Page 10 of Hot Touch
“What?” My shoulders relaxed as her pretty head rested on it. What? I couldn’t let her not be comfortable. We sat that way for a while. Just listening to her breathe settled something inside of my chest. Something that felt too big and too beautiful to name just yet.
“Sit with the people you save,” she finally continued, her voice light and without judgment. “Actually…” She sighed, stifling another yawn. It was obvious my baby was tired. “I don’t want to know. I’m okay being delusional for just a little bit longer.” I swallowed hard.
I hadn’t been prepared for this.
To meet her. To meet my girl.
To fall head over ass in love.
But I was more than old enough and smart enough to know that when life hands you a gift, you cherish it like treasure.
“Alex.”
“Hmm,” she muttered, her breathing slowly evening out.
“I’ve never done this,” I confessed, playing with the tips of her hair and brushing my lips against her brow. “Only you, sweet girl.” She burrowed into my side, and when I glanced down, I couldn’t help but smile.
My girl was asleep.
Soundly and peacefully with a soft, slightly satisfied smile on her face. And fuck me, it was a sight to behold. I kissed her temple one more time, letting my lips linger against her soft skin and breathing in her natural soft, delicate scent. A touch of smoke lingered from the fire, but fuck me, she felt like home.Home.Mine. With those thoughts running through my head, my eyes grew heavier and heavier. To the point it was getting close to impossible to resist my own sleep from taking over. Just as I was about to let go and let rest take over, the door opened, and a sound-like a squeak sounded.
“Can you tell me who the hell you are?” a stern, feminine, slightly raspy voice asked, waking me up. My attention moved to the door. The woman was tall and elegant, her long hair in a sleek high ponytail, dark slightly familiar eyes assessing me.
But she wasn’t like Alex.
She didn’t affect me like my baby had.
But then again, no other woman had in forty-three years of my life. Just thinking about the first moment I’d seen her by her window, moonlight streaming in, her pretty eyes locked on mine, I knew. I immediately knew who she was to me.
Mine.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that two of my best friends had recently fallen and fallen hard for their own women almost at first sight, I would have admitted myself to the fucking psych ward.
“Excuse me, did you hear me?” the tall woman repeated herself, cocking a hand on her hip.
“Nathan Benson. And you are?” I sat up a little straighter, wiping the sleep from my eyes.
“Liz. Alé’s older sister,” she shared, taking a step closer. Alex’s older sister. I could see some similarities in the eyes. “You the guy who got her out?”
“I did,” I confirmed quietly, not wanting my girl to wake up.
“I was just there tonight,” she said, almost to herself. “Before Jack and I went out…” Her dark eyes met mine. “That’s our youngest.”
“There’s three of you?” She nodded, but I could see something in her gaze. Something that looked like guilt. I waited her out.
“I told her that place was a safety hazard… I didn’t mean…” Her voice cracked, and my brows bunched. I cleared my throat and shook my head.
“If you think you somehow manifested the building catching fire, you didn’t. That’s not how fires work,” I said gently, hoping that somehow, it helped. Liz didn’t look at me. Her dark eyes were pinned on her sister. A knot grew in my throat.
I got it.
I had two younger brothers and a sister. If something happened to them, especially after messing around and saying stupid shit, it would eat at me, too.
Liz stood taller, her arms crossed over her chest. “What if—“ she started to say, but I had to cut her off.
“That’s a pointless route, too,” I said. “I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but in my line of work, I know thinking about all thewhat-ifs, about all that crap, what could have happened, it never helps. Maybe in other situations, but in this one…” I shook my head. “Don’t do that to yourself. She’s safe and healthy. That’s what’s it important,” I reminded her. She blinked away tears I knew were only moments away from falling.
“Right,” she muttered. For a moment, we were quiet, and then her head tilted. “Wait, since when does the fire department of our little town send in its guys to sit with people at the hospital while they’re under observation?” I didn’t wince.
