Page 26 of Hunted

Leila shook her head and gave a disgusted snort. That was her ex all right. Always trying to work an angle. She hoped it turned around and bit him in the butt this time. His gang wouldn’t take lightly to him turning state’s witness against them.

“What about the other members of his gang?” she asked. She’d told the officers about the threats they’d made to her at the grocery store. “I don’t want them coming after me, blaming me for him getting arrested.”

“I don’t think they’ll be a problem,” the cop assured her. “From what his cohort from the apartment complex was telling us in the interrogation room, he wasn’t there to act as back-up. That dude was there to take Mike out himself. The drugs in his car were ones Mike stole from his gang. My guess is his former gang members will teach him a costly lesson in prison. There’s a bunch of them at the place where he’s going. He’s going to have to watch his back.”

The thought made Leila shiver. So much horrible violence. Mike had brought it on himself, but it still left her feeling ill.

“We’ll keep an eye on your apartment for a while longer,” the cop added. “Just to make sure there are no more problems. The place is pretty beat up though. You might want to stay somewhere else until you can have repairs made.”

“No worries.” She gave her a sad smile. “My son and I are flying to Puerto Rico in the morning.”

“You’re still going?” a voice said from behind her, and she turned to find Clint standing there. He must’ve walked up while she’d been talking to the cop. He looked as exhausted as she felt, and his blue gaze was guarded. “Now that Mike is taken care of, you don’t have to leave.”

“Yeah, I do.” Leila pushed away from the wall, hating that she was hurting him but knowing it was for the best. “At least for a little while. I need time to think and decompress. Going to see my mother will give me that. Plus, Thomas will get to spend time with hisabuela. It’s all good.”

He watched her closely for a second, as if he wanted to argue, then nodded. “If that’s what you need, then you should do it. You and your son have been through a lot of trauma at the hands of your ex. You deserve every good thing now. I hope you do what makes you happy.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to say thathecould make her happy. But her actions had ruined that. He wouldn’t trust her, wouldn’t let her in again. And she couldn’t blame him for that.

“I hope the same thing for you,” she said.

“What time’s your flight?”

“Just before noon,” she said, staring at her toes because it was just too painful to meet his gaze.

“Come back to my house for the night, and I’ll take you to the airport in the morning,” he said.

“I…” It wasn’t a good idea, and she was searching for an excuse, even though she wanted nothing more than to be with him. “I’ll get a motel room.”

“My place is familiar to Thomas. Wouldn’t that be better for him? He’s had a tough day, too.”

He had a point. Thomas really would be more comfortable there. Her apartment was still a crime scene, and an impersonal motel sounded horrible. “Okay, I appreciate that. I promise we’ll stay out of your hair.”

“No need for that.” He gave her a smile that weakened her knees and almost, almost made her reach for him.

She was definitely going to have to keep her distance from him tonight.

15

Clint stood in his quiet gun range the following morning and did his best to concentrate on taking inventory. He’d fallen behind in his tasks what with all the other stuff he’d been dealing with. Lessons and life and Leila.

His chest squeezed at the thought of her and how they’d parted.

Dammit. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. He wasn’t supposed to feel like his world had ended when she’d gotten out of his truck and walked into the airport with Thomas.

He liked his solitude. Had always enjoyed his independence, at least until a certain Latina beauty with liquid dark eyes and an adorable son had dropped into his life out of nowhere. Now, it seemed, they were all he could think about. He’d hoped she’d come to him in the night. He hadn’t known how to tell her how he was feeling, but he could have shown her with his body and his touch.

True to her word, though, she’d stayed out of his way. They’d stopped and picked up sandwiches for dinner. Once they’d gotten to his place, she’d quickly fed Thomas and put him to bedearly. Clint had expected her to come back out to the living room so they could talk, but she hadn’t. She’d stayed in her room, only appearing that morning just minutes before they had to leave for the airport.

It all sucked.

Grumbling, he moved down the display cases, marking numbers and check boxes on his clipboard, stopping abruptly as the tip of his black work boot knocked against something on the floor that was half hidden beneath the display case. Curious, he reached down and picked up a tiny thunderbird toy. He squinted at it. How’d that gotten there? Then he realized. It must’ve been left over from the last time Suzie had watched Thomas during one of Leila’s shooting lessons. The older woman liked to bring Thomas little gifts from her souvenir stand.

Shit. Clint scrubbed his hand over his face as he remembered the cute kid with the mischievous grin and dark, tousled hair. Clint sniffed the toy and found it still carried the boy’s sweet scent—baby shampoo and fabric softener.

With a sigh, he set it on the counter and continued on with his work. He expected he’d spend a lot of time at work from now on. His house was too full of reminders of Leila and Thomas. He’d returned home briefly after taking them to the airport only to find a pair of her socks left in the dryer in the laundry room, Thomas’s crackers in the cupboard, and a tube of Leila’s rose and cinnamon scented hand lotion in the bathroom. He was sad to see his old stuffed rabbit back on the shelf in the closet like the past days had never happened. He would have liked the kid to have something to remember him by. He’d picked it up, carrying it around for a moment before forcing himself set it aside.

Gah! What the hell was wrong with him? He wasn’t the guy who pined over a woman and a little boy. Was he?

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