bags while you were asleep. You’re clear. They won’t be able to track us that way again,” Jangles said.
Okay, so that should have been creepy knowing they had scanned her while she was asleep and presumably gone through her things. She should probably be angry, but she wasn’t. She trusted these guys. Trusted Heath.
She took a deep breath and, with Heath still holding her tight to his side, stepped out into the night.
But as they crossed the parking lot to the hotel, Heath took a napkin out of his pocket and she saw he’d taken half of his meat and broke it up for the cats.
The guys laughed and shook their heads when Heath went and deposited the gift by the dumpsters for the hungry kittens, but Eleanor didn’t laugh.
No, her heart did a little flip in her chest at that. And damn if she didn’t fall a little bit in love with the big burly guy who would save his scraps for dumpster kitties.
Chapter 6
Heath watched Eleanor sleep from across the room. His arm was killing him and he should have taken his shift sleeping but he didn’t want to leave her side yet.
Not that he didn’t trust the guys on his team. These were his brothers and he knew they’d protect her with all they were, same as he would. But he was still thinking about the fact that she’d said she wasn’t married.
Why did that do something to him? He had no business wanting her the way he did. Wanting to have her back in his life. But his body wasn’t getting the message. He’d been half hard for her since the minute he’d set eyes on her. Didn’t seem to matter that it was a completely inappropriate response.
His body recognized her and there was no talking it out of the reaction.
He thought back to what they’d had in high school. He’d wanted a future with her back then. He had known from the minute they met that she was someone amazing. She was smart and funny and so damned sexy.
Now, he could see she was that and so much more. She’d always been book smart. It didn’t surprise him one bit that she was in the position she was at with the State Department or that she was being sent on an assignment like this one. This was no little thing. Demir was known for his ability to play with the people around him and to manipulate every interaction, every engagement to his advantage.
She had to be good at what she did for them to be sending her in to lead this negotiation.
He wanted to know the rest of her story. He didn’t remember her having a stepfather in high school. He wondered when he’d come into the picture and why Eleanor had decided to take his name, even though she had clearly been an adult when it happened.
He wondered everything about her. Just thinking about what had happened to her that last month they were in school made the old rage slam through his blood, seeming to boil him from the inside out. He hadn’t been able to keep her safe then. He’d been so naïve, not even smart enough to realize she needed protecting. And she’d paid the price for his incompetence.
He wanted to know if she’d gotten past it. Had she been happy in life despite what happened?
He wanted to know that and so much more. What did she do when she wasn’t working? Was there someone else waiting for her at home? Just because she wasn’t married didn’t mean there wasn’t someone else.
And what was wrong with him that he wanted to go sit on the bed with her like some creeper? What the fuck was that about?
Sure, he’d thought about her some over the years. Okay, he’d thought about her a lot. More than he should. But, she’d been the first one to make him feel like he wasn’t dumber than everyone around him. Somehow, she’d been able to explain things to him that brought his Ds up to Cs and even a few Bs.
It wasn’t until he got into the military that anyone else saw in him what Eleanor had. That anyone else made him feel like he was smart enough to be more than a piece of muscle.
Go figure. He thought he was joining the military to be just that for them: a strong guy who could do things with his body that other people couldn’t. But then he’d