Free ASHFORD (Gray Wolf Security #5) by Glenna Sinclair

aware of him, aware of his scent and his heat, of the strength just under the surface of his body. I wanted to lean back into him, to let him encircle me in his arms and protect me from every danger that might now, or sometime in the future, come for me. But I couldn’t.
    I wouldn’t.
    “Everything’s okay. You’re safe. Ford’s safe. I won’t let anyone hurt either of you.”
    “And when we leave? How will you protect us then?”
    “You don’t have to leave any time soon, Mina. I was serious when I said you could stay as long as you wanted.”
    “I know, but it’s already been six weeks.”
    “So? You and Ford brighten the place up. Literally and figuratively. I don’t think the house has ever been as clean as it has been since you arrived. And just having a new life in the house seems to have had a calming effect on everyone. Even Kirkland.”
    He touched the baby, sliding his hand over the spot in the blanket where his head was. The movement caused him to wrap both arms around me. I closed my eyes and imagined how it would feel if there was no baby, if there was just him and I, and nothing else mattered.
    I did lean back a little then. And he didn’t pull away.
    That was progress.

Chapter 13
     
    Ash
    I sat in the window for a long time after everyone left, but for once I wasn’t thinking about Alexi. I was thinking about Mina.
    It bothered me more than I wanted to admit when she made that comment the other day about leaving. It hadn’t occurred to me that she might be thinking about what came next. I mean, I set up the PayPal account and everything so that she could afford to get a place of her own someday, but I guess I thought that day would be sometime in the distant future. Not now.
    I liked having Mina and the baby in the house, liked our middle of the night conversations—even though Ford was beginning to sleep through the night now. I liked looking up from my desk and seeing Mina cleaning in the kitchen or fussing over the baby or helping Rose with whatever tasks she had to give her. And I liked knowing that she was right across the hall when I couldn’t sleep and felt the crushing reality of loneliness.
    But she wasn’t my girl. And that baby wasn’t mine.
    Alexi was still out there somewhere, dead or alive. That was my reality. Not Mina.
    I crawled into bed a little after one, listening for the baby, but not hearing a sound. I thought I’d lie awake for hours, just listening, unable to shut my brain off, but I slipped into sleep with almost no effort. That’d been happening a lot lately. Maybe having Mina near…
    I was dreaming, and I knew I was dreaming. Alexi was in the shower, the weak stream of water barely strong enough to wet her hair all the way through. I came up behind her and slipped my arms around her, my hands splaying and sliding down her belly. I wanted her, needed her, even though we’d just satiated our need a few hours before. There was something in her eyes when I turned her around, tears on her cheeks. But I chose to ignore it, hoping it was just nervousness for the upcoming operation. I could feel her hands on my body, could feel the way her fingers felt as they danced over my skin. I was inside of her, and it was all so damn familiar! She was the woman I loved, the woman I wanted for always at my side.
    But when I pulled back, it wasn’t Alexi’s face I saw.
    I sat up, and the movement yanked me out of my dream. I was breathing hard, my chest constricting. I closed my eyes and tried to gain control again, but I felt a hand touch my bare shoulder with just the lightest touch.
    Instinct kicked in. I grabbed wrists and jerked, pulling a body onto the bed in front of me, pinning the shoulders to the mattress. It was dark. I couldn’t tell who’d come into the sanctity of my bedroom without permission, but the soft, mewling sound she made slowly penetrated my mind.
    “Mina?”
    “You cried out in your sleep. I came to see if I could do something…”
    “You