Page 93 of Hidden Agendas (Tempting SEALs 4)

He had tried to comfort her each time she awoke from the nightmares last night, but she had felt his anger simmering through the room. Silent. Deadly. Each time his rough voice had dragged her from whatever nightmares tormented her, it seemed his anger had only grown.

“I had Ian go out and get you some fresh cinnamon rolls,” he announced as he poured her a cup of coffee. Then, as though he had done it every day of their lives together, he sugared and creamed her coffee before setting the cup on the kitchen table.

“So that’s how you get the cinnamon rolls without leaving the house,” she said. “I should have known.”

A quick grin flashed across his face before his head lowered to steal a kiss. “I have a sweet tooth.”

“No kidding.” She sat down, picked up the cup of coffee, and gave a sigh of delight before taking her first sip.

He made a perfect cup of coffee.

“Kira stopped by while you were in the shower,” he told her as he moved to the other side of the table with his own cup. “She’s offered to pick up your dress for the party and bring it to you. I think you should let her.”

She met his gaze warily. “The final alterations have been finished.” She finally shrugged. “She’ll have to pick up the accessories for me though. I hadn’t gotten around to that yet.”

“I’m sure she could manage it,” he said.

Emily nodded before lowering her head and staring at the cinnamon roll that sat in the little saucer by her coffee.

“Em. Everything’s going to be okay,” he told her again.

“I know that.” She flashed him a confident smile. “I know you’ll take care of me, Kell.”

He was so fierce, so determined. She could see it in his eyes, in the hard set of his expression.

“What were the nightmares about then?” He sipped at his coffee, watching her over the rim of the cup.

“I don’t know.” She could feel the suffocating sense of fear rising inside her again. “I couldn’t remember them after I awoke.”

“Do you have them often?” The question was posed casually, but Emily saw the sharp scrutiny in his gaze.

“After the kidnapping I did.” She rubbed her hands over her face before shaking her head wearily. “For months afterward I couldn’t sleep at night at all. The darkness was terrifying.”

“You were probably blindfolded when you were kidnapped,” he said gently. “Fuentes is known for that. When he kidnaps one of his victims he keeps them blindfolded for hours. It throws your senses off balance and makes the fear sharper.”

“So the psychologist said.” She grimaced. “It took days before I could make sense of what was going on around me after the rescue. I don’t remember a lot of that week and I remember nothing of the kidnapping itself after the limo was run off the road and we were taken.”

She and the other two girls had been on their way home from a party in D.C. Two senators’ daughters and Jansen Clay’s daughter, Risa. Emily’s father and Senator Bridgeport, Carrie Bridgeport’s father, had been instrumental in pushing through several bills that had given drug enforcement agents critical freedoms in uncovering the transporters and suppliers of the drugs coming into the United States.

Carrie Bridgeport had died from the dose of Whore’s Dust she had been given, and Risa Clay was currently in a private institution due to the mental damage the drug had inflicted on her.

God, those girls were so young. Carrie had been sixteen, Risa barely eighteen.

Her gaze dropped back to the coffee, the steam from the creamy brew rising, thickening, and before Emily could stop it a horrified scream tore through her mind.

Daddy, help me!

“Emily!” Kell’s voice shattered the sudden memory that was there, then gone.

Wildly, she stared around the kitchen, realizing she was no longer in her chair. The coffee dripped from the table where the cup had overturned and Kell’s arms were around her, dragging her back from the hot liquid, holding her to him as she tried to fight him.

“What is it?” He turned her to face him, his expression fierce, his gaze demanding as he stared down at her, forcing her to look at him. “What did you see, Emily?”

His voice was loud, battering through her mind, hoarse and commanding, as she fought to keep from being dragged back into the darkness awaiting her within her own memories.

“Screams.” She shook her head, jerking away from him to put distance between herself and the sheltering warmth she needed so much.

She couldn’t let him hold her. She shook her head, shaking as whispers fractured her mind.

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