Page 20 of After The Storm

It didn’t feel like a dream, but she couldn’t tell. Hell, she couldn’t be sure of anything at that moment other than she felt more rested than she had in years and the white robe she wore was very possibly the most comfortable thing she’d had against her skin in her entire life.

She ran her hands down the front of the robe as she tried to make out whether she’d been dreaming or not when she thought Roman had held her as she fell asleep. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed she’d dreamed the whole thing.

Damn.

It had been months since she fell asleep in a man’s arms. She missed that feeling of being held by a strong man as she drifted off with nothing to worry about because she knew he was there by her side.

Now all she had were worries. And even worse, she didn’t even have anyone to hold her, except in her dreams.

Her mind drifted back to the feeling of Roman next to her and she remembered him saying he would protect her. The guy really had that protector thing down pat. Not that she didn’t like it. She did. Kate had never met a man like him. He walked into her life out of nowhere and in less than a day she’d come to find that she wanted him around.

Maybe it was just because her life had turned into a shitstorm. She’d never been the type of woman who needed a man. It just wasn’t who she was. She’d been single for long enough that a man didn’t really figure into her life.

That’s why this feeling of wanting Roman around confused her. He certainly didn’t fit the mold most of the men she’d been with fit into. Sure, he had that whole Alpha male vibe she loved. Any man who couldn’t hold his own in the world turned her off instantly.

Even more, any man who couldn’t handle her immediately became someone she didn’t want to be with. Kate had often been called difficult. She wore that insult like a badge of honor. For her entire life, people had bemoaned how eager she seemed to fight every point tooth and nail. It wasn’t that she loved to fight everyone. She never wanted it to be her against the world. It just always turned out like that.

If they could see inside her heart, they’d learn that she wanted nothing more than to find someone to lean on who would be her knight in shining armor. That she’d love to have someone standing beside her who could make the fight even the tiniest bit easier.

Or even better, someone who would fight for her so she didn’t have to do it alone all the time.

Shaking her head, she let that fantasy recede to the back of her mind where it belonged. Roman was merely a man doing his job. While that may have been honorable, it didn’t mean he could ever be that man she dreamed of one day finding and settling down with for a happily ever after.

Then she remembered how right before she fell asleep in his arms he told her his last name. Such a tiny detail but it meant so much to her that he’d finally relented and given her that.

An honorable Alpha male who cared about making her happy. Maybe it hadn’t all been a dream after all.

Whatever Roman Gregory was, she needed to figure out what to do now that the police were after her. Kate grabbed the remote from the nightstand and flipped through the channels as a tiny voice in her brain told her not to. But the inquisitive side of her overruled everything else and she continued to search for the local station to see if they’d found Jonas’s killer.

She knew the likelihood of that came in somewhere around impossible, but hope sprang eternal with her in moments like this. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, none of the local stations had any news on.

Maybe it was for the best. She’d probably just freak out again when she saw her face positioned next to some perky newswoman’s head.

The sound of the door opening made her freeze in place, but then Roman walked in and her entire body relaxed. He stopped at the dresser and slid his large gold watch off his wrist before placing it and all the change in his pockets next to the TV. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a folded napkin and gave it a quick glance before he crumpled it up into a ball and tossed it into the small wastebasket next to him. Finally, he pulled his backpack off and set it down on the floor.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I’ve felt this rested in years. How long was I asleep?”

With a chuckle, he said, “A while. You must have been tired.”

“What time is it?”

“Three in the morning.”

Stunned that she’d slept for so long, she swung her feet off the bed and adjusted her robe so she didn’t flash him as she stood up. “Three? Oh my God! I slept for nearly twenty-four hours. Why did you let me sleep for so long?”

A slow smile inched up the corners of his mouth and made him far too sexy for someone she had just been fantasizing about. “I didn’t see any reason to wake you up. You looked so content there, so I let you go.”

God. How could she be angry at a man who let her sleep uninterrupted for nearly a whole day? Then she realized that meant that the cops hadn’t found them yet either.

“Any news on the manhunt for me?” she asked, choosing to be flippant to hide how terrified being wanted by the police made her.

Roman shook his head. “Nothing yet.”

Why had he returned to saying little again? Kate had thought they had a sort of breakthrough once he told her his last name. Now she wondered if it had only meant something to her.

“Did you get that cheeseburger from the restaurant?” she asked, feeling awkward suddenly.

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