Page 12 of Falling for her Guardian

“You and me.”

The way he saidyou and mehad a possessive tone rolling underneath it, like the way you knew a shark was under the surface of the water even though you couldn’t see it’s fin because it was his territory.

She actually liked the way Storm sounded possessive.

Which was weird because she’d already declared that she wasn’t going to think about Storm in any sort of way other than thankful he’d come to her rescue.

“Did I thank you?” she asked.

“For what?”

“Rescuing me.”

He nodded. He was leaning back casually in the chair, but there wasn’t anything casual about the heated look in his icy-blue eyes. She could feel his gaze on her even when she wasn’t looking directly at him, smoldering hot and oh-so-dangerous to her self-control.

Hard pass, Seren. He’s a shifter and they don’t stay with humans.

“You can stop that anytime,” she said.

His brows rose slightly. “Stop what?”

“You know.” She took a drink, barely stifling the happy groan in her throat. But she could tell by the flare of his nostrils and the way his eyes darkened that he’d heard it. “You’re looking at me like there’s the possibility of something happening between us.”

“You don’t like shifters.” It was a statement, not a question. But it hung between them like a laundry line laden with wet clothes.

“I was burned in the past.”

“I’m not just any shifter, Seren,” he said. His voice pitched lower, more growly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, but she wasn’t afraid, just…curious.

“What do you mean by that?”

He opened his mouth when an alarm sounded. Standing so fast the chair clattered behind him, he said, “Shit, that’s the perimeter alarm. Stay right here, you’ll be safe. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but that sound means someone is trying to get into Northernmost who doesn’t belong.”

He stared at her for a long moment, and her heart started to pound.

Then he raced from the room, the door shutting swiftly behind him.

With a groan, she put her head on the table.

She needed to get home and put the whole night behind her. Storm was sexy and compelling, and they hadn’t spent that much time together. If she stayed too long, she was going to want to do something stupid, like kiss him or find out just what the muscles he had under his shirt looked like.

Since she had no idea how to get home, and needed a magical person anyway, she was stuck until he came back.

But was she? What if he was just playing some kind of keep-her-close shifter game and she was being led on. Surely there were magical people around who could send her back through the portal.

Finishing the hot chocolate in two big gulps, she put her gloves and hat in her pocket and draped Storm’s jacket over the chair.

Then she stepped out of the breakroom and looked both ways down the hall.

Left or right?

Storm had gone left, so she was going to go right and hopefully she’d find someone who could help.

Jack Frost stood outside the perimeter of Northernmost and stared at the shadowy buildings where his brother and the elves worked tirelessly to provide toys for children, blah, blah, blah.

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