Shadows covered half his face, rendering his chiseled features and low brow sinister. Her breathing was hard, his body heat piercing her clothes. His eyes were as dark as the ocean depths, his grip around her body unmovable.
For a long moment, they stared at each other in the moonlight. She sucked in a deep breath.
"You trying to kill me?" he whispered in the Southern drawl that sounded far too familiar for her comfort.
She shook her head, gazing into his dark eyes. He freed one of his arms and reached for the arm she'd hidden behind her back to keep him from seeing what she had. She squirmed in objection, and his body adjusted around hers in response. She'd never been so close to a man. The feeling of his bare body against hers terrified her; he was strong enough to do what Donovan had not!
Unless he's my Guardian. The idea made her more anxious to get away.
"Stop," he ordered as she squirmed.
He wrenched it away, and she sighed.
"I expected a knife or a gun," he said, looking at it in disinterest. He tucked the micro under his pillow, returning his intense gaze to her. "Of course, I saw what you tried to do to Donovan. You need to learn to shoot. It's a good skill to have right about now."
"What?" she asked, startled by another repeat of the words her Guardian had spoken to her.
"What do I do with you?" he mused, ignoring her. "How badly you want that back?"
Her face flamed with heat, and she strained against him.
"Not badly enough," he surmised. "Go." He released her, and she sprang up, backing away from him.
Her heart pounded, and her body shook. Having never been propositioned before, she didn't know whether to be angry or terrified. The chocolates, the familiar insistence that she learn to protect herself, the Southern drawl.
Lana sank onto the couch, not liking the instinct that told her she was right about him. Her Guardian would never proposition her! He had honor and integrity.
And concern for her well-being, like he showed at the Peak when she hadn't known him from any other army-type. She suddenly felt foolish thinking that Guardian, a man trained to kill, wouldn't kill in cold blood or wouldn't succumb to any other vices. She still found it baffling how different he was in person than over the net.
She also felt grateful he was still alive. She'd missed talking to him since he went silent, probably after he was attacked and his neck injured. The timing now made sense. It hadn't been because he finally got himself killed or because he was through with her. She was embarrassed by her relief that he hadn't truly left her, only revealed who he was. It wasn't her fault he stopped talking to her. He was still alive.