Michael Hunter, FBI.” With that, Hunter raised his hand, recited his oath and settled into the game.
The questions were softball at this stage. Establishing his authority, outlining his role in the investigation. The defense wasn’t stupid enough to try and take a hatchet to his reputation. They were going to try to limit his effectiveness, make his testimony irrelevant.
At ease, his expression and body language making it clear he was as comfortable as if he were lounging in his own living room, Hunter rarely took his gaze off of Burns.
Finally, while Denton and Burns’s head shark yammered over a point of procedure, Hunter let his gaze wander.
It landed on a pretty blonde in the back of the room, seated behind a huge mountain of a guy, seemingly trying to hide.
He should have kept looking at the crime boss.
It was as though the floodgates burst. All the fury, the anger and frustration that’d been dogging him for the past two days pounded through his system again.
His responses became clipped. His attention split.
The chilly distance that was his usual testimony style took a hit as that anger started sparking at the edges.
Burns shifted in his seat.
His attorneys started scribbling a lot faster.
Murray frowned.
Denton tried to hide his grin.
Hunter didn’t give a damn about any of that. He met Marni’s wide-eyed gaze across the courtroom.
He watched her gulp. But brave little reporter that she was, she stood her ground. Or given that she was seated on one of the hard wooden benches, sat her ground. Lifting her chin, she met his glare with a calm look of her own, then probably because she couldn’t resist, she fluttered her lashes.
He was torn between fury and laughter.
Over the top of that, though, was the dueling need to storm across the courtroom, grab her curvy butt and toss her over his shoulder. Whether he’d verbally rip into her or physically dive into her when he got them to privacy was the only question.
11
MARNI GLANCED AT HER watch: 10:00 p.m. You’d think the terror-inspired headache she’d earned seeing Hunter in the courtroom that afternoon would have faded by now. She’d only managed to stick around for ten minutes, leaving before he was freed from the safe haven of the witness stand.
Her head throbbing worse now from the combination of self-disgust, a very loud restaurant and one glass past her limit of wine, she opened her hotel room door, tucking her key card into her purse. She stepped out of her heels right there in the doorway, not bothering with the lights.
She shouldn’t have gone to dinner with her aunt. She hadn’t been good company. She’d felt lousy after sneaking in to watch part of the trial. She’d expected to see Hunter, of course. But she’d figured she’d be staring at the back of his head. That he’d be facing the judge, not taking the stand. The shock of his eyes meeting hers still ricocheted through her body. It’d been all she could do to sit down and take notes instead of run from the courthouse in tears.
She’d learned more watching him on the stand than she’d learned in all her research. Not more than she’d learned by stripping him naked and nibbling her way down his body, but she didn’t figure any of that knowledge was relevant to her job.
In the end, she’d hurried out of that courthouse confused, upset and overwhelmed.
But as miserable as she’d felt, she hadn’t wanted to risk the tenuous new family bond with her aunt by canceling their dinner plans. So she’d popped a couple painkillers, slicked on her brightest lipstick and pretended that her life was peachy keen for three hours.
Now all she wanted was some relaxing music, a hot bubble bath and her pillow.
“You’re out late.”
Her scream ricocheted off the walls. So did her purse when she heaved it across the room. The responding grunt told her she’d aimed true. She spun toward the door, grabbing the handle and preparing to scream bloody murder.
“Aww, is that any way to greet me after all we’ve been through? All we’ve done with each other. To each other.”
Marni’s body went into a Pavlovian sexual meltdown at the sound of that voice coming through the dark. Even if she hadn’t recognized the shadow across the room, her body recognized the husky laugh.
But even as her body was screaming at her to turn around and launch it onto that gorgeous body, her mind was whispering caution warnings, while her instincts danced around waving flashing danger