She withdrew the arm she’d reached out to him.
No, damn it.He wasn’t going to let her withdraw from him.
He crossed until he was standing right next to her.“Actually, I would like my bed.”
“Oh.”She sat up.“Okay.Just let me—”
“No.I want it with you in it.”Before either one of them overthought it, he reached down, took her slight weight in his arms and slid her over.Then got into the bed next to her.
He turned over onto his side then looped an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him.
For the first time since he’d gotten that message from Steele that Bree was in trouble, Tanner relaxed.She was in his house, his bed, his care.
He kissed her hair.“Go back to sleep.I just want to be with you.Even if it’s just for tonight.”
She didn’t say anything but a few moments later began to relax against him.
And everything about it felt right.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Bree woke up a few hours later, Tanner was gone.She saw so little of him for the next three days, she was almost convinced she’d imagined the whole thing.
Imagined lying in bed with his strong arms securely around her.Imagined feeling safe and secure and cherished for the first time in her life.
She knew why Tanner hadn’t been around much.He’d explained about creepy, thin guy—Steele, or whatever his real name was—and his obsession with her and the twins.Tanner and Scott had been working around the clock trying to find him.
Bree couldn’t even wrap her head around it.Only she could somehow gain a psycho stalker at the same time as being hunted by a deadly organization intent on her capture or death.
She knew Tanner had questions about the Organization.That it wouldn’t be long until he began to press her for info.
Rightfully so.
Because what about Melissa?Except for that panicked conversation a few nights ago, Bree hadn’t heard anything from her cousin in two weeks.Had no way to hear from her.
Had she been caught when she warned Bree?
Was she even still alive?
Bree refused to accept that her cousin was dead.But she also couldn’t run from the truth any longer.
Melissa couldn’t defeat the Organization.It didn’t matter how motivated or determined she was.She just didn’t have the hacking skills to get around their system.
Michael Jeter was a computer genius.He would have backup systems and trapdoors that someone like Melissa—even as competent as she was—wouldn’t be able to get around.
He was the type of computer genius no one could beat.
Except another computer genius.
Here Bree sat on the steps of a ranch in the middle of Colorado, rising sun kissing her skin, healthy babies sleeping inside a warm, sturdy house.
Hell, she even had a pregnant dog sitting beside her supplying companionship, her master out somewhere providing protection against any threat that might come her way.
Bree was living a stolen life.
She was in someone else’s house, with someone else’s kids, even someone else’s damn dog.
Even worse, she was stealing from people shecaredabout.And she had the means to stop it all if she wasn’t a coward.
