But she could kick herself for agreeing to do anything further with him when she should have been fighting this rabid attraction they had for one another all along. He was so hot. No one she had ever dated had been as sexy or funny or protective as Jake. She’d thought he wouldn’t have been as good “in bed” as he was, that maybe having a fling would make her realize how he was just like her ex-husbands, neither of whom had made the effort to pleasure her.

She’d thought sex was about the man having all the fun. Not with Jake. Her needs, her arousal came before his own. For the first time ever, she’d really climaxed! She hadn’t faked it. Hadn’t needed to. She could still envision Jake’s fingers entering her, as if he was ensuring she truly had reached the pinnacle before he found release in her. She couldn’t believe he had done that and thought the world of him for it.

Yet something was holding him back now. A former relationship gone bad, maybe? A man who could have fun for a little while, but commitment wasn’t part of his psyche?

It shouldn’t have mattered. She shouldn’t have even gone this far with him. But during the three years since her last divorce, she’d avoided men like the plague. Until she had seen Jake and been drawn to him, probably because he had been intrigued with her from the start and then definitely because of his coming to rescue her in the restaurant. And then coming for her here to protect her if she needed protecting. She’d never known any man to stick his neck out for her. Not her fly-by-night boyfriends or her two ex-husbands, either.

She blamed her first marital misstep on his and her youth and wanting to get away from her mother and the loser her mother had picked up at the time. The second marital mistake was one of those proverbial on-the-rebound blunders. Both marriages had been over in a flash since she’d married in Texas and they’d been Army guys. Quickie divorces were the thing. Neither of the guys were hero types like she thought a man in uniform should be. Oh sure, many were. But with her luck with men, she’d picked up two that were anything but. Carousing, drinking, all-around losers. She’d attributed it to looking for love in all the wrong places.

She took a deep breath and zipped up her skirt. Before she could slip on her tennis shoes, Jake was standing before her, wearing only his jeans, his chest deliciously bare, his puckered nipples enticing her all over again. He had her tennis shoes in hand and a silly smirk on his face. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then crouched in front of her. With her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, she treasured the sensation as he brushed off one of the soles of her feet with the soft dusting of his dress shirt, then slipped her shoe on. Then with equally tender reverence, he did the same with the other. She felt like Cinderella. And cherished.

Only in this case, she wouldn’t turn into a penniless scullery maid who vied to go to the ball and meet the prince before midnight. Instead, she’d go back to being a bounty hunter who was bound to get her prince killed just by knowing him. That thought continued to nag at her as she tried to think of a way out of this. But she didn’t want out. Damn it. She wanted him. Like she’d never wanted anyone in her life. She chastised herself again. This was insane.

After he tied her shoes, he rose and tilted her chin up to give her a light kiss on the lips, his eyes studying hers as if he was trying to see into her soul. Then he took a deep breath, slid his fingers down her cheek and her throat, swept them across a breast and the nipple, and then dropped his hand away.

He wanted her again, she thought. But not here. In her hotel room. And despite her misgivings, she felt the same way about him.

Then he left her to tug on his boots. She felt she should return the favor by brushing off his feet with tenderness, but he was already wearing his socks and quickly pulled on his boots. She reached for her gun in its holster and slipped it on, and then her suit jacket.

She considered what they could do together that might be fairly reasonable and keep them from interacting with the thugs for the time being. She needed a solution that would allow her to spend more time with Jake without putting him danger. Then at some point, she’d slip away from him and do what she’d come here to do in the first place. Locate Danny Massaro and arrest him, then turn him in for the bounty and forget her unreasonable interest in getting to know Jake better. Then if Mario didn’t show up for trial, she’d arrest him, too.

With that thought in mind, she watched Jake pull on his shirt, hiding that beautiful chest of his, and asked, “If you’re truly game, how about ice skating?”

“Ice skating?” The arch in Jake’s brows and in the tone of his voice made it sound as though ice skating wasn’t a choice he would have ever considered making.

Alicia didn’t know what to think of him. One minute he was acting like he couldn’t get enough of her, and the next, she could feel him pulling away. Yet his words didn’t fit his actions, as if he was fighting his own feelings.

Well, as she’d told her mother, men and relationships never worked out well for either of them. And certainly with Alicia’s plans to return Mario and Danny to prison, starting a relationship could be a deadly business for the unsuspecting guy. She couldn’t do that to Jake. She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ears.

After he tucked in his shirt, then tugged on his vest, he walked over and put his hands on her shoulders, his thumbs rubbing them and heating her body all over again. A small quiver of need started tingling in her breasts, making them swell, and then moved lower in her belly and even lower between her legs.

He kissed her lips gently but with real meaning. It was the kind of kiss that meant she wasn’t getting rid of him anytime soon.

So much for ice skating deterring him.

Although she still felt he was sending mixed messages. Either he was the master of deception, or he really was fighting with himself over making something more of their relationship. While he was pulling away from her, she was all set to keep this from going too far. But how could she push him away when he kissed her like he loved every inch of her and wanted her for keeps? And when she was afflicted with the same damn desire?

Some part of her told her she deserved a chance at real love, at real happiness. That she couldn’t screw this up if it was meant to be. But the sensible part of her said she could lose him to violence, and there was no way in hell she was losing someone else she cared about like that.

“I’ve never ice skated before. So you’ll have to teach me how to do it. And I’ll try not to embarrass you too much,” Jake finally said, his thumbs still doing a sensual number on her shoulders.

Genuinely surprised he’d be game, she laughed a little. She thought of him as cool and collected, never ruffled. The notion of him falling on the ice had never crossed her mind. But again, she figured that ice skating would be one activity where the bad guys wouldn’t bother with them. So Jake would be safe, she was certain.

“I’ll try to help you. But you can hold on to the railing if you need to. That’s what many of the beginners do.”

He shook his head. “Where you go, I go.”

“Even if I’m doing figure eights?”

He grinned at that. “I think I’ll opt for staying in the upright position and watching.”

***

By spreading their feet on ice and with the fur that protected their pads, wolves were very adept at maneuvering on ice. But as a human, Jake had never ice skated, and if Alicia hadn’t suggested it, he most likely never would have. They agreed to drop by her hotel room so she could change clothes. A business suit on ice wouldn’t work out.

He hadn’t planned on doing anything but waiting for her to change clothes while he called his brother, Darien, to let him know he’d be a little later arriving home than expected. But the hotel room had one large bed and a bathroom, and Jake’s eyes were riveted on that king-sized bed as if it were the most functionally beautiful piece of furniture in the world. Alicia had slipped out of her suit jacket and gun with holster, hanging them over the back of a desk chair, and pushed off her walking shoes. She entered the bathroom to clean up, shutting the door behind her.

The shower turned on, and he was still thinking about that bed and what he and Alicia could do in it together when his cell phone rang. He jerked it off his belt, saw the caller was his brother, and shook his head. Jake should have called him first.

“Yeah, Darien?”

“Lelandi wanted me to check on you since you said you’d be home right after you dropped off the photographs, and you’re an hour late. Since you’re never late, she was worried. If it were me, I wouldn’t have been concerned. But you know how she’s been recently, what with the babies coming so soon. Having any trouble?”

“The art gallery didn’t open on time when I first arrived. But other than that, I’m staying longer to sightsee.” He had no intention of telling his older brother he was smitten with a human woman and intended to stay with her through the night at least, hoping he could convince her to give up her quest and find some other scumbag to take down—one who was a lot less dangerous. And then he’d give her up before he got much more entangled with her. “I’ll be home… tomorrow, sometime.”

“Tomorrow,” Darien said, sounding suspicious.

“Yeah, I’ll call you when I’m on my way.”

“Anything wrong?” Darien’s tone was more worried now.

“No.”

“You… don’t… sightsee ever, Jake. What’s up?”

That was the problem with having an older brother who was the pack leader and who knew Jake too well. “Nothing’s up. I needed a bit of a vacation.”

“A vacation.”

Jake supposed that sounded rather weird to his brother since vacations were not part of Jake’s usual routine. “I’ll be home soon. All right, Darien?” This time his voice said he wasn’t saying anything further, so give it a rest.

A significant pause followed, and Jake was fairly sure Darien was considering whether to pry further—and give some of his brotherly advice—or just leave it be. Then Darien said, “Is that a shower running in the background?”