Page 45

I studied her glazed eyes and her unfocused gaze.

Fucking hell!

It only took me a couple of beats to realize that she wasn’t coherent.

She was sleepwalking.

I recognized that look on her face.

I’d seen it many times after Seth’s traumatic incident in Delta.

It was a childhood thing that he’d outgrown, but his sleepwalking had returned for a period of time due to the trauma of his experience.

I’d learned a lot about sleepwalking during those nights when Seth would wander around aimlessly before going back to bed.

I didn’t try to wake Jenna.

I simply waited to see what she’d do.

Christ! I had to wonder if this was the first time she’d wandered around my house at night.

My place was less familiar than her home, and the danger of her wandering around an unknown area made my gut ache.

Sleepwalking was never safe, and there were any number of things that could happen to her during those nighttime treks.

She could have tumbled down the stairs or cut herself on something sharp.

Hell, it wasn’t that unusual for a sleepwalker to wander outside.

Because she didn’t perceive danger the way she could when she was awake, she could walk in front of a moving vehicle without a second thought.

Hell, I wished that I’d noticed her possible stress before she’d started to wander around the house.

The problem was, Jenna was a master at cloaking her negative emotions.

Nevertheless, they were there and probably eating at her, even if she wasn’t showing them.

While sleepwalking was generally an inherited trait, stress would and could exacerbate those episodes.

It was pretty damn clear that what had happened to her in Mexico hadn’t been resolved in her psyche.

She stood by the bed for a few more minutes, unmoving and seemingly uncertain.

I breathed a sigh of relief when she finally lifted the covers and slid between the sheets.

I got up, secured the bedroom door and checked the windows to make sure they were locked, too.

I moved to the wall where the house alarm was located, an alarm system I rarely used.

Cherry Cove was a safe town, and I’d gotten out of the habit of setting my alarm system at night if my external doors were locked.

That shit was going to stop from this day forward.

As long as Jenna was here, those alarms would be set.

I took a minute to find a pair of sweatpants and pulled them over my boxer briefs.

I didn’t do pajamas. Even in the winter, I slept hot and went to bed in my underwear only.