Redemption River

by Lindsay Cross

  Hunter got quiet. Distant. His shoulders drooped and she saw the fight leaving his body. Saw, for the first time, the fatigue.

  “Hunter.” Evie placed her hand on his chest. “I hated you for abandoning me, but…” All the pain and anger and fear balled up inside her chest. Evie took a deep breath, resolving to release it and to put the past in the past. “I don’t blame you now that I know the truth.”

  She held her breath, trying to hold back from breaking down. Hunter stared down at her hand, but she refused to move it. He needed to see her. Needed to feel her support. She almost buckled when his hand covered hers.

  21

  Evie’s hand burned through his chest right into his heart. He wanted to believe her. Wanted it more than he had wanted anything in a long time. But could he risk turning into a sap who believed whatever line of bull anyone fed him?

  “Hunter?”

  Her eyes were so vulnerable, so open. He was having a hell of a time trying to convince himself this small beautiful creature staring up at him was evil.

  His friends had said she was evil.

  The CIA had said she was evil.

  Hunter had said she was evil. But now-he didn’t believe it.

  “I believe you.”

  She offered up a trembling smile and he accepted, warmth filling some empty part inside of him. Hunter capped it off. He still had a mission to complete. Just because he believed she hadn’t cheated on him five years ago didn’t mean she hadn’t gotten involved with criminals.

  It was his job to find out the truth. Regardless of his feelings. He suspected more and more that she’d gotten involved against her will and he had every intention of finding the real threat. And squashing it before Evie got hurt. “Let’s get moving. The sun is about to set and I would feel better if we made it at least a couple of miles before making camp.”

  “Okay.” They headed toward town, Hunter behind Evie now. He needed more time to think, to process, and to plan.

  The river rushed by, ripping and rolling no more than six feet away. He’d been close to the river before—that was nothing new. He’d swam in her waters every summer after Hank adopted him. But he’d never been this close while on top of a forty-foot high levee. He’d never seen the Mississippi crest the tops of trees or sweep houses away from their foundations.

  Even the birds didn’t know what to do. They circled and occasionally swooped for fish in the water, only to come up, wings flapping and squawking, apparently thrown off by the unexpected rise in the water.

  Evie’s house had been one of the few left on the river side of the levee. After the last big flood in 1977, most folks rebuilt on the town side, protected by the levee from flood waters. And as long as the levee held, the rest of Mercy was safe.

  Thank god he had Evie’s gun. It wasn’t his Glock, but it was still protection. The rising water could only benefit certain things, and half of them weren’t a friend to humans. The fish were no big deal. He’d already killed a water moccasin today, and the alligators? He wasn’t going there.

  But then again, the flood had benefitted him too. After all, Evie was walking in front of him and they were in this thing together. And damn if she wasn’t wearing those jeans that had glitter on the back pockets. Each step, each unconsciously graceful roll of her hips caught the light and twinkled. Taunting him. Drawing his gaze like a fucking bull’s-eye target.

  She’d pulled her hair up into one of those loose sloppy buns on top of her head. On someone else it might have looked trashy, but it emphasized the curve of Evie’s neck and the soft skin leading down her spine. Hunter cleared his throat and looked away, his mind sinking into his pants. The last thing he needed was a walking hard-on.

  “I should thank you, for saving my life,” Evie said.

  Hunter’s body tightened and he almost stopped walking. The image of the moccasin poised to strike her lovely neck filled him with fear. With rage. If it had struck, she would have died. They had been fifteen miles from town with no phones. No transportation. No help.

  And he was thinking about how nice it would be to cup her ass, rip her shirt off, and palm those lovely breasts. What was wrong with him?

  “No thanks needed. It was just a gut reaction.”

  Hunter cringed, thankful she didn’t turn around. His ability to smooth talk women had never been stellar, but it seemed to disappear all together around Evie. “I mean yeah, when I saw the snake there, I…”

  Evie turned then, her eyes wide and surprised. “You mean you were concerned for my safety?”

  If he didn’t stop grinding his teeth, he wouldn’t have any left. “Hard to imagine right?”

  She softened, as if she could read his mind. “No, not so hard.”

  Hunter opted to keep his mouth shut this time. Why his CO had thought he would be good at seducing her into confiding in him was beyond his comprehension. The only thing he was good at coaxing was a bullet from the chamber.

  She started walking again and he hurried to catch up. “I’m sorry about your house.”

  He was proud of how she’d sucked it up and helped him after her initial shock, but when he stopped to think about it, she hadn’t given him much information since last night—heck, there had been too many distractions for him to even ask any questions. He needed to know more. Especially if he was going to shield her from her enemies. “So you and your mom bought a bar?”

  “Yeah.” She kept walking.

  “How did you end up with a dump like that?”

  “Are you talking trash about my bar?”

  “Well, sorry to say, but it is a shit hole.”

  Evie stopped then and her expression could have fried him like an egg on boiling pavement. “A shit hole was all we could afford when the county refused to pay Dad’s pension.”

  Something was definitely off. The situation didn’t add up. The girl he had known had her toes and fingers painted matching shades of pink every week. She wore dresses. Fuzzy sweaters. Cute sandals.

  But the woman walking beside him wore boots and ripped up jeans and hard-ass muscle shirts. And had a chip on her shoulder.

  “Sorry, I guess that came out wrong.” Hunter had never put his foot in his mouth this many times in consecutive order. “It just surprises me that you own a bar like that. I thought you couldn’t stand those sorts of places.”

  Evie kept her blue eyes fixed forward and Hunter didn’t like the hard lines around her eyes. “Like I said. Things got hard. We had to make do.”

  But did she have to make do running weapons for a terrorist?

  “I’m sorry about your dad. He was a good man. Mercy is a worse place without him.”

  Evie snorted. “You don’t have to tell me that. You got to meet the new sheriff up close and personal last night. I’d say sorry is an understatement.”

  The desire for revenge rose inside him again—hot and quick. Brown wasn’t a big man, but he was bigger than Evie. And when he remembered the sight of his hands wrapped around Evie’s neck… “I promise you, Evie, that fucker is going to pay. I’ll take care of it as soon as we get back to Mercy.”

  Evie spun and slammed her hands into his chest. “No.” She cleared her throat. “No. You’ll just make it harder for us.”

  Her words just confirmed his suspicion she was being coerced. The worried expression on her face made him hold his tongue. He knew exactly what he would do to Brown once he got his hands on him. No need to make her panic. “Okay. I’ll leave him alone. For now.”

  Probably not exactly what she was looking for from him, but it was the best he could do. He would just have to hope the sheriff stayed out of his field of vision.

  Besides, there were other challenges for him to face. And what had just walked into his line of vision was infinitely more dangerous than Sheriff Brown.

  22

  Her father had always told her not to poke a bear. But after he shot a mountain line in front of her, right after repeating that hackneyed piece of wisdom, she decided to dismiss his words
.

  Maybe that was why, when her tangled mind registered that she’d slapped Hunter on his big, hard, sexy chest, she didn’t pull back. Why her fingers itched to trace the ridges of his pecs.

  Or maybe it was the simple fact that Hunter wanted to defend her. And it had been so long since any man had lifted a fist in her defense instead of to attack her.

  Desire slammed into her palms first, rolled up her arms, and slid down her spine. She didn’t want to poke the bear. She wanted to stroke his fur.

  She lifted up on her toes, grabbed his shoulders, and leaned in to kiss him. But Hunter was distracted, his gaze focused on something over her shoulder. He tensed and she felt his heart accelerate. “Don’t move,” he whispered.

  Shock slapped her hormones all the way down to the unyielding levee of packed dirt and gravel. His arm wrapped around her and formed a band of iron around her waist that locked her in place.

  Hunter eased her to his side and she folded around his body like ClingWrap. When he turned, she moved with him. When he lifted his free arm, she froze at the sight of the 9mm in his hand. When she saw what he was aiming at, her heart sputtered like a tapped-out coffee maker.

  Alligator.

  Huge. Ugly. Big teeth that extended down past his closed jaw.

  “Evie.” Hunter lowered his mouth to her ear. “I want you to very carefully get behind me.”

  Evie nodded, and slid her left foot sideways until she was straddling his thigh. The alligator shifted, moving less than an inch, but with a reptilian speed that stunned her. She froze. Her heart drummed so fast in her chest it turned into a straight dull roar instead of a thump, thump, thump.

  “It’s okay. Just get behind me.” His free hand caressed her back, the caress brief and barely there, but enough to give her the strength to continue her journey behind him. Finally, after jerking from every little snap and crackle of the gravel behind her, Evie pressed her chest to Hunter’s back.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Try and distract him.” Hunter eased down into a crouch, his pistol still raised, and grabbed a rock. It took every teeny tiny bit of her will power not to take off running.

  Hunter’s hand shot forward and the rock plopped in the river. The gator’s tail whipped into a C and he disappeared into the water with the speed of the devil himself. Evie swallowed and grabbed Hunter’s shoulders. Three close calls. Three. When it rains it pours.

  “You must have really pissed Mother Nature off.” Hunter stood and holstered the gun at his back.

  Evie cleared her throat and said, “Must have been all the paper plates.”

  Hunter smiled, his tan skin breaking into lines crafted from hours in the sun. She tilted her head back and wrapped her arms around him again. His narrow waist and solid chest were too inviting for words, especially after this latest brush with death.

  “I guess you can thank me for saving your life. Again.”

  “I have to agree, a little thanking is definitely in order.” Evie pulled him down, relishing his surprise. This time, she kissed him.

  When they pulled apart a moment later, they were both panting. This afternoon’s bout of mind-numbing sex had been like the aftermath of eating that small tenth of an ounce of dark chocolate recommended by her doctor. She craved more. And more. And more. Until she was so full she thought she might die. But she still wanted more.

  “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m going to take you right here, in the middle of the road,” Hunter said.

  “If I remember correctly, we did that here before. Only we were in the front seat of your truck.” The windows had fogged up in two seconds. Hunter had left her streaked palm prints on them all week.

  He tilted his head back and scrubbed his head, the tension thick enough to cut through the humidity. And Evie enjoyed his discomfort with a lighthearted pleasure she hadn’t felt since high school.

  Unable to resist teasing him a little more, she leaned up on her toes and whispered, “You know, I doubt anyone will be driving down the levee today. Flood and all, you know? And it’s getting dark.”

  Hunter’s gaze dropped and her satisfied smile turned rigid. His dark brown eyes had gone black with lust.

  She swallowed, her throat suddenly too tight.

  She had poked the bear.

  Evie spun and took off, the gravel crunching under her boots. She made it a few steps and then her feet left the ground. Hunter threw her over his shoulder, caveman style. And her face became very acquainted with his very sexy, very round backside.

  “I remember fogging up the windows in my truck. But I don’t remember doing it against a tree.”

  A tree. Was he serious? The thought of having sex out in the open, where they could get caught, was…incredibly hot.

  But also incredibly scary.

  Evie pounded on his back. “Put me down this instant. We can’t do it out here. I was just playing.”

  Hunter smacked her butt and she yelped.

  “That’s just a taste, babe.” He kept walking and started humming. And if she wasn’t mistaken, she thought she recognized Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around Comes Around.” Bastard.

  She needed to regain the upper hand. Desperate times called for desperate measures. She sank her teeth into his ass. Hunter howled and pulled her over his shoulder so fast her head swam.

  “You little wild cat. I’m going to tan your ass for that.” Hunter rubbed his behind, but his eyes glowed with carnal promise.

  “Nice song. I didn’t know you listened to JT.”

  “I’ve found I have a taste for songs about revenge.”

  “Really? Or just boy bands?” Where had that come from? Where had any of this come from? Her first reaction with Hunter had been to poke and tease, not cower and run.

  Realization dawned. It was because of Hunter. Because, despite everything, she still trusted him.

  And deep down, she still loved him.

  Her stomach shook with the realization, and she had the feeling of standing at the edge of an open airplane, getting ready to skydive without a parachute. The intensity of the sensation pushed outward into her arms and legs, sending her thoughts tumbling out of control. Then Hunter’s arms surrounded her and yanked the parachute cord. And suddenly she was floating, her body light and fuzzy and kissed by the sun.

  She met him halfway in a wild crash of lips and tongue. A combination of fuel and fire, ready to combust. The trembling in her body returned, but it wasn’t from fear this time. It was a Richter scale nine-point-five earthquake.

  Hunter lifted her and she locked her legs around his waist. This was it. What she had been missing since he left. For the past few years, she’d fallen into the sinkhole of anxiety and panic attacks, unable to save herself before she sank. But Hunter had thrown her a rope.

  They broke apart, gasping for air, and Evie grabbed his face between her palms. She needed to see his strength. To feel it. Her sun wasn’t a bright yellow ball of fire. It was dark and steady and made of titanium.

  A flat ball of rain spattered her forehead and she looked up. “It’s raining. Again.” A huge fissure inside her was separating her common sense from her heart, but each time he kissed her, the gap spread wider. And she didn’t have any hope of keeping one foot on each side. She had to choose.

  Common sense. A dull, dreary, lonely life. No risk to her heart. No risk of unimaginable pleasure.

  Or Hunter.

  Evie took a deep breath and jumped.

  23

  Evie had that RPG-about-to-explode-on-his-ass look and Hunter wondered if it was due to his caveman act.

  But then his little kitten morphed into a tiger and attacked him. She sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and he groaned, his hands drawn to her butt like magnetic opposites. He’d been dreaming of how sweet her lip would taste between his own teeth before she turned the tables on him. And he fucking loved it.

  If he’d been a bear, he would have growled. Instead he had to settle for the deep r
umble of pleasure in his chest. Her mouth explored his, tentatively at first, but quickly growing more aggressive. His little firecracker needed to be in control this time. He could feel the change in her. He knew she’d made a decision. One that was vitally important to her.

  Evie nipped and licked her way down his jaw, his neck, his shoulder. She bit down, hard, and Hunter pulled her to him, forcing her center to rub up and down his jeans-covered cock. Gravel road or not, he was going to be inside that tight little body soon, and if her actions spoke true, she wanted the same thing.

  “Hold on.” Hunter slipped the backpack off one of his arms and fought to disentangle the other one. The sun had set and there was only a dim grey glow just over the horizon. Darkness hit fast, the thick cover of clouds hiding the moonlight.

  Hunter ran down the dry side of the levee, into the woods at the bottom. A few minutes later he returned with his prize, a bundle of sticks and an old beer box.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m building a fire. We can sleep here. The sunlight will be gone soon.” He grabbed the backpack and dug for a match. He’d been lucky to spy the edge of white and blue cardboard sticking out from a pile of trash that had protected it from the rain. Perfect for kindling.

  “Perfect.” Evie grabbed the quilt and spread it next to the pile of sticks.

  He had a small fire going in less than five minutes. By the time he stood to survey his work, Evie was on her knees, tank top off and bare breasts swinging free. The glow from the old-time lantern danced across her skin and turned it to pure gold. Hunter paused in the process of undressing himself, transfixed by the most sensual creature he’d ever beheld. Time slowed. Evie knelt and undid the top button of her jeans. That small event set off a chain reaction in Hunter. He ripped off his own clothes and stood before her. Naked.

  Evie cupped him, her small hand circling beneath his balls, and lifted. He spread his legs wider. She stroked him until he couldn’t hold back the grunts and groans. Her lips looked swollen and moist and her mouth was situated perfectly to take his cock. Hunter’s control slipped and he wrapped a hand in her hair and guided her to him. Evie pulled back and Hunter thrust forward, seeking her lips.