Page 73 of Sin and Redemption

“Can you help me?”

I poured water that I gathered with my hands over her back and chest, and Sara rubbed her skin with her palms. I wasn’t sure if it would remove every trace of our sex smell, but the sight of her puckered nipples and her gorgeous naked body was worth it.

We quickly returned to our clothes after I’d dunked myself in the water for a moment. Of course, we hadn’t considered that we didn’t have a towel. Sex with Sara had put my brain on pause.

I would have offered her the shirt I’d worn beneath the lumberjack jacket, but that was covered in dirt because she’d knelt on it. Just remembering the scene almost gave me another boner. I handed her my jacket instead. “It’s a bit dusty but will do the job if you use the inside.”

Sara hesitated. “What are you going to wear?”

“A dirty shirt and a wet jacket,” I said with a wink.

She rubbed herself dry, then got dressed while I tried to dry myself with the side of the shirt that wasn’t dirty. Once dressed, she and I returned to the house, followed by Bacon.

“I was looking for you,” Dad said as a way of greeting when we stepped into the wonderfully warm house. It smelled of roasted chicken and rosemary potatoes. His eyes slid over my dirty and wet shirt, then down to the mud stains on my knees. His expression didn’t change, but I knew he had his suspicions. “But I couldn’t find you. Considered sending the dogs out. Your mother stopped me.”

Mom sent Dad a death glare. “Ryan.”

Sara flushed a bright red.

Dad only shrugged.

I didn’t comment, and neither did Sara.

Mom stepped up to me briefly when Sara prepared a tea for herself. “It’s so good to see that smile back on your face.”

We decided spontaneously to spend the night at my parents’. I didn’t have a job tonight, so we’d have enough time to return home to the city in the morning.

We shared the queen-sized bed in my old room. With less room than at home, our arms brushed as we settled under the covers. I decided to risk it and put my arm around Sara.

She peered up at me, then cuddled up to me with a hesitant smile. It felt good to feel her this close. After months, hell, more than a year, of imagining this exact moment, it was finally here, and it felt perfect. We fell asleep like that.

A scream ripped me from my sleep. I turned on the light, and Sara’s eyes shot open at once. She sat up, away from my embrace, and blew out a breath. She closed her eyes and shook her head as if that could banish the last traces of her nightmare.

I sat up too, my heart pounding in my chest. I’d hoped the nightmares had stopped. I’d been stupid enough to think that our enjoyable sex and budding connection would magically heal old wounds. I wasn’t even sure why I was surprised. My nightmares hadn’t stopped yet either, and I was inarguably more hardened than Sara.

Sara looked at me, but she didn’t return to my arms. The Maximus in her nightmare was probably the reason for it.

“The nightmares have become less frequent, but sometimes they still occur,” she explained quietly. “Like yours.”

I nodded. Weren’t nightmares a way for your subconscious to work through the experiences of the day? Had today triggered her? What if this threw us back?

I wasn’t sure why her nightmare fucked with my brain this much, but I simply didn’t want to lose today’s connection.

The lightness of the previous day was gone when we returned home the next day, so it was a good thing that Amo gave me a call that they’d found a Bratva whorehouse where a guy who’d been in on the planning of the kidnapping was working as a pimp.

If Sara was sad that I wouldn’t join her at her family’s today, she didn’t show it. Maybe she was glad to have some room after last night’s nightmare.

“Be careful,” she said when I dropped her off at her parents’ house. I was surprised by her words.

Of course, it was difficult to actually follow the words. I was too eager to dish out pain and destruction to tread a safe path, so I managed to get two cuts on my back and my upper arm. I wrapped them with some gauze, not in the mood to go to the doc. Not to mention that I’d promised to pick Sara up at eight.

I managed to make it by five past eight. Flavio accompanied Sara to the truck. When he opened the passenger door for her, he said, “You’re late.” His eyes narrowed when he saw the blood all over my clothes. My arm and back wound definitely needed stitches. “Are you sure Sara should go home with you?”

Sara poked her head in, and her eyes widened. “What happened?” She climbed into the seat and regarded me with concern.

“The guy I killed wasn’t too fond of dying.”

“Maybe you should stay here tonight. Maximus isn’t in top form.”

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