Baddest Bad Boys(62)

He smiled, ever so softly. “Yes, I think you should.” He took the two steps necessary to stand directly in front of her. He didn’t touch her. “Can we eat now?”

Food was suddenly the last thing on Tommi’s mind, but she nodded.

“After that, if you don’t mind—I intend to keep my hands off you by keeping them busy making a couple of phone calls, then going through some files. You okay with that?”

“I think I can last a few hours without you inside me, Mac. You okay with that?” She looked at him from under lowered lids.

“Low blow, sweetheart,” he said and grinned. “But given I’m the guy who suggested the downtime, I’ll consider that loss as my temporary purgatory. Temporary being the operative word.”

Reid inched his way along the deserted, damn near impassable road. Borg hadn’t exaggerated; it was one long river of a mud hole, and it got worse the closer he got to the lodge. Reid hadn’t intended to drive up to the front door, but he’d sure as hell planned on parking closer than what he guessed was two miles away.

Suddenly the front wheel of the big ATV dropped into a goddamned lake in the middle of the road.

Shit! After several tries he managed to reverse his way out, but there was no doubt this was as far as he could risk going.

Frustrated, he tapped his fingers on the leather-wrapped steering wheel. He’d have to leave the truck here. He backed up to where he could turn it to face the way he’d come, then reversed as deep into the bush on the side of the road as he could. Satisfied the vehicle couldn’t be seen from the road, he went back to wipe out the gouges and tire tracks the Expedition had left near the washout and tossed a few cedar boughs over them for good measure.

Back at the truck, he grabbed a backpack from the front seat and retrieved the rifle and ammo from the back.

If he had to walk, he’d better get started. He needed to figure things out, make certain he had plenty of time to get back.

He didn’t want any screwups.

He slung the rifle over his shoulder and headed down the path, hoping he wouldn’t have trouble getting rid of the new boyfriend along with Smith. No way did he plan on having some rich schmuck live long enough to play the hero and tail him back to the truck.

Around three o’clock the rain stopped, but when Mac looked at the leaden sky, saw the turbulent clouds scudding over the ocean’s surface, he knew the break was again temporary. This far-north rain came damn near nonstop this time of year.

He tossed the file he’d been reading onto the pile beside his chair. With Tommi curled up on the sofa across from him, he’d had a hell of a time keeping his mind on business for more than sixty seconds at a time. When she’d dozed off half an hour ago, her book open in her lap, her golden hair a wild curtain over her eyes, he’d given up, given in to the need to simply look at her and listen to the sound of her quiet breathing, while his own lungs constricted to the point of pain.

He wanted her. He ached with wanting her, and he knew himself well enough to know a few days of her wouldn’t be enough. That air-kiss scenario she’d outlined? It wasn’t going to happen. Maybe he didn’t trust her, but maybe he could live with that. And maybe the Pope was an undercover Hare Krishna.

But maybe, just maybe, he could love her enough for both of them.

The oxygen evacuated his lungs as if attacked. The love word had a way of doing that to a man, showing up like a SWAT unit in riot gear to lay waste to his life and logic.

He rubbed his chest, got to his feet, and turned the L-word over in his mind. There were a thousand reasons why Smith wasn’t the woman for him, but right now he couldn’t think of one of them. It had to be the sex.

The SWAT thought reminded Mac he had something to do before he and Tommi went to the springs. He’d walked the perimeter of the compound twice today, then walked the road again. Two miles out there was a water-filled crater the size of a semi, with no sign of tire marks on either side. A guy would need a Hummer to get through the mess. Considering even a Hummer was a possibility, he planned to be ready for it.

He padded toward the stairs as quietly as possible, but the movement woke Tommi.

Her eyes still closed, she stretched, a languid stretch that made the tee she was wearing tighten across her unbound breasts. She opened her eyes on Mac, blinked slowly and asked, “Where are you going?”

“You always look so damn good when you wake up?”

She stretched again, smiled a bit, and sat up. “You always answer a question with a question?”

“I’m going to get my rifle.” It wasn’t as if he could hide the damn thing on the way to the pool.

She straightened, instantly alarmed. “What for?”

He gestured with his chin toward the dark day outside the window. “If we’re going to the spring, I thought I’d take it with me. There’s always a risk of wild animals.” The lie sat on his tongue like sugar. The way he saw it, what she didn’t know wouldn’t worry her. He didn’t like her to worry, and he didn’t bother to think why.

“You didn’t take it yesterday.”

“Forgot. Shouldn’t have. I try not to make the same mistake twice.” He stopped on the first stair. “I’m also going to get some towels. Unless you’ve changed your mind.” He raised a brow. Waited.

Tommi hesitated. Maybe she should change her mind. Maybe she should stay here with her nose in a book. Then she looked up at Mac, still as a panther on the lower step, his hand on the newel post.