His Lover to Protect - Katee Robert Page 0,34

Desire. Need.

He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck and straightened. Words rose, words he didn’t know what to do with. Alexis kept giving him intriguing glimpses of a woman who wasn’t anything like he’d expected. He didn’t know how he was supposed to respond. Or if he even should.

She’ll never forgive me if she found out why I’m really here.

Now wasn’t the time or place for those thoughts, so he put them out of his head and got rid of the condom. By the time Alexis turned around, he’d rinsed off. She gave him a dazed smile. “Wow again.”

He wanted to stay in the shower, soap up his hands, and use washing her as an excuse to explore her body. Because he wanted it so desperately, he kissed her and stepped back. But that didn’t stop six treacherous words from slipping free. “I can’t get enough of you.”

This thing already had an expiration date, even if she didn’t find out that her sister and friends had sent him over here to look after her. A few days. A week, maybe a little more. As long as it took for her to find what she was looking for and go back to her life.

Her smile was a little unsure. “I kind of feel the same way.”

He couldn’t afford to forget that he had a temporary role here, and that wasn’t about to change. They were worlds apart. It was only a strange circumstance that brought them together right now. Hell, he was pretty damn sure he didn’t even like her.

But as he dried off, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a goddamn liar. He liked Alexis. A whole hell of a lot more than he should.

Chapter Eleven

Luke walked back into the room as Alexis dried off, and his attention snagged on the bag she’d spent time organizing—and that he’d practically dumped out in his search for condoms. He tucked the towel more firmly around his waist and sank carefully to the floor next to it. The least he could do was put things to right here.

He started putting the various things back into the empty interior pockets they’d obviously fallen out of, but stopped when something crinkled in his hand. He frowned and pulled it out of the backpack. It was a picture of a couple that he suspected were Alexis’s parents.

“Put it down.”

Though every instinct demanded he drop it at the frantic tone in her voice, he lifted it up for a closer look. A Chinese man and a willowy brunette in their mid-thirties stood in front of a gazebo that looked strangely familiar. Where the hell had he seen that gazebo before? “Are these your parents?” They had to be.

“I swear to God, if you don’t drop that right now, I’m going to hurt you.”

Luke finally looked up to find her in the doorway, pale and shaking. He could understand if she was pissed because he was theoretically going through her things—even if that wasn’t his intention—but this reaction seemed extreme. “Why are you freaking out?” He knew her and Avery’s mother had died quite a while ago, but that still didn’t explain it.

Instead of answering, her bottom lip quivered. “Please put it down.”

Holy shit, she was about to cry. He carefully set the photo down on top of her backpack and moved away when she hurried over to snatch it up. Only when it was in her hands did she take a shuddering breath and seem to get a hold of herself. “Sorry.”

Did this have something to do with the shit she wasn’t telling him? He resisted the urge to demand answers, and leaned back against the bed, watching her. She looked so fragile right now, like a sharp word would shatter her into a million pieces. “Care to explain?”

“It’s…” Another deep breath. “It’s my last photo of my parents together. Or the last one where Mom is healthy and smiling and not ravaged by cancer and chemo.” Her half smile didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. “When she was diagnosed, they decided to take a trip to Austria and kind of see her heritage—our heritage, I guess. This was from the Sound of Music tour she made Dad take.” This time her smile was a little more real. “It was one of our favorite movies, and the first one I remember watching with her.”

The sheer amount of loss on her face struck him dumb. There was nothing he could say to