Page 25 of Cross Point

He hesitated for a moment, then gave in with a nod and left the room.

Trinity grinned down at the man writhing on the floor. “Now, then. You and I are going to have a little chat…”

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long to make him spill.

In the short time she was alone with the asshole, she discovered that he had been paid five thousand dollars to sneak into her room and kidnap her. The man didn’t know who had hired him since the transaction had been brokered over the phone.

The man, John Alverez, had been paid half of the fee in cash. It had been left for him in a paper bag that was taped under a seat on the ferry that had brought him over to the island earlier. He was supposed to leave her at a motel on the mainland where the second half of his payment would be waiting.

Trinity was always irritated by the procedures she had to deal with after shooting someone, though she understood the dance well enough not to argue. Thankfully, Jackson wasn’t one of the cops who showed up after Maxwell had made the call to 911.

Even though she was technically the victim, the cops had given her the hard eye until she had made a call to Tara. They had arranged for the prisoner to be taken to the hospital to be treated under guard. In the morning, he would be escorted to the mainland, where an agent would be waiting to take him into custody.

John Alverez would be interrogated again, then locked away, quick and quiet. Trying to kidnap an IAD agent, even one on medical leave, came with a heavy price. Although he hadn’t known exactly who he had been coming after, ignorance was not a defense.

Basically, that dude’s life was now totally fucked.

When the cops left, Trinity closed the door behind them and Maxwell ended a call on his cell phone, placing it on the buffet table in the living room.

“Your room will be fixed tomorrow afternoon. I’ve arranged for it to be dealt with while we’re out touring the renovations. We can move your stuff into my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

She studied him for a moment. “Or I could just get a new room.”

“You could,” he said carefully. “But I don’t want you to. I want you here with me. I want you, Trinity. But I won’t push for anything more than having you where I can hold you for the night. Will you let me?”

She considered it for a long minute. It probably wasn’t wise, but she realized she really didn’t give a fuck about that.

Answering honestly, she said, “I’d like that.”

In a matter of minutes, they moved all of her stuff into his bedroom. Not that she had much. She’d been impressed when he had barely raised an eyebrow at what had occurred earlier but found herself being a little apprehensive when he didn’t blink at the arsenal she scattered around his bedroom.

The man was too damn calm, and it was weirding her out. Turning around with her hands on her hips, she scowled at him after she finished storing her suitcase in the large walk-in closet.

“What’s the deal?”

That arrogant brow rose. “What’s what deal?”

“This—” She gestured her hands in the air in circular motions. “All of this tonight. How can you want me here with you when I just hid four guns and six knives around the suite?”

“Was it six? I only saw three. Perhaps you should show me where you put them again so I don’t accidentally cut myself.”

“See! That’s what I mean. How can you act like this is all normal to you?”

Maxwell sat down on the bed. Before the cops had arrived, they had both dressed in shirts and jeans. Those jeans were now constricting his burgeoning erection as he valiantly tried to focus on her question instead of the fact that she would be in his bed in a few minutes.

“Nothing about this situation is normal, Trinity. Am I pissed about what happened tonight? You’re damn right I am. That fucker could have hurt you! This is my hotel. Mine. You were attacked while I was only a few feet away. I find that intolerable. I’ve upgraded security in the hotel, but until we know who is after you, there is very little we can do to ensure your safety. So, no, I’m not worried that you’ve taken precautions that will make it easier for you to defend yourself here.”

She stared at him silently, and he wondered what was going through that fascinating head of hers. Her hazel eyes looked almost golden in the dim light and her beautiful hair lay loose around her shoulders and spilled down her back. She was like a temptress luring him to his doom, but he realized that he would gladly follow wherever she led him.

The sexual tension was there between them, so thick he could almost taste it. A part of him knew that this could be a huge mistake, though it didn’t feel like it. Lust was the obvious choice of excuse, but there was something more between them now. Something inside him that had lain dormant had awakened as he had gotten to know her over dinner. She was bold and bright, like a glowing star in an otherwise pitch-black night.

And he wanted that light.

He wanted, no, he needed the vibrancy of her in his dull life.

The silence while he waited for her to respond was almost unbearable. His muscles strained as he fought to stay where he was and not jump up and grab her. But when she did speak, he grew even more rigid with tension.

“I slept with someone a few nights ago.”

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