now needed protecting startled me. I hadn’t thought about it, what the men would do when they found out I was still alive—if they really were after me. Suddenly, I felt light-headed.
“Sit down before you fall down,” Ryker said, taking my arm and easing me down onto the bed. “You need a drink. I’ll be right back.”
I sat on the bed.
It didn’t take long before he was back, sitting next to me on the bed. He had another drink in hand that he pressed into mine. I took a deep swallow without even looking to see what it was and whiskey burned a path down my throat to my stomach. Ryker didn’t say anything as I drank more until the glass was empty; he just took it from me and set it aside.
“I’m scared,” I said, and it felt like a confession. I thought I’d been afraid before, in New York, but now it was here and it was in my home and it was in my bedroom, and I was terrified.
“I know.”
Ryker reached for me and it seemed as natural as anything to let him put his arms around me and pull me onto his lap. I rested my head against his shoulder. He made no move to leave and I didn’t mention it either. I didn’t want to have to confess how scared I was even to be alone. It made me feel weak.
The scent of him was comforting to me, as was the warm strength of his body against mine. His palm drifted down my back and up again in a soothing gesture. I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was asleep.
* * *
Screaming woke me. My own. My eyes flew open and I sat straight up in bed. I was drenched in sweat, my chest heaving, and my face wet with tears.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.”
Ryker was there. He’d been lying on the floor—not the couch—and now he sat next to me on the bed. I threw myself into his arms and held on tight around his neck.
“It was just a nightmare,” he said. “You’re okay. I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe.”
Gratitude and relief coursed through me and my body relaxed ever so slightly. The nightmare was still fresh in my head. The men had been there, standing over me. One had reached for me and blood flowed. I realized my throat was slit and I couldn’t talk, couldn’t cry for help. The only sound coming from me was a wet gurgling.
I shuddered just thinking about it, and Ryker’s arms tightened around me.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, until I finally relaxed completely and my head rested on his shoulder. He didn’t move to leave the bed and I didn’t ask him to. Eventually, I fell asleep in his arms and this time, no nightmares plagued me.
* * *
Sunday morning I was awakened by a heavy weight on my chest and something wet on my cheek.
My eyes popped open and I screamed.
McClane barked, his doggy breath fanning right into my face from where he was parked on top of me. Ryker sat straight up, took one look at my face, and yelled at McClane to get off the bed. He did. Reluctantly. And I could breathe again.
“Holy shit,” I gasped, my heart hammering.
“Sorry about that,” Ryker apologized, lying back down beside me. Somehow, we’d gotten underneath the covers, and the bed that had seemed so large last night suddenly felt half the size with him in it. “He doesn’t sleep in on Sundays.”
“So I gathered.”
Ryker’s lips curved in a smile and his gaze wandered over me. His jaw was shadowed even more than usual and I noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt. I swallowed, wondering how bad my hair looked, not that it seemed he cared. I’d seen that look in a man’s eyes before. My heart was still racing, but now for an entirely different reason.
“I’ll just…go find some coffee,” I said, sliding from underneath the covers. Not that I didn’t really want to stay there with Ryker, who looked way better first thing in the morning than anyone should have a right to look, but it was really soon to sleep with him. Right? Right. And bad circumstances, and morning breath, and about a dozen other reasons that seemed to pale in significance against the sight of him half-naked in his bed.
I had no toiletries with me, so I used a finger to scrub toothpaste onto my teeth and