The realization should have felt like weakness. Instead, the thought seemed to power through her, add heat to her bones.
Weird.
She emerged from the bathroom in clean jeans and a soft blue T-shirt, her damp hair pulled back in a ponytail, to find Skeet sprawled on the couch in what looked like the first genuinely relaxed position she’d seen him in. His eyes were closed, chest rising and falling in the deep rhythm of exhausted sleep. He had removed his boots, leaving him in jeans and a gray T-shirt that showed off the lean muscle of someone who stayed in fighting shape.
Even unconscious, he looked dangerous. And annoyingly attractive.
Chloe grabbed her phone and slipped out onto the balcony, where the evening air carried the scent of night-blooming millingtonia and the distant sounds of city traffic. The pool below glowed under the lamplights surrounding it, its surface occasionally disturbed by a gecko drinking at the edge.
Her sister answered on the second ring.
“Chloe! Thank goodness. I’ve been worried sick.”
“I’m fine,” Chloe said automatically, then paused. “Actually, that might not be entirely true. But I’m safe. For now.”
“What do you meanfor now? Where are you?”
“Back in my apartment. With—” She glanced through the sliding door at Skeet’s sleeping form. “With Skeet Blackwood.”
Silence on the other end of the line. Then a soft laugh.
“It’s not funny, Selah. Skeet just showed up in the middle of a jungle in Myanmar?—”
“Of course.”
“Yeah, well, he’s . . . well, he’s a little?—”
“Funny? And hot?”
“Bossy.”
More laughter.
“Apparently he’s not letting me out of his sight. Which is both annoying and...” She trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.
“And?”
“And I don’t hate it as much as I should.”
Another laugh, warmer this time. “Oh, Chloe. You like him.”
“I barely know him.”
“So fix that. And frankly, I’m glad he’s there. I didn’t know that Jake would call him, but I’m glad he did. Finally, someone to watch your back. I was really worried.”
Chloe sighed.
“Please. It’s not like you don’t have some, um, issues.”
“What issues?”
“Commitment? Trust? The addiction to getting yourself in over your head?”
“I’m so glad I called.”
Selah laughed again. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Heat climbed Chloe’s neck. “Can we focus on more important things? Like the fact that people are dying and I’m probably the only one who can figure out why?”