Page 17 of Two Steps Ahead

The sound of her voice, so small and frightened, caused his heart to clench. He knelt by the bed again, gently sliding a wisp of her brown hair off her face.

“Kayleigh, it’s Weston. You’re safe. Can you open your eyes? You’re safe, sweetheart.”

He kept murmuring soft words to her, easing her hands away from the bedsheets as she balled them up and started to scratch them down her arms.

“No dark. No dark. No dark.”

“It’s not dark here, Kayleigh. Open your eyes, you’ll see.”

She finally did. She sat up, sobbing, arms held out in front of her as if to ward off a blow.

Weston eased himself back. He knew what it was like to need a second to figure out what was going on, for the mind to adapt back to reality.

“It’s Weston,” he whispered. “You’re safe. It’s okay.”

She turned and stared at him with her big green eyes. He wanted to touch her again, but wasn’t sure if that might make things worse. He’d never wanted to be touched coming out of a terror-filled sleep. She might not want—

She launched herself into his arms, sobbing.

He caught her automatically and lowered them both to the floor so she was sitting across his lap.

Then he just held her. Let her cry out all her pain. Hated to hell that she had so much pain to cry out. He’d had no idea.

He held her until the sobs subsided and the shaking stopped. She all but drooped across his chest, but that didn’t bother him a bit. He kept his arms wrapped around her.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said with a soft hiccup. “I still have nightmares sometimes. It was the storm that triggered it.”

“Something bad happened to you.” It wasn’t a question.

She nodded, still curled up in his lap. “Yes, but it was a long time ago. I... I was kidnapped.”

“What?”He’d had no idea, and he knew a lot more about her life than either she or Leo realized.

“Dad made sure it was kept out of the press.” She took a shuddery breath, her voice still shaky. “Someone was trying to use me to force Dad to change a business decision. He didn’t want to give anyone else ideas.”

If Leo was here, Weston would lay into him. Not letting Weston know about a previous successful kidnapping attempt, no matter how long ago it had been, made Weston less effective at protecting Kayleigh.

But Leo wasn’t here. Kayleigh was, and she needed his attention.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.” His words felt so inadequate.

She shrugged one shoulder. “As far as kidnappings go, it wasn’t so bad.”

“I doubt that.”

“Comparatively, it really wasn’t.” He ran his hand in gentle circles on her back, more than glad she was still cuddled up against him. “I was taken from school, smacked around a little, kept in a dark closet.”

“That’s why you like a light on at night. The one in the bathroom went out, so I turned on the hall lamp.”

“Thank you. Believe it or not, I would’ve been more of a wreck if I’d woken up and it was completely dark.”

He pulled her tighter against him. “How long did they have you?”

“Three and a half days. It was dark almost the whole time.” She let out a little sigh. “The only thing I could hear was a storm, although I found out later that was a noisemaker they’d put on the other side of the door.”

“Not surprising a storm triggered you then.”

She shook her head. “It’s been twenty years. You would think I’d be over it by now, especially with all the therapy I’ve had. And a lot of times I’m okay, but sometimes...”

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