Those brown-sugared eyes had hardened to stone. Carved of a rocky cliff that threatened to come crashing down.
The barest glow of the approaching day broke at the horizon, a murky gray that filled the sky with a shock of hope.
Staring at him, that was what I felt.
Obscene, obliterating hope.
Foolish girl.
But I trembled with it. Shivered with the impact as I remained there barely able to stand under the weight of his gaze.
“You should go back inside,” he grated, his words panted with the exertion he’d just expelled.
I clutched tighter to the neckline of my pajamas’ shirt. “Thank you,” I managed to whisper.
“There is nothing to thank me for.”
“I disagree. You are the one who just went running out into the night.”
Reckless.
No care as to what he might be coming up against.
“I’ve done nothing but bring trouble to your door.”
I wanted to fight him on it, but I was feeling too relieved to do anything but give him a tight nod, turn around, and head back through the door.
I guessed maybe it was an invitation. I didn’t know. The only thing I was sure of was the way my heart ratcheted into a frenzy when I heard the gate swing shut and latch close before his heavy footsteps began to follow.
I felt it like a thunder in my soul, an erratic pounding that stampeded out of control.
Just as I pulled the door open, he was there, right behind me, holding it so I could enter. There was no shunning the weight of his eyes on me as I headed back through the large playroom, not sure whether to slow and face him or run away as fast as I could.
The light was muted yet dancing with the vow of a new day.
The alarm had long since been silenced.
The quiet stillness it left behind felt forged.
Counterfeit.
My footsteps were hushed. Trepid. Slowing with each step. Stopping at the head of the hall, I swiveled to look behind me.
He stood at the doorway.
Raging.
An ominous warrior.
The longer pieces of his hair tossed into his striking face. Concealing him like a shroud.
“Did you . . . see anything? Anyone? Or was this truly a false alarm?”
Leif grimaced. “I don’t fuckin’ know, Mia. I . . .” Helplessness seeped into his harsh tone. “When I came out of the guesthouse when I first heard the alarm, I thought . . . I thought I saw something at the far end of the yard. A shadow. A shape. Not sure because it all happened so fast. I went after it, but by the time I made it over the wall, there was nothing but air.”
I gulped, trying to tame the terror I could feel tremoring through my being. Creeping deeper into my spirit.
Leif took a lurching step forward. “God damn it.” His head dropped as he cursed toward the ground. “They might have been coming for me, Mia.”
He lifted his gaze, meeting my eye, a torment so stark in the depths that it nearly knocked me back into the wall.
“Chances are, this bullshit has everything to do with me.” Self-loathing oozed out with his words. “I won’t pretend like I have the first clue what is going down in your life, Mia. What you’re up against. The only thing you need to know is it doesn’t matter if they’re coming for me or for you. If anyone thinks about getting close to you? To your kids? Pray for them because I promise you, that will not end in their favor.”
Rage spiraled through his body. Barely contained.
I blinked, my head shaking. “You don’t owe me anything.”
He laughed a bitter sound, and he took another step forward, his voice a growl. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t just become my responsibility.”
“What does that even mean?”
His head shook, his expression grim. “You don’t know what vultures I might have just led to your doorstep. The bullshit I’ve been drowning in my whole life. If it followed me here? I’m out. But not before I’m certain there won’t be any bastards who come sniffing this way.”
I almost laughed. This was absurd. Absolute craziness. “I think we can be sure my life is a much bigger disaster than yours, and the last thing I can do is ask you to be my savior.”
It was bad enough I was here staying with Lyrik and his family. One day, and I was already questioning that decision.
Leif huffed out a laugh, something menacing and twisted in the rumbling sound as he took another step my direction.
The space between us shivered.
God, he was beautiful.
Terrifyingly beautiful.
His head tipped to the side. “I’m no savior. You can be sure of that. But I’ll gladly stand in the flames if it means keeping you from the fire.”
“You don’t even know me.”
He was in my space.
Invading.
Plundering.
Wrecking me without even a brush of his hand.
Oh, but then he did touch me, and that plundering turned into an all-out ravaging.
His hand slipped to my neck. Palm stretched out as he ran the tip of his thumb along the length of my jaw. Warmth streaked. A flashfire. And I knew without a doubt that I was the one who was standing in the flames.
“Like I said, you’re easy to read,” Leif murmured.
“And what do you see?” My question was shaky.
“Hope.” He edged in closer, intense eyes raking over me.
“Horror,” he continued, that thumb caressing.
He inched in until our noses brushed. His aura all around. Intoxicating.
Clove and the vestiges of whiskey.
“Hunger.” It was a grunt of need, his desire finally spilling free. “Tell me, what is it you are hungry for, Mia?”
There I was—right up against that crumbling ledge. I should scramble back. Rush for safety. But I stayed right there. At the mercy of his big, brutal hands.
“To feel something bigger than me. Something bigger than my circumstances. Something stronger than the grief and the hopelessness. You’re right, Leif. I want to feel hope. I want to feel peace. I want to feel wanted.”
He groaned, and his lips were on mine, no hesitation as he promptly pillaged my mouth.
His kiss was like candy. Crystallized brown sugar. Sharp as a knife.
His tongue tangled with mine in some war I didn’t know either of us were fighting. He groaned louder at the contact, a dark rumble of lust in his chest, and we were an instant mess of desperate mouths and clashing teeth.
He pushed me up against the wall and pinned me with that strong body.
Desire spiraled through every cell. So fierce I whimpered, and my fingers drove into his hair and raked down the sides of his neck before they sank into his shoulders.
Frantic to get him closer.
To quench this feeling that had infected me since the moment I’d seen him sitting in that corner. His draw a virus that had invaded my blood.
“Leif,” I begged, trying to get my legs around his waist, needing to feel his hard length I could feel pulsing from his jeans. He pressed himself to me, to that achy place that throbbed and begged. “Please. Make it better. Can you make it better, just for tonight?”
I thought he might be the only one who could take it away.
He pressed himself against me, grinding his hard cock against my belly. “Fuck . . . Mia . . . what are you doing to me? What are you doing? I can’t . . .”
Both of his hands found my waist the second he said it, and he tucked me against him in a forceful rock of need.