Page 231 of Mountain Men Heroes

Dyson’s mouth tightened and he speared Eeli with a look full of something I didn’t understand. “Clara, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay in here tonight.”

“What?”

Eeli rubbed a hand over his face. “Shit. Shit.” He dropped his hand and turned to me. “He’s right. We can’t all sleep in here.”

There was no way I wanted to be separated from them.

“I could have hurt you.”

The pain that laced his voice broke through my anger. I raised a hand and caressed his cheek. “You didn’t. I’m fine.”

“Eeli hasn’t had a nightmare like that in a while, so I didn’t even think of it. But he’s right, Clara. Until we know he won’t hurt you, we can’t all sleep together.”

“But…”

Dyson sank down to sit on his side of the bed. “You need to do this for Eeli. Can you imagine how he’d feel if he hurt you?”

I bit my lip and glanced up at Eeli. Dyson was right. Just the thought he could have hurt me left Eeli highly agitated. I thought of his fist flying through the air. If I had been in the way of that fist, Eeli would have done some damage.

I’d forgotten. We’d been in our own little bubble since the guys showed up at the bar the other night. I hadn’t let reality seep in. And the reality was that Dyson and Eeli still suffered with whatever they’d been through during their deployment.

Selfishly, I hadn’t even thought about how to help them function better separately in the last few days. I liked having the three of us in our cocoon together.

But tonight, reality reared its ugly head. Our little cocoon didn’t keep out the boogeyman. He crept in while we slept.

And if keeping one of Eeli’s monsters at bay meant sleeping separately until we figured all this out, then I’d give that to him. No matter how much I hated it.

“Okay,” I said in a defeated voice. I turned to face Eeli and pulled his mouth down to mine for a long, almost desperate kiss. When I broke away, I rubbed my hand over his chest, directly over his heart. “Sleep well, baby.”

His eyes closed as if he were in pain and his head dipped. I pressed one last kiss to the top of it before he rolled away toward Dyson. “Guest room?”

He took my hand and gave it a squeeze before he tugged me from the room. He led me into the bedroom next door without bothering to flip on the light. I’d poked my head in before I left this morning. Or yesterday morning. Whenever it was that I’d so happily left my men’s bed, looking forward to the night ahead.

I sighed as Dyson turned down the utilitarian comforter on the queen-sized guest bed. He eased me under the sheets and tucked a stray hair before leaning in to kiss me softly. Yeah, not exactly the end to the night I’d been thinking of earlier.

“Want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?” His words let me know he’d be returning to Eeli, not staying here with me.

I fought off the sting of tears and tried with all my might to put on a brave face. “You should get back to Eeli,” I managed to get out softly.

Dyson pushed my hair back from my face. I tried to read his expression, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. If I had to pick one word, I think sad would come to mind.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” he said with a tired smile. But I didn’t believe him.

“You need to get some sleep, too.” I shifted onto my side and curled my body around his side where he sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

And as I said the words, I knew Dyson had been shouldering all kinds of worries for a while now. I promised myself I wouldn’t add to the burden he already carried.

With that in mind, I did my best to offer him a soft smile. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything.” He stroked my hair back from my face in a tender gesture that had become so familiar in just the last few days that I had to swallow to clear the lump in my throat before I could respond.

“Could you go check on Eeli? I’m sure he’s worried about me. Make sure he knows I’m fine.” I caught his hand and squeezed it. “He might need you more than I do right now.”

An expression I could only think was relief passed over his face before he cleared it away. “You’re sure?”

I nodded. “Positive. And tomorrow, I’m making breakfast for you. You’re always taking care of us. I want to take care of you for once.”

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