Packing Heat(147)

Travis looked out the window and sighed.

“They’re gone,” he said.

I collapsed back onto the bed, relief and terror rolling through me simultaneously.

“What the hell am I going to do?” I said out loud.

“Nothing,” Travis answered, grinning. “You’ll sleep here tonight, and in the morning we’ll work it out.”

“This was supposed to be just one night,” I said softly.

“Shit changes,” he answered, and disappeared back into the bathroom.

I couldn’t believe what had just gone down. Now, somehow, this stranger was involved in all of this, whether I wanted him to be or not. He was making deals with the Dixie Mafia for me, offering to take care of work for them in exchange for my debts. But fifty thousand dollars of debt wasn’t going to come off easy.

Not to mention I was stuck with a man who drove me absolutely wild. I wasn’t the type of girl to get involved with men like him. I was a good girl, a farm girl. I grew up on my family peach farm and never imagined a life beyond that. I didn’t go to college because I always thought I’d work the farm my whole life, and that was all I wanted.

But now I was with some strange man in his strange hotel room, wanted by the Dixie Mafia, my whole life destroyed beyond recognition.

I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I had no choice. This asshole SEAL was a part of this now, whether I wanted him to be or not.





6





Travis





I woke up with a fucking backache on the floor. The sun was streaming in through the curtain and Hartley was wrapped up in the sheets, sleeping soundly.

The memory of the night before came back to me. It was a damn coincidence that Hoyt was the one to show up, but I couldn’t pretend like that really surprised me.

Hoyt had always been into shit like this. But he was smart and capable, so he never was the type to get tangled up in the petty crap that a lot of guys got into, including me.

It shouldn’t come as a huge shock that Hoyt had worked his way up through the Dixie Mafia. Frankly, I was lucky as hell that it was him who showed up. I remembered him and my brother hanging out after football games, laughing and drinking beer. We were all just kids back then, but Hoyt was a nice enough guy.

Not a violent and sick fuck like the guys who worked for him, the guys who almost raped Hartley. Hoyt was reasonable at the very least, and I trusted that he’d take my offer up to his bosses.

Whether they took my offer or not, well, that was another matter entirely. Who knew what they were thinking, if they thought they could get more from Hartley’s family by putting pressure on her, or if they saw value in me. It was hard to tell with these guys sometimes, but at least I’d gotten us through the night.

Once Hoyt had left, I could tell the girl was exhausted. I’d had another drink and then let her sleep in the bed. She was snoring before I could even get comfortable, or at least as comfortable as I could get.

I’d slept in some pretty fucked up situations as a SEAL. I was used to sleeping on rocks and shit. Still, I hated sleeping at the foot of a bed, especially when that bed had a fucking sexy, available woman sleeping in it.

I’d had my chance. Damn was I fucking close, inches away from tasting those sweet lips, and she was dripping for it. I knew she wanted it, wasn’t stepping away, and fucking Hoyt ruined that. He broke the spell, and the girl seemed back to her normal, sullen self.

“Morning,” she said, and I glanced up at her.

“Morning.”

“Been up long?”

“Not long.”

She sat up, her hair spilling down around her. “What’s the food situation?”

I smirked at her. “You been awake for thirty seconds and you’re already thinking about food.”

“What can I say? I like to start my day out right.”

I sighed and sat up, stretching. “I can procure something, but you’re stuck with me today.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I’m not fucking around with the Mafia, Hartley. You need to stick with me until they make up their mind.”

“And if they don’t take the deal?”

“We’ll figure that out.” I stood up and felt her eyes on my body. I walked to the bathroom, wearing only black boxer briefs and a tight white T-shirt.

“Why the hell are you doing this?” she called after me.

I paused in the doorway and grinned at her. “Because I was on leave and I was fucking bored. Plus, once I got a look at that fucking body in your cute little sundress, I wasn’t walking away.”

She made a face, but I was already closing the door, laughing.



Hartley wasn’t kidding when she said she liked breakfast. Three big pancakes and a large coffee later, she was sitting in the passenger seat of my car, looking out the window and wearing that sexy fucking dress again.