Page 39 of Winters Heat

Winters dropped his hand from her chin and interlaced his fingers with hers. Clara squealed and grasped at the rough hair on his face. With a lesser degree of hesitation in her drudging gait, Mia followed him into the house and into an expansive foyer with marble floors and rich colored wallpaper. She immediately eyed his security system panel next to the front door and security cameras.

“Don’t let it bother you. It’s for safety and protection. I can be paranoid about my family’s safety. I’m a big believer in ‘you can never be too careful’.”

“Colby?”

He turned to face her, squeezing her hand tight. “Yeah?”

Mia sighed, but it sounded like the nervous whimper of a scared puppy. A scared, cute puppy. “I don’t dofamilywell. I don’t have one. I don’t know how to handle one. I—uh—can’t remember the last time I held a man’s hand, walking around his house, with his mom in the kitchen.” Mia’s palm went clammy in his hand. Her gaze bounced round the room, maybe looking for an escape route.

Well, shit. That was her problem? Never in a million years would he have guessed that. But he’d keep that to himself.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“I warned you this might be awkward.” Winters gave a reassuring laugh and winked. Anything to help bring her out of her shell. He needed his Mia back. Not the silent, stone-cold Jane Doe who’d ridden in the car with him the last hundred or so miles. No, he wanted the spitfire, crazed woman who’d run them off the road and tried again and again to nail him in the balls.

She turned to him and gave a placating, unsure-of-her-survival smile.

“No one’s asking anything of you. This is just my reality. And like I said, it’s also the safest place to keep you until all of this is sorted out. My two worlds collided. Work and non-work.” He shook her hand with a slight swing. “There’s nothing to overthink. Can you shake off the nerves?”

He was hot again with a pleasantly uncomfortable, terribly unfamiliar feeling that had him questioning his judgment. Fuck it. He squeezed her hand with more want than comfort. He’d been squeezing that hand over and over since they’d gotten out of the car. He couldn’t help it.

“It’s simple. Everything collided back on that exit ramp. And in that motel room.” His heartbeat galloped. Was that trepidation or lust? “I don’t know what to tell you. And you haven’t said much. So let’s start simple. Do you want me to let go of your hand?”

His heart thumped in his chest. Once. Twice. If she didn’t respond soon, he’d punch out of this conversation with more than a little wounded pride.

“No.” She shook her head.

He didn’t care if she looked like she was going to puke. He wasn’t letting go of her hand. Someone would have to put crosshairs on him before he would break away. Even then, the move would be duck and cover, not catch and release. She was here, safe from the world, and until he knew what to do with her, that was where he wanted her.

“Outstanding. I wasn’t in the mood to let go.” His thumb caressed her tight grip.

It would’ve been easy to hand Clara to his mother, drag Mia to his room, and tear her clothes off her. But it wouldn’t have been right. Besides the absurd awkwardness, his first responsibility was to Clara. He wasn’t about to pawn her off whenever the mood struck. And the mood was always striking where Mia was concerned.

They walked down the hallway and up the stairs, grabbing the clean clothes, a sweatshirt, and flip-flops that Judith had laid out as promised.

Mia looked at him, the most interest he’d seen all day. “I’m going to change now.”

“Anything you want.” Guess he’d have to let her go.

He directed her to the bathroom. After a while, she came out squeaky clean, freshly clothed. The woman squared up quick. Over her shoulder, he saw her clothes stuffed in the trash can.Bet slamming those in the bucket was like scoring the winning basket of a championship game.

He took her hand and led her up the stairs. “So you saw that bathroom.”

“Check.”

“Here’s the toy room.”

They walked into an ice-cold room, only illuminated by a few computer screens. No windows. No furniture. Only shelves with his workstation in the middle.

“Toy room?”

“Grown up toys. Though not the kind that you may think of.” He gave her a devilish grin. “Tools of the trade. Gadgets and gear. This is a tiny listening device. This one looks like a pack of gum, but push two pieces together, and you’ve got a slow burning smoke. Nothing explosive though. All show. I try to keep the C4 far away from the baby.”

She laughed, acting less tense. “Makes sense.”

“This one’s pretty cool. It can make anything safe to drink. And this thing appears to be an outlet cover, but it has a high res camera. Motion activated.”

“You’re a kid in the candy store.”

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