Page 63 of Protected Hearts

“You mean more to me than you can ever know. Shiloh, I will doanythingto keep you safe and bring this horrible chapter of your life to an end.”

Her fingers pattered over his shoulders and down to the hard planes of his ass. “I’d do anything to save you too.”

Filled with the thrill of the words they’d exchanged, he clutched her against him. “That’s the thing. You will never have to. I can take care of myself, and I want to take care of you too. This marriage means more to me than trading a few words. I didn’t realize how you would affect me then, but it didn’t take long for me to know that I don’t want to let you go.”

She looked at him like she was about to speak, but instead she brushed her mouth over his in a tender kiss. Emotion throbbed between them like the beat of a pulse.

To think that two people had found each other in these circumstances, and that they were perfectly right for each other, sounded like something out of one of Willow’s romantic comedies. Only they’d skipped the slapstick mishaps and gone straight to the sappy part.

Shiloh’s eyes were filled with liquid heat. Her body rolled against his, seeking more. As if she couldn’t get enough of him either.

Oaks claimed her mouth again in a slow, deliberate kiss that spiraled on for long minutes. When they were both shaking with need, he quickly donned another condom and took them to new heights.

As she cried out his name, he lost himself in pleasure—and the warmth of their newfound love. A love he’d never give up.

Chapter Fifteen

Shiloh lay on her side, one arm beneath her head. The silvery-blue moonlight slanted through thin cracks between the window casing and the blinds. Each bar of light seemed drawn to Oaks lying in bed next to her.

The moonlight kissed his skin in all the places where her lips had already drawn paths. Each shadowed spot highlighted the striking lines of his muscled body. The carved angles of his jaw were just as hard in the throes of sleep. She imagined he still battled even in his dreams.

He’d fallen asleep soon after they rolled apart following their second round of lovemaking.

This time shecouldcall it that. He’d told her he loved her.

And god, she loved him too. Maybe she was just being naïve and jumping into the arms of the first man she had feelings for since William.

Right now, none of that mattered. She had plenty of time to figure it out after she handed over the files to her ex and erased the target drawn on Oaks.

Her fingers twitched, wanting to touch him, to feel his steely flesh rise to hers. But she needed him to sink deeper into sleep so she could slip out of bed as soon as the light of dawn trickled through the windows.

The sounds of the house at night provided a calm that made her drowsy. She battled against a yawn and won; no small feat when she had a man to curl up next to and sleep away the hours in safety and peace.

If Oaks woke before her, she’d never be able to slip out of the house unseen. The other problem was Colt. From talking to him, she knew he preferred to keep watch on the ranch at night, which meant his sharp eyes would be waiting to catch her.

She also knew what side of the house his bedroom was located on, and had even spotted him walking across the yard in the early evening to the garage. Her guess was that he stood sentry there. If she knew where Colt was, that meant she could avoid him.

Across the house, she heard the low hum of electronic equipment in the office. At the windows came a whisper of wind against the glass. Farther out in the house, though she couldn’t hear the noise, she knew the refrigerator hummed, with the occasional clink of the icemaker forming new cubes in the freezer.

Inside the room, she was sucked into the sound of Oaks’s rhythmic breathing and an old clock on the dresser ticking down the minutes until she met with William.

All these sounds threatened to lull her into a feeling of peace that would send her off to dreamland alongside Oaks. But if she ever wanted to end this hell she’d been living in, she had to do this.

Hours passed with her eyes growing heavier by the minute. Her hand crept across the sheet of its own accord, reaching toward Oaks, but she snatched it back before she could touch him and risk waking him.

Through the crack in the blinds, she saw the sky lightening to a cool navy blue. It would be bright enough for her to make her way to the area where the family parked their vehicles and make off with one.

She already knew where the keys were located in the front room of the house. The homey space was the only spot that neverseemed to be tidy. With too many coats and muddy boots lined up on the floor, it was organized chaos that echoed the people who stored their possessions there.

With extreme slowness, she slipped one leg off the bed. Engaging her ab muscles, she sat up, keeping her eyes on Oaks. He didn’t budge from his position on his back. One hand lay open on the mattress, the fingers slightly curled as if beckoning her to come back to bed, but she rushed on tiptoe across the room and scooped up her clothes.

She’d purposely laid out black clothing to stay hidden from view—namely Colt’s—as she ran to the truck.

As silently as possible, she hurried to the door. She knew from studying the sounds of the house that the door didn’t make a noise when opened, and it didn’t now.

Luck was on her side.

She rushed into the hall, praying none of the family was out there to see her naked. She threw on her clothes. Then stole through the dark house to the mudroom. There, she snatched a set of keys. When the Malones woke and found one of their trucks had been stolen, all the might of the family would be aimed at the thief.

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