Standing there in the darkness, listening to the sounds of sex, with Rowan wearing my oversized hoodie and staring at me with a look I couldn’t decipher made something come loose inside of me.
I swallowed down the desire pooling in me, already knowing that now wasn’t the time. I enjoyed a challenge, and Rowan sure was a challenge, and any other time I would have made it my mission to get her on her back and naked, but she was vulnerable right now, and I wasn’t about to seduce a vulnerable woman.
That wasn’t a challenge, that was an asshole move.
“I mean, I guess,” she said, laughing now as Sasha let out a high-pitched scream, and a deep bellowing voice cried outShut the fuck up already!“Oh. My. God!”
We both laughed as Rowan’s gaze moved around the darkened room, the red glow of the beer light shining off her hair and skin. She looked back at me. “I came looking for you.”
That caught my attention. “Everything okay?”
She hesitated and then nodded. “I think so. I mean, no, obviously not.”
“Obviously,” I agreed.
Her eyes drifted toward the dark windows and the shadows beyond them. “Everything just feels”—she struggled for the word—“wrong. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, I get that,” I said quietly.
She walked down the rest of the stairs slowly, bare feet silent on the cold wooden floor, and I watched her shiver. When she reached the bottom step she wrapped her arms around herself.
“I keep thinking about what you said.”
I glanced toward the hallway where the other guys were sleeping and lowered my voice. “About what?”
“If someone in your club betrayed my dad,” her voice faltered before she continued, “well, it makes sense that they’re here right now, right?”
I grabbed her bicep gently and led her away from prying ears and toward the small sofa I’d been attempting to sleep on, and we sat down. I didn’t answer right away, because the truth was, I’d been thinking the same damn thing all night.
“They won’t touch you while you’re here,” I said.
She looked up at me. “You don’t know that.”
“I do,” I replied with certainty. “They don’t have a death wish—this is about money for them, so they won’t risk showing themselves. And besides, if they do, I’ll make damn sure they regret even trying.”
For a moment she studied my face, and then her shoulders relaxed a little.
Another moan floated down from upstairs and Rowan groaned.
“I am never sleeping again,” she groaned.
I chuckled. “C’mon.”
I grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and tossed it over her shoulders.
Her fingers clutched the fabric. “What are you doing?”
“Keeping an eye on things while you try to sleep,” I said, leaning back on the couch.
She hesitated and then slowly leaned back against the sofa. She was close enough that I could feel the warmth of her bodythrough the blanket. For a few minutes neither of us spoke, both of us just sat listening to the sounds upstairs until they finally started to quiet down.
Rowan exhaled in relief. “Thank God. I mean, I’m not a prude or anything, but I’ve never heard sounds like that coming from someone.”
A rumble of laughter echoed through my chest. “All I need is five minutes alone with you, sweetheart.”
She snorted on a laugh and nudged my arm with her elbow. “Shut up.”
Her head tipped back against the couch and within seconds her eyes started to droop. I watched her for a moment, then reached over and gently pulled the blanket higher around her shoulders. She didn’t wake, just shifted slightly closer to me without realizing it, and I felt a small smile tug at the corner of my mouth when her head rested against my chest.
