Page 83 of Love Undercover
“I don’t know.” The strain was evident in her voice, and she looked heavenward as if the answer were written on the ceiling.
The desperation in her face struck him, and he scolded himself for pushing so hard after what she’d been through that day. What an insensitive asshole he was. Now was not the time, and she was not responsible for helping him. He could figure it out on his own. Maybe a night of sleep would clear his mind, and he’d miraculously get an idea.
“Hey.” He lowered his voice, beating back his intensity. “I’m sorry.”
She looked at him, very real despair in her eyes. The cogs of panic had already started to turn.
He brushed a hand over her hair, hoping to infuse the touch with soothing calm. While there was a level of fear that built inside of him, he knew how to control it. Just like his dragon of rage, he’d trained himself to channel fear into something productive. But this wasn’t productive, especially not for her.
“Let’s just get some sleep. You leave it all to me. I’ll figure it out.”
She slammed her eyes shut. “It was my fault. I asked.”
He leaned forward to press a kiss to her lips, guilt a heavy stone within him. “It’s not your fault. I was in the wrong.”
She took a breath, released it, and opened her eyes. “Sleep?”
He dipped his head, tucking everything back into the duffel, and set it on the floor so that he could walk around to the other side of the bed. He slipped his pants off and climbed in beside her.
As soon as he was settled, she curled into him, her smooth, warm skin touching his and lighting his senses on fire.
He somehow found it in himself to turn off the light.
39
Rude Awakening
Sleep took Sadie eventually. But it didn’t keep her. She’d dreamt, of course. Nightmares, really. Reliving the horrors she’d experienced already. And she knew it was nothing compared to what Chase had probably been through in his time undercover. Or what other victims of these men had endured.
Still, it was beyond anything she’d ever imagined going through in her life. It made her wonder what sort of horrors her Marine father had been through, what he kept hidden behind his aloof mask.
She knew he’d struggled. Her mother had hinted at it. But that had been something private between her parents, nothing she’d ever pressed to know, even since her mother’s passing.
Chase’s muscular back was to her. He’d turned over in slumber, and she wondered at the expanse, the defined muscles that were visible even in darkness and in his relaxed state.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until she’d gone to the bathroom, so she slipped out of bed to take care of business, pulling the robe on.
Instead of climbing back into bed, though, she walked to the window where the faint glow of early, predawn light peeked from the top of the curtains. She held the robe closed over herself, a little chilled since the fabric was thin, and pulled the curtain back, hoping to catch the sunrise.
If she had to guess, it was somewhere around five in the morning. She had been so sleepy and out of it when they’d arrived, she hadn’t picked up on many details, but it was clear their window faced east as the first orange and yellow bands breached the night sky with the impending birth of day.
She was only mildly surprised to see people outside, already packing up or leaving, cars driving along the road whose headlights cut through that small space between the wall and the curtain she held.
Chase stirred behind her, but she didn’t turn. Not even when she heard him get up and come to stand behind her, the warmth of his presence seeping into her back.
His hands brushed lightly along her neck and rested on her shoulders, and he leaned forward, his body pressed against her so that he could look out from behind her.
Which was why she felt him tense up.
“What is it?” The question shot out of her.
“Get dressed, now.”
She spun to see him already moving quickly to don his own clothing, throwing anything he found into the duffel he lugged from the floor. She rushed to turn on the lamp so that she could find everything she had, which wasn’t much.
“Chase,” she said, rushing to pull on her jeans, still shirtless.
“Zimmerman’s guys are here.”
