“I love this house,” Zara said when they began to ascend the stairs. Although she wasn’t an expert yet, she was definitely beginning to recognize the route. He wasn’t really listening. “You, what?” he mumbled. They got to the top of the stairs and she spun around to press herself against the door before they could go through it. “I’m sorry.” Reaching around her, Brodie got the door open an inch, but she used her weight to block him. “Sorry for what?” he said, exhaling his impatience. Saying her piece meant something to her, she just wished he would understand the depth of what she’d gone through. “Tonight. I freaked out. I was ready to walk away and if I had—” “We don’t leave a man behind,” he said, with his thumb on her chin, he held her face. “It’s cute that you think you had a choice.” Spiders of awareness crept across her skin, making even the tiniest of hairs stand upright.
