Page 84 of Her Fearless Warrior

Linc nodded.

“I’m ready,” Leila said as she came down the stairs.

Linc opened the door for her, then followed and grabbed her hand when they got to the sidewalk.

Leila sighed. “You’re armed. Why does Jase need to follow us?”

“It’s just part of the service.” Linc put his arm around her shoulders and tucked her in close to his body.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Leila asked.

“That’s my line. Your life has been taken over by me and my team for the last couple of days. I figure you might want to talk about some things.”

Leila wrapped her arm around his waist so that they could be even closer. “Yeah, I do have something to say. This is a biggie. You can’t tell me what I can or cannot do. That’s a deal-breaker for me. You and I can discuss things, but I will not be dictated to just because we are together.”

Linc swallowed. Fuck. He’d fucked up. Big time. He could hear it in her voice. And now she was hitting him on something that he wasn’t sure he could fix.

“Leila, I’m in this relationship one hundred percent. I have never been in love before, and I intend for us to go the distance. Please, baby, please know that I will do my damndest never to dictate to you, but where your safety is concerned my gut is to protect the women I love. It’s a knee-jerk reaction.”

She said nothing as they walked for another five minutes.

“Linc, I think you just said you loved me,” she whispered.

He gave a relieved chuckle. She wasn’t kicking him to the curb. “Yes, I did. Why are you whispering?”

“Because if I’m dreaming, I don’t want to wake up.”

Linc wanted to kiss her, but he couldn’t. He needed to stay hyper-aware of their surroundings. They needed to get back to the house before he could kiss her.

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

Her words hit him in the gut. He felt unadulterated joy. He’d felt the same way the day he got his Trident pin and became a Navy SEAL, and that day when he was ten years old and he could legally take George Hart’s last name.

“Let’s get back to the house,” he whispered.

* * *

Leila woke up to the sound of herself screaming as she was struggling to get away from someone.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you. It’s me, Lincoln. I’ve got you, baby.”

He held her so her face was buried in his neck. “Smell me, baby, you’re safe.”

Every time she woke up screaming, he would hug her, and then pull her close and tell her to breathe in his scent. Insist she smell him. And every time, it worked. She immediately calmed and felt safe.

“Linc,” she said as she tried to understand where she was.

“Linc,” she said again, finally melting into his embrace.

“Yes, Beauty, it’s me. Was it the same dream?”

It took a moment for her to collect her thoughts. Linc didn’t push, he just kind of rocked her. Safe. She felt safe.

“The dream was all over the place. Sometimes it’s Katherine bleeding on top of me. Sometimes it’s my mom in the well. This time it was my dad instead of Elijah who was dragged away by the terrorists.”

“That’s heavy-duty stuff.”

“It’ll pass.” At least she prayed it would.