His gaze on her wide eyes, he stepped lightly across wet leaves, hearing the drier ones crunch in protest. The need to get closer to her, even while she held a loaded gun, drove him hard. Just a little closer. “You won’t shoot an unarmed man.”
“You’re armed without a weapon, Mr. Volk.”
Make thatexcellentinstincts. “Maybe. And it’s Seth, Mia.” He could be polite and call herMs. Stone, but distance by manners bothered him. This once, with this woman, distance hurt. “Please.”
She relaxed back onto her seat, the gun remaining trained on his chest. Her gaze was thoughtful and intelligent, drawing him even stronger toward her. “You out playing in the woods…Seth?”
The sound of his name on her lips made the distance vanish with an illogical ache. He couldn’t have her, couldn’t know her, yet deep down, where hope lived, something lit. Keeping his gait loose, he reached the bottom of the warped steps and planted one foot. “I often go for a jog at night to clear my head.”
“Something bothering you?” Low, soft, her tone hinted at understanding and curiosity. Yeah, she felt whatever this was between them as strongly as he did. “Want to get the truth off your chest?”
“What’s the truth?” he asked softly, willing to agree to anything to keep her talking to him. Her soft voice might even chase the nightmares away for one night. Maybe even two.
“You tell me.”
That would never happen. Not really. “The truth is you need to get out of here. You don’t belong.”
“I’ve never belonged,” she said quietly.
Her loneliness echoed throughout his body. His hand trembled with the need to smooth the hair back from her face. To soothe her. He wasn’t a man who trembled—ever. So he shoved his hand into his pocket where it belonged. Touching her would be a colossal mistake he couldn’t make. “I didn’t kill Ruby.” Damn it. Not what he wanted to say.
“Prove it.” Her chin lifted as she met his gaze squarely.
“Can’t.” He shifted his weight, his breath catching at the alarm flaring in her emerald eyes. So he stepped back. Had he wiped off all the blood from his scuffle with Erik? Man, he hoped so. “Ruby was stabbed. Do you really think I need to stab a woman to kill her?”
“No.” Mia’s gaze wandered to his large hands and then back to his eyes. “Killings by stabbing can indicate sexual penetration. You have problems in that area?”
Unbelievable. The woman was actually profiling him. If she had any idea how quickly he could snatch the gun from her, she wouldn’t be taking such a risk. His face heated, and he climbed the first three steps. “No, and I’d be happy to prove that to you.”
Satisfaction twitched across her lips.
Yeah, she’d gotten to him. Against all logic, against his brain, he did something he should never have even considered.
He took the gun.
One second thegun was in her hand, and the next, Seth twirled it around his thumb. Even so, the threat came from the massive man, not the weapon. Nobody moved that quickly.
He dropped onto the matching wicker chair, which groaned beneath his substantial bulk. “Looks like I have the gun.” Odd, but he sounded bemused, not threatening.
Mia swallowed. Her heart rate picked up. How had he gotten the weapon out of her hand so quickly? And so smoothly? More importantly, why wasn’t she attacking or at least trying to flee? There was something about him she couldn’t quite grasp. “Apparently you have quick reflexes.”
The man wore loose shorts and no shirt. Hard angles showed defined muscles across his broad chest. Not muscles made in a gym, but natural, strong, more masculine—like those found in a wild animal. A light sheen of sweat glistened across his torso as if he’d been running for quite some time. Yet his breathing remained calm, and his sinewed body appeared relaxed.
He scratched his head and then released the clip into his other hand. “Is there one in the chamber?”
“Yes.” Lying would accomplish nothing. In his hands, the weapon looked innocuous. Not needed and almost in the way.
Seth nodded, his eyes cutting through the darkness. Slowly, he handed the gun back to her—with one still in the chamber.
She took it, her hand shaking. The metal had warmed from the brief moments in his hands. Even with the powerful weapon returned to her possession, Seth posed the most danger. “How did you move so quickly?”
“Good reflexes.”
That was the understatement of her life. The guy should play professional sports. Though there was no sense of play about him. “Why did you give it back?”
“So many questions, former FBI Special Agent Mia Stone,” he murmured as he settled his bulk in the chair and turned to face her squarely. “Maybe I want you to feel safe around me.”
Even without a murder between them, there was no way he inspired safety. Although appearing relaxed, a tension rolled off him that sped up her breath in a way she didn’t understand. Had she ever felt morefeminine? Instead of interesting her, that very sensation ticked her off. “Why would you want me to feel safe?”
