Icy Control Read Online Free PDF Page B

and white. Sal’s grin, that brilliance that shined from her sweet soul always felt warmer than the sun to him.
    “Hey there, sleepyhead,” she teased.
    He grinned back instinctively, but then her words registered.
    Sleepyhead?
    His head snapped around and he turned his upper body so he could stare at her digital alarm clock.
    Holy fuck. He’d lost an hour.
    Sure, he had been woken up at three a.m. and had worked all the way through till well past lunch time, but he couldn’t afford to sleep when it was still early in the afternoon.
    “Shit. Damn,” he cursed. He scrambled from the bed. Crossing the room, he then hurried into the tiny en suite to remove the condom and quickly rinse his body. “I need to call El—hell, she’s been on her own for hours now. I need to write my report. I have to find that fucking painting. And understand what this whole bloody mess means. I need to—”
    “You need to not carry the burden of the world on your shoulders,” Sally insisted in a soft but firm tone.
    Rob rushed back into the bedroom without a word. He grabbed his boxers and turned to her as he slid them on. She was rumpled, flushed and looking gorgeously disheveled only half covered by the sheet. He wondered if he was completely ruining her post-sex glow.
    He knelt on the bed and drew her close then kissed her slowly.
    “I swear I don’t mean to be an ogre,” he promised as he stood. He flicked his gaze down to his pants, turned them the right way around so he could put them on properly. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was just so relaxed, the moment was so perfect. And you were there, all warm and stunning from our sex and—dammit.”
    Rob cringed internally to think of how he appeared, rushing to leave his lover’s bed after their first time having sex. Hopping on one foot to get dressed in seconds instead of minutes. He’d be lucky if Sal ever let him into her bed again. Rob shook his head, not able to even contemplate that scenario.
    “Sal, I’m sorry. This case will do my head in. I don’t mean to rush off, but I must. I just can’t get a handle on the situation, and losing an hour to sleep is just time I don’t have right now.”
    “And I’m not being much help.” Sally nodded.
    Rob shook his head firmly as he buttoned his pants. “Don’t say that. You’ve given me plenty to think about. I just—”
    “You need to stop carrying this weight alone. Bobby, you’re not contaminated by your profession, or the only person who can do this. El is almost as strong as you, and a bloody good partner. You’ve told me so hundreds of times. And while I understand you see a harsher side to the world than most people, it doesn’t change who you are, especially to me. In your soul, you’re still the same Bobby who helped guide me through the final years of school.”
    Rob stopped buttoning his shirt at the insistent tone in her voice.
    Sally climbed from the bed. She reached out, grabbed his hands in hers and held him still for a moment. “You came to me so I could give you my knowledge and experience. You wanted my help. For heavens’ sake, let me give it to you.”
    Rob paused for a moment, weighing things in his mind. He felt torn. It was true—he needed help and plenty of it. And while part of him still rebelled at dragging Sally deeper into the murkier depths of his world, she was right. He respected her, loved her. If she was adamant she wanted to do this who was he to stop her? Especially when he needed the assistance.
    Protecting her was second nature for him, but she was not weak or a coward. He could still watch over her while she worked side-by-side with him. Part of him even wanted that.
    “I won’t be able to keep the guys off you if you come to the office with me like this,” he teased her. Kissing her tenderly, because he was now free to do so, Rob wrapped her in a warm hug then lifted her off the ground. She wound her arms behind his neck. She twined her legs around his waist and even