T-shirt that left little to the imagination. Through the thin material, he could see her nipples jutting against the fabric and her dusky, over-sized aureoles. Her boobs were ginormous. Playboy centerfold big. And they looked all natural.
Lust sliced through him, bringing with it an uncomfortable thickening in his shaft that signaled his arousal. He didn't want her to think he was gawking at her, but he couldn't stop feasting his eyes on her in her bedroom attire. Feeling like a pervert, he managed to drag his gaze away from her chest, focusing instead on the cracked window next to the bed.
“ What part of ‘don't open the window’ didn't you understand?” he barked.
Darcel turned toward the window, a guilty expression creeping onto her face. “Woops. I meant to close it before I went to bed. It was so hot in here.”
Trueblood clenched his jaw. “Do you think this is one big joke?”
She looked at him with widened eyes. “Of course not. How can you even ask me that?”
“ There is someone out there who wants to kill you. That same someone has already killed at least one person that we know of. Leaving your window open is stupid.”
Darcel glared at him as if she wanted to do him bodily harm. “Do you have to be such a stupid…raging…ass? Did you ever stop and think that this whole thing is new to me? I'm not used to being stalked by a killer. It's not every day I witness a brutal murder. Do you think I enjoy living under the roof of a man who can't stand the very sight of me?”
By this time Darcel's breasts were heaving up and down and her eyes were filled with tears. Once again all Trueblood could do was focus in on her amazing boobs. He felt like a jerk for making her tear up. He felt like the Big Bad Wolf being mean to Little Red Riding Hood. Although Darcel came across as a tough, no-nonsense businesswoman, on the inside she was as soft as a stick of butter. And she'd been through pure hell in the last twenty-four hours. Even an idiot like him could see that!
Deliberately, he softened his voice. “Use your head. That's all I'm saying. There's someone out there who won't hesitate to come right through that window and do the same thing to you that he did to Ronnie. It's my job to make sure that doesn't happen.”
Trueblood saw the fear in her eyes, and he watched as she nervously swallowed. “Point taken,” she said shakily. “It won't happen again.”
As soon as he left the guestroom Trueblood headed to the attic, where he rooted around for a few minutes until he found the item he'd been looking for. Minutes later he knocked on the guestroom door then slowly opened it after hearing a soft voice telling him to come in. This time Darcel's body was discreetly covered by his baby-blue cotton sheets. She wasn't showing any skin, but she still looked sexy as hell.
So tempting, in fact, he knew he'd have trouble getting back to sleep without images of her and her naughty T-shirt dancing in his head. If anyone had told him a week before he'd be fantasizing about Darcel, he'd have called them all kinds of crazy. As it was, he was beginning to question his own sanity. If Case ever got wind of it, he'd never be able to live it down.
He held out the giant fan he'd dug up from his attic. “You should've just told me you were hot,” he said gruffly.
“ I should have,” she acknowledged. “It's hard to ask you for things. You're already doing so much for me—taking me into your home, providing me with round-the-clock protection. I'm not used to asking for things.”
“ It's my job,” he said matter-of-factly, unwilling to take credit for something that fell under the heading of official business.
“ I shouldn't have called you stupid. Or an ass. I was angry and frustrated.” Her big doe eyes were full of sincerity, making him regret his harshness toward her a few moments before.
“ Get some sleep,” he instructed tersely as he made a rapid exit from the room. He headed downstairs and
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