Liam's Witness Protection (Man on a Mission 4)

She didn’t resist, and Liam marveled at that. But he wasn’t going to question it. Not now. Not when she was willing to accept comfort from him, the comfort he’d longed to give her since the moment he’d seen those scars on her wrists. No, to be honest, he’d wanted to comfort her since the moment she shied away from him yesterday morning.

Was it only yesterday? It didn’t seem possible. Too much had been crammed into too few hours, and he was still reeling emotionally. But the only thing that mattered right now was Cate. Letting her know how much he hurt for her. How much he cared.

As he held her close, many things started to make sense to him, things he hadn’t really understood before. Cate’s desire to be invisible, to not draw attention to herself, for one. Her feelings for Alec, another. Alec had rescued her from a life on the run. Gratitude was a natural response. And as he’d told her, Alec was a hell of a guy. Admiration—the same kind of admiration he felt for his brother—was another perfectly natural response.

But she wasn’t in love with his brother, and inside he heaved a sigh of relief. What had she said earlier? “...I never wanted him to touch me...that way... I never wanted any man to touch me that way...until I met you.”

And Cate thought she wasn’t brave. How many women would have admitted that to a man they barely knew? How many women would trust a man they’d just met to hold them in an intimate embrace on a bed and not push for more after the woman admitted her attraction to him?

She trusts you, he realized, the shock reverberating through his system. She doesn’t know it, but she really does trust you. He’d wanted her trust, and now he had it—at least up to a point. But suddenly he knew it wasn’t enough. He didn’t just want Cate’s trust in this way. He wanted more. He wanted it all.

Chapter 9

Cate woke first. Liam must have pulled the covers over them at some point during the night, and she was lying with her head pillowed on his shoulder. His other arm was snug across her body, as if to hold her safe.

She couldn’t believe it. She’d slept through the night in Liam’s arms, and no nightmares had invaded her dreams. She hadn’t woken in a panic, either, with that choking feeling and a runaway pulse. Liam holding her wasn’t like Vishenko holding her. When Vishenko had held her he’d wanted to hurt her, and she’d fought him until her strength had given out. It was different with Liam. He was holding her to comfort, to heal. To shelter her from anything that might hurt her. To place his body between hers and danger.

She raised her head to see what time it was, but when she moved Liam woke immediately, his hand already reaching for the SIG SAUER on the nightstand. Then his eyes focused on her, and he subsided back onto the bed, leaving the gun where it was. “Morning,” he told her. And the guarded tone in his voice told her he wasn’t sure what her reaction would be to having spent the night in his arms.

“Good morning.” And it was, she realized. It was a good morning. She smiled at him. A tentative smile, but a real one. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

For not forcing me, she wanted to say, but she knew he wouldn’t understand. He’d be insulted—no, he’d be hurt to think she believed he could do to any woman what Vishenko had done to her. She hadn’t. Not really. But how to explain? “For holding me,” she settled on.

His chest rumbled with soft laughter. “My pleasure, Cate,” he told her. There was a light in his eyes that warmed her, and he repeated, “My pleasure.”

* * *

While Cate dressed and packed her few things, Liam called Callahan on the cell phone. “It’s Liam Jones,” he identified himself when Callahan answered. “I assume you were expecting my call?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t say anything more, and Liam realized Callahan was a man of few words.

“We’re still at the hotel, and we’re going to have breakfast before we leave. But we should be there in about seven hours. D’Arcy said I shouldn’t go to the sheriff’s office—”

“Yeah, Nick asked me to meet you someplace safe, where no one will see you. My office is out—too many people. And I’d rather you not come to the house—my wife wouldn’t say anything, but I can’t guarantee my children won’t accidentally reveal we have a guest staying with us—they’re too young to know better.”

Liam frowned. “Then where—”

“You know how to get to your brother-in-law’s cabin near Granite Peak?”

“I think so.”

“I’ll meet you there. I’ll be the one with the Smith & Wesson.”