Hunter couldn’t help it. A bark of laughter escaped. Jonathan was now stacking marshmallows on top of one another.

“Can you please pay attention for a second?” The strain in Alexis’s voice tugged at his heart so he decided to take over.

Kids liked honesty. Or at least he hoped this one did. “Listen, buddy. There are going to be a couple men coming over to stay at the house with us for protection. Remember when we had to hide at the beach yesterday?” When he nodded, Hunter continued. “Well, some bad men want to hurt me, so we’re being extra-careful.” Risking a glance at Alexis, he realized he’d done the right thing.

It was slight, but she’d leaned back a fraction and her shoulders had loosened. Definitely a good sign.

“Why?” Jonathan asked, blowing on the hot drink.

Hunter could swim two thousand meters in the dark, take down a man from a thousand yards with a sniper rifle and navigate his way through almost any terrain on the planet. What he didn’t know anything about were kids. His tongue seemed to expand in his mouth. Explaining things without scaring Jonathan was impossible. He’d rather tell him where babies came from.

No. He shuddered at the thought. That was just as terrifying.

Thankfully, Alexis saved him. “Hunter has some important information for the government, and he’s going to be helping put some bad men in jail.”

Jonathan’s eyes widened. “Like a spy on TV?”

“Well, not exactly, but something like that.” Hunter finally found his voice, thankful his son was more interested than horrified.

“Can I still play with my airplane?”

“Of course,” Alexis said.

“Okay. Can I watch my movie now?” He held up the video for both of them to see.

Chuckling, he nodded. “Go ahead.”

Alexis moved to help him, but he put a gentle hand on her knee.

“What?” she murmured.

“He can do it.” Hunter had noticed she liked to do everything for Jonathan. Which made sense. He was only five. But while he didn’t want to overstep his bounds, the kid needed to learn to be independent.

Her body tensed for a moment, but she sighed and leaned against the pillows. “I know. I want to keep him a baby forever, though.”

After Jonathan put the movie in, a group of obnoxious penguins danced across the screen. The irrational urge to put his arm around Alexis overcame him. He felt like a teenager on his first date at the movie theater. His heart pounded erratically as he thought about stretching his arm over the couch and holding her close. Comforting her the way she deserved.

They hadn’t talked about what happened the night before, but he knew if he allowed himself to get closer to her, more comfortable, he couldn’t walk away. Then when she realized what a mistake she’d made letting him into their lives, the pain would be that much harder when she kicked him out of their lives. The thought of Alexis rejecting him burned a crater in his stomach.

Neither spoke, but with Jonathan on the floor and the fire crackling, he finally began to experience what a normal family was supposed to be like. Until that moment he hadn’t realized this was what he’d been waiting for his entire life. Unexpected memories of going hungry, wondering if his mother would show up at all that week, jumped into his head as vivid as the movie in front of him. A hollow ache settled in his stomach.

His son was never going to know that kind of life. If it killed him, he was going to give Jonathan everything he’d never had growing up. If he couldn’t be there for him, he’d at least provide for him. He needed to set up a life insurance policy as soon as possible. If anything happened to him, he wanted them taken care of.

The doorbell rang, jerking him back to the present. Now wasn’t the time to get caught up in what could never be. “I’ll get it.”

Sighing, she stood. “I’ll make sure their rooms are ready.”

The doorbell chimed again, but he ignored it. “I think we should bring Jonathan downstairs into your room. Or I’ll sleep on a cot and he can have my bed.” Hunter and Alexis’s rooms were adjoined and even though his gut told him he could trust Connor, he wasn’t taking any chances with his son’s life.

She nodded, and when the bell chimed again, her expression changed to one of annoyance. “You’d better get that,” she muttered.

“Who’s at the door?” The insistent bell ringing finally tore Jonathan away from the television screen. He rolled over onto his elbows and placed his chin in his hands.

“It’s the people I told you about. Stay in here for a little while, okay?” Used to giving orders, he had to constantly remind himself to ask things, not tell.

Hunter looked through the small glass window before opening it.

Sure enough, it was Carl Connor, Alan Saltz and a man he didn’t recognize. He opened the door just as Alan was about to ring the bell again.

“Give that thing a rest.”

Alan shrugged and picked up his duffel bag. “Took you long enough.”

He stood back as they entered the house single file.

Once they were inside, Connor shook Hunter’s hand and nodded toward the two other men. “You know Alan. This is Mike Alterio. He’s been with me for three years. You can trust him.”

After shaking hands with both men, he motioned to their bags. “Just leave those here for a minute and follow me.”

Once they were all seated at the kitchen table, Connor spoke first. “Where are Alexis and the kid?”

“She’s moving her stuff into my room and he’s in the living room watching television. And the kid’s name is Jonathan.”

Connor nodded. “Right. One of us will be posted downstairs at all times. At night, we’ll sleep in shifts.”

“I hope you’re including me in that equation.” Hunter shifted in his seat. Alexis should be done by now.

“I am. As of right now, we’ve got a task force working ’round the clock looking for Davis and Foster. Until we find them, or until we deem it safe, you’ll be under the DEA’s protection. In the meantime, we’ll start going over your timeline down in the Americas.” Connor leaned back in his chair.

Hunter looked up as Alexis walked in. She took a few tentative steps inside. Keeping his eyes on her, he directed his response toward Connor. “That wasn’t part of the deal. I’m giving you what you need to bring Davis down. That’s it. You don’t get details about my life.”

Alan cleared his throat and stood. The scraping of the wooden chair against the tile grated on Hunter’s growing headache. “Since I’m first on night shift, I’m gonna hit the sack for about an hour. Mind showing me where my room is?” Alan asked.

“Follow me,” Alexis said.

Connor spoke as soon as they were out of sight. “Come on, Hunter, you’ve got to have names, dates and meeting places that might be helpful.”

“What’s the point? Calero is dead.”

“His associates aren’t,” Connor said.

For the first time, Mike spoke more than two words. “Any information you provide us with will be invaluable to the drug war. After all your years with the administration, you have to know that.”

Years ago he’d been just as gung ho as the man sitting before him. Back when he thought he was invincible. Back when life had been simple. He bit back a few comments. “I’ll help, but I don’t want Alexis listening to any of this. We’ll work on this stuff when she’s not around. That’s the deal.”

When they both nodded, he stood. “Come on. I don’t know which room she put Alan in, but you might as well get settled in too.”

Back in the foyer, Connor handed Hunter a plastic bag.

“What’s this?”

The other man shrugged, but a shade of crimson crept up his neck. “I don’t know. It’s some kind of handheld educational computer game. It’s for the kid…uh, Jonathan.”

Hunter raised his eyebrows, unable to hide his shock. “You got this for him?”

Again, he shrugged. “The administration paid for it, but when I told my wife there was a young child involved with this case, she said he’d like this.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll let you give it to him yourself.” Shaking his head, he led the two men up the stairs.

It took a lot to surprise him anymore. Unless Connor was completely diabolical, that small act convinced Hunter of the other man’s integrity. A man didn’t buy gifts for a kid he was planning to kill.

Chapter 11

Alexis pulled the blanket up around Jonathan’s shoulders and tucked him in tighter. He mumbled something in his sleep, but he was knocked out to the world. The door creaked behind her so she swiveled around and almost lost her footing.

“The house is quiet.” Hunter stepped into her room and shut the door behind him. “How is he?”

She turned back to Jonathan. His peaceful form comforted her. “Sleeping, finally.”

Hunter wrapped his arm around her shoulders in an almost friendly, chaste gesture. “Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll take the cot and you can take my bed.”

She stiffened against his hold and stared at her son sleeping peacefully in her bed, and couldn’t fight the wave of weariness that washed over her. “You can sleep in your bed instead of the cot.”

Next to her, Hunter stiffened. “Are you sure?”

“I can’t stand the thought of you sleeping on that horrible thing. I’ll sleep with Jonathan.” She’d tried lying on the small cot and her legs hung off the end.

Hunter’s weight alone would probably cause it to collapse.

He started to say something but she interrupted. The intent expression on his face said he wanted to talk about what had happened last night and she didn’t have the energy. Not right now. She already knew they had no future. She didn’t need to hear him spell it out for her. Talk about pouring salt in the wound. “I’m going to grab some water, and I’m sure you want to take a shower before bed?”