before he settled himself between her thighs.
“I can go,” she said quietly, her hand dropping away from the buttons of her silk top.
It killed him to see that hurt on her face. To hear the self-protective distance in her tone.
It really all came down to faith.
He’d told Hunter he was sure his old man was innocent. But a part of him, the part that knew that there was a potential criminal in everyone, had wondered.
But Pandora? At the moment, all evidence pointed toward her. With what he’d seen, what he knew and what he’d heard, he’d have felt solid making an arrest.
But his instincts said otherwise. They said she was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman. Sweet and hot and adventurous. And, dammit, innocent.
So while he might be suffering from plenty of burnout and his instincts were raw nerves at this point, he had to listen to them. Because without that, he was nothing.
He’d just have to prove the evidence wrong.
PANDORA WOKE THE NEXT morning with a feeling of absolute contentment. Eyes still closed, she stretched on the lavender-scented sheets and gave a deep sigh of satisfaction.
Yum. What a delicious night.
Shifting to the pillow next to her, she smiled and slowly opened her eyes. Caleb stared back at her, his gold eyes intense and, if she read him right, concerned. Why?
“Hi,” she murmured, shifting back a little to get a better look at him. Stiff shoulders, jaw tight. He seemed distant, as if a part of him wasn’t even here in bed with her.
Pandora shivered a little, then ran her tongue over her lower lip. What was going on?
But before she could ask, someone knocked on the door.
“Company?” she asked quietly, suddenly realizing she was naked except for the soft rays of morning light. She grabbed the sheet and quilt and pulled them higher.
“Probably Mrs. Mac with another delivery. Or muffins. She thinks I’m going to starve if I don’t start each day with a half-dozen blueberry crumbles.”
He sounded normal. But he still looked…fake.
“Hang on,” he said, shifting out of bed and pulling on jeans, commando-style. He zipped them, but didn’t bother with the snap.
Pandora’s mouth watered. God, he was gorgeous. Sleek, tanned skin. That wolf tattoo crawling down his shoulder to growl from the gorgeous muscles of his upper arms. She wanted to nibble her way down the small of his back, then bite him. Right there on the butt.
Grinning to herself, she shifted to a more comfy position. Starting the day with muffins and, hopefully, morning sex was a definite positive in her books.
“I could-”
“No,” he said, shaking his head as he reached for the doorknob. “Wait there. I’ll get rid of her. We need to talk.”
She wasn’t sure how scooting off to the bathroom for a very necessary morning function, to say nothing of hiding from whoever was on the other side of the door, would stand in the way of talking. But he sounded so weird that she didn’t argue.
She watched Caleb peer through the door’s peephole. He instantly pulled back and whispered something that sounded like a curse. Shoulders so tense his back looked like something in one of those men’s muscle magazines, she heard him suck in a breath, then release it before opening the door.
He only opened it a few inches, though. With his body shielding her view, she could only surmise that it wasn’t Mrs. Mac with muffins.
“Yeah?”
Her brows drew together at Caleb’s impatient tone. Then she heard a man’s voice. Deep, melodious and compelling.
“Party time,” the voice said.
“You have the invitations already?”
Invitations? Party?
“All but the party planner. I’m counting on you for that.”
Her frown deepened as she listened to the conversation. What the hell were they talking about?
“Let me in. We have to talk.”
“Later.”
“Now. Time’s become an issue.”
Caleb glanced over his shoulder at Pandora. The look in his eyes made her shiver just a little, it was so calculating. She felt bad for the guy on the other side of the door, since she was sure he was the reason for it.
“The hall?”
“Unsecure.”
“You’re a pain in the ass. You know that, right?” But Caleb stepped back and let the door swing open. “The balcony. Not a word.”
Pandora gulped as the second man stepped through the door. Too stunned to be embarrassed, she just stared.
Holy cow.
Pure masculine intensity. He wasn’t pretty, his face was too strong for that. But still, the sculpted features, long-lashed blue eyes and full lips did make quite a picture. His black hair swept off his forehead, longer in front and short in back. He stopped just inside the door when he saw her. Those vivid eyes cut over to Caleb and he arched a brow. Pandora tried to read his body language, but he was a blank. She didn’t see even a hint of surprise on his part. Like walking into his friend’s hotel room and finding a naked woman in bed was the norm.
The man gave Pandora a slight nod, his eyes doing a quick scan of the room, then he stepped over and opened the sliding door to the balcony.
“This might be a while,” Caleb said, grabbing his sweatshirt off the footboard before following his friend to the balcony door.
“It’s okay. I have to get to the store anyway,” she told him with a warm smile. “I’ll see you later, right?”
He gave her a long, intense look that made her stomach swoop into her toes. Then he nodded and stepped through, closing the curtain along with the door.
It wasn’t until both men were on the other side of the glass with the door firmly closed that she realized Caleb hadn’t introduced his friend.
Not that it mattered. She had her man.
And she missed him already.
Grinning at her own goofiness, Pandora tugged the sheet loose from the mattress to wrap it securely around her body, then slid from the bed. She padded over to the sliding glass door that led to the balcony and peered around the curtain.
Yep. Gorgeous and sexy. Both of them.
Giggling a little to herself, she did a mangled skip-step hindered by the sheet on her way to the bathroom.
Time to start her day. She had a feeling it was going to be an excellent one.
“TACKY, BLACK.”
Caleb shrugged, tugging the gray fleece over his head in a useless attempt to ward off the morning chill. California or not, winter mornings were damn cold here in the mountains.
“What broke?” he prompted. He wanted the reason for Hunter’s unexpected, and untimely, arrival. He did not want to discuss Pandora, his rotten choices, or what a jerk he was.
“I tugged a few more strings. Ran some numbers, looked at a few different accounts.”
As if his toes weren’t freezing, Caleb patiently waited.
“I know who the ringleader is,” Hunter declared.
Caleb crossed his arms over his chest and arched one brow.
Hunter gave him a long look. Then, his fingers stuffed in the pockets of a very warm-looking overcoat, he
