Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,18

around. That was the second night in a row I’d forgotten.

The lights were all off so she must have been asleep for hours.

“Fuck, that can’t be comfortable.”

I threw my jacket over one of the other chairs and went over to her. I crouched down, but she was fast asleep. Her books and papers were still all over the table, her laptop sitting dead by her elbow. I stood and leant over to look at it all by the moonlight streaming into the room. I caught mentions of round tables and wizards and epic battles, but I’d lost my decent night vision from a lack of use over the last couple of years.

“Amber?” I said softly.

She moved a little but made no sign she was going to wake up.

For the second night in a row, I slid the sleeper’s glasses off their face. This time though, I gently picked her up. She didn’t wake, but she snuggled into me and I’m man enough to admit that I had a moment where I saw my entire life being different. I did, however, try not to look too closely at it.

I carried her effortlessly to bed, catching a lingering floral scent in her hair. For the second time in as many minutes, something felt familiar, but I couldn’t work out where from. But it made me think of summer days in the Graces’ backyard, it made me think of late-night movies on the back wall and popcorn fights, it made me think of good times and happiness.

Before I set her on her bed, I looked down at her. I couldn’t remember ever seeing her asleep. But she looked peaceful. There was no sign of the anger or annoyance or whatever it was that she felt when I was around. I could almost imagine what it would have been like if we’d got along, if she looked up to me the same way she looked up to Hawk.

Something fiercely protective reared up in me and I wondered how in the hell anyone could hurt her. I completely agreed with Hawk’s assessment; I ever saw the fucker, then I was going to drag him to the deepest, darkest hole on the planet. I was pretty sure I knew exactly which hole Hawk was thinking of. And I thought it was probably the best choice. That went for Dannie, too. Dannie, who had never once put Amber first, was just as much to blame.

Amber wriggled against me and I panicked she was going to wake up and freak out. Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed her. This would look weird.

I lay her down on the bed and watched as she did that little nose wrinkle she did. She had a million of them. But this one I couldn’t quite place. It was like she’d heard Hawk tell a dirty joke she found funny but didn’t think she should. But it also looked like one I hadn’t seen before. I wondered what she was dreaming of.

I put her glasses on the bedside table and pulled the other half of the blankets over her before I went over and closed the curtains. The soldier in me did a final scan of the room – still as bare as it had been the day before – and looked back at her once more.

I closed the door and headed out to get changed and find some dinner.

Carmel was going to kill me with her tiny little bare hands if she found out I’d skipped on dinner again. She was already complaining I was getting too skinny. No amount of assuring her I was putting on weight made her feel any better.

Once my suit was hung and I’d thrown on a pair of track pants, I headed for the fridge. There was a container there that I was sure hadn’t been there that morning. I pulled it out and found a chicken casserole. I knew for a fact that the restaurant didn’t make that chicken casserole and one whiff confirmed it was the recipe I’d shovelled by the plate-load for years at the Graces’. It was the smell that had been lingering when I entered, obviously from when she’d eaten, possibly not that long ago. I wondered if Hawk had found his way over after all.

I warmed some up and ate it as I looked over the counter to the table. Usually I was a neat freak – ironic given my nickname, I know, but less ironic given my years of military