Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(13)

Oh, hell no….

He took the back stairs two at time and raced towards the sound of her heartbeat. It came from a closed door at the end of the hallway. Without slowing down, he threw the door open and quickly stumbled forward, tripping over his own two feet from the sight that greeted him.

“Don’t you knock?” Cloe snapped as she grabbed a towel to hold up in front of her.

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. His eyes were fixed on that damn towel that she was now using to cover up heaven. He glared at the damn thing, willing it to drop or shift to the side a foot or two so he could see that beautiful body again. Large br**sts tipped with dark pink ni**les, a flat stomach with just the slightest swell, wide h*ps and soft (he was willing to bet his life they were soft) butterscotch curls between her legs that were just begging for his devotion and he would give it too.

Gladly.

“The towel’s not going to disappear and I’m not dropping it.”

She couldn’t know that for sure, he decided as his gaze on the towel intensified. For another moment he stared, more like silently pleaded for it to move.

“You really need to get laid,” she said dryly.

His eyes snapped up to hers. Holy shit! Was that an offer?

Cloe rolled her eyes as she managed to wrap the towel around herself and tucked it in between her br**sts without giving him a show.

Damn.

“Is there something that you wanted?” she asked.

You. “I-I wanted to…” he stammered before his voice trailed off. His gaze had dropped back down to the cle**age that he wanted to run his tongue over and he was back to willing the towel to drop.

She sighed as she walked over to him. Thank God because his feet wouldn’t move and he was practically screaming at them to go to her. She was taking the initiative. That was fine with him. He’d let her set the pace and then he’d take over and probably take her on every surface in this room.

Cloe gripped his arms, tightly. Oh, yeah. He leaned down to kiss her when he was unceremoniously shoved from the room. A split second later, the door closed in his face.

“But…but….”

He heard her soft laughter from behind the door. He stared at the door for another moment before he came to his damn senses. It was probably a good thing the door was between them so that his blood, well most of his blood, could return to his head. He was f**king weak, he thought with disgust.

For fifty years he’d been able to keep the promise that he’d made to himself for his sister’s sake, but one look at a woman’s beautiful body had him ready to say the hell with it and take what he wanted, what he couldn’t have. It only proved that she needed to get the hell out of this house and out of this town before he lost his good sense and gave in, destroying his sister’s life in the process.

He pounded on the door. “Cloe!”

With an exasperated sigh, she answered the door. Thankfully, she was dressed. His gaze skimmed over the tight tank top and oddly arousing green and blue flannel pajama bottoms. To his utter delight, the two pieces of clothing didn’t meet, giving him a glimpse of that taut little stomach and navel. Damn, he’d love to trace that with his tongue.

He was f**king pathetic, he thought helplessly.

Two warm fingers gently gripped his chin and pulled his attention away from his new obsession. He may have whimpered.

“Hi, nice to have you back,” Cloe said with a wry smile. “Now, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” She released her hold on his chin and he had to fight not to drop his eyes back down. From the look on her face he knew that if he did that he would be looking at the door again.

He gave himself a mental shake. Right, he needed to get her out of his house and soon.

“You’re fired,” he said firmly in a tone that brokered no argument.

She yawned. “Okay, see you in the morning.” She moved to close the door.

Christofer pressed his hand against the door to stop her. “Didn’t you hear me? I said you’re fired.”

“That’s two times,” she said with a small smile.

“Yes…yes, I did say it twice.”

Was she insane?

“I’ll make sure to tell Marta that in the morning.”

“Wait, what?”

Cloe gave him a coy smile. “Marta told me to tell her if you tried to fire me and how many times. Something about a cane….not really sure.” She shrugged.

Aw, shit.

This was not happening. He was the man of this family. This was his house goddamnit.

“You’re fired!”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s three.”

Damn it!

“Are you going to let me go to bed or not? I have a big day tomorrow.”

“No! You’re fired.”

“And you’re repetitive,” she snapped back. With another sigh, she released the door, walked into the room and shut the light off. He was on automatic when he followed her inside.

“What are you doing?” he asked although he could see everything without a problem, even in a supposedly pitch black room. Everything took on various shades of blue in the darkness, making it easy for him to see. He watched as she climbed into bed.

“Going to bed,” she answered as she curled up on her side.

His hands fisted with the need to climb in behind her and hold her. That startled him. As much as it pained him to admit it, he’d never had a problem keeping his vow to himself to put off living his life for his sister’s sake before. It was one of the reasons he didn’t want her here. His baby sister was asleep downstairs, defenseless. Allowing this woman to stay here would be exposing his sister to a possible threat.