AllFreeNovel
Share Us
An annoying insect buzzed near her ear. Alex brushed her hand over her face. Swept it down her body. Felt a warm hand, curled around her waist.
Her eyes flew open and she struggled to turn over. Relaxed. Gideon was sleeping beside her. The buzzing was coming from the watch around his wrist. “Hey,” she murmured, lifting her hand to caress his face. “Wake up, sleepyhead. Your watch is making noise.”
When he didn’t move, she leaned close and brushed her lips across his face. The bristle of his beard scraped against them, making her shiver. Tingle.
“Gideon,” she said a little more loudly. “Wake up. I think your watch is talking to you.”
His eyes fluttered open, and when they focused on her, his mouth curled in a sleepy smile. “Hey, Alex. You’re still here.”
He sounded pleased. And astonished. “Where else would I be?” she asked, moving closer to him.
He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her close. Buried his face in her neck. “Figured you’d had enough stress for one lifetime in the past week. Wouldn’t be interested in signing up for more of the same.”
She frowned at him. “Are you saying you’re a stressful person? That I shouldn’t want anything to do with you?”
He smiled and sat up. “I was trying to make a joke. From the moment we met, your life has been chaotic. Nerve-wracking. Terrifying. I wasn’t sure you wanted to be reminded of all that.”
She sat up in bed and stared at him, going soft inside. “You’ve forgotten one small detail,” she said.
“Which would be?”
“If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead now.” She took his hands and squeezed them. “Stressful, chaotic and terrifying is way better than dead.” She brushed a kiss across his mouth, then slid out of bed. “And you weren’t the one causing the stress,” she said, opening her suitcase and looking for something clean to wear. “My ex-husband was doing that.”
She yanked a clean sweater over her head and grinned as her head popped through the neck opening. “You have no idea how good it feels to say ‘ex-husband’.”
Gideon stared at her for a moment. “I’ve gotten so used to having you with me,” he murmured. “Makes me a little nervous. With you, I slept so deeply that it took me a few moments to wake up.”
“That’s okay,” she said, shrugging. “We’re in your compound. Safe.”
“Yeah, but I can’t lose focus, even in here. A lot of bad things can happen in sixty seconds. And it’s always when you least expect it.”
The pleasure she’d felt at waking up with Gideon faded. “That’s a hard way to live.”
He lifted one shoulder as he climbed out of bed and opened his dresser. “It’s my job right now,” he said as he grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on. Then reached for a sweater in the closet. He strapped a holster around his waist, then slid in his gun. When he saw her staring, he said, “When we’re at the compound, we’re always armed. Just in case.”
He nodded toward her purse. “Is your gun in there?”
She shook her head slowly. “Didn’t think I’d need it here.”
“Very small chance that you would. The compound is secure. But you never know. So please keep it in your purse. And keep your purse with you. Again, just in case.”
She stared at him for a long moment. Nodded slowly. “You’re right. As long as Jerry and those Russians are out there, I’ll feel better with the gun.” She took it out of a dresser drawer and placed it in her purse.
Gideon smiled, as if pleased she’d agreed. “Let’s get going. The chef is very temperamental. Doesn’t like it when people are late.”
“This place has a chef?” she asked, surprised.
“Yeah. He cooks at a summer camp in the San Juan Islands May through September. Works for us the rest of the year. Mel and Dev give him an apartment, so they don’t have to pay him a fortune. During the summer, we have someone from Helena who cooks our meals. You ready to go?”
“Yep.” She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder, then smiled. “Lead the way.”
He took her hand and led her out of the building. They walked across the crunchy snow to a long, low building toward the back of the compound. She smelled garlic cooking in butter, and her stomach rumbled.
Gideon tightened his grip on her hand. “I’m starving, too,” he murmured. “We’ve missed a lot of meals in the past week.”
“Yeah.” It didn’t take long to get to the building, and Gideon opened the door for her. As they walked inside, Mel, Devlin and three other people turned to watch them.
Alex tightened her grip on Gideon’s hand and straightened her shoulders. It was like stepping in front of prospective jurors for the first time. The jurors were sizing up the attorney.
And the attorney was assessing the people who held her client’s freedom in the palms of their hands.
The people in this room were protecting her. And they were Gideon’s colleagues. She wanted to know everything about them.
