Page 9 of Secrets Within Us

Kip stood silently behind me at the door, watching me in the mirror as I assessed myself. The scowl returned to his face, his brow furrowing deeply as he watched.

Tears pooled in my eyes at the pathetic image I’d become. I looked nothing like the strong, independent woman I’d fought so hard to become over the last few years. Gently pressing my fingertips to my lips in horror at what he had reduced me to.

Kip moved forward to stand behind me in the mirror. “I know you said for now you can’t tell me what happened. But I need to know if you’re in danger anymore. If someone could be after you, following you here. I can’t protect you if you don’t let me know what I’m up against.” Although he didn’t touch me at all, I could feel the warmth of his body radiating into mine. He stood so much taller than me, my head only came to the middle of his chest, and his broad shoulders flanked my much smaller ones on each side.

A single fat tear broke the barrier of my eyelashes, rolling slowly down my battered cheek before falling into the fabric of the shirt at my chest. I shook my head softly as I locked eyes with him over my head. “No one is coming for me. Neither good nor bad. There’s no one out there to care if I’m alive or dead.” I didn’t wait for his reply, instead, I gingerly walked out of the bathroom, using the counter and walls for support. I felt him near behind me, turning off the lights as we went, leaving us shrouded in only the warm glow from the fireplace in the living room as I put my foot on the bottom step of the stairs.

I didn’t get very far before he wrapped his arms around me once more, lifting me into them effortlessly.

“Thank you,” I whispered against his neck as I settled my head against his shoulder.

“Don’t thank me, I’m only doing it because if you walked ahead of me up the stairs, I would have been too tempted to look up the bottom of the shirt you’re wearing. It’s safer for me to not be tempted.”

Pulling my head off his shoulder, I looked at his face to gauge his seriousness, but I should have known better because Kip was only ever serious.

I swallowed quickly at his admission. “I meant for everything, not just for carrying me. For saving me and letting me impose on you until you can take me into town. Thank you for all of it. You could have left me out there.”

He said nothing as we reached the top of the stairs and entered his bedroom again. He knelt down on the bed and laid me gently on the opposite side of it against the comfortable pillows.

“Are you cold?” He asked gruffly, his kindness once again covered and marred by his social awkwardness.

I was cold but didn’t want to impose on him further, so I just silently shook my head no.

He nodded once again before standing back up off the bed. I thought he would leave, but to my astonishment, he made it as far as the chair in the corner. With his back facing me, he nonchalantly yanked his shirt off over his head using the back of the collar. I drank in the sight of his wide back, covered in thick ropes of muscles and dark swirls of ink. Tattoos covered every inch of his back, and as he dropped his arms and set his shirt on the chair, I could see that his entire right arm was covered as well.

My jaw dropped as I lay there, completely captivated by his presence. He turned around, his eyes meeting mine, and a sly smile crept onto his face as if he had expected my rapt attention. I quickly dropped my eyes to my lap as my face heated with a furious blush.

With a coy gaze, I watched him as he reached for the drawstring on his shorts, swiftly untying them and then sliding them off his hips until they gathered on the floor. He stood in only a tight pair of black boxer briefs for a second before he turned back towards the bed, hitting the switch on the wall for the overhead light as he went.

I watched in confusion as the bedside lamp illuminated every ridge and dip of his washboard abs and delicious chest as he stalked silently. His chest and abdomen were covered in tattoos and seeing all that darkness matched with his dark personality left me nearly panting and slightly scared of him.

He pulled the blankets back on the other side of the bed and adjusted the pillow before crawling in next to me. I must have looked alarmed because he once again looked over his shoulder at me, smirking as he reached and turned off the light.

“There’s only one bed in this house, Hadley. And I’m sure as hell not sleeping in the recliner again tonight. Just go to sleep, I have no intentions of doing anything other than sleeping tonight.”

He lay flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling with an arm slung over his head and the other resting between us in the bed. The bed was queen-sized, but with both of us in it, it felt no bigger than a twin.

Too soon.

It was too soon for me.

I didn’t know him; he could be a bad person.

“Go to sleep bambina, you’re safe here.” He breathed into the darkness as if he could hear my fear through the air.

I rolled over, placing my back towards him, and laid there for a while, spinning every bad-case scenario through my head before the pain medication took effect and pulled me under the serenity of slumber.

But he chased me through my dreams relentlessly.

Not the man in plaid with a scowl so fierce it made his smiles earth-shattering, but the man who smiled constantly, making his scowls even more terrifying than the pain he inflicted while wearing them.

Chapter 4 - Kip

One Bed

Her breathing evened off shortly after she rolled over, the pain medication no doubt pulling her under and away from her thoughts. She was so troubled; I could almost see her thoughts every time I looked over at her while she sat next to the fire.

She told me she didn’t know what happened to her, but that it was someone. And when she looked at herself in the mirror, the emotional pain was obvious all over her tiny, perfect face.

---