Page 20 of Ice Covered Heart

“Or maybe he’s really pissed the hell off because he missed you today. Maybe he’s just going to accelerate and plan another attack.” An immediate attack. “That’s not a chance I’m willing to take.” There was no chance he would take when it came to her safety. But maybe he was coming off way too hard on this so, better dial things back a notch. “As your PI and bodyguard, my priority is your protection.” Oh, yeah. That sounded rational, didn’t it? Not like he’d said…You’re important. I will annihilate anyone who wants to hurt you because you’re my own walking, talking obsession. Nope. He had not said those words.

“Are you trying to scare me?” Then she shook her head, sending her silken locks sliding over her cheeks. “No need. I can assure you, I’m always scared. That’s the problem.”

His hands fisted because Hunter wanted to reach out to her so badly. He wanted to hold her. Comfort her. But that would be crossing a line. He wasn’t her boyfriend. Not her lover. He was her PI. Something he had to remember. “You aren’t alone.”

Her long lashes flickered. “I wasn’t alone seven years ago, either. And everyone with me died.” She took a step back. “But, fine, if it makes you feel better, come in and search the house.”

“What an incredibly gracious invitation. I am overwhelmed.”

Her eyebrows beetled at him. “Are you mocking me?”

All humor fled. “I would not dream of it.” Voice flat, eyes on her, he said, “It will make me feel a million times better to come in and search your house. I assure you, it most definitely will.”

“I need to find my backup hearing aid. I—” One hand motioned toward her right ear in a quick wave. “Everything here is sort of muffled. The words are distant. I can still hear you with my other ear but—but it’s much, much better for me when I have my hearing aid in place.”

Deliberately, he crossed the threshold and entered her house. “I’m sorry the hearing aid was destroyed. That was my fault.”

Her hand slid back to her side. “You were protecting me.”

“That’s the job.” Destroying her hearing aid had not been on the agenda. He would need to be far more careful in the future.

She took another step back. “My bedroom is upstairs. I’ll go snag my backup.” She turned away.

But he surged toward Shelby, reached out, and caught her wrist. “Not so fast.” Those words had been spoken near her right ear. The hair had shifted near her ear, and he could see the faint scar that sliced over the shell of her ear and slid into her hairline.

Her head turned toward him.

She probably hadn’t heard him speak because he’d rasped the words.

So he told her, again, “Not so fast. I need to search before you go racing into the dark.” Then, flatly, “You stay with me.” And with his other hand, he pulled out his gun.

Shelby wasn’t alone.

An unforeseen development.

A really annoying as hell development.

He’d watched her return. Thought perhaps he might even have an opportunity to finish what he’d started on the street earlier. Normally, her home was far too secure, but desperate times did call for more desperate measures.

Except she wasn’t alone.

The hulking jerk from before was with her. Shadowing her movements. Putting his body far too close to hers as he acted like some kind of freaking shield for her. The guy had even gone beyond the big, brick wall. Into her inner sanctuary.

Into her home.

As a rule, Shelby didn’t have guests at her house. She didn’t have men who brought her home at night. Men who went inside. Men who stayed.

The fuck, no, she didn’t have men who stayed.

Final girls didn’t survive by chance. Everyone knew that. In all the horror movies, the final girls survived for very particular reasons…

The final girl wasn’t like the others. The final girl didn’t tease. Didn’t tempt. The final girl didn’t drink or get wasted like her friends. She didn’t make laughing promises and torment others. She didn’t screw all the men around her.

No sex. No drugs. Follow all the rules. You always have to follow all the rules.

Everyone knew it. Final girl lore. You break the rules, you die.

His breath came faster, harder, as he stared at the brick wall and the broken bottles and barbed wire on top of the wall.