Larger Than Life by Alison Kent (read the beginning after the end novel .txt) 📕

getting as close as he could, considering he'd never had a taste of love anywhere but in a woman's bed. Until now. Until Neva. Until she'd doctored him and teased him and fed him from her box of Patsy Cline's fudge.

But he couldn't dwell on any of that now. He and his SG-5 partner had a hell of a lot of work ahead. And it was a damn good thing they'd taken care of business this morning, because now here came the law.

Hearing the screen on Neva's front door bang shut, he glanced over and felt a hitch in his heart like he'd never felt before. She was wearing boots and jeans like she always did, with a sleeveless and collarless shirt tucked in. The shirt today was a soft buttery yellow, and she'd left her hair down so that it blew around her shoulders as she squinted, bringing up a hand to shade her eyes.

She was a proud woman, not skittish or easily cowed, meeting everything head-on that came her way. He admired her, he liked her, he appreciated her for who she was. And he lusted over what she made him feel as much as he did her body. That was a new one for him. Caring for a woman's well-being, bearing the weight of that responsibility wasn't anything he understood. Neither was being cared for.

He wouldn't trade either for the way he'd traveled so long between assignments, wearing blinders so he wouldn't have to see how deeply the pain he caused ran. She'd taught him the value of life with the way she worried herself over his needs as well as the needs of others.

These boondock goons were going to have to go through him before they even thought about getting to her. He slammed the Rover's cargo door, ordered FM to stay put, and took up his position at the base of her front porch steps.

"This can't be good," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yancey and both of his deputies? They've got to know about Liberty."

When a fourth car pulled into the drive as the other three parked, Mick was inclined to agree. He glanced from the black sedan as it slowed to Sheriff Munroe climbing from the first car and slamming the door. Two of his lackeys parked behind and followed, keeping their distance as he walked up to the porch where Mick stood.

"Neva." The lawman looked beyond Mick to the porch where Neva still stood silent, and pulled a document from his shirt pocket. "I've got a warrant to search your residence and the barn."

"What?" she gasped, moving closer and placing a hand on Mick's shoulder. "What are you looking for?"

"We now have probable cause to believe you're harboring a runaway. A missing person's report has been filed in the case of Liberty Mitchell." He held out the warrant as Holden Wagner stepped from the last car to arrive.

The lawyer looked like he'd tumbled through a washing machine and been hung out to dry. Mick ignored him and took the warrant from Munroe's hand. "I think you've already been through this with Ms. Case, Sheriff."

"The situation has changed Mr. ..."

Mick didn't respond to the lawyer's comment. He didn't even acknowledge the presence of the other man. He simply held the officer's gaze and passed the paperwork over his shoulder to Neva. Seconds later he heard her curse sharply under her breath.

"Neva, I need you to step on out here with Jason." Munroe waved one of his deputies forward. "Let me and Levi take a look through your place here before we head down to the barn."

Feeling Neva at his side, Mick stepped to his left, grabbing her hand and not letting her pass. Keeping her there. Keeping her with him. "Go ahead, Sheriff. We'll wait right here."

Wagner pushed his way past the deputy. "Interfering with a police investigation. Sheriff, I hope you're going to arrest this man."

"Shut up, Wagner," Munroe snapped, turning back to Mick and pointing a finger. "She waits at the car with Jason. You can stay. What you can't do is impede the search or our questioning."

"No worries, mate." Draping his arm over her shoulder, Mick guided her toward the deputy's car and away from the house, from Holden Wagner, and out of earshot of anyone around. The deputy, Jason, opened the car's back door.

Neva sat, and Mick stood in the opening, one hand on the roof of the car, one gripping the frame of the door. The deputy gave them privacy. Wagner returned to his own car, hovering like a watchdog until Mick was ready to pounce.

A sharp tug on the fabric of his fatigues stopped him. He glanced down into Neva's face, felt a similar tug in the pit of his stomach. "I'm not worried about the house. There's nothing there." Her voice was barely audible when she next spoke. "But if they find the safe room in the barn ..."

He dropped down, crouched in the wedge of space between the car and the open door, feeling helpless to do more than stand by. He was only just back from meeting with Rabbit. He'd had no time to process the smaller safeguarding measures they'd outlined. Only the priorities had been handled.

He bloody well hoped that was enough. That and the fact that K.J. had come through with a command for a remote system wipe. Doing little beyond mouthing the words, Mick asked, "There's no reason they should, is there? That place took me by surprise."

"I know," she said, and shivered as if she were cold. "But then you weren't looking for it. And they are. If they take a measuring tape to the attic, I'm so screwed."

He placed one hand in her lap, squeezed her thigh. "Can you trust me on this? And not worry?"

"Yes. And no," she admitted softly and with a touch of wryness to her voice. "I'm trying not to worry. But I am, of course. And I do want to trust you—"

"But