Surrender by H.M. McQueen Page B

I’ll be back later,” Jake said, pulling his duffel over his shoulder. He activated the alarms and left.
    She sat in the quiet house for a few minutes, contemplating what to spend the day doing. Kieran needed at least eight good hours of sleep. Maybe she could try to catch him before he fell asleep and ask him if he needed her to do anything.
    Liking the idea, she made her way to his bedroom. She knocked softly but heard no answer. Rather than knock again, she opened the door slowly and peeked in. The room was dark. The sun-blocking blinds worked well.
    “Kieran?” she whispered, barely able to see. A soft snore gave away his location. After allowing her eyes to adjust, she saw he was already asleep.
    “Wow.” She inhaled sharply. With his hair still damp from a shower and a white towel around his waist, he lay sprawled on his stomach, across the bed. A shiver went through her. How would it feel to crawl into bed and snuggle against that?
    Recalling how he’d slammed Jake against the wall, she figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to catch him by surprise. Instead, she picked up a blanket that lay across the foot of the bed and covered him with it.
    Motioning for Albert to follow her out, she left him to get some sleep.
     
    The smell of coffee was the first thing he recognized, the nearby panting of a dog the second. Kieran opened his eyes slowly and stretched, only to stiffen when a blanket slipped down from his back. Where had the blanket come from? When he rolled over, the dog immediately jumped on the bed and licked his jaw, his heavy tail thumping loudly on the bed.
    A steaming cup of coffee beckoned him from the nightstand, and he reached for it. Wendy.
    Obviously, she’d been in to bring him coffee. She must have been the one that covered him up, too. So that meant that she was probably no longer upset over the Jake incident.
    He took a deep swallow of the black liquid and woke up a bit more. Kieran put the coffee cup back down after a second swig.
    What had possessed him to attack the bodyguard? Looking back, it was obvious he wasn’t out to hurt Wendy. If he were to be honest, it was seeing the man’s hands on her that had set him off. He really needed to get away from her. Send her to Fallon’s or Cyn’s. Whatever was happening between them wasn’t good. With her near, he lost the ability to think clearly.
    He moaned and fell back on the bed, pushing the heels of his hands into his eyes.
    Wendy had to go. The thought didn’t make him feel better. He moaned again and blew air out. What should he do?
    Seeming to think he needed comfort, the dog whined and nuzzled his side.
    “Okay, dog, off the bed with you,” Kieran admonished the large beast, who ignored him and instead studied him closely.
    “His name is Albert,” Wendy called from the doorway. “It’s almost six. I wasn’t sure if you had an alarm or not, so I wanted to make sure you were up for work.”
    Kieran pushed up onto his elbows and looked to the doorway where she stood. Her arms were crossed, and she wasn’t smiling.
    She was still upset with him.
    “Thank you.”
    “So, Emma said you are going to look at the jewelry today.”
    Kieran frowned, recalling Julian’s instructions. “Yeah, that’s right,” He stood up, but then realizing all he had worn to bed was a towel and that it was no longer wrapped around his waist, he lunged for the blanket and threw it around himself, covering his nudity.
    “Whoa! Um, I’ll be in the kitchen.” Wendy gave him a wide-eyed look before turning on her heel.
     
    Wendy covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing. The surprised look on Kieran’s face when he’d realized he was totally nude was priceless.
    Seeing him in his full naked glory definitely made her day, well, okay, maybe her month. The man was perfect!
    He’d moved so fast to cover up, she’d barely caught a glimpse of his front, but it was large enough to make her mouth water. Oh, and speaking of mouth-watering, his