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Then why was it that all I could do was think about her?

Want her?

Need her?

Fuck me, I had it bad. Now I had to figure out how to deal with it. I was a shit of a man, but I would never purposely destroy someone’s life.

Especially not an angel.

As soon as the internet was restored, I’d do some additional checking on the man named James Jones. I hadn’t heard shit about him in prison but from what Kyle had shared, he was pure evil. I sat back in the chair in the office. All the other equipment was working. It had to be the direction of the satellite, which is why I wasn’t connecting with anything. I glanced at my watch, realizing I’d been in the office working on developing a list of possible men I could trust and getting everything else up and running for hours.

Noel hadn’t come to check on me.

We hadn’t slept in the same bed since we’d been here, nor had I heard a peep from her. When finding her in the kitchen earlier that morning, she’d grabbed her mug and left without so much as looking at me. I guessed my story had been too shocking for her psyche to deal with. At the time, I’d been glad, hoping she could put our passion into a locked box. Now the weight had returned, the need for her just as strong.

I hadn’t even finished my cup of coffee, maybe because I’d felt guilty. Once I managed to get the satellite working, the internet up, I would try to bring this to some sense of a conclusion. If I was right about my assumptions, telling Saldono would do nothing but ensure my death and hers. I’d need to find a way of proving it.

My legs were stiff as I stood and I realized I hadn’t heard a sound or had a visit from Max in some time. As soon as I walked into the corridor, I listened for any sounds. Hearing nothing, I took long strides into the living room then the kitchen. Where the fuck were the keys to the truck? I barely grabbed a coat before rushing outside, stopping short on the porch. She’d pulled the vehicle back to its original position. But where was she? A moment of panic rushed in. Would she dare try the same thing she had before?

I ensured my gun was still safely secured against the small of my back as I rushed off the porch, scanning the perimeter. Where the fuck had she gone? I would tan her ass once I found her.

So help me God.

I took off running in one direction then another, seeing nothing. There were some boot prints, but the morning had dawned above freezing and with the bright sun, some of the accumulation had already melted away, taking the prints with it.

Two minutes into my search and I was crazed with fear and anger. Had I been so stupid as to not realize assholes had found our location? The cameras were working, including on the perimeter and I thought the trip wires were, but anything was a possibility until I ran the final tests.

I spun in a complete circle before hearing a slight sound. As soon as I turned around, I was hit with something in my face. It had just enough force and the perfect trajectory to toss me to the ground.

“Oh, shit.”

At that moment all the anger faded, a hint of amusement replacing the darkness upon hearing her voice. I heard her trudging through the snow toward me but Max was there first, licking my face with such aggressive verve that I almost burst into laughter.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked while she was still a couple of feet away.

Maybe I still had a playful side left in me after all. Without a second thought, I fisted a handful of snow, sitting up and allowing it to fly like a baseball toward her. It hit the target, breaking apart against her chest.

She frowned and made an even funnier face when she glanced at Max, who remained right by my side, his tail swooshing back and forth in the snow.

When she backed up, I could tell she was going to retaliate. I waited as she hunkered down, collecting and patting a huge wad of snow. “You do realize this means war. Don’t you?”

I was on my feet in two seconds, grabbing a snowball of my own. “Bring it, babe.” I even beckoned her with my other hand.

The little smile on her face was the one I’d seen inside the grocery store when she’d thought I was a nice guy. I took a deep breath of the cold air, wishing it could be just like that.

I had to give the woman some serious cred. The way she reared back, stretching her arm behind her, lifting her leg into position told me she’d once been a softball player. And the moment she let it loose, the direction was spot on.

This time, it caught me right under the chin, almost taking my breath away. I didn’t wait for her to grab another handful of snow, letting my shot go wild. She managed to slip away, laughing as she hunkered over to gather more, this time double fisted.

As she started pitching one after another in my direction, Max finally got in on the action, barking and jumping, catching several of the wonky snowballs in his mouth.

She refused to give up even when I started chasing her, slipping behind one tree then the other, able to fire off more shots than I was. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a snowball fight with anyone. Not only did it feel exhilarating, I felt alive, able to breathe and laugh. What an amazing feeling.

Her laughter was the best medicine though, the sweet lilting sound floating into the air as she rushed from behind one tree, bolting toward the house.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” I growled, lunging forward until I was able to grab her arm, jerking her around but I hadn’t noticed she had another ball of ammo prepared, this time smashing it into my face.

She managed to jerk her arm free, laughing as I tried to wipe it from my eyes. As I licked some from my lips, I gave her a savage look. The moment I leapt off my feet, knocking her to the ground, I could tell she hadn’t been expecting that calculated maneuver.

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