No! No, I can’t die here like this. My kids need me—
Her body convulsed once and the entire world went black.
****
Matt added more logs to the fire and stirred the embers to get the flames going. The house was slowly warming up but it was still cold away from the fireplace. And quiet. The kind of quiet that seemed to blanket everything, partly from the snow outside but he suspected the soundproofing in this place was solid too. Nothing but the pop and crackle of the flames filled the room.
Briar had been asleep for nearly eight hours now and it was almost dark outside. The expected storm had closed in just before noon and fat, fluffy flakes fell thick and fast from the low cloud deck.
It didn’t surprise him that she’d crashed so hard. After everything that had happened and however long she’d been up before starting the op, she’d needed the sleep. He’d checked on her once and found her sound asleep in the king size bed in the master suite. She’d looked small and fragile lying there in the big bed, but he knew better. The woman was a force to be reckoned with.
In all his years in the business, he’d never met anyone like her. She’d hate knowing just how much she fired his protective instincts, but he couldn’t control his instinctive need to shield her, watch over her. She’d said she had no family outside of Janaia’s. Briar was hurt and exhausted and on the run and he was glad she wasn’t alone, that at least he was here to take care of her.
She’d hate that too. Not to mention how much he wanted her.
It was crazy and he didn’t pretend to understand it, but there it was. Hell, she was a dozen years younger than him. Except he didn’t care. She might be twenty-nine but she seemed much older than that, more mature, no doubt due to everything she’d gone through and experienced. One look in her eyes and anybody could see the world-weariness there. Her life hadn’t been easy.
She must trust him at some subconscious level, though, to let herself go under that deep when she slept. And she’d revealed a few things about herself when he’d asked. It was a start, anyway.
Over the past few hours he’d checked all the sightlines from the house, careful to keep hidden in the shadows when he pulled back the curtains or blinds to take a look outside. He crossed to the east side of the house and checked again. No new tracks marred the snow on the front and back lawns and the SUV’s tire treads were already half-erased on the driveway.
The time alone and the quiet had given him all kinds of time to think. Too much time. He liked his solitude more than most but no matter how he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t stop thinking about the woman sleeping upstairs. Briar was like a force of nature and he couldn’t ignore his reaction to her even if he wanted to. And part of him didn’t anymore.
She wasn’t immune to him either, thankfully.
He’d caught the female awareness in her gaze a few times when she looked at him and he’d seen how his touch affected her even without any sexual intent. It made him wonder how she’d react if he kissed her.
It’d been a long time since he’d been involved with a woman. Though he knew it was wrong, he’d imagined Briar naked and willing in that bed upstairs with him, all that bronzed skin laid bare to his hands and mouth. He’d thought about what she’d feel like as she moved beneath him, her hands in his hair as he sucked at her nipples and teased the soft flesh between her thighs with his tongue.
Shaking himself, he shoved the fantasy aside. Except unlike the other times in the past when he’d fantasized about someone other than Lisa, there was no guilt. Only a growing desire to make the fantasy a reality before they parted ways.
But it was never going to happen.
Soft footfalls on the carpeted stairs had him looking up from the hearth. Briar appeared at the foot of them, rubbing a hand over her face as though she was still waking up. She saw him by the fire and paused, her eyes puffy from sleep. Even rumpled she still managed to look sexy, because of her confident, self-assured air. That was fucking hot.
“Hey,” he said. “Feeling any better?”
“Groggy as hell,” she muttered, starting toward him. “Feel like someone drugged me.”
“Not surprising. You were out cold.”
She stopped and eyed him. “You checked on me?”
He nodded. “Few hours ago.”
She frowned, clearly not liking the idea. “Can’t believe I didn’t hear you.”
“I’m quiet, and you were pretty much unconscious.”
“Doesn’t matter. I never sleep that hard.”
“Well you did, and nothing bad happened.”
The frown melted away. “True. I slept the day away though.”