Page 53 of Ice Covered Heart

Her lashes flickered. “I⁠—”

“I don’t give a shit about the final girl crap. I want to fuck you. You, Shelby. But I am at my limit. I’m furious and I want to destroy.”

Her eyes widened.

“Not you, never you,” he rushed to add. “I would never do anything to hurt or destroy you. I want to find the sonofabitch who killed Tiffany, and I want him to pay. And if he was involved in the nightmare you survived all of those years ago, if he hurt you—” But Hunter broke off before he could go too far.

Then I want to kill him. I want him destroyed.

Huh. Maybe he’d been hanging around with his buddy Declan for far too long. See, Declan…he’d had a rather unusual hobby for a time. A hobby that his wife had worked to change.

Declan eliminated killers, and I helped him.

“My goal is to protect you.” Flat.

“And not to fuck me? Even though you just said you wanted to?”

The bed was right behind her. Right. There. His dick could not shove harder against the front of his sweatpants. She’d let go of her robe, and the top gaped, giving him a teasing glimpse of her breasts. The sweet curves…

He took a step back from her. “I took the case to help you. Not to fuck you.” But fucking you is the dream, sweetheart, oh, it is definitely the dream.

Her hand flew out and curled around his arm. “I want the partnership to continue.”

Yes.

“A woman died. Her death absolutely feels like a message to me. I’m afraid it was because of me, and now I have even more guilt to add to the weight I carry every single day.” She swallowed. “I’m scared. That’s nothing new, though. But I would like to have a bodyguard with me. No, no, more than that, I want you with me.”

His head inclined toward her. “I will do the job. You will be safe.”

“Do you have any other secrets I need to know about?” she asked him.

His jaw locked. “Nothing that will hurt you.” He couldn’t tell her about Declan. Not his story to tell.

Her hand lingered against him.

“You should get in bed.” Gruff words. “Sleep.” They both needed to sleep so they could hit the ground running in the morning. His first stop? Oh, but Hunter wanted them to have a nice, long chat with the cop—Jonah Campbell.

Then he wanted to interview the criminal psych professor who’d taught Tiffany, the one who believed Nate Shiloh was innocent.

He’d like to question Tiffany’s friends—those who had not left town for fall break. Hell, maybe the criminal psych professor was gone, too.

Or maybe not.

“Where are you going to be?” Shelby asked him.

“In bed. With you.”

Her hand slid away from him. “We both know I’ll have nightmares tonight.”

“That’s why I’ll be close.”

“So my screams can wake you up or so I can fight you in my sleep?” Shelby grimaced. “I doubt the walls in this hotel are thick enough to drown out my screams. The neighbors are going to love me.”

“I’ll be close,” he said again. “I’ll help you.”

“You being in bed with me is not a good idea.”

If she wanted him to sleep on the floor⁠—