Page 41 of Hard Pursuit
Not to mention the state of lust he was in when that alarm sounded. She might laugh at the poor man if she didn’t still want him so badly.
“Okay. Time to get it together.” Her personal pep talks weren’t new—she talked to herself a hundred times a day.
When she was talking herself through a trip to the grocery store with the change she found in the couch cushions. When her brothers were in a rough stage of their teen years and argued incessantly. And when Lara’s nightmares about their parents kept Jolie awake so many nights that she felt like a zombie.
She gathered her own clothes and made her way to the shower. The pipes rattled faintly behind the walls, but there was plenty of hot water. She let it pour over her, releasing a slow breath and closing her eyes.
Washing away the lingering heat of her encounter with Archer only made her think about it again.
She replayed every single breath they’d shared and had a feeling that she’d be reliving these moments over and over again after she got back home.
She’d been on her own for so long. While her friends had social lives and boyfriends and weekends away, Jolie had been holding her world together, making hard decisions and carrying the weight. There hadn’t been space in her life for someone like Archer, even if another amazingly hot bad-boy rescuer existed.
A man who stepped in and took over and made her feel safe andseen.
She huffed out a quiet breath that hovered between a laugh and a much more vulnerable sound she wouldn’t name.
When she finally stepped out, the chill of the air hit her skin. She toweled off and glanced at her own clothes. In the end, she turned to the ones Archer brought her instead.
She rummaged through the clothing options and finally pulled on a pair of sweats. They were too big, the waistband hanging low, but she fixed that by rolling it once. The thermal she found next was even worse—thick, oversized and clearly not designed for a person of her build. When she tugged it over her head, the sleeves swallowed her hands and the hem fell well past her hips.
She glanced around in search of a mirror, but there wasn’t a full-length one anywhere in sight.
Tugging at her sleeves, she muttered to herself, “I probably look like a lumberjack.”
Who cared? She was warm.
Running her fingers through her damp hair, she stepped out of the bathroom and was faced with the open door of Archer’s room. The sight of his bed and belongings hit her hard—a reminder of just how fast everything between them had escalated.
And how fast it was about to end.
She forced attention back on her own room and set about tidying up. She picked up her discarded clothing and smoothed the bed.
In a matter of hours, she’d be on her way back to the motel, and she didn’t want the guys thinking their first guest on base had been a slob.
Her motions slowed as the thought of leaving settled in. A quiet ache slipped in under her ribs.
She’d be leaving behind the hottest sex of her life. That part was undeniable.
But her stolen moments with Archer meant more to her than that.
She paused, hands resting on the edge of the bed as she stared down at the blanket she’d pulled tight. The last look he gave her before walking out to face the threat was the look of a man who wanted to stay.
Straightening, she brushed her hands down the front of the oversized thermal. Enough. She needed to stay busy.
She moved across the hallway through his open door. Quickly, she smoothed his bed too and neatly folded the shirt she’d stripped off him and set it on the foot of the bed. He didn’t own many possessions. No knickknacks or tchotchkes. He didn’t have weapons out in the open to gather dust.
His room made her a little sad. It revealed so little about its occupant, and she wanted to know so much more about Archer.
For a brief second, the idea of searching for a phone tugged at her. Now that she knew the layout of the base better, it would be easy to try.
But the thought sat wrong in her chest. It felt like a violation of whatever fragile trust existed between her—a stranger—and the group of men who formed a brotherhood.
She let go of the idea and retraced her steps through the maze of hallways, trailing her hand lightly along the concrete as she walked. Left, right, then another turn. The layout made more sense now.
She wasn’t sure why she was memorizing the base. After all, she wouldn’t be here to use that knowledge.
Soon she’d be back in Chicago, in the house she’d fought tooth and nail to keep. The place that still smelled faintly like her parents if she caught it just right, the place her siblings called home because she’d made sure they never had to lose that too.Thank God the insurance money paid it off—it had been one less thing to fight for.
