The Savior (Black Dagger Brotherhood #17) - J.R. Ward Page 0,70

But something in the way the pair of them stared at her suggested they had a history.

“Are you his family?” she asked the commando.

“Yes,” he said. “In all the ways that matter right now.”

Sarah nodded and backed her way into the hall. She went all the way down to the archway of the kitchen, and then could go no further. Leaning against the wall, she crossed her arms over her chest and felt like her heart was breaking as she watched the two of them from afar.

She couldn’t hear anything that was said as the man rubbed his face, cracked his knuckles … and then sat down on the sofa to look the child right in the eye.

The man’s mouth moved again, and the expression on the boy’s face tightened into a mask. The boy asked something. The man answered.

There was another question.

Another answer.

The boy looked down at the quilt that had been pulled over his little body. As he began to cry, the man seemed exactly as heartbroken as Sarah felt.

The commando took the child into his strong arms and held him.

As those oddly glowing eyes lifted to Sarah over the boy’s dark head, she put her hand over her mouth. And wondered exactly how much more anyone that young could take.

Hell, most adults couldn’t handle half of what he’d lived through already. It was so unfair for anything to be added to his burdens.

“—about to go through the change. So we need to get a Chosen here before day breaks just in case.”

Sarah frowned and glanced over her shoulder. The female commando was talking urgently into a cell phone.

Change? Sarah thought.

When the Brotherhood’s physician arrived ten minutes later, Murhder retreated to the kitchen so that “Doc Jane,” as the female was called, could sit with the young privately.

Dr. Sarah Watkins was alone at the table, the blue bag of that hazmat suit halfway off of her, a backpack set off to the side. She had a cup of coffee in front of her, her stare floating somewhere above the mug. As he entered the room, however, she looked up at him.

And kept looking.

Had she really wondered what he was like in bed? Holy shit, that was hot. And what do you know, his libido was demanding he take this opportunity to show her firsthand that yes, he’d always been good at sex, current two-decades-long mostly dry spell notwithstanding.

But instead of wading into naked waters, he said, “How you doing?”

“I can’t seem to get my brain to work,” she murmured. “It’s the strangest thing.”

He sat down across from her, and fought the urge to try to pull her into his lap so he could hold her. They were, after all, strangers.

“Totally understandable.” He attempted to make sure his tone was gentle because sometimes you could hug someone without touching them, right? “You’re not used to anything like tonight.”

“I’m just a scientist.” She leaned to the side, as if she were checking on the young in the front room. Then she looked back at the mug. “Or I used to be. After this, I don’t think anyone’s going to be hiring me. The whole breaking and entering thing, stealing information, going to the authorities—it’s kind of frowned upon on any résumé to Big Pharma.”

“No one is going to know about this.”

Her eyes shot back up. “Are you kidding me? Kraiten will cover up that secret lab and call the police.”

“No, he won’t.”

“No offense, but don’t be naïve. And besides, I’m going to turn everything over to the Feds. As soon as I finish this coffee, I’m calling the agent who came to see me two days ago.”

“Kraiten’s not going to be a problem anymore.”

“Exactly. Because I have proof of what was being done in that lab of his.” She shook her head. “And if I’m finished in my field, it’s fine. I’d lost my passion for the work anyway. Time for me to find something else to do with my life.”

He traced her face with his eyes. She had a little mole on her cheek. And flecks of green in those pale brown eyes. She had taken her hair out of its ponytail, and the naturally highlighted weight was spilling onto her shoulders.

She smelled like a summer meadow to him, and her voice was hypnotic. He literally could spend an entire night just watching her mouth enunciate random syllables, his ears full with the sounds she made, his skin prickling with sensual awareness of every minute move she made.

“What exactly