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Her eyes whipped up to meet his.
“I think you knocked on the wrong door.”A long exhale from him.“Pity.But I’m guessing you’re looking for Eb?”
“What happened to you, Hunter?”
“A nightmare.Same thing that happens to plenty of us.Lucky for me, my buddy Declan was there to help haul me out.He was also there to push me when I didn’t want to keep living.”
Declan Flynn.“I’ve read news stories about him.”Only those stories weren’t always the most positive.In fact, some of the stories just straight up said Declan Flynn was mob royalty.
And Eb’s sister had married that man?
“Ah, but you of all people know not to believe everything you read.”Hunter sawed his hand over the stubble on his jaw.“Declan is not the boogeyman.If he was, I’d be dead.Marley wouldn’t have married him.And Eb wouldn’t now have an extremely useful, exceedingly rich brother-in-law.”
She gripped the doorknob far too tightly.“Where is Eb?”
“He slept downstairs.I think he was trying to put some distance between himself and temptation.”
Naomi swallowed.
“Temptation…AKA, you.”
Yeah, she’d gotten that part.But should she be insulted or flattered that Eb had put so much space between them?Insulted seemed to be the way she was leaning.
“If he’s not sprawled on the couch, check the garage.”A lazy suggestion from Hunter.“The man is a fanatic about his car.”
She’d noticed that personality quirk, too.“Sorry to bother you.”Backing up, she began to pull the door closed.
“Naomi.”
She paused.
“He has a heart, too, you know.Try not to break it.”With that, Hunter lowered back into the bed.“Beauty sleep.”A dramatic sigh.“Why won’t anyone ever let me get it?”
Quietly, she closed the door.Then she hurried down the stairs.Checked the couch.No sleeping Eb.So she went toward the back of the house because she knew the Impala had been moved to the garage.Henry brushed against her, then headed for his food bowl.While he munched, she slipped out the back door.Shaking her head, Naomi noticed that there was a doggie door cut in the bottom of that wood.It truly was a safe house that came with all the essentials.
The sky burned with reds and golds as she made her way to the garage.Her sneakers made no sound on the damp grass.Damp from dew, not rain.Birds sang in the distance, and the creaks and calls of insects teased her ears.
The garage door was open, so she slipped inside.Eb was at work, bent beneath the hood of his Impala.He wore jeans.Sneakers.A white t-shirt that stretched across the powerful muscles of his back as he leaned forward.
“You’re up early.”
His words made her jump because she hadn’t realized that he even knew she was there.Even as her heart raced, Naomi managed to say, “Ah, so are you.”
He eased from beneath the hood.Tossed a screwdriver into a tool box.Carefully lowered the hood of the Impala and turned toward her.Black streaks slid across the front of his shirt.His hair was tousled, and his eyes were as intense as ever.The thick stubble on his jaw just made him look rougher.More dangerous.Way sexier.“Couldn’t sleep well,” he admitted.
“Me, too.”Low.She folded her arms over her chest.
“Every time I closed my eyes, I’d see that stupid gang coming for you.”
Her breath caught.“I kept dreaming about fire.”
His expression hardened as Eb took a step toward her.“I’m not ever gonna let you burn, Naomi.”
“I believe you.”
He gave a little jerk at those words.“Naomi.”
She walked toward him.Her steps were probably too fast.Clumsy.Grace had never been her strong suit.Her hands fell back to her sides.“Sorry if I messed up your car.”