Page 50 of Seek Him Like Shelter

I waited for a nod from her before we were running to the end of the alley. From inside the car, Coal leaned between the seats, throwing open the back and passenger doors, and we both jumped in in unison.

“Go,” I said as soon as the doors slammed but Coal was already peeling off, driving up and down side streets, making sure that if there was any tail, that it was impossible for it to keep up with us in the traffic.

It wasn’t until we were only a few blocks from my place that I finally spoke.

“We’re almost home,” I told her, hoping my voice was calming because I was pretty sure I heard her sniffling back there by herself. “Two more minutes,” I assured her. Then, quieter, so only Coal could hear me, “We’re good, right?” I asked, looking in the rearview mirrors.

He gave me a nod as he pulled up to the curb, but he cut the engine and climbed out, scanning the streets and buildings as I shuffled a splotchy-faced Elizabeth out of the car and into the safety of my building.

“Come here,” I said in the elevator when she tried, and failed, to hold in a cry.

I pulled her against me and kept her there as we moved out into the hall, then into the apartment before I felt like I could truly breathe again.

And as soon as the door closed and locked behind us, Elizabeth finally stopped trying to hold herself together, and completely fell apart, sobbing in my arms, clinging to me, as I murmured quiet assurances that she was okay, that no one was going to get her at my place.

As I held her, I decided I needed to make sure that was a promise I could keep. I was going to need to pull two of my men off of their usual work and have them doing security outside of my building or the floor of my condos.

It would be a pain in the ass for my crew, but it would be worth it if I never got a text like that from her again.

“How about I draw you a bath?” I asked. “In my bathroom. It’s got the good tub,” I told her when she finally stopped crying.

“Okay,” she agreed, voice small as I led her into my room, then settled her on the end of the bed before going in to get the bath going.

“Want me to bring you anything?” I asked. “Wine? Coffee?”

“Coffee and my rescue meds?” she asked, looking up at me, and I saw how swollen her eyelids were. I figured it was from crying, but it seemed like the craziness of the day had brought on another migraine.

“Sure. Hold tight,” I said as I rushed around to make her coffee, brought her one of her pills that she took quickly, then carried the coffee with her into the bathroom, and closed the door.

And I stood on the outside of it, trying and failing, not to imagine her in there naked.

“Fuck,” I hissed, walking back out into the hallway to lean against the wall, taking deep breaths that I hoped would reason with my cock about the whole situation.

When that didn’t work, I went out into the kitchen and got myself a drink while I shot off texts to my men, then Renzo, to explain the situation. And, finally, to Coal to thank him for helping out.

It was only then that I realized Elizabeth had nothing to change into.

Feeling like I was invading her privacy for the second time in twenty-four hours, I went into her room, finding a pajama set in a soft material I figured she might find comforting, grabbed a pair of panties—trying again not to imagine her in them—and made my way into my room to knock on the bathroom door.

“Come in,” she called, making me straighten, figuring maybe she was wrapped in a towel.

But when I pushed open the door and moved inside, she was still in the tub. Naked. And looking at me with heat in her pretty blue eyes.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Elizabeth

The migraine was a deep throbbing ache behind my eye and in my temple as I slipped into Elian’s massive soaking tub. It was big enough to have an entire orgy in it, for God’s sake, and the luxury of being inside of it wasn’t lost on me, even if my headache was gearing up to be a real banger.

It was the running.

Extreme high-endurance exercise could trigger migraines. I was always careful at the gym to stay in my target heart rate range without going overboard and ending up suffering for the rest of the night.

The crying also didn’t help, I was sure.

But there was only so much you could take before you had to let all those feelings out before they ate you alive from the inside out.

And, God, it had felt good to have a cry like that in the arms of someone who kept assuring you that it was going to be okay, that they were going to take care of you.

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