Page 68 of I Dream of Danger
“Oh no, Nick Ross.” Elle moved away from him
Oh no, you don’t, he thought. You don’t get to hold back.
His hand on her cheek brought her face back to him. “Look at me, honey. I’m not lying. I’ll never lie to you. I got a call from my superior officer that night. We were going on a secret mission. And though the US military has divorced me and would probably kill me on sight, I still can’t tell you where we went or what we did. But I was under direct orders to leave immediately and not tell anyone where I was going or even that I was going on an op. I thought it would only be for a few days, but we ended up staying almost three months.”
Elle brought her hands up. They were shaking. “Don’t,” she whispered. “I can’t deal with this now.”
The flush of anger had gone from her cheeks, leaving her icy pale. He didn’t ever want to see that color on her face again, and here he was, the one who caused it. Shame made him step back.
“Okay. You don’t have to face anything right now except shower and bed.”
“I want to sleep alone, Nick.”
“You will. I’ll bunk on the couch.”
“Alone.”
“Not going to happen. Sorry. I’m not going to leave you alone. I won’t touch you unless you want me to, but I’m not leaving.” Their eyes met and held. She was strong-willed but so was he.
She made a sound in her throat and looked away.
Damn straight. She wasn’t going to win this one.
Nick pointed. “The bathroom’s through there. You’ll find everything you need. You’ll find clean tees in the dresser drawer…they’ll do for a nightgown until we can get you some clothes. Now I’m going to lie down, because I don’t know about you, but I saved someone’s life tonight and I’m goddamned tired.”
He could hear her teeth grinding. No matter. He went to the closet, pulled out a blanket, placed his boots next to the couch, lay down, and pulled the blanket over him, and closing his eyes, turned over.
He didn’t watch but his hearing was just fine. He heard her take a shower, pad across to the bed and slip under the covers.
The bed was comfortable, he knew that. It was the same make as his own, and it was great. She didn’t resist more than a few minutes. He heard her breathing slow down and almost felt her tumble into a deep sleep.
He waited half an hour, then threw the covers off and padded barefoot to the bed. He’d dimmed the lights to the faintest of glows, just enough so if she woke, she wouldn’t be in complete darkness.
There was no question of sleep. He felt like he’d never sleep again. Every hormone in his body that governed sleep, hope, happiness, and sex was pinging around his system, and he had nowhere to go with it. He hooked a chair with his foot and sat down by her bedside, because the only thing that could calm him was looking at her.
Elle.
After ten years—fifteen, if you counted from the day the Judge kicked him out—she was here, with him. He’d lost hope. He’d resigned himself to that aching emptiness he sometimes let himself feel, knowing it would be forever. To his dying day, he’d be alone in the most elemental sense of the word.
The closest he had to a place in the world was here, Haven. He respected Mac and Jon, he liked Catherine and the misfits making up Haven. That was going to be the extent of his relations till the end of time. Everyone at arm’s length, no one close.
And now…Elle.
She was pissed at him. That was cool. It didn’t make any difference to him because he had her again. That particular warmth that only she could give—it was back again. She’d slipped through his fingers once, but she wasn’t slipping twice.
He sat next to her, watching her pale profile, watching the covers rise and fall, knowing he was going to be next to her for the rest of their lives, and felt something he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. In fifteen years, actually.
Happiness.
Her eyes fluttered once, twice, opened. If he hadn’t been staring at her face he’d have missed it. But he hadn’t been able to look away from her all the while she slept. Outside on Mount Blue, dawn had come and gone and it was late morning. If he hadn’t wanted to guard her sleep, he’d have tapped a button and turned the walls into giant monitors and watched the dawn with her.
It would happen.
Elle frowned, light-blue eyes flickering from him to the room like bolts of lightning in the dim light. Nick tapped and the ambient light came up slowly, so she could see more than the dim shadows of the furniture.
She hadn’t had the strength to notice much last night, but now he watched her take in her surroundings.
The room was nice. Everything in Haven was nice. They had super talented people who’d designed the spaces, and he and Jon were master thieves. They’d stolen furniture from the finest designers. The room was spacious, beautifully appointed, a delight for the senses.
