Page 50 of Hot for Hostage

Needing to cover her up, I blindly grabbed a towel off the stack and held it open with my eyes still on the sky. “Come here.”

I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Since when had I become such a gentleman?

She walked straight into my arms and let me wrap the towel around her.

“Thank you,” Sadie whispered, pushing up on her tiptoes and tugging on my arm until I leaned down enough for her to press a warm kiss against my cheek.

Luckily, the towel made it easier to focus on getting Sadie fed, even though her perfectly shaped breasts was seared into my brain forever.

“If I knew you liked the water so much, I would’ve brought a swimsuit from your place.” I reached for her hand and led her toward the table.

She squeezed my hand and smiled down at it. “It’s fine, really. I haven’t been swimming in ages, and your pool is so cool. I’ve never seen one with a waterfall before.”

I took a seat and pulled her toward my lap.

She scrunched her nose, eyeing my dress slacks. “But I’m all wet.”

“I can see that,” I said, unable to resist a smirk. “Sit.”

Eyes narrowing, she eased sideways onto my lap. Grateful to Antonio for cutting all the fruit, I picked a piece of strawberry off the plate. When Sadie moved to get one for herself, I lifted it to her mouth. “Here.”

Her eyes narrowed further, but she let me feed her a few pieces of fruit. The intimacy of the simple act was new. Sitting on the back patio in the middle of the day and feeding a woman was far from typical for me, but I could easily get used to it. Sadie smelled of chlorine mixed with sunshine, and it made me want to take a dip in the pool, too.

Maybe I would after lunch.

My guest watched me closely while I fed her a medley of things from the tray.

“Why are you doing all this, Dav?” she asked after a bite of sandwich. Her head cocked to the side, and she fiddled with a corner of her towel.

“Feeding you?” I asked, not hiding my amusement.

“Not just that. But also taking on my enemies and letting me stay here and… and being so nice to me?”

I fed her another slice of strawberry before answering. “I thought it was obvious.”

She slowly shook her head.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Sadie.” I settled my hands on her inviting hips. “Not many have the guts to point a gun at me.”

Mostly because they knew what I’d do to them if they tried.

She didn’t see it for the compliment it was, and her face flushed with indignation. “But I’m not normally like that!”

“Yes, you are.” I fought back a smile. “You went up against the Skulls with nothing more than a broom. You’re staying at a compound filled with armed men, and instead of hiding in the corner, you took over my pool.”

A round of playful barks sounded from the forest. Bear must’ve found his squirrel.

“It’s refreshing,” I continued. “I’m used to being around people who fear me or say whatever they think I want to hear. You do neither of those things.”

She shook her head. “That’s not completely true. I was terrified when I first saw you at Bruno’s.”

“Were you?” My lips twitched. “Could’ve fooled me when you aimed Vince’s piece at me.”

“It was before that,” she said dismissively, looking over my shoulder and tilting her head in thought. She waved one hand in the air. “This aura of menace and danger oozed from you?—”

I snorted. “Oozed?”

“And this instinct in my bones told me to run far away.” She tightened the towel around herself. “But then I remembered my friend’s advice. And when I grabbed Vince’s gun, this wave of adrenaline came over me. I think it canceled out the fear.”

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