Around: Wrapped Around You by Evelyn Adams

assistance, sir?” the man asked, nodding toward Julie.
    “No, I just have to get her home. Thanks,” he said when the man held the elevator door open for them and pushed the button for the ground floor.
    “I’m okay,” said Julie. “I can stand.”
    “Let me hold you, cher. I need to hold you.” He brushed his lips over the top of her head, breathing in the familiar scent of her shampoo.
    His heart slowed another notch, and by the time the doors opened on the ground floor, he was breathing normally for the first time since she’d been taken. He carried her to the car, only letting go of her for long enough to open the door and settle her into the passenger seat.
    The drive to his building felt like it took much longer than the half hour it actually did. Julie didn’t say anything. She sat in the seat next to him, holding his hand on her lap. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. He glanced over at her every chance he got, trying to decide whether to pull over or race to the privacy and safety of his penthouse.
    Fingers white knuckled on the steering wheel, he drove as fast as was safe to the basement parking lot of his building and slid the car into his spot. He was out of the door and around the car before she had a chance to undo her seatbelt. Pulling open her door, he crouched down enough to take her face into his hands, holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Because to him, she was.
    “You’re safe now,” he said, gently forcing her to meet his gaze. “I will not let anyone touch you ever again.” Thinking about the photo, he deliberately relaxed his hands and his expression. The urge to kill the men responsible was so strong, he practically vibrated with it, and the last thing he wanted to do was scare her with his reaction. He’d take care of her and then he’d make sure the men who’d taken her were dealt with.

NINE
    JULIE COULDN’T BELIEVE ERIC WAS beside her, holding her. She hadn’t thought she’d ever see him again, sure she’d die at the hands of the men who’d kidnapped her. She still had questions about who they were and how her brother got mixed up with them. Jackson and his men had shoved through the door and found her before Caleb answered any of her questions. She wasn’t thinking about any of that – not now, not while she was here in Eric’s arms. There would be plenty of time to sort things out tomorrow. Tonight she’d be content to love him. To be loved by him.
    Eric helped her from the car and led her to his private elevator. He never took his hands off of her, cupping her elbow, his palm a warm steady presence resting on the small of her back. With the exception of the few moments it took him to get into the car, he’d been touching her, holding her since he burst through the door at the warehouse.
    The elevator door slid closed and Eric pulled her back into his arms. Her cheek rested against his chest, while his arms went around her, sheltering her with his body. She worked at the Velcro on his vest, desperate to be closer to him. She wanted to feel the warm steady beat of his heart under her hand.
    He caught her chin with his hand, tipping up her face for a kiss. What started as a reassurance, a simple brush of lips, quickly morphed into something much hotter – more urgent. He drank her in, and she met his tongue thrust for thrust. Tasting, teasing, breathing through him.
    The elevator door slid open, and Eric broke the kiss just long enough to key in the code to the front door. Then he scooped her up into his arms, met her hungry mouth with his own and carried her down the hall, not stopping until they reached the master bath. Setting her down, he made quick work of stripping off her ruined Henley. His jaw clenched tight when he reached for the hem of the tank top.
    “It’s Caleb’s,” she said.
    He nodded, and she could tell there was more that he wanted to know. He didn’t seem to know how to ask, and his body seemed strung so tight.