Читать книгу A Place with Briar - Amber Williams Leigh - Страница 14

CHAPTER SIX

UPSTAIRS, COLE stripped off his grimy T-shirt and answered the soft knock on the door with, “Come in.”

Briar pushed the door open but stopped short when her eyes skimmed over his bare chest. She averted her gaze as she walked in, arms laden with fresh white towels. “I brought three, just in case.”

“Thanks.”

She set the stack on the edge of the bed then backed away, her eyes still shifting elsewhere. “I’ll let you shower.”

“Wait,” he said quickly, taking a step in her direction. He heard the swift catch of her breath as he closed in. Her eyes caught his and locked. A hand pressed to her stomach and he wondered what was going on under there.

He’d hardly seen her these past couple days. Avoidance. He was avoiding her like the plague. As soon as he’d seen her walk downstairs for breakfast the morning after her near-concussion, he’d run like the paperboy chased by a pack of neighborhood dogs.

As for his plans for breaking into her filing system? He hadn’t yet found a safe moment. She was always there, the subtle but no less devastating scent she carried on her skin leaving him no room for clear thought or instinct.

On impulse, he moved closer. Briar’s lips parted and he bit the inside of his, hoping they would stop tingling in anticipation. Focusing on her eyes, he swallowed to quench his throat. His palms had gone damp, and he rubbed them against his jeans. Nerves held the silence.

What was his move here?

He hadn’t been able to get into her files so he had to come up with some other way of getting the information he needed, or something close to it at least. Tiffany was hounding him and his dreams were haunted by visions of both Gavin and Briar, each on the verge of being engulfed by the blackness that lurked in his shadow. The closer he got to either of them, the more they disappeared into darkness. He woke in cold sweats throughout the night with the weight of the black pressing on his chest.