Hero for Hire Read online

  “You should have told me all this from the beginning.”

  “I did not know if I could trust you! But I do now,” she said softly, knowing she was looking at him with her heart in her eyes, but she couldn’t help it.

  He seemed decidedly less than thrilled with her proclamation. “Don’t trust anyone, especially me.”

  “But I have told you everything now. And you have told me everything.”

  He said nothing.

  “Rick? We can trust each other now, right?”

  He didn’t look at her. “I’ll help you find her.”

  “Thank—”

  “For Mitch,” he clarified.

  “But...” Just that fast, her relief faded. “Not for me.”

  “Damn it.” In one explosive movement, he surged to his feet and paced the room. When his gaze landed on her, his eyes softened for one brief flash before shuttering again. “You’re still shaking. Stop it.”

  “I am trying.”

  Rick swore again, in fluent Portuguese this time, before stepping into her adjoining bathroom and turning on the shower. Storming back into her bedroom, he stood before the bed, hands on his hips. “Get in the hot shower before you go further into shock and I have to get you to a hospital.”

  “I do not—”

  “You’ve got blood all over you, Nina. You’re getting in if I have to haul you in there myself.”

  The thought of standing up, then removing her clothes and getting into the shower seemed like such a huge effort. She was still contemplating it when he scooped her up in his arms and deposited her in the quickly steaming bathroom.

  When she just stood there, he let out a growl of frustration, then quickly and efficiently started stripping her. First her shoes, then her stockings, which he had to slip his hands up her skirt to get to. As he worked them down his jaw tightened. “Are you going to help?”

  Automatically her hands went to the buttons on her blouse, but they already were open. It took her a moment to remember Rick had spread her blouse apart to check for injuries. It slipped off her shoulders, and at the same time he tugged at her skirt and slip.

  In the mirror she caught a glimpse of herself wearing nothing but a bra and panties, and it shocked her. Her cheeks were flushed, her nipples pebbled, straining against the lace of her bra.

  Rick was kneeling at her feet, staring up at her with the hottest look of pure hunger she’d ever seen. “I hope to God you can take it from here,” he muttered, coming to his feet and backing away, hands shoved into his pockets.

  She shivered, and because it wasn’t with shock, she turned her back, holding her breath, wondering if he’d leave, or if he’d press close and do as she more than half wanted and touch her.

  The bathroom door shut, giving her the answer to that question.

  Alone, she finished undressing and stepped into the shower, standing beneath the spray, her body pulsing.

  The water turned tepid, then icy before she finally cooled down enough to get out.

  * * *

  WITH HIS BODY fully aroused, and his thoughts in the gutter as far as one Nina Monteverde was concerned, Rick paced the floor of the condo, listening to the shower.

  She’d told him everything she knew, or so she claimed.

  Oddly enough, he believed her. That wasn’t what bothered him.

  He hadn’t told her everything.

  She’d been in shock, he told himself, she needed time.

  A bunch of garbage.

  He’d held back for purely selfish reasons. Self-defense. If he kept something to himself, she’d be good and furious, along with deeply hurt. She’d hate him.

  And with that hatred, nothing could ever come of this ridiculous attraction between them.

  We can trust each other, she’d said.

  God, the open, warm hope in her eyes when she’d said that. When she learned the truth, that only one of them had come clean with the other, and it hadn’t been him, she’d look at him with her heart all over her face.

  Her hurt heart.

  He should have told her, before her shower, where she was probably right this very second soaping up, running her hands over the body he couldn’t get out of his head.

  When his cell phone rang, he leaped for it, grateful for the diversion from his own torturous thoughts.

  It was Mitch. “Just got your message.”

  “Where have you been?” Rick stared at the bathroom door. “I called you last night.”

  “Yeah, well, things are a bit wild here. I resigned.”

  “From the FBI?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been swamped going through debriefing and finishing up files.” His voice lowered. “What have you got?”

  “Plenty.”

  The shower stopped. Rick pictured Nina, dripping wet and sleek and perfect, stepping out of the stall. Pictured her opening the bathroom door and giving that just-for-him smile that seemed to be able to tip his heart on its side. Pictured her opening her arms and her own heart.

  To him.

  Only he didn’t deserve that or her, and he had no one to blame but his own fears. Wasn’t that a laugh?

  Big, bad, tough Rick Singleton afraid of a woman.

  “Rick?”

  So much for not getting personally involved in a case. So much for not letting anyone touch him or his emotions.

  He was an idiot.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” he said into the phone. “The friend I told you about? Her name is Jolene Daniels. She might still be in Texas. I want to fly out of here and go talk to her.”

  “You think she’ll lead you to Terry?”

  “I know she will.”

  “Jolene Daniels...Dallas...nothing.” Rick could hear Mitch flipping pages, probably of a phone book. “San Antonio...nope. Here! Perfect. Got her,” he said. “She’s in Houston.”

  Rick scribbled her address down.

  “I want to go with you,” Mitch said.

  “Fine. I’ll leave tonight. Tomorrow morning at the latest.” He kept his eye on the door. If Nina did come out, naked by some miracle, he would simply close his eyes.

  He would not, under any circumstances, get caught by temptation. He would not sleep with her.

  He would not multiply his sins against her.

  Nina did indeed open the door. Surrounded by steam, covered in a white fluffy towel, she looked like the sweetest, sexiest, most amazing woman he’d ever seen. Her chestnut hair, usually restricted, was wet and loose and flowing to her shoulders. Her eyes were dark and warm, her olive skin gleaming and shiny.

  He’d never wanted anyone more.

  But he’d as good as lied to her.

  And she’d hate him for it.

  He needed to remember that. “I’ll see you soon then,” he said to Mitch and hung up.

  “What’s that about?” Nina asked.

  “I’m flying to meet Jolene Daniels.”

  “I am going, too.”

  “No—”

  “Jolene will not talk to you without me.” She stepped toward him, her body scented like heaven.

  “Nina—”

  “I have access to the company jet.” She stopped a breath away, close enough that he could see the pain and grief in her eyes, but more, too. God, so much more. Close enough that he had to close his own eyes because her open trust killed him.

  He’d never worried about what someone thought of him before, but he worried now, because suddenly it mattered.

  She mattered. “I don’t think—”

  “I am going,” she repeated.

  Yeah, she was going. Because who the hell was he kidding? He couldn’t let her stay here by herself. She looked so utterly alone, so devastated...and much as he wanted to deny it, at the moment, he was all she had.

  She needed him.

  The least he could do for her was be there.

  And if truth was to be told, he thought maybe he needed her, too, just for a little bit longer.

  Then he’d find a way to be alone again.