Page 30 of Decker

Chapter Fourteen

Decker closedthe door on Lopez and Addie after assuring Adeline that he’d stay with Savannah and make sure she was taken care of. The truth was they wouldn’t have been able to make him leave. He heard the shower start and then the sound of unimaginable pain as he took the stairs two at a time and her sobs could be heard through the door.

Without a second thought, he pushed through the door. Steam filled the bathroom. Pain lanced through him as he saw her collapsed on the shower floor, her body sagged against the tile as wracking, gut-wrenching pain stole her breath from her body.

Opening the door, he shed his shirt and stepped into the cubicle. She didn’t even look up, she was so lost in her pain, her hiccupping gasps breaking his heart in two. Crouching, he wrapped his arms around her back and threaded his arms under her knees as he lifted her and carried her towards the bed. Her arms came around his neck and he felt her burrow closer to his skin. He set her down with a kiss on her temple and quickly dried her with a fluffy white towel, goosebumps dotting her skin where she’d scrubbed at it.

Pulling back the quilt, he pulled a t-shirt he found in her drawer over her head and stepped back.

Her eyes went wild and scared, panic evident in her expression as fresh tears hit her cheeks and she held her hand toward him. “Please don’t leave me.”

Decker shed his clothes until he was standing in his boxer shorts. “I’m not going anywhere, doc.”

He climbed into the bed and pulled her into his arms, so she was lying half over him and pulled the quilt over them both. Holding on to her in the fading light of the day, he gave her his strength, knowing that she needed him and, instead of the usual fear it would bring, he felt only grateful he could be the one to give her what she needed.

Her body was soft and perfect against his, as if she’d been made to fit there and he took the pleasure in holding her that he’d wanted last night and hadn’t allowed himself to indulge in. Selfish bastard that he was, he wanted this with her. Not the pain and fear she was feeling but this closeness.

Her sobs slowed and her heaving body began to quiet, her breathing evening out until he knew she was asleep. Decker stayed listening to her breathing, feeling her body move silently against him and knew it would be easy to let down all his walls for this woman. But even if he did, where did that leave them? He couldn’t give her marriage and a family; he’d had his chance at that and blown it. He wouldn’t risk that again, not even for the beautiful, sensual, intelligent woman who was stealing parts of him without his consent.

His thoughts depressing, he switched his mind away from things he couldn’t control and concentrated on those he could. The men that had killed Andy Farr were deadly and he had no doubt in his mind that Savannah was in grave danger until they were found. Lopez had found them shortly after they’d cleared the building heading north and away from the hospital. CCTV had shown them escaping in the panic with staff members, but they wouldn’t give up.

People like that didn’t leave loose ends and that was what Savannah was. Really, he should wake her and get her away from this house. Only the security he’d set up and the fact that Liam and Blake were watching the house gave him the peace he needed to give her this time to grieve and get herself together.

This was a reaction to everything she’d been through in the last few days, both the attack by Andy in the operating theatre, which felt like it had happened years ago, the tense operation she’d carried out on the boy, and then witnessing her ex-husband dying, all on top of her exhaustion. It was too much, and her body and mind had done what it was meant to do and shut down, protecting her in the only way it knew how.

He lay awake holding her while she slept, enjoying the intimacy as he watched her sleep. She was so beautiful. He’d seen that from the first time he’d laid eyes on her. Her warm smile had hit him like a sucker punch, and he’d hated it because it terrified him. Not since his wife had a woman affected him like that. If he was honest, even Susie hadn’t had that effect, their relationship had been different.

Childhood sweethearts, their relationship had evolved into love, and he’d adored her, their sex life had been good. How he felt when he looked at Savannah though was sharp like a blade. A sexual attraction like he’d never felt before, and then the guilt had hit and he’d lashed out at her.

Now he knew her, knew how sweet and kind she was, how intelligent and driven, it only made his attraction worse until he’d had to have her. The only way to keep what they had safe was to keep it locked up in this fucking arrangement.

Her body stirred in his arms, and he looked down into her eyes to see them flutter open and she gave him a smile that cut through his bullshit and made him inhale sharply. A look he’d never imagined being on the receiving end of again.

“Hey.”

“Hey, you.”

Decker rolled so he was lying in between her legs, his hard cock pressed against her pelvis, arms braced either side of her head. She was so stunning it took his breath away. He felt like a starving man finally being given food. She nourished his soul in a way he couldn’t explain.

“I’m sorry about earlier.”

She looked away in embarrassment and Decker wouldn’t stand for her taking any blame for her reaction. “Hey, look at me, doc.” He pressed his fingers lightly against her jaw to turn her to face him. His eyes met hers and he could see the spark was still there but had lost its brightness and he hated that for her. “You aren’t to blame for anything that happened. No matter what you had done, they would’ve killed him and you, too. Anyone who’s been through the crap you have in the last few days would’ve reacted the same.”

“You wouldn’t have.”

Decker smirked. “Yeah, well, I’m not anyone, I’m me.”

Savannah raised a brow as her hands began to travel over his back, and he fought the shiver at her touch. His dick was so hard being this close to her.

“Oh, is that right? And what is so special about you, Mr Decker?”

Fuck! Her flirty tone and the touch of her fingers on his skin was driving him crazy.

He bent his head and rubbed his lips against her neck. “How about I show you?”

Her body arched deliciously beneath his and she moaned as he bit her neck, his teeth skimming the sensitive skin.

“Good idea.”