“I’ve only been gone a few hours, Grant.It’s like nine o’clock.I was planning on going in before six tomorrow morning.”
Grant shook his head before he took the few steps that separated them, and his massive hands landed on her slim shoulders.“Baby, it is morning.”
A bolt of shock took away the last bit of fatigue she had.
“What?No, Grant.I think I’ve only been asleep for a few hours and came home around four.”
“Jennifer.It’s nine o’clock in the morning on Tuesday.”
Jennifer jerked in shock and tried to pull away.“Oh, my God, Grant.I’ve got to get to the shelter.”Now she realized why the amount of sunlight coming through her windows looked off.
He pulled her reluctant body against his and wrapped his arms around her.“Baby, I was just there.Kari has everything under control.She told me she hadn’t worried until she couldn’t reach you earlier this morning.She said you had been going full speed since Saturday afternoon, just about nonstop.She said you managed to get in a few quick naps, but that was it.She knew you had to be wiped out.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, still a little weak, and shook her head in dismay.
“I slept close to seventeen hours.That’s crazy.”
Raw anger shot through him.“No, what’s crazy is pushing yourself as hard as you did.I knew I should have come to the shelter earlier to check on you, but I thought you’d be so busy I didn’t want to interrupt you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
They were both silent.Grant’s nose pressed into her hair, breathed deeply, and took in her scent.
“When was the last time you ate anything?”
She turned rigid.“I don’t remember,” she whispered nervously under her breath.
“Are you kidding me?”he said calmly but with clenched teeth, pulling her toward the sofa.“Come sit.I’ve brought some muffins and breakfast sandwiches.I left some at the shelter for your staff.”He pulled the food out, spread it on the table before her, and unwrapped one of the sandwiches.“Start eating.I’ll go get you some juice.”
Once in the kitchen, Grant pressed his forehead against the coolness of the fridge.He couldn’t seem to make his heart stop racing.When he’d found out she’d been unreachable, he’d lost it.He made it across the city in half the time it usually took.He started to calm down when he saw she was all right, but then he got a look at her.
For a small woman, she had long, feminine legs with softly defined muscles in her thighs and calves.He couldn’t stop the image of those legs wrapped around his waist as he took her.He groaned low in his throat as the image flashed across his brain.
“Is everything okay, Grant?”Jennifer called from the living room.
He squeezed his eyes shut and cleared his throat.“Yeah, I’m coming.”He gritted his teeth against the ache of his erection that rested heavily in his pants.It would be torture being near her with only her thin, short nightgown and his pants between them, and not to lie her down and sink into her so deeply, she’d never get the feel of him out of her mind.
