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He kisses my nose and lifts his shoulders up, propping himself up onto his elbows and giving me the opportunity to roll off the couch.
“Now, where is my coffee? I need a reward for being your knight in shining armor.”
It feels so good waking up with Elle this morning. Her warm body all over me, my arms wrapped tightly around her. After ravishing the hell out of her mouth and taking the opportunity to let my hands wander all over her body, she jumps off me and goes into the kitchen to put the coffeemaker on. I groan at the loss of contact, a groan that gets louder when I spy the small tank top and shorts she’s wearing.
Her outfit is not doing anything for my hard morning predicament.
I know we need to have a conversation about what happened last night, but she needs to trust me enough to open up. What scared her so much that she didn’t want to be alone?
The fact that she text me to come over warms my heart, because more than anything else, I want to be the one she turns to and if I can’t come, Shay would be there in an instant. Thinking about him, Elle and Shay need to be introduced. He’s my best friend and she’s my girlfriend, so it’s logical
Shay’s part in this job is to collect intel and watch over Elle when I can’t be there. He’s always been the one behind the scenes when we work together. We both have contacts all over the country through the boss man’s connections but Shay specifically has extensive surveillance skills learned during our time in the army. We met each other while doing our basic training, before we headed off to separate divisions. He was in the intelligence unit whereas I was infantry.
Shay and I talked about the case last night and about what would happen if the boss and Gibbons find out about my relationship with Elle. We’re pretty sure the shit would hit the fan and we’d be replaced, more than likely sent back to Georgia to return to standard security detail. Shay told me that I’m in too deep with her and that it may start hampering my judgment. I did my best to reassure him that the job is not in danger, but the end of the day, I just can’t say away from Elle.
We talked about Harry’s visit and what went down when he was here. He was not impressed that Harry had seen me. We still don’t know why Harry met with Evans last night, but we suspect that they’re working together on Brimstone’s attempted takeover of the company. Evans and Brimstone together though, that means the threat to Elle has increased ten-fold.
Elle walks back into the living room and places a cup of coffee and a plate full of toast on the coffee table. Smiling at me, she sits down and starts eating. I checked the time when I was in the kitchen. It’s 8 a.m. and my first class isn’t until 10.
“How’s your morning looking?” she says through a mouthful of toast. I smile at how adorable she is in the morning.
“Well, my day started off great with a hot young brunette on top of me, so no complaints so far,” I say with a grin. She hits my arm while laughing at my comment.
“You know what I mean.”
I smile. Her laugh is so infectious.
“Yes, I know what you mean, hon. I was thinking about going to the gym for a workout before my finance class at noon. Then I was thinking we could go out for a movie and a burger later on. We could meet up with Shay, if that’s okay with you?”
She smiles. “That sounds great. I’d love to meet him.” She leans over to kiss me with her peanut butter smeared mouth. I pull her in tight and lick her lips after our kiss.
“Hmm, Elise and peanut butter. My new favorite breakfast.”
After coffee and breakfast, I lean back on the couch and pull Elle into my side. She snuggles into me and we sit there for what seems like ages, just enjoying the moment. I take a deep breath and look down at her.
“We need to talk about last night, Elle.”
“I know,” she replies with a sigh.
“What happened between the time I left and your text? When I left at midnight you seemed happy but tired. I thought you’d go straight to bed” I look at her, silently imploring her to open up to me.
“I had a nightmare. When I woke up I was shaking and scared out of my mind. The only thing I knew would make me feel better was you.” She drops her head like she is ashamed.
I pull her chin up so that I’m looking straight into her eyes. “You can call me anytime, sweetheart. Anytime at all and I will always be there for you. I hope you know that.”
She gives me a small smile. “I do now.”
“So, what was the nightmare about?” I ask.
“It was about my family. I haven’t told you what happened to them. I will, I promise I’ll tell you about it all soon. I just don’t like talking about it because it still hurts so much.” A single tear rolls down her face. I lean down and kiss the tear away, then I lightly kiss her lips.
“I hope you will. I want to know everything I can about you. I care a lot about you, Elle, and nothing from your past will change that.”
I smile at her, hoping she believes me.
There is something in the way Brax looks at me that makes me feel grounded.
When I’m with him it feels like I’m his whole world—that his sole focus is on me and he’d move heaven and earth to make me happy. I feel like the gaping hole in my heart is slowly being closed up by him. He has given me hope that life can be good for me again, despite my horrific past.
I tell him about last night’s nightmare and how I’ve been having them for a while now, but I can’t bring myself to explain what happened in the dream. I want to, but I’m scared it will bring it all back—the horror, the heartache, the sudden loneliness that has only just started to wane. I know he could so easily find out what happened by just googling my name and I have made a promise to myself to tell him soon. I’m relieved he hasn’t pushed me into telling him more before I’m ready. I’ve never met anyone as thoughtful and understanding as him.
How did I get so lucky?
I suddenly remember about the car parked outside last night. “Brax, did you see a black Honda parked on the road when you left last night?”
He thinks for a bit. “No, I didn’t. Why?”
“I’ve seen a black Honda on the street off and on for three weeks now. There is always a guy sitting in the driver’s seat, but he doesn’t seem to move. At first I thought he was just a visitor, or maybe that a neighbor had a new car, but then he would get out of the car, right? It’s probably nothing, but it just seems a bit weird.”
