It was a deal that worked well for them both.
“You shouldn’t be out here alone.” Now Jasper sounded angry.
“I’ve got a security system.” One that she would not be forgetting to activate ever again. “I’m perfectly safe.”
“Out here by yourself? In the middle of nowhere? If you needed help, who would get to you before you were dead?”
Now, that was a brutal jab she hadn’t seen coming.
He stalked toward her. “Who would get to you,” he demanded, voice lowering, “if you needed help right now?”
Her hands were behind her. Curling around the counter. “I’m not as defenseless as you seem to think.” He was trying to scare her. She got that.
“Aren’t you?” Jasper pressed.
She grabbed the knife that she’d just used and yanked it in front of her. “No, I’m not.”
He smiled, and she had the impression that she’d actually surprised him.
She doubted that much surprised Jasper.
But then the crazy man grabbed the knife. No, he grabbed her hand as it held the knife’s handle. “Having a weapon and being willing to use it are two different things.” His breath blew lightly over her. “Would you be willing to kill?”
No. “I’m not looking to kill anyone.”
“What if someone wants to kill you?” He lifted her hand to the counter. She dropped the knife. “Gunner called me,” Jasper told her. “He can’t reveal everything about the case, but those two men who were shot last night? They were hired thugs. Their prints came back and matched to a Billy Ferrell and Chuck Trout. They’ve got a dozen charges on them in Dallas. B and E, assault...”
“Kidnapping?”
“No. Looks like you’re their first kidnap attempt. But word is that those guys weren’t afraid to hire out their services.”
“You’re saying...” She licked her lips. His gaze dropped, heated. He felt the awareness, too. That was a good thing, right? “You’re saying they were hired to take me?”
“Gunner found out that Trout’s older brother served in a training unit with Cale. Back when the men first enlisted. The guy died in combat, but Cale just might have kept in touch with his family.”
“How does Gunner know this already?” It was just past nine in the morning.
“Because the team is good.”
The team? The FBI?
“The team might be good,” she managed. “But you’re wrong about Cale. He wouldn’t pay someone to kidnap me. That doesn’t even make sense.”
“You’re asking a lot of questions about his whereabouts. Turning over rocks that might need to stay still. Maybe he got tired of that scrutiny.”
“No. This is my brother—I know what I’m talking about. He didn’t hire those men.” They’d had knives. They’d forced her car off the road. No way would Cale have sent them after her.
Jasper held her gaze a beat longer. “Someone hired them.”
“Let Gunner and Wyatt find that someone.” She couldn’t lose her focus. “We have to find Cale.” She waited a beat and then, because he’d pushed her buttons and tried to make her doubt the one person who had always been there for her, Veronica said, “That is what I’m paying you for.”
One blond brow climbed. “So it is.”
He backed up. She could breathe again.
“And here I thought you might be interested in other...things.”
He was talking about the kiss. Her cheeks flushed. Seriously. He’d just brought that up? To her face? “I was stressed.”
“Um.”
“Adrenaline was surging. I—I didn’t even know what I was doing.”
“Sure seemed like you knew to me.” His gaze dipped to her mouth. “If you feel the urge to...have another surge, you let me know.”
She couldn’t even think of a comeback.
“Until then, I’ve got some leads to run down.”
Leads? “I’m coming with you.”
His gaze narrowed. “After last night, there’s no way I’d leave you behind. Someone’s targeting you—and until Gunner catches that someone, you’re gonna have yourself a full-time guard.”
“Th-that’s not what I’m paying you for.” What if he wanted more money? Her resources were close to being tapped out.
But he flashed her a wide smile, one that made her heart feel a little funny. “Consider it a bonus,” he said.
“He’s a tough SOB.” She remembered the words Cale had spoken to her the one time she’d met the two men at a restaurant in Dallas. He’d given her the warning when Jasper had slipped away to take a phone call. Her gaze must have lingered on Jasper’s back for a little too long because her brother had leaned in to tell her... “Don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s anything soft in there. A guy like him would eat you up and spit you out.”
Jasper’s gaze was a little too knowing on her.
Eat you up.
She gulped. “L-let’s go.” She tried to head for the door.
He grabbed her arm. “Aren’t you going to ask about them?”
Them? She knew what he meant, of course. Her gaze lowered to his chest. To the dozens of scars that crisscrossed his tanned flesh. “You survived.” Simple. The marks didn’t detract from his appeal. They just made him look tougher, stronger. The scars were silent testament to all that he’d survived. “Is there more you want to tell me?”
Because she would listen.
He shook his head. “I don’t get you. Earlier, I thought I was— I don’t get you.”
Most people didn’t. Story of her life. But she tried to keep her voice light as she said, “What’s to get?” She wanted to lift her hand and trace the white ridge of the scar on his shoulder. Or let her fingers slide over the still-red scar on his stomach. A long, thick red line that looked dangerously fresh. “You’re a survivor.”
“Most women get... They don’t like the scars.”
She forced herself to hold his stare. “I’m not m-most women.” Nothing about him was a turnoff to her. No, he turned her on too much. More than any other man ever had. He was lethal in so many ways.
“No” was his quiet, thoughtful reply. “You aren’t.”
Her hands had fisted. The better not to touch him. But now she saw the curiosity in his eyes. The kind of curiosity a man got when he found a woman he wanted.