Page 17 of Hunted

Her stress clawed at his chest, and he stepped closer to place his hands on her shoulders. “Hey, relax, okay? All this tension isn’t making the situation any better. Besides, I think we both know what is bothering us today.”

Leila looked up at him then, the heat and wariness in her dark brown nearly dropping him to his knees. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

Damn. She was going to make him say it. Fine. Clint cleared his suddenly tight throat. “The kiss.”

She licked her lips and he stared at the tiny movement of her soft pink tongue, mesmerized. Then she stepped back, away from him. He missed her heat immediately. “I’m fine. It was just a kiss. Not a big deal.”

There was a slight roughness to her words that told him her statement was a lie. She was every bit as affected by what had happened between them as he was. He’d have been wise to try and put the memory aside, like she was clearly trying to do. But every cell in Clint’s body was yelling at him to give in, to see where things went with her, to let nature take its course.

After all, this unresolved sexual tension was doing nothing but distracting them both and neither of them could afford it right now. Perhaps it was best to sleep together and get it over with. Get it out of their systems and move the hell on. Or maybe he was just rationalizing what he wanted to do. If wasn’t smart to be thinking that way. He needed to put some distance between them. Get his walls back in place.

But, damn, it was hard to do when she was looking at him like that.

“How about we give it up for today? We’re not accomplishing anything.” His tone was gruffer than he wanted it to be. “And I’m hungry. We’ll try again tomorrow.” He added the last because he didn’t want her to think he was giving up on her. He wasn’t. He just needed some perspective.

Leila studied him a long moment, and for a second, he feared she would tell him to get lost. But then she seemed to come to a decision within herself and she nodded. “Sounds perfect.”

Usually, Thomas ate dinner with them. But he’d been rubbing his eyes when they got back from the range, so Leila had fed him mac and cheese and put him to bed early. Which meant she was dining alone with Clint. There was a lingering tension between them ever since the kiss the night before and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Whatever she decided, it needed to be dealt with quickly. She couldn’t have this thing between them messing with her mojo, not with so much on the line right now.

She cut into her perfectly cooked steak and took a bite, the delicious flavor of char-boiled beef filling her mouth. Unfortunately, she couldn’t enjoy it because Clint was currently sitting across the table from her, frowning down at his baked potato. She shouldn’t care about him and yet, she did. He’d been her rescuer, offering her and her son a safe place to hide out until they got their lives back together. He was teaching her not just how to use a gun, but how to trust other people. Heady stuff for a woman who’d never planned to depend on anyone else ever again.

But this tension between them was untenable.

“What’s wrong?” she finally asked, taking a sip of the bottle of ale he’d opened for her.

“Nothing,” he said, shoveling in another mouthful of his meal and avoiding her gaze. His dour tone suggested the opposite. “Just tired, I guess.”

Okay. Sure. The common-sense part of her brain said she should accept that and leave it alone. Her heart, however, compelled her to find out more, wanted to see that slow, sexy smile grace his lips again and warm his gorgeous blue eyes. Leila took another small bite of steak and tried a different route. “This meal’s delicious.”

Clint grunted in response, taking a long drink of his beer. He put the half-empty bottle down then narrowed his gaze on the living room behind her. “God, this place is a mess.”

“Oh.” She tracked his focus to the toys and kid laundry strewn over his formerly pristine floor and furniture and winced. They’d been so busy that day she hadn’t really had a chance to clean up after herself or Thomas. For a guy who’d basically lived in a monastery before she’d moved-in, that must be tough for him to deal with. He'd brought it up before, so it must really be bothering him. “Sorry. Life with a toddler is messy and it’s been more hectic than usual. I’ll clean it up right after we finish eating.”

“Whatever,” he said, his grumpiness persisting. He’d been a bit distant today at the firing range too. Then again, she’d been frustrated about her performance as well. Frustrated by that stupid kiss, truth be told. Not because she hadn’t enjoyed it. She had. Way more than she should. In fact, it had been all she’d thought about afterward. She’d even dreamt about it last night. Kissing him, holding him, making love to him until neither one of them cared about guns or her ex or anything but each other and making a new life for themselves and her son.

Nothing more than a fantasy. Again. But what a nice dream.

Leila looked up and caught Clint watching her, a shadow of stark need brooding in his gaze before he looked away. Cursing underhis breath, he pushed away from the table and took his empty plate to the sink. The muscles between her shoulder blades knotted tighter, the frustration and want inside her brewing into a bubbling stew of irritation. It wasn’t rational, but to hell with it. He had no right to act like an ass. She was the one dealing with tremendous stress here.

She forced herself to finish the rest of her food while he fussed around at the sink then finally she stood and joined him at the counter, her annoyance over his behavior and her strengthening awareness of him pushing her closer to the edge, pushing her to be more reckless. If he was looking for a fight tonight, she’d happily give him one. “You know, Clint,” she said, ready to hit all his buttons. “You’re not in the military anymore. Maybe it’s time to live a little. Stop being so fussy about your pristine space. Life’s meant to be lived. Sometimes that comes with a mess or two.”

Clint snorted. “Great. Yeah, please lecture me on how to live my life, since you’re such an expert. Single, raising a kid on your own, with a crazy ex-con stalker on your tail. I know exactly what works for me in my life. Don’t you dare come in here with your cute kid and your wild, colorful ways and try to change me. I don’t like change.”

Angry and hurt, she hip-bumped him out of the way to rinse off her own dishes, not caring that she was being rude. He was being rude too, saying deliberately hurtful things. When she replied, her tone dripped with sarcasm, as did her fake smile. “For a guy who’s only thirty-five, you act like a stick-up-the-butt sixty-year-old.”

“Hey!” He turned and glared at her, his arms crossed and his muscles bulging, all but bristling with testosterone. The airbetween them seemed to sizzle with electricity. “Why should I listen to you? Your track record on reading people sucks.”

True, dammit. But boy was her radar going off about this situation. In the past, during arguments with Mike, she’d feared for her safety, knowing he wasn’t above dominating her with his fists when his words failed. But with Clint, she knew he’d never hurt her physically. She also recognized the signs of extreme need within herself. Much as she hated to admit it, she wanted him—more than she’d wanted anyone ever. And it pissed her off. Or maybe that was passion. Hard to tell at this point.

“No. You know what truly sucks here?” she asked, shutting off the water and turning to face him, her index finger pointing at the center of his chest. “The way you let your fear override the joy in your life. You keep your head down and your heart locked away, thinking that’s the best way to keep it safe, but in reality, all it does is make you a sad, lonely, miserable man when you could have so much more.” She’d seen the way he was with Thomas. He had a lot of love in his heart, but he refused to give it the place in his life it deserved.

“And what about you, huh?” He moved closer, his breath ragged and his high cheekbones dotted with crimson. His blue eyes sparkled with restless energy, and she felt an answering tug within her, urging her to stand her ground, to take what she wanted from this man and screw the consequences.

It was insane. It was terribly unwise. It was the only thing she wanted in the universe at that moment.

Clint continued his tirade. “You think you’re being so safe, so careful. But what you’re really doing is isolating yourself from the people who could help you—the people who could care for you, if you’d let them inside. When it comes to letting people in,you’re no better than me. In fact, you’re just like me, even if you refuse to admit it. You’re scared. You’re so scared I can smell it on your skin, hear it in that little catch in your breath…”

They were so close now that she could see his pupils blown wide, obliterating the blue of his irises until just a tiny rim remained. The connection between them vibrated like a tuning fork sending wave after wave of awareness through her until she tingled all over. She should step back; she should walk away.

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