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The more he stared out the window, the more uncomfortable he grew. He didn’t want to leave Ellie, but he really wanted to close the blinds. He dropped his gaze to their entwined bodies and contemplated how he might disentangle himself from her. He’d just decided there was no easy way when a sound to his right caught his attention. His gaze jerked in that direction, but he saw nothing. Of course he saw nothing. She had a top-notch alarm system, and no way could someone get through it without all hell breaking loose. Although with his brother and cousin both working for a security company, he knew not every system was infallible.
He stared at the wall, trying to convince himself that what he’d heard had been nothing but the house settling. It was the most obvious answer. And yet it didn’t seem right. Once again, his attention shifted to the window. Only it didn’t make it all the way there before it caught on a round disk attached to the wall. He didn’t have enough light to see what it was, but still, he studied it. Maybe a speaker for her sound system? She had radiant heat, so it wasn’t a vent. Whatever it might be, it was the perfect place to plant a bug. Or camera.
He distantly acknowledged that his thoughts were running away from him. But once he had one, he couldn’t let it go.
His gaze darted around the room and noted all the places someone could hide a camera. He’d never been in Ellie’s room before, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Wrong.
He glanced down at the woman sprawled across his chest and finger-combed her hair out of her face. As he studied her delicate profile, another chill raced down his spine. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew they had to get out. If not out of the house, then out of her room.
Refusing to second-guess himself, he inched his legs out from under her, then rolled to scoop her up. The silk of her pajamas slid across his skin as he lifted her, tucking her body against his. He stumbled as he straightened, an odd moment of vertigo washing over him, and he stepped back, knocking over a potted plant.
Glancing down, he noted the dirt now scattered across her floor and some sort of tall, leafy thing resting against the hardwood. He made a mental note to come back and clean it up later. But his focus remained on Ellie. And getting them somewhere safe. Or at least safer.
Striding down the hall, he reentered the guest room. If someone was spying on her, it was unlikely they would have gone to the trouble of placing cameras in that room—a room she never used.
He shut the door behind them then paused. Despite what he’d just told himself, he waited to see if he felt the same kind of invisible threat in this room as he’d felt in Ellie’s. His skin still crawled, but the feeling receded with each passing minute. When he was certain his current unease was nothing more than residual disquiet, he crossed the space and laid her down on the bed he’d abandoned over an hour ago.
“Asher?” Ellie said, her voice confused as he drew the blankets over the two of them.
“Shh, Ellie. It’s okay. I just thought we’d be more comfortable here.”
She stilled then snuggled back to his side, laying her head on his shoulder, her arm across his chest, and her leg over his thighs.
“Okay,” she said, her body relaxing against his.
He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. When thirty minutes passed and she didn’t jerk or whimper, he started to relax. And not long after that, he drifted off into his own deep slumber.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Asher woke slowly. Silk slid across his skin, warmth enveloped his front, and his left hand restedon something soft. Skin. But not his skin. Inhaling, he caught a unique scent of jasmine mixed with something earthy. Loath to disturb the cocoon of comfort he floated in, he kept his eyes closed for another beat as he cataloged his senses. And put them all together.
Ellie.
A soft smile touched his lips. At some point in the night, his hand had slid under her top and now splayed across her stomach. With her back curled against his front, her silk pajamas brushed against his bare chest. And her very fine ass was tucked against his groin. For her sake, he hoped she was still asleep. Although, he doubted that she’d be at all surprised by his body’s reaction to her.
Her breathing shifted. If she hadn’t been awake before, she was now. While they might have flirted a bit last night, that didn’t mean she wanted to wake up with his hand up her shirt and his morning wood pressed to her back.
“Don’t,” she murmured when he started to remove his hand.
He froze, unsure if she was mumbling in her sleep or awake. But then her hand slipped under her shirt, and she slid her fingers between his, locking their hands together. In stark contrast to the tension shooting through his own body, she relaxed and wiggled even deeper into his embrace.
“I can’t remember the last time I slept so well,” she said, her voice soft and sleepy. “I just want to savor it for a little while longer.”
There was only one thing a man could do with that and that was to pull her closer. Certain parts of his body wanted one thing—hell, all of his body wanted the same thing—but a small, still rational part of his brain recognized that it wasn’t the time. They’d only just started flirting. And the episode several hours earlier had made for not an easy night. And last but not least, she’d scheduled her second fitting for early that morning. He hadn’t bothered to look at his watch yet, but judging by the light, he suspected they didn’t have much time before Harry arrived.
Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he closed his eyes and, as she suggested, savored the moment. Right now, Ellie wasn’t a movie star or America’s Sweetheart. Right now, she was the woman in his arms. A woman he was attracted to. But also, a woman he respected. A woman he liked.
A woman he was growing to care for.
How could he not? Everything about her impressed him. From the vulnerability she trusted him with to her strength in tackling her fears head-on. And then there was the way she engaged in life. From jumping right in with young patients at the hospital, to diving into snowshoeing, to how much she loved cooking her father’s recipes.
She sighed in his arms, and a smile tugged at his lips as he remembered the impromptu trivia game Sabina arranged a few nights earlier when they’d met his family at the Boom. Ellie had surprised the hell out of everyone, himself included, with how much she knew about California’s local brewing scene. None of his cousins had even come close to touching her knowledge, and she’d walked away the undisputed champion of the match.
How could henotbe falling for this woman?
Grateful she wanted to be in his arms, he nuzzled her hair, eliciting a pleased sort of purr. Yes, this was most definitely a morning to savor.
He’d nearly drifted back to sleep when he heard something beeping from somewhere in the house. Ellie, however, didn’t seem to notice.
