veins and she tossed her hair. “It’s a really tempting offer when you put it like that,” she drawled.

  “I’m not a smooth talker,” he half laughed. “I say it straight and to the point.”

  “Is that how you have sex too? Straight and to the point?”

  “Curious, aren’t you?” A slow, lazy smile curved his mouth. “There’s only one way you’re gonna find out.”

  “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” She bluffed. She had no idea how she was going to find out anything about this guy—other than the physically intimate details of the desire she’d been suppressing.

  “You want me to talk to you? Tell you everything that’s in my heart and soul?” He shook his head. “That’s not why I’m here.”

  “Why don’t you like talking?” she asked.

  “I prefer to show more than tell. Understand?”

  Oh she did.

  “You can’t deny it, can you? This…”

  “Thing between us?” She laughed and shook her head. “Hunter.”

  “I l
ike hearing you say my name,” he muttered. “I know you feel it too. I see it in your eyes, I see it in your body.”

  He was lethal. Silent most of the time—but now he’d opened up? He didn’t flirt, he was like a juggernaut. She shouldn’t have expected anything less from the man.

  She shifted on her feet. “That doesn’t mean I plan to do anything about it.”

  “You don’t do casual sex?” One eyebrow shot high.

  Actually she didn’t. She couldn’t remember the last time she was intimate with a guy. When she’d first headed overseas she’d experimented, trying to find a way to ease the ache in her chest. But it hadn’t worked and in the end she no longer bothered. It brought more hassle than joy. She liked the total freedom of living a solitary life.

  “That’s all this… that’s all you want.” She needed to clarify that he only wanted to have sex with her. Casual sex.

  “Be honest, it’s all you want too.”

  Yes of course. But even though she had those rules, she hadn’t done it in a really long time.

  “You feel this too,” he added.

  That was the trouble. She didn’t want to feel. And even though the only feeling she had for Hunter was purely physical desire, she felt it too much. It was too strong.

  “Let me get this straight, you have followed me halfway round the world to this tiny island of Fiji, for a quick fuck,” she murmured with fake casualness.

  “I’ve already told you it isn’t going to be quick.”

  “You’re very confident.”

  “It’ll be what it’ll be.” He shrugged philosophically as if he didn’t give a damn. But the intensity in his eyes gave him away. “I needed a vacation anyway. Been months since I had one. This is as nice a place as any.”

  “Yet your options for a quick fuck are limited. If I say no, you’re unlikely to get any from someone else. All the women here are taken.”

  She rebelled at the thought of him with someone else—a possessiveness that she had no right to feel poisoned her mood.

  “I don’t want anyone other than you,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. I’m tired of wanting only you.”