Page 55 of Protected Hearts

“I see that.” His low voice was an unused rasp of vocal cords.

He nodded. “I don’t want to let her go when this is over.”

His friend’s hand came down on his shoulder, a comforting weight he hadn’t felt in the time since Decker was taken captive. Neither one of them had words for that kind of bond.

Chapter Thirteen

Shiloh paused in the doorway of the covered deck. The twinkle lights had been switched off, and the bright sunlight filtered into the space where just the night before she and Oaks had spent a mind-blowing evening.

Seeing it in the light of day didn’t prevent the echo of what they’d shared.

Or what she’d felt.

With quiet footsteps, she crossed the deck and sank to one of the chairs. What was she going to do?

She didn’t even know if her feelings werereal. She was in such a rough place in her life, had spent months alone, cut off from contact with others. It was difficult to trust her feelings now. That tingle in the area of her heart when she thought about Oaks might just be a false emotion.

The wall of glass on one side of the deck provided a beautiful view of the ranch with a flat green pasture dotted with a few black cows. Beyond that, a deep blue mountain loomed up like a majestic overseer of the land.

This place was unlike anything she’d ever known or seen before. To say it offered a new type of peace was an understatement.

Shiloh released a soft sigh and soaked in the view and the silence of the place. Or maybe she just soaked in the memory of Oaks and what they’d shared here.

A soft knocking sound on wood made her twist in the seat to see the very man she was fixated on.

Oaks tilted his head in a silent question. “Everything all right?”

She waved for him to come in. “Of course. What’s going on?”

As he came toward her, his eyes hooded with that same look of desire she’d seen on him the night before. Instead of bending to kiss her, though, or starting anything close to what they’d done together before, he simply reached out for her hand.

She gave it to him, and he tugged her to her feet.

Again, he didn’t pull her into his arms or kiss her.

She didn’t know why she was so disappointed, but she was.

“What’s going on?”

He eyed her. “Something came up. A project.”

Her brows pinched. “With the security agency?”

He nodded. “We can use your expertise if you’re willing.”

Excitement jolted through her, something she hadn’t felt in far too long. The things she uncovered about William towards the end were scary. But when she began working for William’s company, she enjoyed the thrill.

“I’m happy to help.”

He offered her a tip of one corner of his mouth. “C’mon.”

Walking behind a man with a backside like Oaks’s was as much of a hardship as being in this peaceful place. Each step he took made the hard plane of his buttocks twitch in the most enticing way. Every room they passed through on the way to the office was quiet and still, the décor simple and yet refined.

When they reached the office, Colt was at the long table. Several laptops were set up at the ready.

At her entrance, Colt glanced up. Shiloh was struck by how handsome he was. All the Malones bore a rugged beauty, though Willow could only be called a bombshell. But Colt had a darkness in his eyes that she didn’t see in Carson. Though he hadn’tshared much with her on the trail, what he had told her made her understand those shadows in his gray eyes better.

Oaks’s shadows were different. She suspected he’d worked through more of his.

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