Page 69 of Mountain Security

“Let’s wait and see the level of his involvement,” Alex said. He got the feeling that the man didn’t know much more than he’d said. He wasn’t the one behind this. Alex held Yvette as tight as he dared to. He didn’t want to scare her, but hewouldget to the bottom of this, no matter what.

He wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her.

* * *

Yvette

Mon Dieu.

He felt so good against her body.

Even now, when everything felt wrong, when it looked like everything she’d worked for was at risk of disappearing from underneath her, Alex made her feel … safe and protected.

Which was dangerous, in its own way, because it would be so very easy for him to come to meaneverything, and that was a risk Yvette couldn’t afford to take.

She’d witnessed at an early age what losing her father had done to her mother. The two of them had been so very in love, and his death had struck her mother hard. It’d destroyed her—turned her mother into a shell of her old self. And it hadn’t just been a financial issue, though of course that had been a big part of it.

Yvette remembered how her mother had waited until she thought the girls were asleep, then cried herself to sleep every night, month after month. If she and her sister hadn’t been around, Yvette had no doubt her mother would have followed her father into the grave.

Yvette gritted her teeth.

She’d built a safe life for herself. A productive, safe life. And she couldn’t put that at risk now for a man. Not even for a good man like Alex.

But damn, it felt good to wake up next to him. So good she didn’t want to move a muscle, didn’t want to risk ending this moment. She wanted to enjoy this feeling for as long as possible. Hell, she wanted to bottle it up for when it was gone—for whenhewas gone.

The sky was just beginning to lighten when Alex’s phone rang. He went from completely asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s my boss. I need to take it.”

The conversation was brief—less than a minute. By the end of it, Alex’s generous mouth was a thin, tight line.

Yvette sat up, bringing the sheet up under her arms to cover her nakedness.

“I have to go. There’s a child missing in the Col de Brevent. It’s all hands on deck,” he said, already pulling on his boxer shorts and pants.

“A child? In this weather?” Yvette got out of bed and pulled out a bathrobe from her closet. “Can I help?”

Alex was fully dressed by now. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. Despite the urgency of the moment, her body reacted. She pressed her lips against his, lengthening the kiss for an instant longer. “You can help me by staying safe. Can you work from home today?”

Yvette thought for a second, then nodded. She had her laptop, and access to everything she needed. “I need to be at the press release at four this afternoon. But I can work from home until then.”

“Please do that,” he said, pulling on his boots. “I’ll send someone to get you and let you know who’s coming. Until we know more about what’s going on with Théo, I don’t want you opening the door to anyone unless I’ve warned you in advance.”

Yvette shivered, remembering the danger. She’d felt so safe all night, it’d been easy to put it behind her. Too easy.

“I promise,” Yvette said, pulling the bathrobe tight around her middle.

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” he said. There was a pinched expression on his face, and Yvette knew he was thinking about the missing child.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll go back to bed.” She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep anymore, but didn’t want him to waste a second worrying about that.

“Good. I want to think of you safe and warm.”

“Please be careful,” she said, pressing a last, quick kiss against his lips.

22

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