This Kiss

A lock of sun-streaked brown hair had fallen across his forehead. His face was lean and spare like the rest of him. Same square jaw she remembered, except for the dark stubble. And that perfect straight nose. He was even hotter now than he’d been back in high school.

Some friggin’ nerve.

“So, you weren’t sure if you had to show up in court or not and decided to take off anyway. Brilliant move.”

“No, it’s not like that.” He jerked his wrist, clanging the handcuffs against the wooden post. “Is this necessary?”

Well, that had to be rhetorical. She checked for texts or voice mails. “If the charges were dropped, my partner would’ve notified me. So guess you’re out of luck.”

“Okay, look, my friend Arnie... Can we turn on more lights?”

“No.” She sat on the chair and faced him. “Continue.”

Ethan’s normal, easygoing expression had vanished, replaced by a piercing frown that made her tense. “Who are you?”

“Sophie’s my real name.”

“You know what I’m asking.”

“I’m a fugitive retrieval agent—”

“Fugitive?”

“You asked.”

He cut loose a pithy four-letter word. “What’s that, a fancy name for a bounty hunter?”

“Yep.”

“And that gives you the right to slap handcuffs on me?”

“It sure does. Didn’t you read the bail bond contract?” By signing the document, he’d given her and Lola more authority to arrest him than even the police.

She watched him scrub at his face with his free hand and waited out his mumbled curses. Leaving him with an unrestricted hand wasn’t a smart move. The bedpost was made from solid wood and plenty sturdy...she’d checked first thing. But Ethan was agile and strong.

The memory of his hands on her body made her shudder.

Dammit, she should’ve brought two pairs of cuffs. Mandy preferred using zip ties and had given Sophie a few. But they were sitting in the Jeep.

“So that’s why you’re in such great shape,” he murmured.

“Excuse me?”

“I thought maybe you were a personal trainer or something, but that didn’t make sense, either,” he said, letting his gaze wander over her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Look, if you just let me make a phone call, I can straighten this out in no time.”

“I have a better idea. You can do it in person when I take you back to Wyoming.”

“Bullshit.”

Sophie smiled. “It’s late. No sense driving tonight. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

He jerked hard on the cuffs. The whole bed seemed to shake. “You know I won’t let you do that.”

“Oh?” She rose. “What are you going to do? Scream?”

Wow, that sure pissed him off. His face reddened, and his eyes turned positively frosty. He looked as if he wanted to put his hands around her neck and strangle the life out of her.

It gave her a new respect for what Mandy had to do all the time. Face down criminals who might actually want to hurt her. Ethan was angry, and he’d try to get away if he could, but Sophie wasn’t afraid of him. She knew he would never do her harm.

She walked to the window and parted the drapes, just enough so she could take a peek down the street. The Watering Hole wasn’t visible from here. Neither was her Jeep. Lots of people were still milling around, though. Another reason she wouldn’t try forcing Ethan into her car tonight.

Damn, she wished she’d grabbed her bag along with the jacket. She needed her toothbrush, face cream, a change of clothes, all that stuff... And she hated leaving Ethan alone while she ran to the Jeep. She turned and caught him staring at her butt.

He gave her a lazy smile.

Oh, so he was pulling out the charm again.

“Aren’t you gonna ask if I did it?”

“What’s the point?” Sophie said. “Unless you have proof, your answer means nothing. And if you had proof, I wouldn’t be here.”

His face darkened. “I didn’t steal a goddamn thing. Wendy lied.”

“Hmm, well, that’s what you get for sleeping with a married woman.”

“You mean, for not sleeping with her.” Ethan shook his head, briefly closing his eyes. “Wendy lied about that, too. When I found out she was married, I left. She was pissed. I knew that... I just didn’t know how bad.”

Sophie thought back to earlier when he’d asked if she was married. He’d even inspected her ring finger. Maybe he was telling the truth, or maybe he’d learned an expensive lesson. The thing was, she didn’t believe that he’d stolen anything. It made no sense. Even if he did need money, she’d seen the teenage Ethan’s moral center, and age didn’t change a person that much. But what she believed didn’t matter.

“If I’m supposed to have a hundred grand in stolen jewelry, why would I need someone to post my bond?”

“You didn’t have enough time to sell it?”

“Get real. I earned a lot more than that in endorsements alone this year. Plus my winnings.”

“Okay, so...” What was she doing? Sophie knew better than to get involved. Her job was to take him back to Wyoming, period. “Why not use your own money to post bond?”

“I don’t have that kind of cash lying around. My money’s invested. I start withdrawing funds and I get questions. The media are already all over my ass about the finals in a week.”

“Why?” She hadn’t realized that she’d walked closer to him until she bumped her knee on a corner of the bed.

“Because of my track record. Every year I—” He plowed his fingers through his hair, the action drawing attention to the muscles in his arms and shoulders. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What?” She snapped her gaze back to his face. “I’m sorry, I missed that last bit.”