Hunter’s lips parted, but no words came as we continued to stare at one another, guns drawn and aimed, but neither of us seemingly able to pull the trigger. Reluctantly, she dragged her gaze away from me and frantically searched the destroyed SUV with her eyes before exhaling her relief at discovering that her friend wasn’t here. I was still staring when Hunter’s angry gaze snapped back to mine.
Temptress.
I’d heard her call from the moment I first saw her in the surveillance photos of Coby. I knew she was attractive, but lots of women were. Needing more—a beautiful mind and heart—I’d grown bored with surface beauty years ago. Still, none of those photos had done Hunter Parrish justice.
She was exquisite.
“Oh, fuck!” Abel shouted. I was so captivated by Hunter, I hadn’t realized he’d woken up. His shout was Hunter’s only warning before my head of security pulled his gun and started busting.
“No!” I roared.
Gunshots rang out, making my ears ring. I shook off the sensation just in time to hear rapid footsteps retreating as Hunter safely got away.
“Crazy ass bitch,” Abel grumbled once she was gone. He looked at me weirdly when he noticed my gun was already drawn. “Why the fuck didn’t you shoot her ass?”
Ignoring him, I pushed past the aches and pains in my muscles and limbs as I climbed out of the SUV with Abel right behind me. The lead SUV that had taken the direct hit from the RPG was a ball of flame next to us. There was also smoke everywhere from the explosion and the grenades Hunter must have set off to maintain the advantage of her ambush. Abel and I helped drag Paul out and then left him lying on the ground since he was still unconscious.
“What the fuck!” Abel screamed as he looked around at the carnage left behind. It definitely told a story. Doors from the trailing SUVs were thrown open. Bodies were slumped over the open windows, some bleeding out from a slashed throat or a knife stuck in their backs. “She fucking…she fucking killed everybody!”
Laughing maniacally while holding my bruised side, I fell back against the upturned Denali. “Goddamn,” I said as I foughtto catch my breath. I think I’m IN LOVE!” I shouted my confession to the storm-darkened sky. Overhearing, Abel shot me the dirtiest look, but I didn’t care. It was the truth. Fires burned all around us, but none compared to the one Hunter and Coby had lit inside me. Lightning flashed, and thunder rolled as if it had heard my thoughts. A moment later, rain poured in sheets, washing away the evidence of what Hunter had done and turning all the blood into pools of dark pink. My wife’s favorite color. “Shit,” I croaked at the reminder that I was spoken for. This cat-and-mouse game with Hunter was making my dick hard and blocking access to my brain. “I think I hit my head too hard,” I mumbled.
“You think?” Abel shouted over the rain. Once again, I ignored him.
Hunter had stolen my weapons and then used them all against me to reclaim my wife.Mywife. Mine.
I think it’s finally time I had a real-ass discussion withmy wife.
Abel called in reinforcements, and we made it back to Glainne without anymore run-ins with Hunter.Shame. Niamh was already there waiting for us, but I waved her off when my cousin tried to make a fuss over me, and then I made Abel sit so she could attend to him instead.
The commotion had drawn Coby out of bed, who took one look at me bleeding all over the marble floor and ran to my side. It took almost an hour to console her and then another ten minutes to peel her off me once she was convinced I wasn’t dying. Niamh had finished patching up Abel and moved to help me, but Coby wouldn’t let my cousin touch me, so Niamh patiently showed her how to stitch my side where the glass had cut me.
“Who did this to you?” Her horrified whisper drew Abel’s attention, but one look from me silenced him before he could pop off.
After sending Niamh home, the three of us retreated to the office that I rarely used since I was never home. I took a seat behind my desk and pulled Coby to stand between my spread legs. She’d been asleep, so she was only wearing a dark pink nightgown that was now stained with my blood and a matching robe that was left open.
“Why are we in here?” She sniffled and tossed a concerned glance at Abel, who was across the room, angrily pacing a hole in my imported rug. “A-are you going to tell me what happened now?”
Leaning back in my chair, I rubbed my temples. “Coby…I need you to be honest with me, baby, and it needs to happen now. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes, I think so, but you’re scaring me.”
I swallowed the apology on my lips and held her gaze. “What the fuck is going on between you and Hunter?”
“What?” She visibly paled, and I felt my eyes narrowing at the nearly imperceptible step she took away from me. “What are you talking about? I already told you. She’s my best friend.”
“Cut the bullshit!” Abel roared. The stitches in his cheek that Niamh had just sewn together stretched tautly with his anger. “That bitch just tried to blow us up! Ain’t nofrienddoing all of that!”
“Aye!” I shouted at my head of security. “Unless you want me to finish what Hunter started, check your goddamn tone when you’re speaking to my wife.”
I heard a gasp and swung my attention back to Coby. “What is he talking about? Are you sayingHunterdid this?” Coby’s gaze swung back and forth between Abel and me. I honestly didn’t know if her confusion was genuine or a ploy to throw me offthe scent, and that’s what worried me, especially when her next question made it even more clear where her allegiance stood, even now. “Is she okay?”
Abel tossed back his head and laughed hoarsely at the ceiling before staring at me like I was the dumbest man in the world. “What more proof do you need, Ocean? Open your goddamn eyes. You almost get blown to pieces, but yourwifeis only worried ifHunteris okay.”
“First of all, I can clearly see that my man is fine, so how about you kiss my ass? You don’t know me!”
Abel’s only response was to suck his teeth and then kick a chair across the room, which made Coby jump. And that I couldn’t have.
“Abel…” I inhaled a calming breath. “Go take a walk, man. I got this.” It was an order that he knew to follow because I was one more dirty look thrown at my girl from fucking him up.
