Page 6 of Embracing Hope

She shifted, and he let out a deep moan of resistance.

Getting away undetected might be more complicated than she first thought.

His grip tightened on her hip. The same hand that molded and shaped her body last night. Her inner thighs trembled, demanding another round, but logic kicked in.

“Get the bastard!” he muttered.

She stilled.

His eyes were racing under his eyelids. “Take the shot!”

He was dreaming, or maybe he was having a nightmare.

His forehead glistened with beads of sweat. He mumbled more inaudible words. She caughtterrorist bullshit.

Hope knew soldiers who’d returned from war experiencing nightmares.

Her best friend had recently gone through a difficult time. When Courtney’s husband came home after his deployment, he was a changed man. The sweet, kind husband and father she once knew had become nearly unrecognizable. His drinking and anger had become significant issues in their marriage. Although Courtney still loved him, she decided to file for divorce, primarily for the sake of their six-year-old daughter, Marah.

The night Dex received the paperwork, he showed up at Courtney’s while Hope was visiting. He pounded on the door, demanding that he be allowed to come inside. He shattered a window and woke a sleeping and scared Marah.

Sheriff Dussan, Dex’s step-brother, had shown up after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor. The sheriff had convinced Courtney not to press charges, but Dex was warned never to return to the property. However, after it happened again, Sheriff Dussan had no choice but to arrest Dex for public intoxication and criminal mischief. The judge ordered him to check himself into rehab and anger management classes. Until he completed everything the court ordered, he could only see Marah with supervised visitation.

Hope pushed that terrible event out of her thoughts and reached for her phone. Daddy had sent her a text message. He needed to see her ASAP.

As if she were handling a dirty tissue, she grabbed hold of the tip of her bed partner’s middle finger and, as slowly as she could, she lifted his hand off her body to lay it on his chest. He let out a muffled groan of protest, but he stayed asleep.

Until she moved and the overused springs of the bedsqueaked.

This caused a series of events.

Isaac came to his knees, looking down at her with wide eyes and twisted lips. Sweat now poured down his temples. He clutched his fingers around her wrist and waist, planting her against the bed. “Don’t move,” he whispered.

She let out a tiny gasp in surprise.

The pillow slipped out from under her head, pushing the contents on top of the nightstand to the floor. The lampcrashedand broke, jarring him fully awake. He blinked, gaining his bearings. He saw his hand clamped around her wrist and quickly released his hold.

She touched her skin where faint red finger marks appeared, feeling like she’d been burned with a hot iron.

“Fuck. I’m sorry.”

She stared up at him. Nothing in her feared him. Instead she felt quite the opposite. He had a story to tell, and as much as she wanted to hear it, she couldn’t stick around. One-night stands were “one” for a reason.

“I was just getting out of bed.”

“Right.” He moved off her and tore his hand through his hair.

Holding the sheet against her chest, she slid out of bed, swiped up her wrinkled clothing, and entered the bathroom. She closed the door and dropped the sheet to the floor, catching her reflection in the mirror above the sink. She stared at herself in disbelief. Her wavy hair was now sticking out all over her head. Her mascara was smeared below her bloodshot eyes and her lips were swollen from all the kissing.

Turning on the cold water, she splashed her face and as she was drying it on the towel that smelled like chlorine, she saw a suspicious mark on her breast. She rubbed over it as hard as she could, but it wasn’t going anywhere.

She leaned in closer to get a better look.

She gasped at what she saw. A strawberry-sized bite mark.

Her cheeks warmed to a light pink, matching the color of her chafed inner thighs.

Holy cow.She was branded.

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