Page 34 of Broken By Her Mate
Tolliver sighed. He promised Laila he’d stop treating her like a helpless victim. With his eyes fixed on her, he said, “She can handle it. She should know what’s going on.”
Laila gave him a small appreciative smile, which wobbled a bit. He figured she was internally freaking about what she overheard about being hunted. She stepped closer as he put the phone on speaker.
“So, what you said about these guys hunting Laila,” Ryder said. “I’m starting to think so, too. It’s like they’re hellbent on getting her despite their failed kidnap attempts and their many other targets.”
Tolliver watched the expressions flit across Laila’s face. As scared as she seemed, she held her chin up defiantly and kept listening. Admiration and pride for the woman she had become flooded him.
“You said someone was lurking around the cabin. Any more details on that?” Tolliver asked.
“Well, we have the guy, and we’re working on getting information. He’s hard to crack, so we haven’t gotten anything out of him yet. But we will,” Ryder drawled in a low, menacing tone. He was one of the most laid-back men Tolliver had ever met, but he could be vicious when he wanted to be.
“What do you mean hard to crack?” Laila asked, looking up at Tolliver. “Holy cow. Are you guystorturinghim?”
“Yup,” Ryder said nonchalantly.
Laila gasped, and Tolliver wanted to reach through the phone and strangle his friend. “Torture is a bit of astrong word…” Tolliver muttered. However, Laila didn’t look convinced. She already resented the Black Ops because of her father. The last thing he wanted to do was paint the group in a worse light. He didn’t want her to think the worst of him. Because when it got down to it, he could be vicious too, especially to protect her.
“Right…” Ryder said. “Don’t worry, Laila, we’ll have some helpful information soon. I called Tolliver to let him know it’s best if you guys stay where you are tonight. We’re not sure if our prisoner came with friends. We’re still searching the area around the cabin as well as all of Bellefleur. You’re safer in Cedar Ridge tonight… maybe stay there tomorrow night, too.”
Laila sighed. “Yeah… okay.”
Tolliver was relieved Ryder was the one to tell her all of that. Maybe if he had been the one to suggest they stay in Cedar Ridge, she would have been skeptical because she didn’t trust him.
When Ryder hung up, a blanket of silence hovered over Tolliver and Laila. She shuffled from one foot to the other. “So…” she began. “I guess we’ll head upstairs. Cora left. I told her I’d close up.”
Tolliver nodded. “Sure, let’s head up. It’s best if you stay out of sight as much as possible.”
They couldn’t shake the awkward energy that engulfed them, and Tolliver hated it. He wanted them to be relaxed with each other as they once were. The uneasy air went up a notch when the door to Laila’s apartment closed behind them.
“How is this going to work?” she asked. “There’s only one bedroom and…” She glanced at the couch, her cheeks flushing crimson. “And you can’t fit on my couch.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“No, you should take the bed. You’re twice my size. It doesn’t even look like your shoulders can fit comfortably on the couch. They’re freakishly broad.”
He scoffed.“Freakishly?”
Laila sniggered. “I didn’t mean that in an offensive way.”
“Uh-huh.” A smile tugged at his lips as humor seeped in to quell the awkwardness.
Laila’s gaze raked over him. “You have very nice… shoulders.”
He didn’t miss the flicker of desire in her eyes. “Thanks,” he murmured. She might not have trusted him yet, but at least she still found him attractive. He could work with that for now.
Chapter 14 - Laila
“You have nice shoulders?” Laila pressed the heel of her hands into her eyes. That was the best she could come up with. “Why am I so lame?” she muttered. Needless to say, flirting was not her forte.
She took a long, slow breath and continued staring at the ceiling, which she’d been doing for about an hour. Instead of feeling comfortable in her home, she was more restless than ever. Her mind kept straying to thoughts of Tolliver in the living room. Was he asleep? Was he thinking about her as she thought about him? Was she crazy for still wanting him?
After their night together, she couldn’t help aching for his touch again. It was confusing and upsetting because she didn’t want to put herself in the position to get hurt again. Yet she couldn’t help her sexual desire for Tolliver. Maybe that was normal after a five-year dry spell… She hoped it was.
Movement coming from the living room caught her attention. She cocked her ear to listen. It sounded as if Tolliver was restless and shuffling on the couch. There was no way he was comfortable being crammed into the chair. Guilt nagged at her because she was small enough to sleep on the couch. However, he’d been adamant that she took the bed.
She tried to ignore the sounds coming from the other room. Shifting beneath the covers, she tried to get comfortable. Laila lay with her eyes closed, waiting for sleep to come, but it never did. Her mind continued its relentless loop. Groaning, she dragged a hand down her face and sat up.
“Laila?”