Would her job still be there if she was able to return? Weeks ago, she’d used a pay phone to call the school and take a leave of absence, but that would only last so long before they’d find a permanent replacement. And what about her house? She couldn’t pay any bills, couldn’t maintain the property, couldn’t collect the mail from her mailbox... Would the city declare it abandoned?
When she heard Leese’s breathing even into the deep rhythm of sleep, she forgot about her problems and peeked up at him.
Only a soft blue light shone from the alarm clock radio, putting his features in deep shadow. Lethargy pulled at her, and after daring one soft kiss to his ribs, she closed her eyes...and quickly faded.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A LOUD SCREECHING shot Leese out of a sound sleep. He was on his knees, gun in hand, in an instant. Searching out the threat, he flashed his gaze over every dim corner of the immense room, but found nothing.
Beside him, Cat stirred. “Leese?”
He glanced at her.
Meekly, she pointed to the alarm clock radio. “Don’t shoot it, okay?”
Ah, hell. He inhaled a deep, calming breath, turned and slapped the stupid alarm to silence it. Who the hell woke to that every day?
His heart beat in the slow, hard way it did when he faced an opponent and he took a second to get a grip. Dim morning light barely penetrated the thick curtains. He carefully set the gun back on the nightstand, turned the automatic alarm off so he wouldn’t have a repeat heart attack tomorrow morning, then finally allowed himself to look at Cat.
Fuck, she looked irresistible.
Messy tumbled brown hair, sleep-puffy blue eyes, flushed cheeks and a totally lax body. Still drowsy, she stared back at him. Not kissing her was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
“Sorry about that.” How long had it been since he’d slept that soundly? Dangerous. He couldn’t afford to lose himself that way. He’d put the blame square on Catalina. Her small, warm body had fit so perfectly to his, had felt so right, that he’d relaxed in unfamiliar ways—even while sporting a boner.
“You’re fast,” she whispered. “I barely heard that alarm, and you were ready to shoot it.”
She’d probably tease him forever—no, not forever because he wouldn’t know her that long. “I was out,” he admitted. “Dead to the world.”
“Me too.”
“Usually I’m a light sleeper.”
Her gaze lowered to look at his body. “I used to always sleep hard, but it’s been different since all this started.” She pushed back her hair, then scooted up to sit against the headboard. “You know how usually if you hear something in the night, you assume it’s the house settling, or the wind outside, or...whatever?”
“Sure.”
Pulling the covers up to her lap, she bit her lip, then gazed toward the curtained window. “These days,” she softly confessed, “when I hear something, the first thing I do is panic. I assume I’ve been found and I go into that fight-or-flight mode, with flight being my preference.”
Leese moved to sit next to her, their shoulders touching. “That’s understandable given your current circumstances.”
“Maybe. But with you, I sleep like I used to. That is, once I fell asleep.” Smiling, she nudged him and said, “Took me a little while last night. With you right there, looking like you look, feeling like you feel—”
“You felt me?” He tried to pretend affront, but mostly he tried to hedge off another erection.
“You’re hard and hot, and man, Leese, you smell good.”
“And you’re small and soft and smell good too. But if we’re going to continue sleeping together—” Weirdest conversation he’d ever had with a woman, period. “—then we need to make an agreement.”
“I think we need to make coffee.”
He stilled her when she tried to leave the bed. “I’ll make the coffee in a minute.”
Groaning, she flopped down flat on the mattress again. “Okay, but hurry before I expire.”
This was the tricky part. How to explain without hurting her feelings, or worse, encouraging her. He’d strained his control as far as he could; she needed to work with him.
“Let’s put the seduction on the back burner, at least for a week.” When she started to protest, he cut her off. “One week, Cat. You can rein it in that long, and if after a week—” which was about as far as he could push himself “—we’re still holed up together, and you’re still sure of what you want, well then—”
She bolted up to face him. “You mean it?”
Damn, when was the last time anyone wanted him that much? And how could he resist it? Sure, he’d always accepted that too much familiarity was a major no-no in the biz. Made sense.
Until he met Catalina.
Now that he did know her, the rules didn’t seem to matter. Sahara already knew the score; the woman was neither blind nor obtuse. She might’ve kicked up a fuss about it, and if she had, he would’ve resigned without hesitation. It was her business and she had to run it the way she figured was best.
What he couldn’t do was resist Catalina forever. He understood his own limitations. When he’d lectured Justice on the rules, never, not once, had he ever figured on meeting a woman like Cat. If he only had to fight himself, then maybe he’d be successful. But knowing she wanted him too, that she had from the start, well hell...he was only a man.
With his proposed time frame, she looked like a kid being promised a pony on her birthday. He took in her expectant expression and laughed, not at her enthusiasm, but in pure pleasure because of it.
It felt damn nice to be wanted so much.
She mistook his humor, though, and slugged him in the midsection. Hugging her tight, Leese pinned down her arms. “So it’s your violence and your lust we need to restrain?”
“You’re laughing at me.”
“No, I’m just flattered, that’s all.” He loosened his hold enough to give her a brief, firm kiss. “And if I can manage one week, surely you can too, right?”
“Okay, fine.” She pushed against his chest, putting some space between them and giving him a good look at her frown. “But I want it on record that I’m agreeing under duress and if those bastards get me and I end up dying without knowing what it’d be like to sleep with you, I’ll—”
She squeaked when Leese took her to her back on the mattress. Looming over her, he said, “Nothing is going to happen to you, because I won’t let it.”
“—come back and haunt you,” she finished.
She was the most infuriating, and the most amusing, woman he’d ever met. Here he was, tense over the mention of her being hurt, and she didn’t even notice. That helped him to clear his head.
He meant what he said. She’d be safe, because he’d damn well keep her that way.
To lighten his own mood, he teased her. “Haunt me, huh? Now I’m scared.”
She sighed, very put-upon. “No you’re not, but that’s the best threat I could think of, since being dead would make it pretty hard to exact any other revenge.”
Having her under him felt even better, and just as natural, as cuddling her close through the night. “You need to have a little faith.”
“All right.” She lifted her chin. “But you better plan on paying up at the end of the week.”