natural, much too right for him not to question it.
He’d slept with many women over the years, lovers, mistresses, and never had he slept well with them, let alone lain comfortably with them in his bed.
He realized as he held her, though, that each time he had fallen asleep with her in his arms, it had simply felt right.
She was changing him. He felt it, and he had to admit there was an edge of discomfort in the knowledge. There was the realization that the consequences of losing her would be far different than those of losing anyone else.
As sleep settled over him, he allowed himself to push aside the questions and the concerns. For now, there was nothing he could do but accept it. There was no other option when it came to keeping her close to him. So far, the men shadowing her were too damned good at staying just out of reach. He wasn’t about to risk having her taken from him.
There were safeguards built in just in case. Eyes were watching twenty-four-seven, always keeping Tehya in view on the off chance that Jordan hadn’t covered every angle.
Those eyes were his last defense against the loss of the one woman he knew he couldn’t bear to lose.
Because he could sense the danger coming.
He just didn’t expect it to come so soon.
He was nudged from sleep by the awareness that something just wasn’t right. A sound, a feeling, a shift in the air that wasn’t natural.
It was an awareness, a warning that something threatened Tehya.
He had, before slipping into sleep, tucked his Glock beneath his pillow rather than leaving it on the bedside table.
Lying on his side, one arm around Tehya, he slid the other slowly beneath the pillow, his fingers curling over the butt of the gun as he felt Tehya shift by just the slightest degree, just enough to slide her arm over the side of the bed, the movement hidden by the blankets.
She was awake and ready to move. He had known that same awareness would awaken her as well. She had been on the run for too many years before she came to the Elite Ops. Those instincts didn’t die.
Senses open, Jordan listened, fighting to determine where the danger was coming from. He’d left the lights on in the front room; the glow beneath the door had given the room the faintest bit of light.
It wasn’t there now. The lights had been turned out, allowing the danger to slip into the room without alerting him by flooding the bedroom with light.
It must have been the click of the door that awakened them.
Rather than moving as he would have at any other time, Jordan paused. Listening closely he opened his eyes just enough to check his peripheal vision. And there they were. The faintest of shadows, not just one. Fuck, there were two.
He had to find a way to take both out at the same time, or to disable the first before drawing the fire of the second and praying he was fast enough to avoid the bullets.
The two shadows shifted, positioning themselves until their weapons were trained on him, not on Tehya.
He almost let his lips curl in satisfaction. They were trying to take him out, to separate Tehya from any hope of support or protection. That wouldn’t happen. No matter what happened to him, his men would never allow her to be taken.
But he had no intentions of allowing himself to be taken out so easily.
He could feel Tehya. She was ready to move, tense, and on the verge of panic. Where her back rested against his chest, he could feel her heart racing furiously, the danger of the moment speeding adrenaline through her body.
His hand tightened on her hip where it had rested as they slept.
It was coming. He felt it. The weapons were trained on him, the assailants were ready to take the shot. But now he also knew where the bastards were. Two. They had come in as a team, one to take him out, the other to go after Tehya. He doubted they had plans to kill her.
He was running out of time.
Jordan watched the shadows shift again from the corner of his eyes and knew his time was up.
He moved.
As though Tehya’s instincts were directly connected to his, she moved with him as the sound and red flares of silenced weapons discharging popped through the room.
He went for the first would-be assassin. Slamming the butt of his weapon