What the hell had he just done? He’d slept with Katie McBride and it had been… hell, he couldn’t even find the right words for it. She had responded to him. Her body had been the perfect fit for his, her touch had sent him a little crazy, and he was now scared shitless. He didn’t do this, sleep with women in his arms after sex. Sex. Ha, even with his stunted emotional capabilities, he knew this was way more than sex.
Christ what the hell did he do now? He wasn’t into more, didn’t need more, had promised himself he would never have more with any woman.You’re an idiot, Hawker. He closed his eyes. He’d just wait a few minutes, until he was sure she was out, then he’d leave, and she’d wake and find him gone and get angry, and then somehow they could put some distance between them again.
He woke to her scream. It was dark outside, so he reached for the lamp and fumbled around until he found the switch.
“Jessie!”
She was on her back, hands fisted on her chest, head rolling from side to side, body tense.
“Hey, Katie, sssh, it’s okay now.” He touched her cheek, not wanting to frighten her, but he needed to calm her down. Her eyes opened and she tried to sit up, but he had a hand on her chest stopping her. “Come on now, it’s just a dream.”
“Cubby?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes were wide, fear etched in the dark depths. “You’re safe here with me, baby.”
“Safe,” she whispered, turning into his body.
He held her close, running his hands down her spine in slow sweeps, mapping the contours, and eventually the tension eased from her and she slipped back into sleep. He followed seconds later, too tired to think, and loving the feel of her lying against him, trusting him to keep her safe, when in fact what he should be doing was running for the hills… really fast.
Chapter Eleven
“Phone… ringing,” Cubby heard Katie’s mumbled words and reached a hand over the side of the bed and found his shorts. Finding the shape of his cell, he managed to open an eye long enough to accept the call.
“Hawker.”
Cubby listened to Rona, and in seconds he was wide awake. Lowering the phone, he swung his legs off the bed.
“Problems?”
The sheet was covering her from the waist down, and her body was curled toward him, all those soft, lush curves within touching distance. Her eyes were sleepy and her hair tousled, and she looked better than any centerfold he’d ever seen.
“You could say that.” Cubby made himself get out of bed; he needed to put some distance between them.
“What?” She sat up, not taking the sheet with her and exposing more luscious flesh, and Cubby turned away before he grabbed her and kissed her senseless.
“What?” he said, looking for his shirt.
“What’s the problem?”
“A body has been found on Neeps trail, and I need to get there now.”
“A body, wow, that doesn’t happen often here.” She was crawling across the bed toward him, like some kind of sex kitten. “Need some help securing the scene?”
“No, you stay here and get some more sleep.”
“I don’t need any more sleep, because for the first time in weeks, I feel like I got enough—thanks to you.”
She was giving him a shy smile and he felt something tighten in his chest but ignored it.
“Don’t make more of what happened last night than it was, Katie.”
The smile fell away, and in its place was the cool, emotionless look of the woman he’d brought back to Howling.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I was just saying that good sex made me too tired to wake during the night.”
She didn’t remember waking and he wasn’t going to remind her.
“I was just offering in a professional capacity if you needed an extra pair of hands, Sheriff, nothing more than that.”
