Free Wait for Morning (Sniper 1 Security #1) by Nicole Edwards

swept her out of her house. For
whatever reason, she’d allowed him to sleep while she twiddled her thumbs and
thought about Trace, seeing her parents again, finally getting to talk to her
best friend face-to-face. Anything except for the shit she had found herself
buried under. It
was either that or she would’ve been tempted to find a way to distract herself
from everything entirely.
    But
now that they had a few minutes to spare, and he was awake and, yes, dressed,
she wanted some damn answers. And there was only one way she could think to do
that: ask Trace directly. She figured
Trace would likely push her away, although he couldn’t push too far since they
were both confined to the same small room, but still, she hoped he wouldn’t.
    “Don’t
know,” he finally said. His stern, matter-of-fact tone told her he wasn’t
interested in talking, but that was nothing new.
    And
too bad. Marissa was tired of being left in the dark. “Okay, then how’d you
know to get me out?”
    Trace
looked up, his eyes locking with hers, and Marissa found herself drawn into the
nearly colorless orbs, mesmerized by him once again.
    Sometimes
she wondered if he did that on purpose. A distraction of sorts. Whatever it
took to get her to stop talking. He should know better.
    “I
just did,” he told her with a heavy sigh. “I don’t want to talk about this.
Unless you’re gonna go back to sleep, I say we head for the diner to meet your
brothers.”
    Marissa instantly looked over at the lone king-sized bed with
its hideous brown-and-green shabby comforter and two scrawny pillows, still
holding the indent from when they’d been in that bed earlier. She wasn’t going to be
able to go back to sleep, but when she’d attempted to tell Trace that half an
hour ago, he hadn’t listened. Her preference would’ve been to head back to
Texas last night. Driving straight through would’ve been a much better plan,
but Trace had looked as though he were about to drop when he’d made the
suggestion to stop. Although, his suggestion hadn’t been a suggestion at all.
Not when he’d all but insisted that she take it easy and try to catch a few
hours of sleep while she had a chance.
    Which
they’d done, and now they could be on their way.
    “I
take it you’re ready to go then?” Trace questioned, his eyes locked on her
face.
    Marissa
wasn’t sure what she was ready for, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. For years, she’d lusted after this man, but she’d
done her best not to let him—or anyone
else, for that matter—know. If it weren’t for
the heated glances he’d shot her way on more than one occasion, she would’ve
given up long ago, but something—a strange connection, maybe—had always had her
hoping for more from him.
    After
last night, when he’d held her in his arms while she slept, her hopes had
lifted even more.
    Although
she knew better.
    But
right now, her need for him to be close had nothing to do with lust and
everything to do with settling the unnerving feeling that was mutinying inside
her. Except that wasn’t going to get her home, where she desperately wanted to
be. She wanted to put this entire nightmare behind her, and locking herself
away with a man who wasn’t going to give her what she wanted was only wasting
precious time.
    Trace reached for her hand, causing a riot of nerves to flutter in her belly. Without
hesitation, Marissa flattened her fingers against his palm and allowed him to
help her to her feet. She shouldn’t have touched him, but she had. It was a
mistake, one she didn’t necessarily want to take back. When he simply turned her toward the door, grabbing the
duffel bag from the bed on the way, she knew he’d merely been taking control of
the situation.
    Something
Trace did regardless of who was or wasn’t around.
    “So tell me more about the Adorite
family,” Trace prompted, pulling her from her thoughts.
    “What’s there to tell? You read the
article.” While the four of them had