More Than Friends (The Warriors) Read Online Free PDF Page B

been
his
Leah.
    Until she rejected him, he intended to watch over her with the vigilance of an avenging angel. No one, he vowed for the hundredth time that night, would be permitted to harm her. No one.
    Once the current threat ended and her life returned to normal, Brett intended to resume his role as distant protector. He had long ago given up the right to expect anything more of this woman or of a child who didn’t even know him. It was a role necessitated by his counter–terrorism work. A role he’d grudgingly accepted during the last six years. And a role aided by Micah Holbrook, Leah’s brother, who administered the trust fund Brett had created for the woman he still loved and the little boy he had fathered.

3
    Clad in an old thigh–length, Naval Academy t–shirt that doubled as a nightgown, Leah lingered in front of the bathroom mirror and studied her reflection. She saw a tangled mane of golden hair that cascaded over slender shoulders and down a narrow back, large eyes rimmed by thick, dark–gold eyelashes, and a flawless complexion that looked as pale as ivory parchment paper.
    The smudges beneath her eyes emphasized the fatigued condition of her body, and the bump on her head still throbbed. But she felt fortunate that her earlier, mind–numbing pain had been replaced by a dull ache that no longer frightened her.
    Frustrated by her lack of recognition and desperate to make some kind of contact with her real self, Leah searched her reflection. She stood very still. Hoping for a miracle, she waited. She hardly dared to breathe.
    A few minutes later, her shoulders slumped in defeat, because she saw nothing familiar in the face of the woman who peered back at her. Nor could she recall the fall she’d apparently taken earlier that night.
    Who am I?
she wondered yet again. She bowed her head and pressed her fingertips to her aching temples.
What kind of person can’t remember her life?
    Leah straightened and glanced once more at her reflection, this time registering the trim, high–breasted body that came with the fair complexion and waist–length hair. While she couldn’t deny the comfort of the faded nightshirt that she’d found in the luggage Brett had carried into her bedroom, she felt as though she had dressed for bed in someone else’s clothing. Too unsettled to continue her inspection of herself, she stepped away from the mirror and crossed the bathroom on bare feet.
    Leah tugged open the door. She hesitated in the doorway when she noticed Brett, who stood near the head of the bed that dominated the bedroom. Time seemed to shift into some sort of odd state of suspension as they stared at each other.
    Despite her exhaustion and the late hour, Leah’s senses responded to the unguarded hunger she saw in his eyes. She felt shaken right down to her toes by the quickening taking place deep inside her own body, just as she felt a fatalistic acceptance of Brett’s ability to arouse her by simply looking at her with dark, penetrating eyes that spoke volumes about his skill as a lover. She wanted him, and that wanting was founded on pure instinct.
    She mustered the courage to cross the room. She watched Brett as she approached him, never taking her eyes from the hard–angled contours of his face as her heart rate picked up speed. Pausing just a few inches from him, she discovered that she didn’t possess the strength or the will to end their eye contact.
    She felt seared by the heat emanating from his gaze and his body. It seemed to encompass and then consume her until her knees went weak and her pulse raced.
    She reached out to him, but he deflected her hands before she could touch him. Stung by his rejection, she remained motionless. She suddenly realized that he knew just how close she was to surrendering to instincts that urged her to discard every ounce of common sense she possessed and simply go with the moment.
    "Feel better?" he asked.
    She found her voice. "Yes, much better. Having a shower