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Eyes wide, I give him a look that is somewhere between bewilderment and relief.
It’s not a news flash to anyone with eyeballs. I have a thing for the brooding man, but I work hard to keep my emotions in check and off his radar.
Muscles in his jaw and neck strain. The arm he has hitched around me tightens. I know I should be freaking out but I don’t have a whole hell of a lot of energy left in me to even try. At least I know I’m not going to die right this second. That’s a win for the tally board after the night I’ve had.
Austin and Landry come into view and I see them holding their sides and breathing just as heavily as I am.
I look down at my dirt-covered feet, and suddenly the hot burn of tears stings the back of my eyes. All the strength evaporates, and I sag into Boone’s strong arms. I’m not weak by any means, but my racing heart and exhausted limbs like the sound ofnotneeding to run for my life.
“What the hell are you three doing here?” I say in a grim voice. I might be thrilled to see them, but I’d be happy to see anyone who is on my side right now.
“Heard you were in a bit of a jam. Your father called in the cavalry,” Landry answers like that should say everything I need to know. In a way I guess it does, but I would still like to know why them—out of all the people under my father’s employ—are the ones chasing me down in the woods in Upstate New York.
“Explain,” I counter in a more curt tone than I mean to.
In the brightening morning, Boone shakes his head. “Let’s get you back to the cabin and we’ll explain everything.”
I tense in his hold. Boone isn’t looking at me as he gives his command. He’s busy taking in the surrounding vegetation full-on Ranger mode like some raptor or boogeyman is around one oak or another.
I used to think him paranoid the way he questioned everything, now I’m scanning the tree line with him.
Secure that no one is about to ambush us, I push out of his arms and dodge the surge of pleasure filling me at having his hands on my body in any form. The way my body responds to him royally pisses me off, and I let that serve as my fuel to put a few more needed feet between me and all of them.
Three sets of eyes track every step I take like wolves on the hunt.
Reality sets in. I should have kept on running when I had the chance because these three are as dangerous to my health as the goons who want me dead.
Only I’ll die of a broken heart if they have their way.
I cross my arms and take a firm stance. Kind of hard to do and look tough when the only thing keeping my dress on is my heavy bust and curvy hips. “Answers first.”
Irritated, Austin steps in front of me. “Still stubborn, I see. You should be grateful we got here when we did.” Austin side-steps Landry, loops an arm around my legs and hoists me into his strong arms.
“You’re coming with us.”
Eight
Austin
“Put me down,” she screeches, but I keep on going, ignoring her. She bats my shoulders and chest with the bottom of her fists. Her tight little ass wiggles against me and makes me hard at the most awkward moment. I’ve wanted her back in my arms for too long not to have a reaction to her warm body pressed into mine.
Despite popular belief, military men are human and not made out of stone.
I tighten my grip, my hands in full contact with soft skin. Her dress looks like it’s hanging on by a thread, tattered and nothing more than rags. I’m going to love peeling it off to tend to her wounds.
She glares at me and I can read the look like a blinking billboard saying she’s nowhere near feeling the grateful angle I wanted to go for. Damn. A Komodo dragon looks friendlier.
It’s kind of hard to hold that pissed-off, arms-crossed pose when someone is holding you honeymoon style, but she’s doing a pretty good job of it.
I shift her weight from digging the nozzle of my guns into my ribs, and the jostle forces her arms around my neck. Another reason for her to glower at me, it seems. Thank fuck she doesn’t have laser eyes, or I’d be a pile of dust at her feet. Landry and Boone too.
They flank us and keep in motion guarding our six.
“You know our intention is to help you, right?” I murmur against her neck. One inhale is all it takes to tumble me right back to the last time I had her in my arms and holding her as close as I have her now. The scent of roses and a hint of vanilla still makes me want to wrap her up and never let her go.
The only thing missing is seeing pleasure in her eyes instead of worry.
Unaware of my flashback, she draws back, expression inscrutable. She has taken lessons from her politician father and has mastered masking her real thoughts. “That’s not the point.”
