Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,50

flattened a palm on either side of his head. Straddled his hips with her knees. “Yes, sir.”

So fucking hot. “You’re going to say that a lot before we’re done.”

“I’m counting on it.”

THIRTEEN

The next morning Natalie stood sipping her coffee while Gabe banged together the two pots they had as he made breakfast after a long night of bedroom activities. She gave him credit for trying. Gave him credit for a lot of things.

She couldn’t imagine raising a child, only to have a sibling threaten to take it all away. It seemed incomprehensible. Also made her rethink her theory about Gabe abandoning his son. A guy who begged a woman to keep his baby, who worried about protecting him and keeping him close, would not just throw him away when he became inconvenient.

And that reimagining scared her. The son piece provided her with a protection against him. It was the one fact that made Gabe less appealing. The one part that reminded her to keep vigilant and not be thrown off by his smooth words and those hands that drove her wild. If he truly was exactly who he seemed to be, the last of her shields would fall.

She’d already shared parts of her past with him that she kept buried from everyone else. Those horrible moments she tried to forget and, in her most desperate times, pretended didn’t happen.

Joining the CIA she’d been subjected to all kinds of questions and daylong lie detector testing. All those questions. The insinuations that she was holding back. She knew the game but did fear her inner thoughts gave her away. The CIA needed to know about her past and if she could be trusted. They did not need to know she was the one who used the knife that night. She repeated that refrain every time her name got chosen for random testing.

The facts she’d hidden for so long were now out there. Gabe could turn around and use every sentence as a weapon, but she knew deep in her soul he wouldn’t. There was no escaping the truth. Something about him pulled at her and quietly shifted every rule she’d made for her life.

Stay detached and tamp down her emotions. A good plan. One she followed for years only to have Gabe blow it apart in a matter of weeks.

“Oatmeal?” Gabe’s deep voice cut through the cabin.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw him shake a packet of instant chalky-tasting food at her. She had no idea how he managed to stand there in a thermal Henley and jeans and look so adorable. He could shoot, stalk, hide, cook and make her body tremble from the inside out. His skills crossed the spectrum, and as someone who benefitted she appreciated them all.

“Sounds delicious.” She totally didn’t mean that but didn’t want to see his smile fall. But, really, the thrill of oatmeal had worn off on day two of being on the run.

He winked at her. “Liar.”

She glanced out the cabin’s front window then did a double take. There, at the edge of the trees, right before the open area of packed snow, stood a man. She could only tell that much from his build. Broad through the shoulders with a hood pulled tight against his face. High boots and a gun in his hand.

He stared at the cabin and didn’t move. His presence could be random or just a matter of a local passing through. Then her gaze went back to the weapon. No, this wasn’t someone stopping by to say hello—at least she hoped they and this guy were not that unlucky.

Shock grabbed her. Her body went numb, and the mug slipped from her hand. The metal clanged against the hard floor and hot coffee splashed up her leg.

Before she could blink Gabe was at her side, guiding her away from the spill. He stepped in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

“Someone breached the perimeter.” The alarms didn’t ring, which only highlighted the danger.

Her mind blinked in and out. This couldn’t be the guy who watched before. That man would not be so stupid as to take the risk of closing in a second time. And to stand there? No, this person wanted to be noticed. Probably welcomed a fight.

“Impossible.” Gabe stepped in front of her. A gun appeared out of nowhere. That lazy satisfied-from-sex expression disappeared, and he switched to protector mode.

Not one to wait behind she grabbed her gun off the table and joined him by the window. “How