He stared down at me, clearly waiting on an answer.

“I . . . forgot?”

His eyes narrowed. “You didn’t forget shit. You ran. What I want to know is why? I have to assume you have enough to pay rent to Harriet, or are you going to skip out before you pay her too?”

“No! Of course not. No way would I do that to Harriet.”

“But you thought it was okay to fuck over the hotel?”

My fingers curled around the concrete edge of the pool. “I’m so sorry. Really, I am. I got spooked and bolted. It wasn’t planned.”

Bishop’s stare intensified, as if he were trying to take me apart layer by layer. “You’re not going to tell me the real reason why, are you?”

I broke away from his gaze and stared out into the darkness that had settled over the courtyard. “I can’t. I . . . if I could, I would.” My voice was quiet, but at least my words weren’t a lie.

“I heard all the stories about when Charlie was working at the shop and she was on the run, and I gotta say, I see a whole lot of similarities with you. No one can help you if you won’t tell someone what the fuck is going on.”

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. Help me? The bastard daughter of a mobster being investigated by the FBI and a grand jury? Yeah, right.

“No one can help me. But I’ll pay for the hotel. Just let me get out and I’ll get the money.”

He scowled down at me, clearly unhappy with my answer. “We’re way beyond you just handing me some cash and calling it good, cupcake. I want answers. You need me to fuck them out of you? Is that what you’re waiting for?”

The words came out in a growl, and I jerked away from the edge of the pool, not thinking about how plainly it would put me on display.

He reached for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.

“What? No. What are you doing?”

My voice was so high-pitched that I didn’t recognize it. I also didn’t recognize this even-rougher-than-normal Bishop before me. It was like someone had flipped a switch. I could practically feel the anger radiating off him.

“I’m coming in. Don’t want to get my clothes wet.”

I wrapped my arms around my body. No man had seen me fully naked . . . ever. I’d lost my virginity in a beach cabana with my cover-up still on, and he’d barely done more than unzip his khaki shorts.

Bishop crouched and unlaced his boots before kicking them off and removing his socks.

I should have been filled with fear, but when he reached for the button of his jeans, my mouth dried and any trace of apprehension disappeared. Heat flowed through me like the temperature of the pool water had been increased another twenty degrees when he lowered the zipper.

Was this the moment I was supposed to look away? Because there was no way I could do it. I wanted to see everything.

I thought of Kitty and how she’d practically licked her lips when she’d seen Bishop enter the room. I’d known what she wanted then, and apparently my body was on board for that same thing right now, even if my rational mind was screaming at me to cover my eyes.

He shoved off his jeans, and I expected boxers or briefs or even boxer briefs beneath them. Instead, there was just . . . Bishop.

A whole lot of Bishop.

Oh. My. God.

I’d seen porn; I wasn’t completely unacquainted with dicks. But I was also under the impression that dicks in porn were way larger than the average man. Apparently, I’d been misinformed, because Bishop was . . . big.

He was also totally shameless as he came toward the steps and walked down into the water.

“You’re really fucking quiet all of a sudden, cupcake.”

The word fucking, regardless of the context he used it in, sent my imagination tumbling into the gutter.

“Why . . . why are you doing this?”

“Because I can’t seem to get answers out of you any other way, and if we’re both naked, I’m a hell of a lot less likely to pick you up and shake them out of you—unless it’s going to make you come.”

My insides clenched.

“I would tell you if I could, but I swear it’s better if you don’t know.”

He stepped closer to me as I shrank back against the opposite wall of the pool from where I’d stood before.

“That’s just too fucking bad, because I’m not leaving without answers.”

IT WASN’T LIKE I HAD a plan when I came back to Harriet’s. All I had was the extra set of keys I’d purposely kept, and the knowledge that I wasn’t leaving until I knew whether the Eden I’d thought I was getting a feel for was a fraud.

When I saw her in the pool and realized she was naked, I decided to take the prime opportunity presented to me.

If she was running some kind of con, I figured she’d use her body to distract me from getting the answers I wanted. If she wasn’t . . . I guessed we’d see how she’d react.

I stalked her as she paddled backward to the wall and waited until she had nowhere else to retreat.

“What do you want from me?” she whispered.

“I want the truth.”

But that wasn’t all I wanted. My cock was rock hard and not afraid to remind me that I wanted her body too.

“Just let me get the money. I made a huge mistake. I freaked out over something stupid. I’m so sorry.” She looked away as she spoke.

I released the concrete edge of the pool and lifted my hand to her chin to force her dark gaze to mine. “Not enough. That’s bullshit, and we both know it.”

Indecision warred behind her gaze, and I wished she’d just fucking spill so I could quit wondering if I was drawn to someone who was a con or just on the run.

She swallowed, her eyes on mine when she finally said, “They told me my credit card was canceled because of fraud, and I thought I saw cops at the front desk and I got scared that maybe they’d arrest me or something. So I ran.”

Her explanation sounded sincere enough to be the truth, but my radar didn’t seem to operate flawlessly around her, so I needed more.

“Did you steal the credit card you used?”

Eden’s eyes widened. “No. Of course not.”

“Then why would you think the cops would arrest you if there was an issue with it?”

Her gaze dropped away from mine. “I panicked.”

Something wasn’t adding up, but I didn’t have a fucking clue what it was. “So you’re just afraid of cops?”