Free Dark Memories (The DARK Files Book 1) by Susan Vaughan Page A

Equally black hairs continued their journey downward beneath the edge.
    Cheeks heating, she smiled at the appropriateness of black briefs on Cole, but she averted her gaze to her glass. “They were drunk and not too steady on their feet. I knocked a couple of trash cans over in front of them and ran.”
    In shock or in tribute, he gave a low whistle. His face somber, he set the empty water glass down on the low table between them. “Your toughness amazes me.”
    “I did what—”
    “What you had to do. I know. Blows me away.”
    Desire burned in his eyes, tempting her to forget all caution. She imagined she could feel his body heat on her skin, but she was probably still warm from her battle with her nightmare demons.She swallowed.
    Before she allowed his magnetism to erode her resistance further, she should put the bedroom door between them. She could survive his presence for the night.
    He’d be out of her cabin tomorrow. He had to be.
    The questions she’d wanted to pose earlier glued her to her seat. “So, my junker from Trusty Tom is kaput. I have no transportation. It seems Markos has found me, and DARK has agreed to use me. I have nowhere to run to and no way to run. What’s next?”
    The vulnerability of her falsely light tone stung Cole like salt in a wound. He wished to God he had a different answer to her question. Wished he could win her confidence, draw out what she was still reluctant to share.
    He bent forward, catching her scent. Were those her nipples he glimpsed through the thin cotton, or only shadows?Hell. He was too damned susceptible to her, to her courage and determination, to the gentleness in her eyes and the curve of her mouth.
    And to the livid scars above the T-shirt neck.
    “You don’t have to do this. No one will force you to be a target. We can go on with the plan of a safe house.” He’d hide her himself if DARK wouldn’t go along. The hell with protocol. Fear for her was eating him up.
    She squared her shoulders. “No. The trap is the best idea. If it helps catch Markos and finds New Dawn’s leader, I’ll paint that bull’s-eye on my back.”
    The steel in her words punched him in the heart.He’d seen this mission as another step up in DARK, but the personal side of it outweighed whatever its success — or failure, but he wouldn’t consider that — meant to his career.Setting their rock-strewn history aside, he would protect this courageous woman with his life.
    Leave the past out of it.Leave the personal crap out of it.
    “What’s next, you ask?” Hell, he had nowhere to run, either. Run to me, he wanted to say. “My bivouac on your couch is permanent.”
    Her scowl could have curdled milk. “What do you mean?”
    “I’m moving in permanently, Laura. As far as everyone’s concerned, you and I are lovers.”
    ***
    The next morning Cole stood to one side as she locked her door. She smelled of sunscreen and insect repellant, and underneath, Laura. “How many kids are in this sailing thing?”
    She stuffed her key in her shorts pocket and picked up the travel mug she’d parked on the step. “Eight, most about eleven years old. Kay is thirteen going on twenty-five.”
    He fell into step with her. “You never used to drink coffee.” He clinked his mug with hers, then drank.
    She sipped from her mug. “It’s an acquired taste.”
    She looked down her elegant nose at him like he was a taste she’d resist acquiring. Yesterday he’d pushed her too hard. No one ever accused him of diplomacy, but he’d learned patience in his work.Doing his job of protecting her meant waiting to find out more about the past.
    And, if he was honest, more about the woman she was today. Was the chasm of their differing backgrounds still between them or was it something else? The craving to know more warred with his fear of knowing and tightened his chest.
    Her comment about wanting justice for the man who’d died at Markos’s hands came back to him. And as wary of him as she was,