LITMIR.BIZ

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I already turned in my notice at my old job, and...” And she was talking way too fast. “Whoever was messing with me in Houston, he won’t follow me to Austin. It’s a new city.” That’s what she’d been telling herself. “I’ll get an apartment here and vanish.”

      “Ava...”

      “Until I find that apartment, I need a place to stay.” She licked her lips. His gaze immediately fell to her mouth. Was it her imagination or did his blue stare heat up? “Please, Mark, can you let me stay here just for a few days? Until I find a more permanent place?”

      Because she’d always felt safe with him.

      But his jaw seemed to lock down even harder. His breath heaved out and he—he backed away from her. “If someone is stalking you...” He took another step back. “You need to call your brothers. They’re the experts at this kind of thing. They’ll find the guy—”

      “If they even believe someone was in my place.” She wasn’t so sure they’d buy her story. They treated her with kid gloves as it was, always trying to hide the truth about their investigation into their parents’ death. They didn’t get that she wasn’t some scared teen any longer.

      He frowned at that. “Of course they’ll believe you.”

      He sounded so confident. The cops hadn’t believed her. Her neighbors hadn’t believed her. “Do you believe me?”

      “Yes.” He gave a grim nod. “And you should have come to me immediately. I mean, how long has the joker been doing this to you?”

      “A month.” He believed her. Relief swept through Ava, almost making her feel a little dizzy.

      Fury darkened his face. “You wait this long to tell me? You only come to me when you’re terrified. You don’t—”

      “I changed the locks. My brothers had installed a security system—a top of the line system. I tried to stay safe.” On my own.

      “You have to tell them.”

      “My brothers haven’t exactly been living the easy life lately,” she muttered. Grant had nearly died a while back when he was working a case. He’d wound up in the hospital. And as for Brodie—he and his girlfriend had both just battled a monster from their past. They’d barely made it out of that nightmare alive. “They’ve had enough to deal with, okay?”

      “You’re their sister. They’d drop everything for you.”

      She glanced away from him. “I just need a place to stay tonight, okay?” Did he want her to beg? Because she was close to it. She couldn’t stay in a motel. The walls in places like that were thin. “It’s too late to call them now.” If he’d just let her stay the night, she could figure out another plan for tomorrow.

      “Bull. You came to me this late. Their ranch is just down the road.”

      Her gaze fell to the floor. “I wanted to be with you.” But now that seemed foolish. He sure hadn’t greeted her with open arms. “I shouldn’t have come.” She turned away and started heading back toward the door.

      “No, you can’t leave.”

      And he was touching her again, spinning her around to face him. Staring at her with fury and—and some other dark, turbulent emotion shining in his eyes. “You come to me,” Mark continued, “telling me that some bozo is stalking you...and you expect me to just watch as you walk away in the night?”

      She swallowed. “No, I expect you to give me a room...for old time’s sake.” Tomorrow, when she wasn’t dead tired from fear and exhaustion, she’d work on another plan. One that didn’t involve her brothers totally flipping out.

      He gave a curt nod. “You can stay as long as you want.”

      Yes! That relief was so strong that she was definitely feeling a little light-headed. Or maybe that was just because she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. “Thank you.” Impulsively she stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around him. His rich masculine scent filled her nose. “You’ve always been a good friend to me.”

      Mark’s body was rock hard against hers—hard and hot and so incredibly strong. His hands settled along the curve of her hips. “Is that what I am?” His voice was deeper, almost a growl.

      She lifted her head and stared into his eyes. “Yes.” Her own voice came out too husky, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes, but you’re also...more.”

      “Am I?” His gaze had locked on her mouth.

      Her heart thundered in her chest. “You’re almost family.”

      “No.” An instant denial. His hold urged her even closer to his body. “I’m not family. Don’t ever think that I am.” His eyes were still on her mouth. And his head was lowering toward hers, closing that last little bit of space. “I’m not your brother, and I’m not some safe friend.”

      She trembled against him. “Mark?”

      His gaze slowly lifted and met hers. “You should be careful with me.”

      Her drumming heartbeat seemed to shake her chest. She’d never worried about being careful with Mark. Mark was good, solid and dependable. The light in the dark. He was—

      “Because I’m not sure how much longer I can be careful with you.”

      He was going to kiss her. Ava was sure of it. Mark was so close to her, the tension in the air had turned blazing, and she wanted him to press his mouth to hers. She’d wondered if he would ever actually—

      He backed away. Again.

      She suddenly felt very cold.

      “You know the guest room is down the hallway.” He pointed to the left.

      Yes, she knew where the guest room was.

      Just as she knew that Mark’s room was on the other side of the sprawling ranch house. Far enough away...that he won’t hear me scream.

      She thought about going out to the car for her bags, but figured she’d just save that for another time. Her car was parked near the entrance to Mark’s house, and the bags would be safe there for the time being.

      For now, she’d crash...because she needed to slip away from Mark and his too-watchful gaze.

      She turned on her heel and headed for the hallway.

      “Tomorrow,” he called after her, “we call your brothers.”

      She reached out and touched the door frame. “They don’t want me near you.” Not now. She didn’t know what had happened, but she’d been given that warning by more than one McGuire. Ava looked back at Mark.

      He hadn’t moved.

      Had he even heard her? Sighing, she took a step forward.

      “What do you want, Ava?” His low, rumbling words stopped her.

      And an instinctive response...you...rose to her lips. But she managed to choke that word back.

      “Ava?”

      “I don’t want to be scared anymore,” she said, and those words were the truth.

      Or at least, as much of the truth as she was willing to share right then.

      Ava kept walking, and Mark didn’t say anything else.

      * * *

      AVA WAS BACK.

      Mark glanced down at his hands. There was a faint tremble in his fingers. He almost hadn’t been able to let Ava go. Not when her sweet lips were so close to his.

      Once it had been easy to stay away from Ava. But...Ava wasn’t some scared sixteen-year-old girl any longer. She’d grown up and transformed into the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

      When

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