Dangerous Promise (The Protector) Read online

  Content.

  Satisfied.

  For the first time since waking up in that hospital room, Nina fit inside her own skin. Possibly for the first time in her life. Not entirely because of Ewan—she’d never made a man her reason for being and she never would. He was an enormous part of it though, this newfound sense of herself. The idea that she could be strong and protect him even as he, in his way, took care of her.

  Nina stepped out of the shower and dried herself quickly, squeezing the excess water from her hair but leaving it unbound to flow over her shoulders and down her back. If she braided it while it was wet, it would take forever to dry. Naked, she drew on a soft robe that she found in the armoire. She belted it loosely, studying her reflection as she turned from side to side. With the robe gapping in the front, Ewan would be able to clearly see the shadows of her breasts and lower to her belly.

  Nina grinned. Good. She wanted him to see it and be teased.

  She grabbed her harness, the weight of it seeming heavier in her hand than when she took the time to strap it all on. How easy it had been to get out of the habit of wearing it constantly, out here in this remote cabin that did not seem to have any danger. She wasn’t stupid enough to completely discount the idea that something might happen here, but so far not so much as a twinge or peep of anyone stepping foot anywhere near the cabin had occurred. Ewan’s safe house, it seemed, might be truly safe, at least for now.

  In the kitchen, they laughed over breakfast, pausing in between bites to share kisses. Then a quickie. Both naked, they moved to the living room to lounge on the sofa in front of the fire while Ewan teasingly wiggled each of her toes and tried to tickle her without success. She straddled him, pinning his hands against his sides with her knees and letting her hands hover over his ribs.

  “No,” Ewan warned when she curled her fingers to stroke along his skin, barely brushing. “Oh. No. Nina!”

  “Oooh, so you’re the ticklish one.” She watched, gleeful, as he writhed and tried to keep himself out of her touch. “Verrrrry interesting.”

  He gasped. He swore. He tried to buck her off but she rode him as she held her hands over his skin.

  “I’m not even touching you!” she cried around her laughter. “You’re doing this to yourself, Ewan.”

  His groan was nothing sensual and yet it sent a thrill up and down her spine. He writhed again and stopped. His jaw set. His gaze flared, digging deep into hers.

  She let only the tips of her fingers brush him. He didn’t flail or move this time, but the quick intake of his breath and the flutter of gooseflesh on his skin showed her how she’d affected him. She bent to kiss him softly. They shared breath for a moment or so; she felt him calm beneath her.

  “When I woke up in the hospital, I was hooked up to so many tubes and wires that I looked like a marionette. At first, I couldn’t bear anyone to touch me. I hadn’t learned how to use the enhancements, I couldn’t shut everything down. So it was all too bright. Too loud. Too much to handle. The sedatives, of course, didn’t work.” She sat up, letting her hands rest flat on his bare belly. This time, Ewan didn’t flinch.

  Without talking about it but moving in perfect sync just the same, they both shifted on the couch until Nina sat next to him. Ewan slid his arm along the back of the couch and let his fingers curl around the nape of her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned back against him, enjoying his touch.

  “It hurt,” she said.

  Ewan’s fingers stroked gently, sending a shiver through her. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.” She looked at him, not expecting to see the frown and furrowed brow. She touched his face. “Hey. Shh. It’s fine. Nothing you can do about it now.”

  “You said it still hurts.” He touched the faint, nearly invisible scar at her temple.

  She nodded, watching his expression. Uncertain why he looked . . . more than sad or sympathetic. He looked angry.

  “It’s not supposed to.” He’d said that once before, back at Woodhaven.

  Nina knew that Ewan could be considered one of the leading authorities on the enhancement tech. After all, he’d been the one to shut it all down and work tirelessly to pass the laws that had made further research and development illegal. When he said, “It’s not supposed to,” she could assume he knew what he was talking about.

  She leaned against him, turning so her knees nudged his thigh. “But it does. Not the way it did when I first woke up. But bad enough, off and on. Imagine being tickled that way over and over, and you couldn’t do anything to stop it. Take away the pleasure element, and don’t tell me there isn’t one, because I know you hate to love it but you do. Imagine that feeling of something happening to your body, involuntary responses that you can’t control. That’s what it feels like.”

  “I’m so sorry, Nina.” Ewan’s face had drained of color, leaving only two hot red spots high on his cheeks. He clutched her to him suddenly and kissed the breath out of her. “I swear to you, if I could make it different . . .”

  She allowed him to hold her. She didn’t want to argue with him about this. A few weeks ago, she’d have launched into a firm but determined reminder that he didn’t need to be sorry, not when he could work as hard to overturn the laws as he had to put them into place. Right now, in front of a crackling fire with his fingertips still teasing sensation at the back of her neck, the promise of some incandescent sex and later, some decent food patched together from the storeroom supplies . . . Nina didn’t want to mess all of that up.

  She liked being here.

  She liked being with Ewan.

  If that meant keeping her mouth shut at the moment so they could savor what they both knew was going to be a temporary sitch, then she’d do it. Instead, she leaned into him and offered her mouth for a kiss. When it deepened under his control, she let it. When he pulled away, his gaze bright, lips gleaming, she stood and took him by the hand.

  “Upstairs,” Nina said, and she took him there.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Through the living room windows, Ewan could see the trees changing leaves. If they didn’t leave soon, they’d be snowed in here. Not simply safe. Trapped. Surviving on the stores he’d laid away, never thinking he’d need to use them. Already he was growing tired of synthbeef and pasta, of the quiet, endless days with nothing to occupy him but the books on the shelves . . . and Nina. Everything was making him weary, but he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of her.

  She was the first woman he’d ever brought to this cabin. The first, too, that he’d spent this much time with. Other relationships had turned sour quickly, often after spending as little as a single weekend together. Yet here they were, weeks and weeks into this, and he looked forward to every minute with her as much as ever. Maybe even more, he thought with a glance toward her.

  Nina didn’t look up, but she did smile. “You and the staring thing.”

  “I’m bored,” Ewan said abruptly.

  At this, she put down her book and met his gaze. “Hmm?”

  “I’m tired of not working,” he told her. “This isn’t like a vacation. This is forced time off, and I’m getting bored.”

  “You agreed to it,” she said mildly.

  Ewan frowned. “Obviously, I agreed to it. But scratch it, I want to at least be able to check in. See what’s being reported about me. Make sure everything’s under control. At least I want to find out if it’s possible for me to go back.”

  “Ah.” Nina’s mouth pursed. “You want to go home.”

  He did, but not so they had to put aside this delicious interlude they’d been sharing. They hadn’t talked about what would happen when inevitably they did return to Woodhaven. If the threats against his life had eased, he’d no longer need Nina as his bodyguard. What that meant for them as a couple, Ewan hadn’t figured out.

  “We can’t stay here forever. At the very least we ought to figure out how to get some more supplies before winter comes,” he said.

  “Yeah?” She grinned