Page 31 of Her Sensual Protector

Pound.

“Open the door, Goddammit.”

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

It was Leo. And he sure was making his presence known. She staggered out of bed. She was halfway to the door when she realized what she was wearing.

Fuck it. Like Leo hadn’t seen some woman in a man’s T-shirt before.

She opened the door and he stared at her.

“Jesus, Daisy, what happened to you?”

“You get laid with that kind of sweet talk?” she muttered as he shoved his way into her room.

“What did you just say?” he asked as he shut the door and turned her around so he could get an even better look at her. If she’d been feeling better, she would have yanked herself out of his hold, but she wasn’t, so she just stood there staring up at him.

“Honey, answer me, what happened? Has somebody hurt you? What happened?” His questions came at her like bullets. It was too much.

“Stop it! Just stop it! I can’t think.”

She whirled away from him and went to stare out the window, clasping her arms around herself, trying to keep herself together.

Then he was there, behind her. “Shhhh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong.” His breath tickled her hair. “I’m worried.” He eased himself between her body and the window and crouched down so that they were at eye level. She looked into those deep brown eyes, so full of concern.

She shook her head, her hair flying everywhere. It stuck in her mouth. “There’s nothing you can do for me. I’m behaving like an absolute idiot,” she gulped. As soon as she took that deep breath, she shuddered, and her eyes began to well up.

“Ahhhh, Daisy.” He stood up straight and pulled her into his arms. She stiffened, but Leo wasn’t having any of that. One of his hands was rubbing her back and began to soothe her, while his other hand held her head in such a delicate grip as he guided her cheek against his chest.

Daisy knew she shouldn’t be allowing this; she should handle this on her own like everything else. But God, it felt so good.

“Baby, you’re trembling, can you talk to me?”

She shook her head.

“Okay. Okay. I’ve got you.” He held her closer.

What was best? The warmth of his body that was helping to stop her chills? The feel of his strong arms enveloping her body, so that she felt nobody could get to her? Or was it that smell of sunshine and man that was uniquely Leo?

She snuggled closer and listened to his steady heartbeat, and decided that was the best thing, having another human being to share the storm.

How long did they stand like that in front of the window? Until it got hot.

Daisy felt the soft brush of Leo’s lips against the top of her hair. In her adult life, she had never met a man who made her feel so cared for. How was that possible? She’d only known him for seventy-two hours.

She moved her hands to push away from him, but instead, her fingers dug into his white T-shirt.

What am I doing?

God, she didn’t want to push him away, she wanted him even closer. She needed him closer.

She threw back her head so she could look up into his eyes.

“Are you ready to talk about it?” he asked soothingly.