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“I’m not running,” she said. “I’m getting dressed and checking on the cat that’s probably peed all over my floor.”
“The cat is fine, and there’s no rush to get dressed.” He came to his feet and crossed the space between them. Just like he had before they’d gotten intimate. Only this time, Zara backed up.
“Braden.” She held up a hand, thankful when he stopped. “I don’t regret what just happened, it was amazing, but we can’t do that again.”
“If you’re going to pull the whole boss/employer card, we’re past that.” His kissable mouth quirked.
“Yes, we are,” she agreed. “But we’re done. Nothing more can come of this.”
There. She’d had a fling, she wasn’t having regrets and now they could move on.
Crossing his arms over his broad chest as if he hadn’t a care in the world, Braden shrugged. “I’d had the same thought, but then I decided that wasn’t right. Why should we deny ourselves what brings us pleasure?”
Zara listened to him, processed the justification, but in the end, she knew she’d get hurt because Braden was the type of man she could fall for...if she would ever let herself fall. One and done was the only way she could justify this encounter.
“It’s best if we stop here and try to live with each other until you are able to leave.”
The muscle ticked in his jaw, and Zara wanted to take back her words, ignore all the warning bells going off in her head and wrap her arms around him and have him give her that replay he’d suggested.
“I’ll do what you want, Zara.” He stepped closer, so close she could see the flecks of black in his deep brown eyes. “I’ll honor your wishes, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying to convince you that we were good together, and now that we know all about each other’s bodies, we could be even better.”
Those promising words delivered by a low, sexy tone did not help her cause. She clutched her clothes and watched as he wrapped up in that damn comforter again. He picked his cell up from the accent table and threw her a smile.
“I’m going to call the sheriff’s department and see when travel is expected to resume.”
And he walked out the door. Now the cat darted from beneath the bed and slid across the hardwood, bumping into her feet, but Zara remained frozen in place, still naked, still holding on to her clothes.
Still wanting him just as much, if not more than she had before they were intimate.
What had she gotten herself into? Because now she had a sense of what it meant to belong, just an inkling of how powerful a bond with someone else could be.
Ten
“You’ve got to be missing something,” Mac stated.
Yeah, common sense.
“I’ve searched the hidden areas,” Braden explained for the third time. But Mac was understandably frustrated, as was Braden.
He felt utterly foolish with this damn comforter as he stood at the base of the steps. He watched the landing for any sign of Zara, but she was most likely still up in her room replaying everything that had just happened between them.
“I’m telling you, if they’re here, they’re well hidden.”
Mac’s sigh carried through the phone. “Maybe her grandmother sold some things before she died. Hell, I don’t know. Put more pressure on Zara. We need this, Braden.”
Yeah, like he wasn’t aware of that. “I’m doing what I can. Pressuring Zara will only make red flags go up.”
“Is she suspicious of you?”
“No.”
How could she be? He’d snooped either in plain sight of her or when she’d been sleeping. And the fact that he still needed to do more searching and his time was running out only irritated him even more because, while he wanted to find the scrolls, he wanted to go back upstairs and talk Zara into spending the entire day in bed.
“Damn,” Mac muttered. “Tell me you’re not actually falling for this woman.”
Braden gripped the wad of comforter and sank down on to the bottom step. “I’m not.”
“You don’t sound convincing.”
Braden gritted his teeth. “I’m not trying to convince you, so drop it.”
“Keep me posted when you can,” Mac said. “I changed my flight to next week. Obviously with the weather I’m not getting back to Miami anytime soon. And Ryker is stuck in London. He had a slight run-in with the cops.”
