Page 24 of Keeping Her Safe

Lifting his head to see her face, his eyes locked on hers, and he watched her face break out in a smile. She started laughing. Her body shook under his with laughter. Rolling off her, he lay on his back and joined in with her. They lay side by side, laughing for minutes.

“That was interesting.”

“Sorry, you took me by surprise,” he said.

Sitting up, he noticed she had changed into a white T-shirt and had nothing else on. When she noticed he was looking at her, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “It’s yours, but I forgot to get something to sleep in. And none of my new shirts cover my butt.”

He smiled at her. “It looks better on you.” What an old line, he thought.

“Okay,” she said suspiciously. “Now, how are we going to sleep? We have the entire house.”

Sitting up, he rubbed his head and replied, “We should stay in one room. I can’t protect you if you’re somewhere else.”

He watched as she looked around the room. There was plenty of space, but the only other place to sleep was the floor. “Are we going to take turns on the floor then?”

“No, I think the bed is big enough for us both. I think we can be adults about this and sleep together,” he said, shaking his head.

Getting up, he emptied the pockets of his jeans and then took the gun off his leg and placed it on the nightstand. Next, he pulled off his shirt and threw it on the chair. She was crawling into the bed, tucking those glorious legs under the covers. And he had just gotten to see them.

“I thought that doing what adults do in bed was off the table?” she asked.

He turned to her as he undid his belt. “Did I say that?” He tried to remember if they had talked about sex. He would have remembered talking about sex with her.

“No, I guess it was implied,” she said more to herself. She was blushing.

“It is. You don’t have to worry that something will happen.”

“Okay.” She turned over so that she was lying on her side.

Where did this come from? What was she talking about? Grabbing his bag, he went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. By the time he came out of the bathroom, she looked to be sleeping. Glancing at his phone, he saw it was only nine, but with the time change and the long day, he was as ready as her to sleep. He shut the lights off as he walked into the room, finding his way around by the light from the streetlight outside. He slid out of his jeans and climbed into bed. Even though she was across the bed from him, he could feel her heat and wanted to pull her closer. Instead, he flopped on his back and looked at the ceiling.

He heard Zephyr sigh in the dark and wondered if she was really sleeping. They had talked more today than they had in the last ten years. By the time they had made it out of Tampa, he had seen the person Brian had seen. She was fun and easy to talk to. She was the most honest and generous person he had met in a long time. The pain she carried with her from childhood was just below the surface. If you scratched it, she would bleed.

With any luck, they would be able to meet all the sisters over the next few days, and then they could move on. He had no idea where to go next, maybe out west. For some reason, he was starting to think that if they kept moving, this guy would not be able to find them. And if she was still in danger after this week, there was no way she was getting rid of him.

“Do you think Max recognized me?” she asked into the dark. He had thought she was sleeping.

“I think if he had known there was another sister out there, he would have pegged you once you opened your mouth,” he said to the ceiling.

He felt her roll onto her back. “What did I say wrong?”

“Nothing, but you sound exactly like his wife.”

“I don’t. I sound completely different,” she argued.

“No, you sound just like her, but with a Florida accent. I didn’t even know you had a Florida accent.”

“I don’t have an accent. She does.”

“You’re right. She’s the one with the accent. You sound just like the Zephyr I’ve always known.” He chuckled.

“This is going to be hard.”

“It is, but I think you can talk your way out of a wet bag. Nobody even notices you don’t answer questions. I watched you do it in the shops today and with Max. I’ll have to pay attention to see if you answer my questions,” he said.

“I answer your questions.”

“Did you see your mom in the house?” he asked.

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