Page 26 of Prey for You

“I’m not mad, Sam. I’m being realistic.”

Neither of us spoke for a while, but I could see her sinking away, so I squeezed her hands again and made her focus on me.

“We’ll get through this. It’s going to suck this year—but I’m here, Bridget. I’m here foryou.And when we beat this, we’ll figure out our own traditions. The… the Anti-Christmas. And we’ll do it every year.”

Her brow furrowed. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

9. Come with Me

~ SAM ~

The rest of the evening was quiet—we decided not to go out, and ended up going to sleep early. But even though she never stopped meeting my eyes, or flirting, I knew Bridget hadn’t fully relaxed after that conversation.

When I woke up in the dark with a deep conviction that something was wrong and put a hand out to find her—and instead found cold, wrinkled sheets, I panicked.

I shoved out of bed, only to stop dead, heaving a sigh of relief when I saw the line of light under the bathroom door.

The sound wasn’t the air conditioning, it was the hiss of running water.

Taking a deep breath to settle my racing heart, I walked straight into the bathroom—if she was on the toilet she could just deal, I needed to make sure she was safe.

I pushed the door open a little harder than was probably needed and stormed in.

The hotel bathroom was large, with a tub across from that double-sink and countertop, and a large, separate shower at the opposite end of the room from the door. For a split second I didn’t see Bridget because the glass on the shower was fogged up. But then I saw the huddled shadow behind the fog at thebottom of the shower and I leaped across the room for that glass door.

“Bridget!” I yanked the shower open, afraid she’d fallen—or worse—but then stopped dead.

She sat in the bottom of the granite shower pan, her ankles crossed and knees pulled up, elbows locked around them and her chin on her forearms. The water ran over her back and hair, dripping from her nose and arms.

Her red nose. Like she’d been crying.

And sure enough, when she lifted her head to look up at me, her eyes were bloodshot.

Pain ripped through my chest.

“I love hotels because they never run out of hot water,” she said just loud enough to be heard over the running shower.

“Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Everything,” she murmured, then grimaced. “God, I sound so pathetic.” A little shiver rippled through her. I stepped into the steamy space and closed the door so she’d stay warm.

“Bridget—”

“You can’t fix this, Sam. I fucked it up. All of it—you, especially. Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I needed to cry and…”

“You can cry with me,” I said, settling myself carefully to the floor, putting my feet on either side of her butt so I was embracing her without invading her space too much.

She gave a dark snort. “See, you’re too good. I’m upset because I hurtyou,and you’re going to try and make me feel better.”

I shrugged. “If you’re hurting it hurts me.”

She stared at me, shaking her head slowly. “Where did you come from, Sam? How did you get here—likethis?”

“Like what? Smoking hot?” I said with a grin.

Shealmostsmiled, still shaking her head. “After everything I did… Why the hell did you want to marry me?” she asked quietly. “You know,” she continued before I could answer, “There’s still a part of me that thinks this is all a big game, and you’re playing it for all your worth. Like, one of these days you’re going to get something on me and poof, this is going to turn out to be an act. You’ll leave and laugh at me.”

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