Free Hunter Of The Dead by Katee Robert Page B

dropped to his mouth and she wondered if he’d kiss her. Oh hell. That was exactly the wrong thought.Damn him for being able to do this even when she was so pissed she could barely see straight. She jerked her gaze back up as she turned her head to the side and bit his wandering fingers.
    Alejandro’s breath hissed out, and she tasted his blood on her tongue. “You prove my point, querida . You and I, we have unfinished business.”
    That they did. Like the way he’d spent hours talking to her almost every night on two years’ worth of assignments, how he’d pretended to listen to her, how he said exactly the right words to make her fall for him. Eden abruptly changed her mind. She didn’t want to talk about their unfinished business at all. “You had a chance to explain last night.”
    He raised his eyebrows. “While you were hurting from the loss of the child?” Alejandro paused as if debating whether to continue. “I would like the opportunity to explain.”
    She glared. “Let me up.”
    “No.”
    Eden pushed against him, but she stopped when it sent warmth pulsing through her body. “Seriously. We have shit to do. Let me up.”
    “I made a mistake last year.”
    Whatever he was going to say next, she sure as hell didn’t want to hear it. Alejandro had already proven his skill at making her trust him. She couldn’t risk him breaking down the pathetic barriers she had left. She barely recovered when he left, had been in a funk for months , was still in a funk if she were going to be honest with herself.
    Eden head-butted him, using his surprise to slither off the bed. She spun around, hands raised to fend off an attack. But Alejandro sat exactly where she left him, his hand clutching his bloody nose.
    “Ah, querida , I truly am sorry. You have every right to be angry with me.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” It was stupid to deny she was pissed; she had pulled an asshole move just now. But she couldn’t help acting petty. He was the one who walked away, leaving her emotionally broken in the process. He couldn’t just come back whenever he felt like it and expect her to welcome him back into her life, or bed, with open arms. She had better control of herself. Mostly.
    “Of course you don’t.” He shook his head. “I see I will have to win back your trust.”
    Alejandro couldn’t have scared her more if he’d said he was going to cut off her head and wear it as a hat. The very idea of trusting him again, of allowing herself to imagine a future between them, made her want to run for the hills. The worst part was Eden wasn’t sure her defenses were good enough to hold him off if he was determined. And he seemed pretty damn determined.
    She schooled her face to show nothing—she hoped—and said, “I’m not interested in trusting you. We had our night of fun, but that’s all it was. Fun. I don’t know what you’re doing here, but whatever we had is over now.”
    “You can talk until your face turns blue, but you know it was more than that. I should have come for you before this. I would have—”
    The rest of his words were lost as she snatched up her gun and bolo and ran out the door. She couldn’t stand there and listen to him tell her she mattered to him or whatever he had been about to say. It was easier—marginally—for her to think he’d used her for a night of good times and taken off to avoid the awkward day-after situation. If he had actually cared about her and left...well, that was an entirely different situation. And it wasn’t something she wanted to examine too closely.
    Eden paused and settled Bernice over her shoulder. She checked the surrounding area, something she should have done as soon as she left the cottage. It was a testament of how much Alejandro affected her that he was screwing with her survival instincts. She headed east, towards the mouth of the valley. As an afterthought, she slipped her earpiece back in and turned it on.
    “Jordan?”