Despite his better judgment, he ignored her comment, which had as much as said she thought he had just wanted her for the sex and now was leaving her behind.

  He tucked his arms behind his head. “I’ve only been to Breckenridge the one time. You might know the area better than I do. Anyplace you’d like to go? Hiking?

  Kayaking? Something else?”

  Her eyes widened a bit as she pulled on her blouse and began buttoning it. “A re you serious?”

  He thought from the tone of her voice that she might even be pleased. But her expression was still guarded.

  His gaze slid down her long bare legs, and again he envisioned her on her back and those shapely legs wrapped around his hips as he entered her again. He blinked, trying to get the image out of his mind.

  “We could take in a movie. Drive-in preferred if they have any here in Breckenridge.”

  She smiled a little at the suggestion, and he swore he could see her thinking like he was—snuggling, kissing, getting hot and bothered in the backseat of his pickup, and forget whatever was playing on the silver screen.

  “Yo u are serious.” Her expression brightened several degrees. “But the nearest drive-in is about three hours away.”

  In that moment, she looked innocent again, not at all as though she might imagine the lustful notions he was conjuring up. He took a deep breath. He had it bad.

  It didn’t seem fair to her that she didn’t know what her sweet body was doing to his thoughts. Except that his body was already reacting to his lascivious ruminations.

  “I had considered going back with you to your hotel and checking out your accommodations. To make sure they’re safe.” He suggestively waggled his brows, noting that she was having a hard time keeping her gaze focused on his, her eyes considering his physique as if she was amused he was having trouble keeping his bodily reactions under control.

  And that was causing him further difficulty in keeping his mind on the idea of tackling other pursuits with her.

  She smiled wryly at that. “Umm-hmm.”

  “I’m serious. I’m game for anything else you’d like to do. And we’re still having lunch at the steak place later this afternoon—on me.”

  “A ll right,” she said softly, and tossed his boxers to him.

  He caught them midair and grinned, the utterly wicked gleam in his eye saying he wanted her again. “You keep looking at me the way you do, and we’ll be here all day and night.” He gave her a lustful wink that said he was game.

  Caught in the act of ogling him way too much, Alicia felt her face heat, and she smiled at Jake, although she hadn’t thought he had noticed her studious appraisal of his sinful body since he was so busy admiring hers. She didn’t recall either of her husbands caring anything about what she looked like after she’d been with them for a while, just as long as she removed her clothes quickly and was ready for them to sate their needs in record time. They had been drunk half the time when she was married to them and just wanted to get the deed done before they passed out.

  But with Jake, it was so different. So right.

  Trying to get her mind off his hunky body and her embarrassment at getting caught perusing him to such a degree, she leaned down to get her skirt. She figured that women were probably always taken in by his arresting looks and he was oblivious to it.

  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. Asmall 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. A ll right, Darien?” This time his voice said he wasn’t saying anything further, so give it a rest.

  Asignificant 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?”

  Damn their wolf hearing. Jake looked back at the closed door to the bathroom, hearing the spray from the shower hitting the tub in a rush. He should have walked outside the room to take the call, but he hadn’t been thinking.

  Not while he’d been staring at that inviting bed.

  “Yeah.” Jake didn’t say anything more than that. Only one reason a shower would be running and he wasn’t in it. Someone else was.

  Another very long pause followed. Then Darien finally conceded. “A ll right.” He tried to sound gruff, but Jake could hear the hint of a smile in his brother’s voice. “Call us when you’re on your way.”

  “Will do.” Jake turned off his phone and shoved it into his pocket, annoyed with himself for getting caught in the act. Darien was sure to tell his mate, and Lelandi was sure to attempt her matchmaking with Jake again.

  But with Alicia being human… that wasn’t happening.

  Jake shook his head, irritated with himself again, but then the shower shut off and his gaze flew to the bathroom door as he imagined a soaking-wet Alicia climbing out of the tub and into his arms.

  Chapter 5

  Darien pulled Lelandi into his arms in the great room of his home, her belly seemingly getting bigger by the second the way the triplets were growing. He kissed her forehead and rubbed her back as she looked up at him.

  “Jake’s all right, isn’t he?” Lelandi asked as Darien led her from the great room toward the stairs.

  She was always worried about Darien, and she worried about his two brothers. He wondered how they had managed to survive before she came into their lives the previous fall. He smiled down at her. “He’s staying through the night and will let us know when he’s on his way home.”

  Her lips parted in surprise.

  Darien shrugged. “He’s taking some vacation time.

  Then he’s going to do a little sightseeing.”

  Eyes huge, she stared at him. “Jake? Your brother Jake?”

  Darien chuckled. “Yeah.” He tugged on a red curl. “Do you want me to give you another back rub?”

  “I don’t want you to get tired of giving them to me.”

  He snorted and led her up the stairs to their bedroom.

  “You’re carrying our future in there,” he said, running his hand gently over her expanding belly. “Anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable until the babies come and beyond, I’ll do. You’re the one who’s making all the sacrifices, after all.”

  When they reached the room, he shut the door, then helped her out of her stretchy shirt. She rested her hands on his shoulders as he removed her jeans and then her undergarments.

  “Have I told you how beautiful you are?” he asked, as he helped her lie down on her side, then tucked the pregnancy pillow under her belly and between her legs to take the pressure off her back.

  He poured some cream onto his hands and warmed it between them before he began to massage her back.

  “Hmm, Darien, you’ve said many times how beautiful I am, although I feel like a beached whale.” She sighed.

  “What is Jake really doing? Hmm, oh, that feels so good, honey. A little lower if you don’t mind. Yes, to the right… wait, to the left… yes, there.”

  He massaged her lower back and felt the tension ease in her muscles as she continued to purr.

  “He was with a woman, I venture to guess.”

  Her eyes wide, Lelandi looked over her shoulder at Darien. “A woman? A re you sure?”

  He chuckled. “Well, the shower was running, and he wasn’t in it. The fact he’s sightseeing when he never does sure sounds to me like he’s holed up in a hotel room with a woman.”

  Lelandi turned her head back to the pillow and didn’t say anything as Darien continued to massage her back.

  Finally she said, “He never sees a woman socially beyond a strictly mutual sexual encounter because of what we are. If he’s sightseeing with her, does it mean she’s one of us?”

  “We won’t know until he’s ready to tell us. But if she’s not one of us, I’m sure he just intends to stay with her tonight and return after that.” He had no intention of second-guessing the situation.

  Lelandi was quiet. Darien knew her matchmaking mind was at it again.

  “What about that woman… the one you said called here looking for Jake, but he hadn’t given her his number.

  Would it be her, do you think?”

  “Sherry Slate, the lawyer? Jake told me if he had wanted her to have his number, he would have given her his private one. She must have done some research to come up with my name and number in an attempt to get hold of him. He told me she was a nice woman but not his type.”