Chapter 12

Even lying in a hospital bed, Hugh looked enormous. The only sign of his brush with death was the greenish-pale cast to his skin, and that was mostly hidden under his tan. Theo scowled down at the sleeping man. For some reason, Hugh’s oddly healthy look bothered him, made Theo feel like the whole nightmare hadn’t happened less than a day earlier.

“Whatcha doing, creeper?” Hugh rasped without opening his eyes. The amused quiver at the corner of Hugh’s mouth pissed off Theo even more. “You going to smother me with a pillow or kiss me like I’m Sleeping Beauty?”

Silently, Theo turned to leave, but Hugh caught his arm before he could step away from the bed. When Theo reluctantly turned back around, he saw Hugh’s suggestion of a smile had turned into a full-fledged grin.

“C’mon, man.” Hugh’s voice still sounded rough, but it was definitely amused. “I’m in the hospital after almost dying. There was lots of blood and everything. This is the one time you have to be really nice to me.”

At the mention of blood, Theo went cold. He was immediately back there, trying to hold back the flood that trickled through his fingers, draining Hugh’s life away. Theo stared at the IV stand next to the bed, focused on the half-filled bag of clear liquid. All his fear and helplessness tangled together in his stomach, but Theo squeezed his hands into fists and stomped the emotions into bits, until all he felt was the usual rage.

“Theo?” Hugh’s tone wasn’t joking anymore.

“Fuck off,” Theo muttered, attempting to turn away again, but Hugh’s fingers tightened. It would’ve been easy to free himself of Hugh’s grip, but there seemed something so wrong about taking advantage of the other man’s weakness when he was in the hospital. When he had nearly died.

Theo’s throat tightened, restricting his breathing.

Hugh gave his arm a little shake. “Why are you pissed? I figured you’d be happy—okay, so maybe not happy, since the whole dancing-on-a-mountain-top thing really isn’t your style, but at least mildly content—that I’d survived. It was thanks to you I made it. If I’d lost much more blood…” Hugh finished with a wordless squeeze right below Theo’s elbow.

That grip felt like it was at his throat. Despite its good intentions, despite its gentleness, that hand was strangling him. Theo barely managed to force out a lie. “I’m not pissed.”

Hugh actually laughed. It was the shadow of his former laugh, but it was still a laugh. Theo stared harder at the IV stand, rubbing his hand against his skull, back and forth across the short strands of hair that were just long enough not to be bristly. “Liar. You’re in a constant state of pissed off. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Theo repeated. The sheer ridiculousness of the question forced him to finally fix his glare on Hugh. “What’s wrong?”

“Yeah.” That touch of humor was back, and Theo wanted to punch it out of him. “Besides this mess, of course.” He gestured to his blanket-covered form.

Theo opened his mouth, the angry words rushing into his throat, but then he clamped his lips together without letting them fly. His rage wasn’t logical. If he tried to explain it, to yell at Hugh for laughing when he’d almost died—the way Don had died—the words wouldn’t make any sense. Swallowing the tirade that wanted to spill from him, Theo just muttered, “That mess is enough.”

His smile fading, Hugh studied him for a moment. “Yeah, it is. Sorry.”

Hugh’s serious response stole his anger, just blew it out from underneath Theo, creating a void. Other emotions started to creep in—fear and grief and sheer gratitude that Hugh hadn’t died. They were overwhelming, stripping Theo raw and leaving him vulnerable.

Unable to hold Hugh’s gaze for a new reason that had nothing to do with anger, Theo returned to studying the IV. Once again, he had no words. All he could do was give a choppy jerk of his head to acknowledge Hugh’s apology—an apology that made no sense. After all, he hadn’t done this to himself. Not like Don.

“So what’s going on? They find the asshole yet?”

Pathetically grateful for the change of subject, Theo said, “No. By the time ERU made entry, he was gone.”

“Shit.” Hugh shifted his weight with a stifled wince that Theo pretended not to see. “They get anything? Prints? A witness? A signed confession? A piece of chewed gum? A gun?”

A corner of Theo’s mouth twitched. Leave it to Hugh to be lying in a hospital bed after being shot and still dreaming of unicorns and rainbows. “One casing the shooter missed when cleaning up. Forty-caliber.”

His face brightening, Hugh opened his mouth, but Theo knocked him off his hopeful horse before he could ask the question. “No prints.”

His disappointed expression quickly slipped away, replaced by thoughtfulness. “Forty-cal? I would’ve sworn he was using a rifle.”

That had been bugging Theo, too. “Could’ve been a Kel-Tec.”

“True.”

Theo stood, holding back a groan as his ribs and muscles protested the motion after a sleepless night sitting in the very uncomfortable hospital waiting-room chairs. “Have to go pick up Vig.”

“Did someone drop him at the station yesterday?”

For some reason, Theo was reluctant to talk about Jules. The other guys knew her as the new waitress, but that was it. As odd as it was, Theo felt like Jules and her family were his—just his. He didn’t want to share her. Hugh was waiting for an answer, though, his expression growing more curious by the second. With a silent sigh, Theo admitted, “Jules took him.”

It took a second before comprehension dawned, quickly followed by a smirk. “New waitress Jules? Hot new waitress Jules?”

Theo just stared at him flatly. For some weird reason, that made Hugh laugh.

“Go for it, man.” Hugh chuckled again. “Oh, and could you—”

Before he could finish the sentence, Theo was already pulling a wad of paper from one of the cargo pockets on his BDUs and thrusting it at Hugh.

“Incident report?” At Theo’s affirmative shrug, Hugh grabbed it from him, his face lit up like it was Christmas. “You’re the best. How’d you know I’d want it?”

Theo didn’t bother answering. After working together for so long, Theo had just known. “I asked Otto to bring it early this morning. I’ll grab copies for you of any follow-up reports as they come in.”

“This is great.”

Shrugging off Hugh’s appreciation, Theo headed for the door, but paused before opening it. “Thanks,” he muttered at the door handle.

“For what?”

“Holding on.” Yanking the door open, Theo escaped into the hall so fast he barely caught Hugh’s response.

“You’re welcome, partner.”

* * *

“They couldn’t have been aiming at you. No one wants to kill us.” Ty tipped his chair back to balance on two legs. “I vote we stay.”

Sam frowned. “Th-th-they st-st-still haven’t c-c-c-c…f-found the sh-shooter.”

“They will.” At least, Jules really hoped they would.

Looking up from where she sat on the kitchen floor with Viggy’s head in her lap, Dee said, “I don’t want to leave. We just got here.”

“I don’t want to go, either.” Tio was sitting in the seat next to Ty, although all four of his chair’s legs were solidly on the floor.

Looking around at her siblings’ faces, seeing everything from worry to hopefulness to Sam’s closed-off, unreadable expression, Jules felt inadequate. How was she supposed to be a parent and make these kinds of decisions? How could she manage to let them head off to school every morning, a school where she’d been hiding in the bathroom a day ago because someone was shooting a gun at them? Would a new place be any better, or was this just life? Was death and danger around every corner going to be an ongoing part of their new, post-kidnapping existence? It had seemed like such a peaceful, pretty town.

“Jules?” Dee said tentatively. “Can we stay? Please?”

Jules squeezed her eyes closed for a moment so she wouldn’t have to look at their hopeful faces. They depended on her, and she had not a single clue what she was doing. Opening her eyes again, she took a deep breath.

The doorbell rang.

All the air in her lungs escaped in a relieved rush at the interruption, allowing her to delay her decision—this huge decision that would affect all of their lives—for a little bit longer. Immediately after, however, familiar panic sparked to life, fueled by her siblings’ anxious expressions.

Giving them a look she hoped was reassuring, she headed to the door. The kids knew the drill already. They waited in the kitchen and listened. If they heard Jules say they were at the park, then they were supposed to slip out the back door and run to the barn to hide. After fifteen minutes, if Jules hadn’t joined them, they were to grab the money hidden in the loft and run.

Each step tightened her stomach more as she approached the front door. Holding her breath, Jules peeked through the peephole. When she saw who it was, her muscles relaxed and a smile crept onto her face. Who would’ve thought that, just days after she’d become a felon, the sight of a cop would be a relief?

Brushing off the nagging thought that it was stupid to feel excitement fizzing in her belly, Jules opened the door. Her crush—or whatever it was—on Theo was one of her stupider moves, dumber even than working for Luis Espina. She knew this, but she still couldn’t help grinning at him.

He scowled back at her, but for some crazy reason, that only made her smile widen. His crabbiness was just part of Theo, and she liked it. It made no sense, but she couldn’t help herself. It was the worst time and the worst place and the worst everything, but she still liked Officer Theodore Bosco. A lot. It was hard not to after he’d thrown himself in the line of fire to save them.

“Hi.”

His answering grunt made her beam, even as she mentally rolled her eyes at herself.

“You okay?” Her gaze scanned him, wanting to see with her own eyes that he was in one piece. As soon as they’d emerged from the school bathroom, Jules had heard that a police officer had been shot. It had taken a frantic twenty minutes to find out that the injured cop was Hugh, not Theo. To her shame, relief had coursed through her at the news. Although she’d hated that funny, cheery Hugh had been hurt, Jules had just been so glad it wasn’t Theo who’d been shot.

“Yeah.” And he did appear to be uninjured. At some point since the shooting, he’d changed out of his uniform into well-worn jeans and an equally broken-in T-shirt. Jules tried to focus on their conversation, rather than how very good he looked in civilian clothes. “You? Your family?”

“We’re all fine, thanks to you and Hugh. How’s he doing?”

The corners of his mouth twitched into an almost-smile. “Well enough to be a pain in my ass.”

Relief made her laugh a little too loudly. “That’s good. We’ve been worried. Thank you for what you did for us yesterday.”

Appearing a little uncomfortable, he gave a tight nod as his gaze dropped to the side.

“You saved our lives.” Tears that had been hovering too near the surface for the past twenty-four hours threatened to spill over once again. “I was still trying to figure out what was going on when you dragged us back to the school. We could’ve easily been killed in the time it took for me to realize that someone was shooting at us. If something had happened to Dee…”

As her breath choked off in her throat, Jules stopped that train of thought, since talking about how much danger her little sister had been in, how close she’d come to dying, was a sure way to lose control of her teetering emotions. “So, thank you. It’s such a stupid, tiny thing to say, when what you did was so amazing, so brave, so huge—”

He’d been looking more and more awkward as her speech continued, until he finally cut her off. “Please stop talking.”

Startled, she did.

“Sorry.” Theo scrubbed a rough hand over his head. “I didn’t mean… You can talk, just stop thanking me.” Glancing at her face, he twisted his mouth in a grimace. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She could see how her gushing could have made him uncomfortable. He was just lucky she wasn’t hugging him again, because she could barely restrain herself. There was a pause, and Jules realized she’d been keeping him standing on the porch. “Oh, sorry! Did you want to come in?”

Stepping back, she waved him inside. After a minute pause, Theo stepped forward into the entryway. He always seemed so wary, Jules thought, watching him. That and his cranky demeanor hid the sweetness she knew was in there. He was so good and strong and heroic and looked really, really nice in his T-shirt… Only when he eyed her did she realize she was staring.

“You’re here for Viggy!” she blurted, feeling her cheeks warm and knowing she was probably as red as the lights on top of his squad car. Of course he wasn’t there just to see her, to check in after the traumatic events of the previous day. Her smitten mind had turned the situation to fit her daydreams, when he was just running a necessary errand. “He’s in the kitchen. Actually, everyone’s in the kitchen.”

As usual, he waved for her to go first and then followed her down the hall. It was hard not to let self-consciousness change her gait when she knew he was right behind her, watching her.

“Any news on the shooter?” she asked over her shoulder.

“None I can tell you.” When she looked at him again, slightly taken aback by his abrupt words, he amended his statement. “Yet.”

Her mouth twisted down as she eyed him. “So you haven’t caught him?” Jules figured that if the cops had brought him in, they’d be very willing to share that news right away. If the shooter was still on the loose, it made her decision about whether to go or stay even harder. Theo gave her a steady look, and she couldn’t stop her frown from lightening into a wry smile. “Fine. You can’t say anything yet. Will you let me know when you get the okay to talk?”

After regarding her for another few seconds, he lowered his chin in the smallest of nods. Not quite satisfied, but knowing that was all she was going to get, she turned back around and continued down the hall.

Everyone stared at them when they entered the kitchen. Dee was standing, leaning against Sam, who had an arm around her and his other hand resting on Viggy’s head. The dog was pressed against his side. The twins were still sitting, but there was a similar tension in both, as if they were ready to bolt out of their chairs at any second.

“Theo’s here to pick up Viggy,” she announced, her voice sounding too loud in the otherwise silent kitchen. Still wrapped up in the relief that it was Theo and not someone else—a PI or a different cop or even her stepmother—that she hadn’t considered the kids’ reaction to losing their houseguest. After an extended argument about where Viggy would sleep the previous night, he’d ended up taking over two-thirds of Dee’s bed. Now, she braced herself for a tearful good-bye—on Dee’s part, at least.

Jules had underestimated her sister, though. Her words brought the tiniest of quivers to Dee’s bottom lip before she brought herself back under control, forcing a pageant-like smile that looked eerily real, even to Jules. Seeing that mask of a smile, Jules decided at that moment that they were getting a dog. Sure, they were on the run, but how much harder could it be to hide five people and a dog, rather than just five people?

Theo looked around the kitchen with the same cautious attention he’d given the entry and the hall, as if he was expecting enemy forces to jump out of the fridge. To Jules’s surprise, he didn’t make any move to hook up Viggy’s leash.

“Are you hungry?” she asked, unable to help it. Ignoring the burning lasers of Sam’s gaze cutting into her, she smiled at Theo. “I’m not working this morning, so we’re eating breakfast together for once. You’re welcome to join us.”

Seeing the scowl on Theo’s face, Jules braced herself for his rejection, but he gave one of his habitual, small, downward tilts of his chin—a nod. Her smile was huge. She could feel it, and she sort of regretted how happy his being there made her, but a part of her didn’t care about anything except that she’d get to have Theo for the next hour or so.

Theo’s company, that is, her mind quickly corrected, and she could feel the heat returning to her cheeks as the other ways she could have Theo rushed through her brain in an uncontrollable wave. Caught up in her mental mortification, she forgot about avoiding Sam’s eyes and met his gaze full-on. His huge frown told her exactly what he thought of her excitement.

“Can we have bacon, please?” Dee’s careful request brought Jules out of her thoughts.

She frowned at her sister. “Bacon? Since when do you like bacon?”

Dee shot a quick side-glance at Viggy. “I love bacon. I’ve always loved bacon.”

Jules let the complete and utter falsehood go, turning to the ancient refrigerator that they’d learned made alarming whining noises on a semiconstant basis. Today, the usual sounds were joined by a few loud thumps.

“It’s going to explode,” Ty warned.

Tio sighed. “It won’t explode.”

“It sounds like it’s going to explode.”

“It might break,” Tio said, “but it most likely won’t explode.”

Pausing with her hand outstretched, reaching for the handle, Jules gave her brother a look. “Most likely?” she echoed.

His head tilted to the side, and his eyes got that slightly unfocused look that meant he was doing math in his head. “About an 88 percent certainty.”

Her hand still frozen in midair, Jules did some math of her own. “That means there’s a 12 percent chance that a refrigerator will take us all out.”

Tio waved a hand as if brushing off her concern. “But it’s more probable it’ll just break. And if it were to explode, it would be minor.”

“A minor explosion. That’s…good.”

“You need new appliances.” Theo’s gruff voice startled her a little, since the explosion discussion had distracted her. “Call your landlord.”

“I will.” Dennis was definitely going to hear about this. He’d promised her a safe place to live, and to her, “safe” included having appliances that wouldn’t explode. Glaring at the avocado-colored surface, she yanked open the door and retrieved the bacon.

Sam silently accepted the package from her, taking the opportunity to give her a look when his back was to Theo. Since Jules was facing him—and Theo behind him—she kept what she hoped was a bland expression. Sam didn’t have to tell her she was being an idiot. Jules was perfectly aware of that fact.

“T, you’re on egg duty. Ty, please cut up some fruit.” She’d learned not to give Ty any task that involved actual cooking, unless she wanted to test the smoke detectors. Again. “Dee, set the table, please.” Dee gave Viggy one last belly scratch before standing. “Wash your hands first.”

Although she headed for the sink, Dee gave Jules a chiding look. “Viggy is a very clean dog.”

“I’m sure he is.” Pulling out a couple of slices of bread, Jules popped them into the toaster. The loaf was already two-thirds gone, she noticed. Her stomach gave a nervous twinge. The five of them went through food so fast. Maybe she could add another few shifts at the diner to her schedule. “But I’d rather skip the dash of dog hair on my eggs, thank you very much.”

Dee laughed and collected the plates. As she set the table, she sang quietly to herself. Ty and Tio were having a conversation about eggs. Only Sam held his silence, keeping his gaze focused on the cooking bacon.

Jules sent a quick glance in Theo’s direction and had to quash a smile when she saw how bewildered he appeared as he looked around the crowded room. He was probably telling himself exactly the same thing she’d been repeating in her mind: this was a bad idea. That was just too bad, though. He was hers for breakfast, and she was going to take all the Theo-time she could get.

* * *

Staying was a bad idea.

Theo had no idea why he’d agreed, why he’d even come inside this strange, handyman’s nightmare of a house, rather than just grabbing Viggy and leaving. It’d been over twenty-four hours since he’d last slept, and everything was starting to get a disorienting halo. He blinked several times, trying to normalize his vision, but then he gave up. Nothing but several hours in bed was going to fix him.

Then why was he here, watching the chaos of this family in their clown-car of a kitchen? Jules looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, and he knew exactly why his dumb ass hadn’t left immediately.

Clearing his throat, he offered, “I can help.”

She gave him an appraising look from those narrow, too-sexy-for-his-own-good eyes, and he felt as if she could see his soul-deep exhaustion. Although he expected her to refuse his help, she offered him a plate piled with several slices of toast. “You can butter.”

Accepting the plate, the butter, and a table knife, he glanced around, looking for enough counter space to create a station. Apparently seeing his dilemma, Jules waved him over to the spot next to her—the spot right next to her. He hesitated long enough for her to notice, and she raised a questioning eyebrow. With a soundless sigh, he wedged in beside her. They were close, so close he could feel heat radiating from her side, could smell her scent—vanilla and spice. He recognized it from when she’d lean in to put his plate in front of him at the diner, and he caught himself moving closer to get a better whiff.

“Jules,” Dee said, bringing Theo back to the present situation. He jerked back, as far away as he could get from Jules in the narrow space they were sharing, and buttered toast with much more focus than the task required. “If you were an animal, what kind would you be?”

Tilting her head, as if she was thinking, Jules finally answered, “A bird.”

“Good answer!” Dee sounded pleased. Glancing at the girl, Theo wondered at her resiliency. Just yesterday, they’d been forced to run for their lives. Now Dee was cheerily setting the table and daydreaming aloud. Theo was impressed by her ability to bounce back. Personally, he felt more like a deflated basketball. He wasn’t sure he’d ever bounce again.

Spatula in hand, Tio made a humming sound. “What kind of bird? A hawk?”

“Not a hawk,” Jules said definitely, adding another two slices to the toaster. “I couldn’t eat mice.”

Dee nodded. “Because they’re so cute?”

“Uh, right.” Jules shot Theo a sideways look that made him have to hold back a snort of amusement. It startled him that she’d almost made him laugh, especially after the past grueling hours. “And because eating mice is gross.”

“You’re right.” Dee paused between placing forks next to each plate to make a face. “So what kind of bird?”

“A robin?” Jules suggested.

Ty fake-retched. “You’d eat worms but not mice?”

“Good point.” Sending Theo another amused glance, Jules tried again. “What about bluebirds? Do they eat bugs? Even if so, I pick a bluebird. They’re so bright and flashy.” Theo liked how she would look at him, as if they were sharing an inside joke.

“Just the males,” Tio piped up, scraping scrambled eggs into a big serving bowl. “The females are a dull grayish-blue.”

“Typical.” Jules eyed Theo from under lowered lids with an expression he wasn’t sure how to interpret. “The guys are always prettier.”

Clearing his throat, Sam said, “I-I’d b-be a shark.”

Theo glanced at him in surprise. That was the first he’d spoken since Theo had gotten there.

“Sharks don’t sleep.” Tio’s tone indicated approval of his brother’s choice. “They just swim and eat.”

“And nothing attacks a shark,” Ty added enthusiastically. “They’re the badasses of the ocean.”

“Language,” Jules sighed, but no one seemed to pay attention.

“Except for humans,” Tio corrected Ty. “People hunt sharks.”

Sam scowled and jabbed fiercely at the sizzling bacon strips. “Typ-p-pical.”

A heavy silence settled over the kitchen, until Dee broke it. “What animal would you be?”

When no one answered, Theo glanced at Dee to see her gaze fixed on him. In fact, everyone was looking at him, waiting. His mind blanked, as if he were back in high school and had just been called on to solve a calculus problem. The waiting pause lengthened, became uncomfortable, and he opened his mouth and blurted an answer without thinking. “A dog.”

Dee looked satisfied by his response, but Sam frowned. “B-b-but d-dogs have no contr-tr-trol over where they l-l-live or anyth-thing. What if you h-had m-m-mean owners?”

“I’d bite them and leave.” Again, the words were out before he’d considered them. At Jules’s choked sound, Theo slanted a glance at her, trying to determine if she was offended or amused. Her head was down, focused on the toaster, but he was pretty sure she was fighting a grin.

There was no question that Dee approved, judging by the deeply commending look she gave him. “Good. Good dog.”

That made Jules dissolve into laughter. Watching her, Theo felt warmth spread through his midsection. There was something about watching Jules giggle that made him want to keep her happy. Her gaze met his, and her laughter faded, but her smile remained. Theo realized he was actually smiling. It had been a long time, and it felt strange. Really good, but strange.

A clearing throat made him turn his head. Sam was watching him with a thoughtful expression. When Theo raised his eyebrows in question, Sam turned back to the bacon. His silence seemed different from a few minutes earlier, though. It was a little less…hostile.

A gentle elbow in his side brought his attention back to Jules. “Slacker,” she murmured, tipping her head toward the pile of still-to-be-buttered toast that had collected during the previous discussion.

Although he tried to regain his scowl, it wasn’t available. Theo settled for giving her a mock frown and resuming his task. The conversation continued, and Theo let it flow around him. The sound of their chatter, the repetitive motion of the butter knife, the sight of Viggy sprawled out near Dee’s feet, the knowledge that Hugh was going to be okay—all of those things lulled him, filled him with a sense of something he’d been missing for so long.

It was peace.

* * *

Jules couldn’t help it. Even though there were a thousand things to do, she found herself outside the archway into the living room…again.

“Just a quick peek,” she muttered under her breath, and then mentally scolded herself for being…what, she wasn’t sure. A voyeur? A creeper? A dumbass who was already in over her head and should immediately return to installing the window fan in Sam’s attic room?

Despite her internal talking-to, she leaned sideways, just far enough to see the figure sprawled on the couch. It was a big couch, but he managed to make it look small in comparison to his sleeping bulk. After breakfast, Theo had begun swaying with exhaustion. Although he’d made noises about going home, she’d been able to steer him to the couch without too much opposition. Only seconds later, he was sleeping, his breathing heavy, just short of snoring. Jules had covered him with a blanket and tiptoed away, only to keep returning to eye the sleeping man.

He was normally so guarded, so angry, that seeing him vulnerable as he slept was a revelation—a dangerous one. If she went all mushy for the scowling, hostile Theo, Jules knew she had no chance of protecting her heart from this sweet and sleeping version.

This time, Theo wasn’t alone. Dee was sitting on the floor, reading a library book, her back against the couch next to the sleeping man’s feet. Viggy was lying next to her. His tail thumped the floor in greeting, making Dee look up and give a tiny wave. Jules returned the wave and slipped out, heading back upstairs to try to make the stifling third-floor space a little less unbearable.

Something about the scene of the sleeping man and reading girl and relaxed dog niggled at her, though. It wasn’t just Jules who was getting too attached. Somehow, the idea of leaving Monroe had become infinitely harder. They were all settling in—to the house, to the town, to a local cop who’d saved her more than once and fixed their porch and protected them from flying bullets and answered Dee’s childish questions with utmost seriousness and respect.

There wouldn’t be anything simple about leaving anymore.

Jules managed to make it almost forty-five minutes before she found herself next to Theo again. Dee and Viggy were gone, and Jules could see them through the window, playing in the front yard. Theo had turned onto his side, and the thin blanket Jules had draped over him earlier had slipped off and lay puddled on the floor. Secretly glad of an excuse to get near him, Jules crept into the room, snagging the blanket off the floor. As close as she was, Jules could see the dark stubble shading his olive skin, and her gaze locked on his mouth. When he was awake, his lips were thin, just a slash on his hard face, but sleep softened them. They were surprisingly full, and Jules had a hard time tearing her gaze away.

She managed, though, and covered him. Although she was tempted to smooth the fuzzy fabric, to feel his hard contours beneath the layers of blanket and clothing, Jules resisted. It would be too creepy, worse even than just peeking at him while he was sleeping. As she tucked the blanket over his shoulder, she allowed her hand to smooth it over his upper arm—just once.

Her gaze slid over his strong neck and along his jaw, pausing at that tempting mouth and to his eyes…his wide-open, completely awake eyes.

Heat flared in her face, sweeping over her skin, as she realized he’d been awake, that he’d seen her actually groping him. Sure, it’d just been his arm, and just the tiniest of pats, but still. She’d stroked him while she’d thought he was asleep. Theo was going to think she was all sorts of stalker-y.

At least he didn’t look angry, or creeped out, or any other expression that would make Jules think he minded. He just seemed a little bemused and hungry—really hungry.

Jules’s breath caught, and she leaned in. It was as if Theo had a gravitational pull that was tugging her closer and closer against her better judgment. Her stomach warmed, and her skin buzzed, arousal and attraction and affection all layered together, drawing her toward Theo and erasing all the reasons she shouldn’t be doing this. She felt the hot breeze of his exhale against her lips, and it made her realize she was almost kissing him. Jerking back, she stood on unsteady legs so suddenly that she had to take a step back to catch her balance.

As she was pulling away, Theo sat up and turned so his feet found the floor. With a huge yawn, he stretched and stood, making Jules take another step back to put some more space between them. After what had just happened, she didn’t trust herself not to hurl her kiss-starved self at him.

The silence felt thick as they stared at each other. It was too much. Jules had to do something, and since kissing was out, she went with babbling. “Did you have a good nap? It’s been a few hours, so you must’ve been tired. I mean, I know you were up for a long time to make sure your friend was going to be okay, but…” In the middle of the sentence, Jules realized she had no way to finish it, so she let her words trail off and waited for his reaction. She fully expected him to run away, since she was acting like a freak.

To her surprise, Theo gave her a tiny grin, more of a twitch of his lips than a smile, but it still warmed her from the inside out. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome?” Her voice rose in surprise at the end. “I mean, you’re welcome to sleep here anytime.” Her blush, which had been fading, flooded back with a vengeance. Although she was tempted to run off at the mouth again, to try to verbally take back the unintended innuendo, Jules knew it would just make it a million times more embarrassing. Instead, she changed the subject. “So…Dee is out front playing with Viggy.”

“I see that.” He tipped his head toward the window, which framed the little girl and the dog. Theo stretched, and as his muscles popped and shifted, Jules’s throat went suddenly very, very dry. “I should go.”

She so wanted to protest, but he didn’t need some criminal perving on him, especially when she knew she should stay far away. Instead of chaining him to the couch like she wanted to do, Jules trailed Theo to the front door.

He opened it and then paused, turning to look at her. Jules waited, her muscles tight in anticipation of what he was going to say.

“Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome again. And thank you again for saving our lives.”

That tiny smile came again, and then he was walking away. Jules had to bite down hard on the inside of her cheek to keep from calling him back.