Something wild flared in her eyes. She wanted to pull away. He could see it in her expression. Part of him wished she would. Wished she’d shove at him and tell him to get his dirty hands off her.

Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and relaxed her head against his chest. The action took him completely off guard. Maybe she was simply worried about the father of her child. Didn’t really matter at the moment. Inhaling, he savored the tropical scent of her shampoo and the feel of her luscious body. The way her breasts pressed against him made him ache with pent-up need. Made him want things he had no business wanting.

“Be careful,” she murmured and squeezed a little tighter.

“Of course.” Going against the voice in his head that told him to back off before it became impossible to walk away, he lightly kissed the top of her head.

As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, she cleared her throat then pushed back out of his embrace. At least one of them had common sense.

“I’m going to check on Jonathan.” She hurried toward the adjoining room.

He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. What was the matter with him? He couldn’t even tempt himself by touching her. In the end, the only thing he’d do was get a hard-on that wouldn’t be satisfied. He needed to focus on his impending meeting. Distraction could get him killed. Worse, it would leave her unprotected.

As he started to open the door, he wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. Leaving Alexis and Jonathan alone ranked right up there with swimming through alligator-infested waters, but he couldn’t take them with him. It could be a trap. Leaving them could be a trap too, but he didn’t know what else to do.

The door swung open and he took a step back. He glanced past her and saw Jonathan sitting in front of the television. Jonathan looked at him, but didn’t smile. Hunter’s gut twisted. No longer was his son interested in talking or being friendly to him, it seemed. He didn’t blame him.

Alexis shut the door behind her.

“Is everything okay?” he murmured.

She shook her head. “He doesn’t think you’re coming back and he’s scared for you. For us.”

A ball of self-loathing congealed in his stomach. Of all the things she could have said, he hadn’t expected that. He’d assumed Jonathan would be glad to have him gone. “What did you tell him?”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him farther away from the door. “I certainly didn’t tell him the whole truth. He’s scared out of his mind after that whole thing at the beach. I just said that you had to take care of a few things, but you’d be back by tonight.”

“Sooner hopefully.”

Alexis nodded and her lips pursed into a thin line. When she finally spoke, her words came out hoarse and scratchy. “You better come back.”

Taken out of context, he could have interpreted her words as harsh and accusing, but the raw fear in her electric blue eyes told him she was afraid, not angry.

Tom Davis pulled his buzzing cell phone out of his pocket and frowned when he saw the number. “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he spoke quietly to the two men sitting at the long, conference room table and made his way to the door.

The buzzing stopped, but once he stepped into the hallway it started again. He pressed Talk. “What the hell are you doing calling me on this line?”

“Sorry, no time to find a secure one. I couldn’t take care of our problem.”

Davis wanted to reach through the phone line and strangle him. “Where is he now?”

“He’s on his way to meet with Carl Connor. What do you want me to do?”

He referred to Hunter Cassidy. What the hell did this moron think he wanted him to do? Tom couldn’t keep the exasperation out of his voice. “Follow him and see if you can find out if he gives Connor anything. Wait, where are the woman and kid?”

“I don’t know. I think he might have stashed them somewhere.”

“Fine, stay with Hunter.” Tom knew Hunter had sent backups of the records he’d taken from Juan Calero’s home to someone, he just didn’t know who.

Yet. But he would find out soon enough. No matter how careful people thought they were, they always left a paper trail. Unfortunately for him, Hunter was smarter and more elusive than most. Tom had planned to kill him immediately after Calero died, but the slippery bastard had escaped into the jungle and by then, he couldn’t risk killing Hunter until he knew where he’d sent those records.

In hindsight, Tom knew he should have sent someone to kidnap Hunter’s kid before he had, but he’d seriously underestimated Hunter’s attachment to the Baptiste woman. Hell, he hadn’t thought he’d need to use her as leverage since he’d planned on Hunter being dead. Tom also hadn’t expected that would be the first place he’d go. If anything, he’d assumed Hunter would find a whorehouse or bar and relax for the first time in six years. Should have known better. And finding two assassins who weren’t connected to the Agency or him personally wasn’t an easy task anyway. Tom was lucky he’d gotten them both when he had. Too bad they hadn’t been able to get to North Carolina before Hunter. If only. He could play back different scenarios in his head, but it wouldn’t change the fact that he’d screwed up.

He’d been watching all the major airports in Central America, but Hunter had never come through. Or if he had, he’d had one hell of a disguise. Less than two days after their meeting in the jungle, he’d been in North Carolina. Two damn days.

Even if they knew where the woman and kid were, attempting to take the kid now so soon after the most recent failed attempt would be a mistake. Tom was running low on manpower and now the kid’s mother would likely be carrying a weapon. She wouldn’t let the boy go easily and someone could get hurt or killed. He didn’t particularly care if she got hurt, but if something happened to the kid, he’d lose his leverage and Hunter would pursue him until he was dead. No, he’d just have to wait until the time was right. He needed that kid alive.

“Where should I call you to check back in?”

His hand fisted around the phone. “Call my other line. It’s secure. Just don’t call this number again. Ever.” Idiot.

Tom slipped his cell phone back in his pocket then picked up one of his other phones. After he’d calmed down he dialed Marcus Foster.

“Tell me you’ve got news,” Foster said as he picked up.

“Pack your bags and head to the Outer Banks. Hunter is there.”

“Are you sure this information is good?” Foster’s voice was subtly mocking.

It angered him that Foster didn’t bother to show any respect. He’d had the information longer than Foster realized. Hell, he could have told him to leave Hurley Beach hours ago but Tom had hoped his other source would have been able to kidnap the kid and disable Hunter today. Then Davis would have been able to cut Foster loose and sever ties with the man. He hated dealing with this psycho but unfortunately he still needed him.

He gripped the receiver tighter against his ear. “Yes, I’m sure. I have it on good authority that they were staying at a house owned by the woman’s ex-fiancé. They’re not there anymore but they won’t have gone far. We didn’t find the place the first time because it’s not in his name. I’m faxing you all the information.” An email would be too traceable.

“So where’d you get all this from?”

“None of your damn business,” he snorted. Like he was going to divulge his sources to anyone? Foster was as dirty as the next guy, and he didn’t trust him.

“Fine. I’ll leave right away,” he grunted.

“I assume you took care of the woman you questioned?” Now that they were so close to tying things up, they couldn’t afford any loose ends.

“Yeah, and I think more people here know what’s going on, more than they’re letting on anyway.”

“How so?”

“The old lady, Gwen, she’s magically acquired twenty-four-hour protection and the ex-fiancé is pretty much untouchable. He has security with him everywhere he goes. And not the cheap kind either.”

“Anything else?”

“I think someone might have taken a picture of me.”

He bit back a curse. “We’ll take care of that after you get back.”

“All right. I’ll contact you when I get there.”

“One more thing. They might have some extra surveillance so be careful.”

“What the hell does that mean? They hired extra security?” he growled.

“Not exactly security, but they do have a few other agencies interested in them and we need to get to them first.” Interested was an understatement. His source told him that the DEA was ready to bring Hunter and his family in. And Davis planned to make damn sure that didn’t happen. He wasn’t going to prison.

Chapter 7

Hunter scanned the nearly empty parking lot before putting the truck into Park. He had the privacy he wanted, but not much time to prepare for the meeting. At least he’d been the one to choose the place. It gave him a slight sense of security. Not much, but it was better than entering completely blind.

This close to the Atlantic, the icy wind bit into his skin, but adrenaline pumped through his veins, practically numbing his entire body. He dialed the only number programmed into the phone. Carl Connor should have had just enough time to park and walk around the Wright Brothers National Park for a couple of minutes.

“Connor here.”

At the sound of his voice, Hunter’s throat momentarily tightened. He didn’t bother to identify himself. “Do you know where the Hatteras Lighthouse is?”

“Well, it’s nice to talk to you too.” Connor’s voice was wry.

“Do you or don’t you?” It was a few miles south of where Hunter had originally told Connor to go.

“I know exactly where it is. I thought we were meeting at—”

“Meet me by the picnic area of the lighthouse in ten minutes. Come alone.” Without giving him a chance to argue, Hunter hung up and turned off his phone. If Connor left at that moment, it shouldn’t take him more than a few minutes to get there.