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“No shit. Sorry.” Pierce grimaced, but Riley agreed with him.No shitwas absolutely right. “But still, there have to be people left who’d like to stop a war.”
She sighed. “Let’s hope so.” As long as she could stay alive long enough to convince them.
As if he could read her mind, Pierce learned forward. Took her hand. She discovered she loved it when he did that. Hand-holding got a bum rap. Sappy, only for little kids. Instead, it was great. His hand was so strong and so warm, it seemed to infuse her with strength. There was this instant human connection, the very symbol ofyou are not alone in this.Which for Riley, who’d always been alone, was magical.
Not to mention that when Pierce held her hand, she not only felt the human connection, but she also felt tingles and heat all up her arm.
“Nothing’s going to happen to you,” he said, face sober and serious. “Guaranteed.”
“The other day a small meteorite fell in Italy. Can you protect me from them? One of these days an extinction-event comet will fall to earth and no one will be able to protect anyone.”
Surprisingly, Pierce lifted her hand to his mouth. “I’d put you in a bunker. Find some way to keep you safe.”
His lips were warm and soft, surprisingly so for such a hard man. Riley forgot to breathe as he kissed the back of her hand. That, too, was old-fashioned. Actually, no one had ever kissed her hand. She’d spent time in France, and the computer nerds she’d been studying with were as far from hand-kissing as it was possible to be. Hand-kissing was no longer in with French men, but apparently it still was with US SEALs.
There was complete silence in the room. Riley realized that all evening the house had been silent. Probably due to special cladding, making it bullet proof or impenetrable to infrared. Or maybe even both. Certainly the windows would be bullet resistant and thus sound-proof. Black Inc. was known to have top notch everything. It felt like they were in a vault somewhere far away from the normal hubbub of Washington, DC. DC was a busy city—crowded, with horrendous traffic, constant sirens as bigwigs crossed the city with police escorts. But right now, it was as if they were outside DC, on some island somewhere far, far away.
A place far from the insanity and violence and greed of the world.
Just the two of them, adrift and remote, in some incredibly peaceful place.
Riley held her breath as she took in Pierce’s features. So very handsome, but not aware of his looks at all. Handsome men, in her experience, preened, but not Pierce. He seemed to be fiercely focused on her, staring into her eyes as he kept her hand at his mouth.
Riley had a moment of utter vulnerability, and realized she was about to throw herself into his arms. Because she was attracted, her hormones were clamoring to get close to him, practically demanded it, but also because he seemed so strong and invincible. A haven when her life was at risk.
Those broad shoulders and strong arms were practically designed to shelter and protect and she yearned to be held by him.
But this was crazy. She was hisjob. They weren’t on a date, he was sent to protect her. Throwing herself at him would embarrass them both. She winced at the idea of him taking her arms from around his neck, talking her down, trying to be kind.
He was just doing his job, and she was projecting silly girlish ideas onto him. Because she was scared. Well, time to put on her big-girl pants. She was alone, like she’d always been, but she had Pierce and his company and the Black Inc. resources at her disposal. They weren’t there to hold her hand, they were here to keep her safe. That’s all she should want. To be safe.
Pierce released her hand and then, to her surprise, ran his thumb between her eyebrows. Yeah, she must be frowning like crazy.
“Lots of complicated thoughts circling around this beautiful head.”
Riley ruthlessly repressed that little spurt her heart gave when he called her ‘beautiful.’ It was politeness, that’s all.
She rose, forced herself to smile. “Not too many complicated thoughts at all. I’ve done all that I can do, and just hope someone listens. It’s out of my hands. I’m exhausted and I think I am going to go to bed. Let me help you clean up—”
“Absolutely not.” Pierce rose, too, and she had to crane her neck to look him in the eyes. “I’ll take care of this. You get some rest, you’re going to need it in the next few days.”
Surprisingly, for someone who was in the prediction line, Riley couldn’t think ahead to everything that was coming. She couldn’t think back to the past two days and to this horrible morning and she couldn’t think ahead to all the powerful men and women she’d have to convince, probably making a bunch of enemies. The only thing she could think about was the present. Right now. So close to Pierce she could feel his body heat, so close she was tempted to reach out and put her arms around him, just to be near to that heat and that strength.
She took a step back. He followed her lead and took a step back, too.
“I’ll walk you to your room,” he said. It made her smile. He said it as if there were lions and tigers and bears on the way to her room. But she didn’t say no. Any moment spent with him was pleasurable, his presence alone reassuring that the world still made a little bit of sense, even after the day she’d had.
At the door to her bedroom, she stopped, turned around. Lifted her head, surprised all over again at how tall he was. “I’ll—ah—I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
He dipped his head solemnly.
“Sleep well.” Two short words, delivered in his deep voice, reverberated in her belly. Man, time to retreat.
“Thanks, you too.”
Inside the bedroom, she leaned back against the closed door and blew out a breath. She didn’t have enough trouble with all the police officers in the world and a security company known for its brutality after her?
She had to have inappropriate hots for a man sent by her friends across the country to help her. The last thing she wanted to do was to embarrass him and embarrass herself.
