Page 20 of The Pilot & the Athlete

No. She closed her eyes. That wasn’t right and she knew it. She honored moral cleanliness and wanted to be intimate with only her husband in the future. The near future? Visions of her and Paul danced before her eyes, as enticing as Olympic gold.

She tried to peek at him, but she couldn’t see him. It sounded like he was pulling the sheets into place. She closed her eyes and said a prayer, thankful for Paul, thankful for being saved, praying for her family and teammates and students and especially Turner and Meacham and Turner’s wife and baby daughter.

Praying, she could keep her thoughts pure with this perfect specimen of a man mere feet away. She shouldn’t have insisted he sleep near her. It would help her feel safe and comfortable, but though her chest was tight and stomach squeamish thinking about tonight, she was tough. She would’ve been fine on her own.

“Paul.” She sat up in the bed, the covers falling away.

He stood quickly, his eyes flashing with concern. “What is it?” He rushed to her side, sat down next to her on the bed, and wrapped his hands around her upper arms. “Shay?”

She stared at him and her lip quivered. He was so good.Here she was needing to confess she would be fine, that he didn’t need to sleep in here, and he was concerned about her.

His warm hands were on her arms, reassuring, strong, capable of protecting her from anyone who wanted to hurt her, and capable of making her realize she’d never loved any touch like she loved his. His gaze was full of her, invested, concerned.

She broke down. The opposite of reassuring him to go sleep in his own bed.

Hot tears stung her eyes and slid down her face. She wanted to pull him close and cling to him, but she didn’t move. Just stared at him as she fought the tears, but the dam sprung a leak and then it burst. She could not stop crying, her face wet with her tears. Thankfully, she didn’t let out high-key sobs.

“Oh, Shay.” Paul tugged her close and wrapped his arms around her back. She cuddled into the strength of his chest and arms and let his T-shirt take the brunt of the faulty valve that couldn’t seem to turn the tears off.

Neither of them said anything as he held her and she cried. It felt cleansing and healing. She’d had many a swim the past two months where her tears filled her goggles and sometimes she’d have to swim without eyewear to let those babies flow. This cry was very different. Paul supported her, cared for her, and she wasn’t alone anymore.

She’d had Turner and Meacham the past two months, and they were great guys, but they didn’t know her like Paul did. They didn’t care deeply for her, and they definitely didn’t hold her and give her comfort and strength and light up the dark night. Paul’s concern and strong arms and chest did all that for her. He was a wonder.

“Are you a pilot or a therapist?” she asked.

He chuckled. “Pilot, definitely.”

“And a bussin’ security stud.”

“That’s right.”

She eased back and he let her go. His dark eyes studied her, still full of concern.

“Before I had my cry fest, I was going to tell you that you can go sleep somewhere else. I’m gucci.”

He looked her over. “Please forgive me for saying this, but you don’t seem gucci. Whatever that means.”

“It means great, fine.” She kept forgetting to put a cork in the teenage terms. “I’ll sleep great now. Thank you for holding me while my dam broke wide open and spilled out all over your T-shirt.”

“Anytime.” He smiled at her and then stood.

“You’ve probably never had to comfort a weepy woman. On assignments with men all the time.” She wasn’t sure why she said that. Fishing?

“Most of the time. My fellow bodyguard Autumn is a woman, but I haven’t seen her weep.”

“She’s too tough?” she guessed. Her gut churned. A fellow bodyguard would be the perfect woman for a man as tough and impressive as Paul.

“She thinks she is, that’s for sure.” He smiled, too fondly in her mind. “You two would like each other. She’d think your teenage lingo was hilarious.”

“Oh.” She didn’t really want to like the woman who might be his girlfriend. Or was she reading far too much into his words and his smile regarding Autumn? Why had Paul brought Autumn up? She had been fishing and hoping he spent all his time with men. Could she blame herself?

“Well, you should scoot to another room. Don’t worry about your too-needy security assignment.”

“Shay.” Paul gave her an alluring grin. “You are all I’m worrying about for the next week.” He walked to the end of the bed and lay down on his makeshift mattress.

Shay sighed. She felt drained from crying so hard after the most traumatic day of her life. With Paul close by, she couldn’t feel afraid. It was kind of him to stay in the room with her.

She only wished he worried about her as something other than a little sister. She wished there wasn’t a beautiful female bodyguard named Autumn that he’d smiled so fondly about.

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