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He pushed out a sigh and stood next to the bed, staring down at her. Another full minute ticked by. He really should wake her now.
But he stood there for another minute and then another. Watching her sleep felt like an invasion of her privacy, yet in those few minutes he learned so much about Wren.
The tension in her pretty face was diminished by rest but still not absent. She was hanging by a thread, that much was evident. He’d overheard what she told the ladies about their parents being dead and her feelings of responsibility to her brother.
He also heard the way her voice cracked slightly when she talked about leaving med school to work at the nursing home.
This woman was beaten down by life…and goddammit, he wanted to fix things for her.
Everything.
That wasn’t in his job description and was well above his pay grade. Nowhere in his contract did it say that he should protect this woman too.
But dammit, he wasn’t walking away from her now.
Reaching out, he touched Wren’s shoulder.
She jolted awake, sitting up at the very same instant her eyes popped open, wide and round with alarm.
She saw him and scrubbed her hands over her face.
“I’m sorry to startle you, honey.”
“It’s all right. I was dreaming.”
He didn’t need to ask what she was dreaming about. The tight set of her lips told him enough.
She darted a look at the window with the closed blinds. “What time is it?”
“You slept an hour. I wanted to let you sleep longer, but we need to discuss some things before we get on the road.”
She scraped her fingers through her disheveled hair. Her effort to smooth the strands only made her look more appealingly mussed. Any man who saw this woman would be crawling into bed with her.
Jennings’s body wanted that too, but he wasn’t just any guy. He had control.
Sinking to the foot of the bed, he made sure not to touch her. “We need to talk about what’s next.”
She stared at him. “I don’t want involved in any of this. I just want to live my life. I want to go to my crappy job and come home, do chores and maybe read a little bit before I collapse into bed each night.”
“Honey, you know that’s not living, right?”
She arched a brow. “I don’t need you to tell me that. But it’s what I’ve got right now. Until I figure out something else.”
“That’s fair. But youaretangled up in it. You put your brother in rehab, and while that is noble and necessary, he is a witness to a murder.”
“And you killed the murderer!”
Without hesitation, he nodded, owning it. “I don’t like it, but it was me or him. I don’t have regrets. But you heard that guy on the phone in the church too—he asked about the money and he asked about the body. I’m not sure where this murder went down, but there’s almost always camera footage. I guarantee that these guys will be looking at it and will see your brother there.”
“He’s still not safe even in rehab, is he?”
“I’m going to do my best to keep him safe there. I’ve got connections. In the meantime, I need to ensure you’re safe as well.”
“You plan on doing that how?”
“You’re with me. At all times.”
She shook her head. “I need to work.”
