escaped, and she blinked her eyes several times before closing them. Exhausted, she fell asleep, tucked into the arms of the man she trusted.
Rory was grateful that after a traumatic revelation, Sandy was able to fall asleep. With her head on his chest and her body partially over his, he could feel the rise and fall of her deep breathing. But sleep did not come so easily for him.
Her words darted through his mind, racing past as though each phrase wanted to claim dominance. I was roofied. I shouldn’t have said anything. So young and stupid. He tried to get me out the back door. He’d get a piece of me as well. Harper saved me. My family would have been upset with me. My shirt was torn. I find it hard to trust. I know what the guys say about me.
He lifted one hand and scrubbed it over his face, quickly wrapping it around her back when she moved slightly. He could only imagine her dreams had been affected over the years and wanted nothing to interrupt her sleep tonight.
While glad that she had escaped the worst of what could have happened, he was struck with how she’d had to live with the aftereffects for so many years. She appeared so strong and confident and yet admitted to the vein of unease and distrust that moved through her. She hadn’t let the trauma keep her from living life. She had her business. She had her friends. And she enjoyed being around others. But intimacy with a man had been a struggle. Until him.
He thought back to the times he’d seen her at the Celtic Cock, sitting at the bar with her fingers wrapped around her glass, never realizing that it was her way of keeping tabs on her drink. She was so beautiful, with bright eyes and a friendly smile, naturally drawing men’s attention. Now that he thought back on it, she was never the pursuer. She was generally sitting at the bar, and men would flock to her.
Shame snuck through him as he thought about his sisters or the King girls. There’s nothing wrong with a woman having a drink in a bar, laughing and talking with people, enjoying herself. And there’s nothing wrong with a woman turning down a man for any reason. But oh, how the rumors can fly when a man feels like he was owed something just for having enjoyed being in her presence for a little while.
The shame that coursed through him grew, but as much as he wanted to be angry at some of the other men who talked about her being a tease, he had to face being angry at himself for having listened.
She shifted again as her body twitched slightly, and he hoped their conversation had not opened up nightmares to invade her dreams. With their naked bodies pressed together, he tucked the covers around her tightly to ensure she was warm and snug.
He knew he could not change the past, but as sleep began to claim him, he vowed to change her future.
Sleep had only claimed him for a few hours before he found it hard to breathe. Opening his eyes, he stared into the scraggly face of Ocee standing on his stomach. As Sandy turned over and snuggled her back into his front, the sight of a disapproving orange cat kept him from taking her from behind. Instead, he wanted her to keep sleeping, and after dislodging Ocee, he slipped from the bed, tucking the covers carefully around Sandy’s still-sleeping form.
Once downstairs, he poured food into the cat dish. “Here you go, buddy. If I keep feeding you, then you’ll approve of me, right?”
He scrounged around her kitchen to see what he could fix for breakfast. It didn’t take long for enough eggs, bacon, and jelly toast for both of them to be placed on the same platter she’d used the other night. She was just stirring as he walked into the bedroom. She blinked open her eyes, then widened them in surprise.
“Breakfast? In bed?”
He set the platter on the nightstand and bent to scoop his t-shirt from the previous night off the floor. Handing it to her, she pulled it on. He hated losing the sight of her topless but loved seeing her in his shirt. It might be a claiming statement, but he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, she could wear his t-shirt anytime. He settled next to her on the bed as