Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(13)

Me-Maw and Pop had stuck their heads in hours ago to tell them good night, then headed off to bed.

It was now two in the morning, and Ball had just called it quits.

“I’ll stay up just a bit longer,” Everly said.

“No. We’re both whipped. I think we should get some sleep, then start tomorrow when we’re fresh,” Ball suggested.

“I’m fine. If you want to go to sleep, you can,” Everly said absently, not taking her eyes off her computer screen.

Without a word, Ball grabbed her hand and physically pulled her out of the chair she was in, out of the dining room, and down the hall. Everly didn’t protest too loudly, ever aware of her grandparents sleeping in their room nearby.

Figuring she’d humor Ball and, when he fell asleep, go back out to continue examining her sister’s poster for any kind of clue, she went into the bathroom across the hall from her sister’s room and changed into a T-shirt and leggings to sleep in. She didn’t even look at Ball when he went into the bathroom after she was done.

She crawled into her sister’s bed and turned on her side.

It felt weird to be in Elise’s room. Sad. Heartbreaking. Everly shouldn’t be there. It should be her sister under that soft comforter. Where was she now? Did she have a warm place to sleep? A bed?

Doing her best to turn her morose thoughts away from what her sister might be going through right that second, Everly briefly wondered what would’ve happened if she’d gone along with Me-Maw’s suggestion and slept in the guest room with Ball.

It had been a long time since she’d shared a bed with someone, even just for sleeping. She’d had a few affairs, but they were mostly about relieving tension and not about connecting deeply with a man. She’d have sex, cuddle for about two-point-three seconds, then either she or the guy would inevitably get up and go home.

But being here in her grandparents’ house, in her sister’s bed, and thinking about Ball . . . it was all too weird.

Even more so because Everly had such mixed feelings about the man in the other room. She was well aware of the fact that he didn’t want to be here, and when she’d called him on it, instead of bullshitting her, he’d owned up to the fact that he didn’t want to work with a woman. He’d even apologized for how he’d treated her, which had shocked her.

Ball didn’t strike her as the kind of man who said he was sorry a lot, simply because she didn’t think he made a habit out of doing things he had to apologize for. Sure, he was a jerk, but even she had to admit he’d been conscientious around her since his major foot-in-mouth moment the day they’d met. And he was respectful and kind to her grandparents.

She hadn’t known him long, but the more she learned, the more she almost liked the guy.

Almost. He obviously respected his teammates as well, and she’d seen him interacting briefly with the other men’s fiancées. He’d seemed downright gentle with them.

His animosity hadn’t made sense to her then, but hearing that he’d almost died at the hands of a woman he’d worked with . . . it made everything much clearer.

Twisting the ring on her finger, Everly closed her eyes and turned her attention back to Elise.

The ring was as familiar as breathing. It was one of the most precious things Everly owned. She’d never taken it off before, and would never take it off.

As she turned over Elise’s disappearance in her mind, she couldn’t stop some of her darker thoughts from creeping in. Was her sister hungry? Hurting? Was she even alive?

She had so many questions and not a single answer. And Everly hated not having answers.

Everly was so lost in thought about her sister that she hadn’t heard Ball open the door to Elise’s room. She jumped when she felt him sit on the bed behind her—and was full-on shocked when he lifted the covers and crowded into the bed behind her. He wrapped an arm around her stomach and shoved his other arm under her neck.

She could smell the mint of his toothpaste, he was so close, and Everly swallowed hard.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, struggling slightly to get out of his embrace.

“Sleeping,” he said calmly. “Or I would be if you’d stop wiggling.”

“Wiggling?” she seethed. “Let go of me!”

“No. Now hush and go to sleep.”

“Seriously, Ball. This isn’t funny. You’re supposed to be sleeping in the other room. Let me go.”

His arm only tightened around her belly, and she felt him move even closer. His lips brushed against her ear as he spoke. “You’ve been sleeping like shit. There’s nothing more we can do for your sister right now. Meat will probably stay up all night, working on her computer, and he’ll call the second he finds anything. We’re going to have a long day tomorrow, and we both need to get a few hours of shut-eye.”

“I can sleep just fine with you in the other room,” Everly informed him.

“The second I fall asleep, you’re going to be up and out of this bed, rereading that damn poster for the hundredth time. There’s nothing there that will help us. It’s just her way of blowing off steam.

Now again . . . hush.”

How did he know what she’d planned? She’d definitely been hoping after enough time had passed for him to fall asleep, she could sneak out to the dining room to see if she could find something on Elise’s computer.