Midnight Exposure (Midnight #1)(40)

“You’re going to get pneumonia.” He scooped her off her feet. “We’d better get you dried and thawed—again.”

“I thought coyotes were small.” Her body shrank and curled into his. “I could’ve sworn that was a wolf.”

Reed tried not to like the way she felt in his arms—and failed. This was not the distance he’d sworn to keep. “No wolves in Maine, but the coyotes can be pretty darned big.”

On the porch, Scott opened the door for them. Reed carried Jayne right through to the master bathroom. He set her on the tiled lip of the tub.

“Shower or bath?”

“Uhm. Bath.”

Reed turned the water on in the Jacuzzi.

“Can you manage?”

She nodded but just sat there, trembling and staring at the tile. Lost. Overwhelmed by the surge and ebb of adrenaline no doubt. Reed stacked clean towels and prepared to make his escape.

Eighteen hours. That’s how long he had to keep his distance. Deep in his soul he knew if he let Jayne into his heart, he’d never get her out again.

At the door, Reed glanced back. Jayne hadn’t moved. Her face was as white as his fiberglass tub.

Shit.

He returned to the tub and adjusted the water temperature before approaching Jayne. Kneeling at her feet, he grasped her ankle and peeled off her sopping socks. A clump of slush fell to the tile floor. Jayne started as he wrapped both his palms around one slender foot and gently rubbed the ice-cold skin.

He lifted his eyes to hers, an infinite turquoise, clear as the Caribbean. Drowning in their depths would be heaven. His gaze dropped to her mouth. Her tongue slid out to moisten lips. Reed’s body leaned forward until he could feel her breath on his face, light as a whisper.

Jayne blinked up at him. Her head tilted slightly. Her pupils widened, her eyes darkening from tropical sea to stormy ocean.

“Dad?” Scott’s voice came from the hall.

Reed jolted and sat back.

Jayne didn’t move.

“Tub’s almost ready.” He scrambled to his feet before bolting from the room. A glance back showed her face was flushed—with surprise and something else.

Reed sincerely hoped he’d imagined the return desire in her eyes. Attraction not returned was far easier to resist than mutual passion.



Jayne stared at the closed door. Several seconds passed before she realized the water in the tub was inches from overflow. She lunged over and turned off the tap. Steam rose in a thick cloud over the tub.

What on earth had just happened? Had Reed been about to kiss her? She didn’t even know what she thought of that, except that she’d been wrong about him. He wasn’t emotionally stunted. He was a pressure cooker. There’d been enough heat in his eyes to ignite them both.

A lank tendril of hair fell over her shoulder. She’d contemplate Reed and his emotional roller coaster later, after she was clean. On the bright side, she wasn’t cold any longer. The warmth of Reed’s gaze had flushed her with heat.

But would she have kissed him back?

Her gaze dropped to the bandages on her wrists, and a chill streaked through her belly. Had she finally met a man who could pierce through the wall of fear she’d erected after the first attack? Or was she suffering from some sort of white knight syndrome? Only time would tell, along with a fresh round of therapy.

Anger flared at the memory of Reed’s hot stare. Damn! It wasn’t fair. Even if he was the right man, she was not in the right frame of mind to take that step.

With a resigned sigh, she searched the bathroom for amenities. Reed had dashed out before she could even ask him for shampoo. Calling him back to request soap reeked of desperation. She couldn’t stand to be helpless again. For the entire year following Ty Jennings’s attack she’d been totally dependent on her brothers.

The hell with manners. The man obviously needed some alone time. At this point, she’d help herself.

Under the vanity sat a basket of hotel-size soaps and shampoos. Jayne sniffed out two bottles that smelled like spring. She dipped a hand in the water before stripping off her clothes, then unwinding the bandages on her hands. The shallow cut across her palm and thin scabs around her wrists stiffened her spine.

Was her captor looking for her right now? She didn’t think it had been Jennings again. This man had seemed thicker, more mature. Of course she hadn’t seen Jennings since his stint in prison. He could’ve bulked up. But her instincts said it wasn’t him. Someone else had attacked her.

A shiver coursed through her and she slid into the hot water to scrub away the filth of the last two days. Her lathered fingers lingered over the scar on her cheek. One thing was clear. Reed definitely found her attractive, even in her unkempt state. When his eyes had blazed into hers, she’d felt beautiful for the first time in years. She’d felt like a normal, desirable woman.

Tomorrow she would return to the harsh reality of police reports, phone calls to her brothers, and the possibility that her kidnapper from Maine would follow her home. As if having one madman on parole, waiting for her in Philadelphia, wasn’t bad enough.

Now she’d have a second, faceless shadow to fear.



“They haven’t found that woman yet?

Standing in front of the desk in his office, Nathan took Mandy’s hand between his. “No.”

He was pathetic. Mandy was not only his employee, she was nearly half his age. He shouldn’t have started this affair, but she’d been the one bright spot in his life for the last three months. Being with Mandy made him feel alive, instead of halfway to the grave. Half of his life was over. The best half. It was all downhill from here.