Page 74 of Seduction in Spades

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ican smell her citrushair products before I hear her approach. I don’t pretend to be asleep and fold my hands behind my head, watching her as she enters my room. Avery sets her toiletry bag and a wad of clothes on top of my dresser.

Her movements are slow, her head dipped as if shy. She’s never been shy around me, and for whatever reason, it’s turning me on. It could be because I haven’t seen her naked in over a week. It could be because this is a new soft side showing me the layers she’s worked so hard to hide.

Or it could be that no matter what she says or does, everything about Avery turns me on. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning as she assesses her side of the bed. The only way to get there is to climb over me, and I’m not about to move.

She’s adorable in her large T-shirt that hangs to her thighs. If I hadn’t been staring at her legs when she came in, I wouldn’t have noticed the hint of shorts underneath. Too bad. I would have liked to have a half-naked Avery snuggled into my side all night.

Snuggled?I can’t recall ever saying, much less thinking, that word before.

“Um”—she toys with the hem of her shirt— “I take it you’re not moving over to the wall side?”

“Nah. I’m good here. That way I can protect you if a boogeyman comes in the middle of the night.” My lip lifts in jest but falls just as quickly when her eyes grow wide.

Fuck.For a few hours, I managed to forget about the threat on Avery’s life. Reason number four hundred sixty-nine why I shouldn’t be involved with the woman I’m trying to protect. Granted, I was involved with her before she needed protecting.

“Come here.” I pat the empty space next to me and much to my surprise, Avery climbs over my legs and under the covers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...”

“I know. It’s okay.”

“You’re safe here, Avery. I promise.”

She lays back on the pillow and mirrors my pose, staring at the ceiling. “What if they trace us here? What if they threaten your family? I can’t live with—”

“Shh.” I stretch my arm and snake it under her shoulders, pulling her to my chest. When she settles her head on me, I kiss her temple. “Trust me, okay? If I had any doubt about our cover, I wouldn’t have come home. I’d never put my family in jeopardy.”

“They could have seen me with you at my apartment, or yours. What if they Google you and figure out who your family is.”

“They can Google all they want. Nolan Jones isn’t from Ohio and his parents aren’t Pete and Samantha Jones.”

“What?” She lifts onto her elbow and furrows her brow at me. “They’re not your parents?”

I stroke her hair and trace the worry lines around her eyes with the pad of my fingers. “Pete and Samantha Fitzgerald are my parents. Peter Nolan Fitzgerald is their son.”

“I don’t understand.”

Shit. The only people who know my real identity are my family, Ryder, and my upper command in the SEALs. I trust Avery. I’ve never trusted anyone after knowing them for so short a time.

“I worked a lot of classified... cases. For my protection, in case I was ever caught or followed, my identity was stripped when I became a SEAL. My friends and family have always called me by my middle name, so that wasn’t much of a stretch. I was given a common last name and a new past. Orphaned in New York City. Even a fake closed juvie file. No connections to any family. It’s the same with many SEALs and special ops.”

“Oh. Wow.” She sets her head back on my chest and I stroke her shoulder. “Does my brother know?”

“No. Or Drake. Obviously, Ryder is aware.”

“Why... why are you telling me this?” she asks in a soft whisper.

Good fucking question. If I tell her it’s because what I feel for her is bigger than the tent I’m pitching with my dick, she’ll pull away again.

“Because you have a nice rack.”

She gasps and elbows my ribs. “Jerk.”

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