Snow Bound (5 page)

He made his way back through to the living room, finding Tori resting on the couch in the same position he’d left her. Firelight flickered, casting both shadows and
highlights over her light blond
e
hair. He knelt beside her, the sight of her delicate body awakening a primitive urge to protect. His righ
t hand tightened around the icy-
hard pack. He’d protected other men in his unit because that had been his job; civilians had fallen unde
r a similar order. As a natural-born Texan,
his gentle
manly urges were well
deve
loped enough that he would have extended the same courtesy to
any woman or child he’d encountered on the street. After all, that’s what men were on the earth to do.

But this burn in the center of his chest, the pressure in his core to stand between this woman and harm
was something
he was unable to actually feel
anymore
. Growing up as he ha
d, being swept aside while his mother took beating after
beating, having her belittle
his con
cerns, had thwarted his naturally
protective instincts
until he’d been left
with
only the shadow of them. Yet this tiny woman, with a single look, had awakened w
hat he’d always assumed was
lacking in him.

He’d been wrong. She w
asn’t simply a genteel, proper s
outhern woman. She was a dangerous flame set to light his match.

Draping the towel over her thigh, he eased the ice pack into place over it and the added protection of her
T-shirt
. Her sharp intake of breath shot through the stillness, making him wonder what sounds she would make under other, more pleasurable circumstances. A quick shake of his head allowed him to focus on more neutral territory, like g
etting as far away as he could.

With a sure stride
he crossed to the fireplace and stirred the embers inside with the poker, making sure the burn was even and the new logs had caught. The slight whisper of sound a
s she shifted
lent an intimate quality to the silence between them.

The husky strain in her voice wasn’t much better when she spoke. “What do you think he wants?”

“You haven’t heard from him in how long?”

“Not since right after he went to prison.”

Though he shouldn’t ask, shouldn’t get involved, he heard himself speaking anyway. “Did he threaten you in any way? Letters? Messages sent through family or friends?”

“He didn’t need to,” she said, then paused a moment while she cleared her throat. Sure enough, he glanced over his shoulder to find her tucking her hair back behind her left ear. He hadn’t noticed that little habit the other times he’d seen her, probably because s
he’d been in
environmen
t
s
where she’d felt in control—
her business, the yard, social gatherings. Tonight
the only thing under her control had been her decision to step outside the back door.

Somet
hing he was very grateful she’
d done, even if he had been winning.

Needing to clear away the last of his adrenaline rush, he paced across the old-fashioned braided rug and polished wooden floors. He needed something to do, something to f
ocus on. At home, he would be
catching up on his technical manuals
or sleeping. Here he was locked
in a house with an available, attractive woman and the most likely option wasn’t, well, an option.

“Why
?
” he asked, giving in to the need to understand.

Chapter Four

Tori cursed the weakness stealing into her body. Tiny quakes jerked through her muscles, though whether they were from the ice on her
thigh or the realization that Bobby Joe
was actually out there, she wasn’t sure.

She hated being this vulnerable again. Instinct yelled at her to get up and do something, just as she had done with the gun earlier, but there was nothing to do. Going out into the storm to look for him would be stupid, and the house was as secure as it could be. Nothing left but to wait and see. Take care of herself. Pray the snowstorm wouldn’t wreak as much havoc as they anticipated… because she was going to need a sheriff here as soon as they could get in touch with one.

Shifting a little, wishing she could get away from the cold pack, she let her mind drift back t
o the last time she’d seen her ex
. His sentencing. When the judge had handed down the stiff
punishment,
almost a decade
in prison, the hometown hero fa
c
ade had b
een shattered in an instant. Bobby Joe ha
d whirled to face Tori where she sat alone, her
parents at the hospital after her dad’s stroke
.

“He threatened m
e in front of God and everybody
the day of the sentencing,” she whispered, her voice without the strength it needed to project across
the space, but he
heard her anyway. The tensing muscles in Damon’s back were easier to see now that he’d stripped off his jacket.

“Do the local police know that?”

“Yes. Actually
it was one of the officers
from town
came to let me know Bobby Joe
had been released on parole. But when nothing came of it, we figured he’d headed somewhere else. His family moved to Knoxville, so he had no reason to come back here.”

“Except you.”

Except me.
S
he couldn’t force the words out,
hated that she’d even thought them. But it was true. Wasn’t she the special one?

Damon kept talking. “He must be one determined hombre to
be out in this kind of weather.”

She though
t back to her high school days
. “He was a big hunter, just like a lot of guys around here. He’d know where to get some equipment for this, I guess.”
She swallowed hard. “Maybe I’m wrong. Why would he go to all this trouble for me?”

Unable to stand the chill any longer, even with the heat pumping from the fireplace, she used the nearest hand to wrap the ice pack in the towel a
nd lift it off
her.

“That should probably stay on a little longer,” Damon said, moving toward her across the room.

Another shiver worked through her, but she managed to turn it into a shrug. “I think it w
ill be fine. A couple of pain relievers
and I’ll be as good as new.”

He knelt to the left of her legs, automatically reaching for the hem of her
T-shirt
. “Let me just take
a quick look and make sure you’
re al
l
right.”

Welcome
heat rushed to her cheeks. At least
the room was shadowed enough to hide her reaction. Though this time the embarrassment didn’t take hold, for which she was grateful. In its wake c
rept a very different sensation,
one she didn’t have a lot of experience with. Oh, she’d
had her share of lovers, but
they’d been few and far between, seeing as
what a small town Cadence
was. Pretty hard to find someone to date who hadn’t known you since you were in pigtails. And she was cautious enough to not want to ruin those lifelong friendships with something she was certain wouldn’t last.

No, t
he desire rushing under her skin was unique to Damon. There’d been a foreshadowing of it from the first moment she’d seen him, but now it rushed into full bloom. The ache burned low, leaving an empty feeling in her core that yearned for fulfillment. Her skin felt sensitized, as if the slightest brush would overwhelm her with sensation. Her nipple
s, tightened from the cold,
stiffened
even further
against the brush of her shirt, begging for his attention.

The fact that he was looking at half her naked ass didn’t help matters.

Desperate for a distraction, she said, “Thank you, Damon.”

He glanced up, his brown
eyes meeting hers. His warm palm cupped the cool flesh of her thigh, right above the numbness, bringi
ng awareness of his
masculinity. The very things she most needed to forget.

“Thank you for coming out in the cold and the snow to help someone you don’t know very well. I’m so glad I’m not going through this alone.”

“
I’m right here if you need me, d
arlin’,” he said, his Texas twang deepening as he leaned closer.

She’d meant to distract herself with something other than the physical, but when Damon’s lips drew near hers, she could think of nothing else. Warm bre
ath met her flesh first. Her
lips parted of their own volition, as if to invite that part of him into herself. She inhaled, trying to pull him closer, but held herself utterly still. The only part of her meeting Damon was h
er look, and those eyes
held her transfixed. He looked at her like a revelation, like he’d
been given an astonishing gift…
and he planned to make the most of it.

His lips met hers, smooth and dry. They rested together, not moving, as their breath com
ingled
. Then with a light shift of movement, his tongue darted through to brush the inner curve of her bottom lip. Her groan was the only encouragement he seemed to need. He pressed closer, his tongue dipping inside to explore her.

Smooth and silky-
wet, he began to explore and all her protests fell in the face of his pursuit. She met him with her own need, twining he
r tongue with his, her body twist
ing to meet the hard planes of his chest. His groan was all the encouragement she needed. Her hands lifted to the outer curve of his shoulders, digging into sculpted muscles that were camouflaged by the layers of clothes he had on to fight the cold.

He tasted so good, musky and dark. She could have sat there all night with their mouths fused together. He allowed no quarter, sealing his lips to hers and taking what he wanted. And all he wanted, she willingly gave.

* * *

As Damon’s body jumped from slow simmer to maximum overdrive, he fisted the cushions on each side of her. From the moment he first saw her, he’d categorized her as
“
hearth and home
”
, thus firmly off limits. But now he could see that he’d fed himself a lie.

He’d kept away from her because his body recognized the danger. Consuming desire pulsed through him, tightening every muscle from the base of his
neck to the arches of his feet—
and the most important muscle in between. The instant erection shocked him, but not as much as standing on the precipice of an orgasm in twenty seconds flat.

Jerking away from the source of the burn, he rose to his feet in a less than steady
motion. Her wide eyes and still-
panting lips barely registered as he turned away and marched for the door. “I’m going to check outside,” he said over his shoulder.

He d
idn’t know what he was going to check or why he wanted to walk around in a winter wonderland. All he knew was that he had to get away from Tori before he spontaneously combusted… something he hadn’t worried about since he was fifteen years old.

Shrugging back into his coat, he palmed his
Maglite
and charged through
the door even before a borrowed
hat
stretched firmly over
his head. There the momentum dissipated. The back porch was relatively protected, the push of the wind drawing snowflakes to rest on his
boots. He stood in the
silence, listening for anything other than the rush of air, anything human, while his mind replayed the kiss.

The hottest kiss he’d ever experienced, and he wasn’t a monk by any stretch of the imagination. What the fuck?

As he stood there, staring out at the swirling snow, the bitter wind creeping around the edges of his clothing, a dark sense of anticipation crept over him. He’d had similar feelings before missions that ended up going wrong. That same tingle worked its way down his spine, alerting him to danger ahead. He’d like to chalk it up to the unknown criminal entity possibly hiding in the woods at this very moment, but had a sneaking
suspicion
it had more to do with the seemingly innocent woman he’d left shocked and dazed in the warmth of the house.

Damn it to hell. He shouldn’t have done that. Shouldn’t have kissed her. Shouldn’t have left her. Sure as hell shouldn’t be thinking about finishing what he’d started.