Defending Zara (Mountain Mercenaries #6)(61)

She nodded.

Meat brought a hand up and palmed the back of her neck. He pulled her forward until their foreheads were touching. “I love how tenderhearted you are. Honestly, it’s a miracle you can still care about others after what happened to you. Don’t change,” he ordered gruffly. “I’d rather have you wanting to give money to every homeless person you see than become hardened and jaded and not care about anyone’s suffering. I’ll never stand in the way of you helping others as long as they’re on the up-and-up. Okay?”

Zara liked the sound of that. Not that he thought she was gullible, but that he was talking about still being her friend in the future. “Okay,” she agreed.

“And this goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. If you receive any more emails or any kind of communication from your uncle, you’ve got to let me know right away.”

“I will.”

“Better yet, will you let me screen your emails for a while? I’d like to set up a third account for you, one that doesn’t have your name in it this time. That was my mistake. You can use the new email to communicate with only those people you want to, like the other guys on the team, and hopefully, eventually, their women.”

“And Renee?” Zara asked.

Meat nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“How about using something like warriorwoman464 for your email?” he asked with a smile.

She rolled her eyes.

Meat pulled back, and his gaze went from hers to her mouth, then back up. “I’d like to kiss you again,” he said quietly.

Zara simply nodded.

He leaned forward slowly, and the second his lips touched hers, Zara’s eyes closed.

This time, the kiss wasn’t chaste. He licked her bottom lip, and she immediately opened for him. How long they sat there kissing, Zara had no idea. All she knew was that she’d never be the same. She’d had no idea kissing could feel this good. And could make other parts of her feel like they’d come alive.

Meat didn’t rush her, didn’t completely take over the kiss. He showed her what to do, then let her explore and experiment. She nipped his lower lip and smiled when he groaned. When she sucked on his tongue, the hand behind her neck tightened, and he actually growled.

Zara shifted on the hard dining room chair and licked her lips when he pulled back.

He stared into her eyes for a long moment before smiling. “You might be new at this, hon, but you’re a quick learner, just like you are with everything else.”

He then kissed her once more, hard and fast, before pushing back his chair. “Come on. I’ve been sketching out a piece in the workshop that I want to start as soon as my ribs completely heal. Keep me company? You can read Harry Potter to me as I work.”

Zara nodded eagerly, glad to leave the computer and the outside world behind for a while. Meat was very patient when she read out loud to him, never belittling her or making her feel stupid for not knowing a word or how to pronounce it. She was almost done with the first book in the series and was eager to move on to the next.

This was what she’d dreamed about late at night when she lay in the dirt, scared out of her mind. A place where she could feel safe and didn’t have to think about where her next meal was coming from or if anyone would ever rescue her.

Meat had not only given her a place to relax and find herself again, but he’d started to make her think about things she hadn’t even dared dream about. A family, a home, love.

As they held hands and made their way outside to his workshop, Zara thought about her friends back in Lima. Mags had been right. She didn’t regret opening up to Meat and letting him take her back to America. She could only hope and pray that her friends were okay, and that they, too, would someday find security of their own.





Chapter Nineteen

Meat was beginning to worry just a little about Zara.

It had been two weeks since she’d met with her grandparents, and she hadn’t left his home except for short excursions to the grocery store with him. He didn’t really mind so much that she sequestered herself in his house; she’d only been there a few weeks. But he wished she was more interested in making connections with other people.

He’d taken her out a few times to drive an old Accord he had in his garage, and she’d seemed to enjoy that. They stayed on his property and basically just drove up and down his driveway, but she’d done well, and he knew she wouldn’t have any issue when she got on the road. She wasn’t quite ready to drive “for real” yet, as she put it, which he respected.

She’d plowed through the rest of the Harry Potter series and learned the joys of electronic books. Meat had ordered her a tablet, and she downloaded books from the library every chance she got.

He’d invited all the guys and their women over for a barbecue one evening, and while Zara had been polite and seemed to have a good time, she’d also been pretty quiet and hadn’t seemed terribly enthusiastic about getting together with them again anytime soon. She hadn’t ruled it out, but she hadn’t encouraged a future meetup with any of the women.

Meat was happy to hang out with her himself. He loved doing so, in fact, but he wished she had more people to talk to. He was sure connecting with others would help her heal so she could really start living her new life in the States.