The Man I Want to Be (Under Covers)(18)

The man lay face down, his shirtless back toward the ceiling. Wide  shoulders sprawled across the bed, spilling over onto her side. Long  dirty-blond hair fanned his pillow. His face was turned away from her,  but she could see the faint outline of a beard across his cheeks and  jawline.

Shit. Shit. Motherlode of all shit.

Lifting the crisp, white cotton sheet enough, she saw he was wearing  black boxer briefs, and she breathed a big sigh of relief. It was one  thing to fall asleep together. It was quite another if he were naked.

While her intention was to lower the cover and get immediately out of  Dodge, she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the round, sculpted  mounds that stared back at her. The bottom edges of his briefs rode up  to the underside of his ass, accenting just how full the object below  was. It also drew attention to his extremely long, chiseled legs. Bryan  had always been athletic and bulked up easily, but now, as a man, he  exuded a new level of masculinity. In a man's body.

She swallowed down her rising need. The temptation to have him was most  definitely there, no matter how badly she wanted to deny it. And in a  situation like this one, in full view of his body, it was difficult to  remember that she didn't want him.

Or at least shouldn't want him.

Finally, after some struggle, she convinced herself to roll away. Slowly  and quietly, Kenna shimmied out of the bed and tiptoed to the other  side of the room. She was still in the same tank and skirt she'd been  wearing last night. Her shoes lay across the room in front of a dresser.

Kenna started to reach for her shoes, but something caught her eye on  the nearby table. A half-torn piece of paper on what looked like hotel  letterhead. She stole a quick glance at Bear, who still slept in the  same position, then bent to get a closer look at the paper.

At the top of the page someone had scribbled, Avg height. Dark hair. Lean. Then she saw a list of men's names.         

     



 

Suspects! Bryan must have been able to obtain a list of suspects from hotel security!

Another quick glance at Bryan, then she snatched the paper from the  table, grabbed her shoes, and raced like hell out of the room. She  needed to work through most of this list before Bryan tracked her down  and killed her.



Kenna lounged poolside with a wide-brimmed sun hat, oversize sunglasses,  and her pink bikini. She peered over a magazine at a guy treading water  in the deep end. According to the hotel employee who brought her a  pineapple martini, the man was Joseph Landry. The fifth name on the  list.

There were twenty total names, and given the rip at the bottom of the  page, there were most likely more. Which she'd search for if the guys on  this list ended up being duds. Like the first four who were either too  short or too old.

This one, though. He fit the profile perfectly.

She'd watched him enter the pool about ten minutes ago. He was lean with  dark hair. He had an air about him. Confident and authoritative. He  exuded power. She could sense it from here. When he walked along the  edge of the pool toward the diving board, she got a clear shot of his  back. He looked damn similar to and had the same smooth manner as the  man she'd seen walking down the hall when her mom's ring had been taken.

This could be her guy.

When the thought sank in, her palms grew clammy, and her pulse kicked up.

Patience.

He swam for a while, leisurely doing laps, so she used the time to  reflect on the past few days. She and Bryan had gotten along really well  last night. Laughed, even. It was … nice. And made it easy to remember  how it felt when things were good between them.

She missed that most. How much fun they used to have together. No one used to make her smile like Bear.

A long, deep breath and also a sip from her drink later, she watched  Joseph leave a trail of wet footprints behind him as he approached his  beach chair to gather his belongings. He threw his towel over his  shoulder, slipped his feet into thong sandals, and donned metal-framed  sunglasses. Sliding what looked like his room key card into his pocket,  he turned and headed in the direction she'd come from when she'd left  Bryan's room.

Flip-flops already on, Kenna stood and picked up her towel, taking off after Joseph as fast as she could without being obvious.

Kenna held up her phone and snapped a few pictures of his backside as he  walked up a stone path, passing well-manicured shrubs and richly  colored flowers. Joseph turned once and looked in her direction, so she  acted like she was taking a selfie.

Slowing her pace so as not to tip him off, Kenna pretended to gaze at  one of the flowers. The man continued the ascent up the hill toward the  main hotel. When she thought he was far enough ahead where she could  still see him without being obvious, she started after him.

That's when a tall brick wall stepped in front of her, and a hand  gripped her wrist. Tipping her head back, she met Bear's furious blue  eyes.

"Clever," he said. "You plan all of that last night just to get the list?"

She laughed in his face. "Yeah, sure. I came up with the master scheme  of getting rip-roaring drunk just so you'd take me back to your room,  and I could steal the list from you. You're the idiot who left it out in  plain sight. If you didn't want me to take it, you should've hidden it  better."

He peered down at her with an unreadable expression. "You left this morning."

She shrugged. "So?"

"You were in my bed."

"But I wanted to be in my bed. You were the one who placed me in yours."

"Maybe I wanted you there."

Maybe she wanted to be there.

No, she didn't. What her brain and her body wanted were two very  different things. Her body could want him all it wanted. But her head  and her heart weren't going to forgive so quickly. If ever.

"Look," she said, peering around him at Joseph's retreating back. "As  much as I'd love to reminisce about old times, I'm onto something. So  I'll catch you late-"

His hand tightened around her wrist. "You're not going anywhere."

She tugged against his unbreakable hold. "I think I found him. The thief."

His anger evaporated immediately. He released her and shot looks all around them. "What? Where?"

She pointed. "That way. Come on." Without waiting for him, she stepped  around his large frame and ventured in Joseph's direction. She spotted  him about thirty yards away, getting ready to enter the lobby. "Hurry  up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." His footsteps sped up behind her as she increased her own pace.

They reached the front door of the hotel about the time Joseph was  crossing the grand foyer. He turned left toward a bank of gold  elevators.         

     



 

"He's getting away!" She threw open the door and busted into the lobby.

"Where is he? Which one?"

"There."

Joseph had pushed his sunglasses onto the top of his head and was  looking down at his phone as he waited for the elevator doors to open.

A deep, irritating chuckle sounded next to her. When she looked at Bryan, he wore an expression like she'd lost her mind.

"Landry?" He could barely get the name out between a string of heavy snorts. "That's your suspect?"

"Yes. Why? How do you know him?"

The man in question stepped into the elevator, and before the doors  closed, Kenna almost sprinted and threw a hand between. But the doors  shut, and her supposed thief got away.

Whirling on Bryan, she said, "Speak. Now."

"Landry's not your thief."

She crossed her arms. "How do you know?"

"Because he's my boss."

"Just because he's your boss-"

Bear sobered immediately. "It's not him."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's a by-the-book kind of guy. Never steps out of line for anything.  There's no way he could take a piece of gum from someone without asking  them for it first."

Her heart sank. Well, damn.

"But he looked like the man I saw outside my hotel room. Exactly like him, in fact. Same build. Same hair."

"Really?" Bryan scratched his beard. "I guess I could talk to him." When  her eagerness must have shown on her face, he said, "But only to see if  he noticed anything or anyone suspicious. Not to interrogate him."

"But if he-"

"He's not."

"But he could-"

"No."

She stomped her foot. "Stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Discrediting what I say. I'm not ruling out anyone who fits the  profile. I know what I saw. As far as I'm concerned, he's still a  suspect."

Bear's expression was impassive and he stayed silent a moment, seeming to think her statements over. Then, "Okay, fine."

That was a surprise. "Seriously? Just like that? You're not going to continue arguing with me?"

"What's the point? You'd keep going on about it forever, and we'd miss the real thief."

True. She would. She hated being wrong.

"But I'm telling you: it's a waste of energy," he said. "It's not Landry."