Free Dare To Love Series: Icy Dare (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Aliyah Burke

wasn’t her favorite thing she’d done, working with the dogs at the training facility she cleaned kennels for had been something she’d enjoyed.
    All those years in school perhaps for nothing. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
    She woke to the feel of something hard behind her. Opening her eyes, she found the room swathed in darkness and shifted. The chair’s arm dug into her as she lay slumped over.
    “I have a perfectly good bed a few feet away, and I’m hanging over the chair like a crazy person.”
    Stiff, she hobbled to the bed and flopped face first on the mattress. A groan escaped as she succumbed to the sleep that gnawed at her ankles, much like a hungry dog did a bone. A knock on the door woke her next time.
    She pushed up and stared through blurred eyes. “Come.” Her voice belonged at the bottom of a bottle as rough and unpleasant as it was.
    Her brother poked his head in. “Afternoon. The men will be here in a few minutes. I thought you may want some time to get cleaned up.”
    “Thanks.” She rolled off the bed and staggered to the waiting bathroom.
    Ten minutes later, dressed and clean, she headed downstairs to meet the men who would keep her safe. Her eyes first went to Dorian, who stood off to the side, talking to one man. When she walked in the room, he lifted his head and pinned that gray-blue gaze on her. In a flash, she was transported back to the time they had together on the way down here.
    When he looked away with about as much interest as a kid has in Brussel sprouts, her heart sank. It had all been in her head. He’d used her desire for him to keep her close, and, bully for him, it had worked. Ice coated the walls he’d thawed, and she averted her gaze, taking in the two other men in the room.
    “Sakharre,” Dorian said, moving toward her. “Tyler couldn’t make it, but these men have been briefed on their duties.”
    “Fine.”
    Louis stood behind her as she sat on a low-backed chair and rested his hands on her shoulders. “It won’t be too long before this is over. You should stay here.”
    “No, I’m not putting you in danger, either.” She appreciated his concern, but honestly, she wished everyone would leave her alone. “I’m sure all will be fine. They seem very capable.”
    Dorian narrowed his gaze and beckoned to her. It took two tries before she unfurled herself from the chair and made her way to his side.
    “What?” She kept her tone modulated, refusing to allow him to see how much his earlier dismissal bothered her.
    “Listen to them. Let them do their job.”
    “I don’t need a lecture. I will be no problem for them. You should leave. As you’ve so eloquently stated, your job was to get me here. That’s been accomplished. Go home to wherever you’re from.”
    “Maine.”
    She blinked. “What?”
    “Maine. I live in Maine.”
    “Fine, whatever. I wasn’t asking. I’m sure I’ll get along with these guys just as well as I did you.” She raked her gaze up and down his body before doing the same to the men waiting across the room. “Perhaps even better.” She walked back to the trio waiting for her. “Thanks for doing your job, Mr. West,” she tossed over her shoulder.
    Sakharre sat in a wingback near one of the men and watched Dorian. A tic in his jaw was the only sign he may have been the tiniest bit upset by what she’d implied. As Louis went to him, she turned to the first man Dorian had been talking to and put herself in the mindset of having more shadows.  Will I ever get to the point in my life where I don’t have grown men following me around because they’re being paid to do so?
    As much as she hated the idea, these men were doing this as a favor to her brother’s boss. She wasn’t going to do anything to make their job more difficult. Nor did she wish to appear ungrateful for the trouble they were going through to help her get back to a semblance of a normal life. So, when he began to speak, she ignored her heart and paid