Free KCPD Protector by Julie Miller Page A

didn’t slow him down or alter the purpose of his stride. “Don’t you generate any heat, woman? It’s a hundred degrees out and you’re freezing.”
    He shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around her. Elise shivered at the shock of his scent and lingering body heat sliding over her chilled skin.
    “There was a man in my house.” She sounded like a worn-out recording.
    “I know.” George pulled the paint tarp off her sofa and tossed it to the floor. He unloaded the two end tables she’d stored on top of the cushions before he took her hand and urged her to sit.
    “I think he let Spike get out the door when he came in. Or else he put him out on purpose.” It was the only scenario that made sense. If any of this made sense. Elise clutched the suit jacket together over her dress, shaking at the knowledge of what could have happened to her if she’d met him face-to-face. “He was in my bedroom.”
    The cushion beside her sank and her balance shifted as George sat down. “I believe you.”
    “Even if there’s no evidence?” Elise glanced up to see if he was simply trying to placate her the way Officer Hale had. “The doors were locked. And nothing’s missing.”
    “You may have scared him off before he had a chance to take anything. And a barking dog changes a lot of intruders’ minds.” He pulled both her hands between his and gently rubbed them. “Besides, you’re too cold for me to doubt you. That means you had a real shock. It happened.”
    George Madigan’s matter-of-fact tone did more to make her feel safe than two armed police officers and a robotic sounding dispatcher had. His simple statement of faith in her sanity swept out the cobwebs of self-doubt and touched her bruised heart.
    Curling her legs beneath her, Elise pushed herself up, looping her arms about George’s neck, knocking him into the back of the couch. “Thank you.”
    “For what...?” After a momentary hesitation, his chest expanded with a deep breath, meeting hers. When he exhaled, there was no more gap between them. He folded his arms around her, flattening one hand against her spine to anchor her to his body. He pushed aside the jacket’s collar and threaded his fingers into the short hair at her nape to massage the tension in her neck. “You’re okay. You’re safe now. No one’s going to hurt you.”
    Elise turned her cheek into the soft rasp of his evening beard stubble, feeling the vibration of his deep voice against her ear. Her own fingertips brushed against the dark silk of his hair as she rode each measured breath on his chest, absorbing his heat. George was solid and real. There was no mistaking this vital, caring man for a figment of her imagination. “I almost wish they would.”
    “Hurt you? I’m going to disagree with that idea, if you don’t mind.”
    “But all this is making me think I’m going crazy. There are too many things that I can’t explain.” He took the edge off her raw nerves with his calm voice and soothing massage. “I’m not crazy. I’m not.”
    “What do you mean by ‘all this’?” His fingers stilled when she shook her head, reluctant to answer. He unwound her arms from his neck and let her slide down onto his lap. Pulling the jacket back over her shoulders, he urged her grasping hands to settle at the lapels. Once she was holding the coat together at her neck, George brushed the hair off her forehead and pressed his lips against the spot. “Talk to me.”
    It was the gentlest of kisses, and maybe the most dangerous. Because, while a lingering kiss to the forehead was soothing, patient, kind—the caress also gave her a glimpse of what George’s lips might feel like against hers. They were firm. Masculine. Pure, incandescent heat. She had a feeling that a man of his experience might know exactly what to do with those lips, too.
    Elise’s breath locked in her chest at the desire suddenly humming between them. Her fingers slipped from the jacket to the starched crispness