Page 59 of Sachie's Hero

Teller’s lips twisted at the memories of missions where waiting had been key. “We learned to sleep whenever and wherever we were, not knowing how long we’d be out or when we’d get the chance to close our eyes.”

“Hopefully, we won’t be up all night looking for Travis,” Sachie said. “I’m not even sure what we should do when, or if, we find him.”

“I thought we were going to ask him if he’s the one who’s been stalking you,” Teller said, knowing exactly how insane that sounded.

Sachie must have had the same thought. She glanced at him as if he’d grown a third ear. “Do you think he’s going to calmly confess to it?” Her gaze went out the front windshield. “I want to find out who’s at the bottom of it, but I don’t want to get killed in the process. And I don’t want you or the members of your team to suffer because of me. Maybe we should call it all off. Or we could do a stakeout, wait for Travis to show up and follow him to wherever he goes after the bar, get him alone and ask him then.”

“You’re getting yourself all worked up about something that isn’t going to happen for another six hours.” He reached across the console and took herhand. “We’ll make it work one way or another. In the meantime, let’s get you that hot shower. And if your muscles are still knotted, I could be convinced to massage out the knots.”

She gave him a weak smile. “You’d do that?”

Teller read her response as positive and his pulse quickened. “Whatever it takes.” He squeezed her hand briefly and returned his to the steering wheel. “You need to conserve energy. We don’t know what’s going to happen tonight. We’ll need to be ready for anything.”

He pulled into the drive-through, loading and unloading area of a high-rise hotel.

Sachie frowned at the elaborate entrance. “I don’t know if I can afford this. Couldn’t we go somewhere that won’t break my bank?”

He chuckled. “I get a military discount here. Plus, they have a great restaurant and quick room service.” He cut the engine. “Besides, it’s just one night.”

“If we get back here after we find Travis.” She stared at the fancy hotel. “We could be spending a lot of money for a room we might not get to use all night.”

“We get to use the room for the best part of the night, to include a hot shower, room service and a comfortable bed to relax on. We didn’t get that kind of treatment before each mission in the Army. Iconsider it a perk of being a civilian.” He winked and got out of the sedan. Then he rounded the hood and opened her door for her.

She got out slowly, glancing down at her jeans and casual blouse. “I’m not dressed for a place like this.”

“You look amazing,” he said, and meant it. She’d look good in anything she wore or in nothing at all. His groin tightened automatically at that last thought. He grabbed the bags with their purchases from the back seat and their suitcases from the trunk.

Clutching her purse in front of her, Sachie fell in step with Teller as the glass door slid open and a rush of chilled air washed over them.

After running down the purse thief, he was hot and sticky. When Sachie had mentioned wanting a hot shower, this hotel had been the first thing that had come to his mind.

Right after wicked images of Sachie standing naked in the hot shower with shiny rivulets of water cascading over her skin.

Yeah, he could keep dreaming. The woman had enough problems without having her hired bodyguard coming on to her.

Though he couldn’t wash that image out of his mind, he pushed it to the back of his thoughts and secured a room with two queen-sized beds. He didn’t want her to think she’d have to share one with him.

Unless she wanted to. He wasn’t opposed to the idea. Though, it would take all his willpower to keep from touching her the way he wanted to touch her—not just holding her in his arms through a nightmare or holding her hand.

The more his thoughts went down that path, the more he believed being alone in a hotel room with Sachie was a bad idea. He almost handed the key card back to the clerk and walked Sachie back out to the sedan.

Instead, he gave her the keycard, collected their bags and walked with her to the elevator, playing it as cool as he could when his blood burned hot through his veins. Whatever he did, he couldn’t let her know he was extremely attracted to her. He didn’t want her to feel awkward about sharing a room with him, and he couldn’t leave her in a room by herself.

They rode the elevator up to the fifth floor. Their room was near the end of the hallway, three doors down from the stairwell, Teller noted.

Sachie skimmed the keycard over the reader. The lock clicked open, and she pushed the door inward.

The room smelled of new carpet and fresh paint. Obviously, it had been redecorated recently. The furniture looked new, and the bed linens were crisp and bright.

Sachie went straight to the window. Although thehotel wasn’t directly on the shore, like many on Waikiki Beach, it had a view of the ocean in the distance.

“You can have the shower first,” Teller said. “I want to touch base with the team and with Hawk. I also want to see if Swede has come up with anything new.”

“Sounds good.” She remained at the window a moment longer, then sighed and lifted her suitcase onto the bed. After extracting a T-shirt, panties and a pair of shorts, she headed for the bathroom.

Teller called Hawk and filled him in on what had happened that day and their plan to go to the biker bar that evening.

“I’ve been in touch with George Ingram,” Hawk said. “They’ll come with four; plus you, it’s five. Do I need to send some over from Maui?”

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