Chapter Thirty-Four

Rory watched moodily as Nina broke free from the early morning mist and jogged into the clearing in front of the cabin. He’d awakened to an empty cabin, and now, barefoot and wearing only jeans, he had no choice but to stand there and wait for her.

Even from this distance, he could see that she was badly out of breath and covered in sweat. Her run had clearly tested her limits, putting a healthy, rosy flush on her skin.

She came to a slippery halt a few feet in front of him. At the sight of her heaving breasts, he no longer felt the cold air on his bare flesh. Dressed in skin-tight bike shorts, a tight tank top, and a loose fitting T-shirt that stopped mid-ribs, she was the urban jogger personified. And, oddly enough, sexy as hell.

Worry made him want to yell at her, demand what the hell she’d been thinking, going out on her own.

Again.

“You okay?” he asked instead, forcing himself to sound calm while unwillingly being torn between anger and the desire to throw her down on the soft forest floor and kiss her senseless.

She gave a faint nod and plopped down on a tree trunk to wipe at the perspiration dripping from her forehead with the front of her shirt. The action showed she was carrying the Smith & Wesson in a waistband holster.

Well, at least she had gone out prepared.

“Next time you go out, I expect you to wait for me,” he told her with careful precision.

Female appreciation was visible as she checked out his bare chest.

Their gazes met.

“Really. And I would do that…because?” she asked with brows quirked arrogantly. Her shoulders went back a notch.

Great. Lena.

He wasn’t sure he was up to a sparring match this early in the morning.

Then again, Lena was hard on a man any time of the day or night.

“I was worried,” he said. “I’m supposed to protect you.”

“Not necessary. I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can.” He was all reason. “But for now, you are my responsibility. Where you go, I go. Okay?”

Her eyes flashed, but she kept her cool. “I do not need a keeper, O’Donnell.”

“Maybe not,” he conceded, and held out a hand to help her gain her feet. “But you are still recuperating from a year in that hellhole of a hospital. Until you are back to full strength and Creed has been taken care of, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

She ignored his hand and looked him over. A slow, somewhat alarming smile curved her lips. “Kinky.” Her tone predicted little good. “Does that mean always?”

In a fluent, sensual movement, she rose to her feet. Crossing her arms, she grabbed the hem of her frayed top and began easing the fabric up with deliberate sensuality.

Seriously? It was starting to feel like some sort of conspiracy, for fuck’s sake. Somehow, he doubted that Nina Hernandez’s blatant interest in sex with him was genuine, least of all after everything that had happened to her. He would have to think on that.

It also didn’t take a genius to understand what she was up to—and despite his misgivings, boy, did he feel it.

With her hands over her head, she eased the top off, daring him to say something, do something.

In stubborn silence, he watched her toss the top aside.

Despite everything, she was magnificent in the soft morning light as she taunted him with the elegant stretch of her bare upper body. Challenging him in that age-old, purely feminine way.

His stomach clenched as the rest of her clothes followed the top. She was pushing all his buttons, testing his self-control the way only Lena could. Compressing his lips, he refused to be baited.

He caught her shorts automatically and released a measured breath when she turned and sashayed over to the edge of the lake wearing nothing but tiny bikini panties. Though still fragile from her stay at the horrific hospital, her natural beauty was not to be denied.

Self-discipline, however strong, didn’t mean he was blind, or dead from the waist down.

Regretfully.

She dove into the chilly water the very moment the first rays of sunlight cut over the mountain peak behind him and began dispersing the morning fog. For an instant, her slender body was caught in the bright early light. The sight took his breath away.

Surfacing, she cleaved through the clear water with deliberate strokes. Watching her, he couldn’t help but admire her tenacity. She was determined to get back in shape. If she was even half as strong-willed as he suspected, she would be as good as new in no time.

For a long time he stood there, following her smooth slide through the water.

Out of nowhere, a memory flashed through his mind of Alice’s smiling face as she beckoned him to join her in the water. A time of happiness and laughter.

He wondered what it was about Nina that so often made him remember his late wife. Normally, he made sure never to let his thoughts stray toward Alice, lest the guilt and the sense of loss batter away at him the way it had in those first years after she died.

And yet, from the moment he had found Nina at that hospital, Alice had popped up in his thoughts when he least expected it.

At length he tore his gaze away from the lake and the woman in it, and picked up the clothes and weapon she had discarded. He better get her a blanket. The lake was freezing this time of year. By the time she got out, she might actually be cold enough to appreciate the offering.

But even if she didn’t, he definitely needed her to be all covered up.