Undercover Hunter(76)

                They’d both been doing a lot of pacing, but she could tell he was also doing as much ruminating as she was. Neither of them had apparently yet come up with something they thought worth sharing. At a stand. She hated it.

                She heard him swear and he faced her. “This isn’t doing a damn bit of good. I mean, I’d wade out there right now, but everything’s closed. I couldn’t even get into a decent conversation about this with someone without barging into a living room.”

                The image made her smile faintly. “The questions we’d ask would only raise more. We might even get committed.”

                Some of the tension seeped out of him. “You’re right. So how about a nap? If we can. Right here on the couch. We’ll hear if anyone knocks.”

                She was feeling weary from lack of sleep. “Worth a try,” she agreed.

                They settled on the couch with a couple of blankets. She curled up, and he stretched his legs out across the floor, sliding down until the back of his head rested against the couch.

                “I wonder,” he said, “if our guy is feeling as bottled up as we are right now.”

                “I hope not. I don’t want him taking any action at the very first opportunity.”

                “Yeah.” He closed his eyes. “I just like the idea of him being miserable.”

                She couldn’t argue with that. The wireless was still down, so she laid her tablet on the end table and wiggled around beneath her blanket until she felt reasonably comfortable and warm.

                Sleep was not usually a problem for her. Time spent in the military pretty much taught everyone to grab a nap at any opportunity. You never knew how long it might be before you slept again.

                But exhausted though she was, sleep eluded her. There was far too much rolling around in her mind, none of it pleasant. She tried to replace thoughts of the killer with thoughts of making love with Cade, but even they couldn’t take over. She lay there growing tenser by the minute and arguing with herself over whether she should just get up and go to the kitchen. If she lay there much longer, she feared she would start wiggling and keep him awake. He needed sleep every bit as much as she did.

                But then he astonished her. She felt his weight as he leaned over and rested against her.

                “If you curl up any tighter,” he murmured, “you’ll turn into a black hole.”

                “Sorry.”

                “Shh. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

                “No.” It actually felt good to have him pressed against her like this. At some level she knew that was dangerous, that she shouldn’t indulge in this. After all, this was an ephemeral thing, whatever was happening between them, and they’d need to work together for years. But she couldn’t make herself resist, not when he made her feel so good.

                Little by little, her muscles relaxed. Finally, she dozed off, carried away from the nightmares of reality.





                                      Chapter 9

                A little before noon, she awoke. She felt Cade stir and sit up, leaving her to feel amazingly bereft. Never would she have imagined that a man leaning on her that way could have been so comforting and relaxing.

                Reluctantly, she returned to the world, sitting up and stretching. Cade rose from the couch, saying nothing, and returned a few minutes later with mugs of coffee. He handed her one.