Page 39 of His Curvy Temptation

“Dan is my responsibility,” he says. “He’s my former-employee. And he should have never been breathing the same oxygen as you, much less known your place of work, your name, any other detail like that. After his gross innuendo that night in my office, I should have put an end to any connection he could have to you. But I didn’t. I corrected this today, however. Nick knows not to let Dan anywhere near Angel Spa property.”

“You talked to Nick?” I ask.

“I did,” he says. “It was a necessity. He needs to keep his staff safe. And if he won’t, I’m more than happy to pull my investment from his business and put it elsewhere. I happen to know an up-and-coming business woman who is looking to break into the spa industry.”

“You’re an investor in Angel Spa,” I groan. “Of course. That makes sense.”

Elijah takes my hand.

“Andy, I am so sorry,” he says. “For Dan, and for my absence this morning.”

“Deepti says you were sleeping in another room,” I say, looking at him. “Why? Why wouldn’t you sleep beside me? After the stuff we did last night…”

“It’s a long story,” he says. “I don’t sleep with women. Not like that. Not in the same bed, all night long.”

“And that’s because…?”

“You remember when I said I fell out of a bed?” Elijah sighs, running a hand through his hair and looking away.

“Yeah,” I say. Where on earth is this going?

“That’s…technically the truth,” he says. “But not the whole story. I fell out of bed because I was having a nightmare. A night terror to be exact. When I got out of the marines, I was dealing with some pretty severe PTSD. I had night terrors. Some bad, some not so bad. While I was in the hospital treating an unrelated issue, I had a night terror that was so bad, I tumbled out of bed, got up, and charged at an unsuspecting nurse who was in the room taking my vitals.”

I gasp.

“The nurse was fine,” he says. “Scared out of her mind, but fine. But when I came to, I realized the danger I’d put her in. And the danger that a man like me poses to everyone in general, but especially to women.”

“A man like you?” I repeat. “What do you mean?”

“A man like me,” he shrugs. “Broken.”

“You are not broken,” I say, squeezing his hand. “Look at me, Elijah.”

He lifts his gaze to me.

“You arenotbroken. Don’t ever say that about yourself.”

“I haven’t had night terrors in years,” he says. “Almost a decade. Like I told you last night, I’ve gotten a lot of help. And I’m doing much better now. The odds of me hurting you last night in my sleep are incredibly low. But I still worry…I still see the look on that poor nurse’s face sometimes, you know. And I don’t ever want you to be afraid of me like that.”

I put my hand on his cheek, feeling the emotions surging in my chest. Elijah Stone, this sweet yet tough man, slept in another room last night because he was trying toprotectme.

And he thinks he’s broken. He thinks I should be afraid of him.

“You could have told me,” I say. “I would have understood.”

He nods.

“Didn’t want to scare you off too soon,” he says gruffly. “You’re the first woman I’ve wanted more with, Andy. There’s something about you….It's rare. I don’t want to fuck it up.”

“You’re not going to fuck it up,” I say.

He puts a hand on the back of my neck, pulling me towards him, into a possessive, consuming kiss.

Epilogue

Six months goby and I’m not even sure where the time went.

After Andy graduated school, I begged and pleaded with her to let me help her with the startup costs of her spa but she stubbornly refused.

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