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The whole way, I never once took my arm off her, keeping her close to me as we hustled out of the hotel.
CHAPTER EIGHT
MADISON
We were both wrung out and emotionally spent by the time we got to Oliver's house. There was a spare bedroom – the one he'd offered me before. This time though, he insisted on me sleeping in the same room as him so he could keep an eye on me. After sharing a bed once, it was nothing to do it again, right?
He carried my bags into the master bedroom and dropped them into a chair near the window. Turning to look at me, he gave me a smile I could tell was forced. He was doing his best to project an air of confidence and self-assuredness. But, I could read people well enough that I could see the uncertainty and even the current of fear and concern that lurked just behind his eyes.
“You'll be staying here with me,” he said. “Bathroom is over there. Feel free to make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa, Madison.”
“Not that I don't appreciate it,” I said, “But for how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
His house was nice – a two bedroom, two bath townhome that was outfitted with a top-shelf security system that eased both of our minds. At least, a little bit. His place was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. It was a typical bachelor pad as far as furniture went, but it was clean. Tidy. I just found it odd that he – a single man – would have a two bedroom, two bath home all to himself.
“Why such a big place?” I asked him as we climbed into bed.
“I wanted a family one day,” he said matter-of-factly, as he pulled the soft down comforter over us. “Figured it would be a good starter home. Bought it when—”
His voi
ce trailed off and he didn't finish his statement. I saw the shadowed, haunted, and pained look in his eyes as he started to close down on me. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know exactly where his mind was going.
“No, talk to me,” I said. “Don't shut down.”
I rested my head on my arm and looked out at the sullen, attractive man lying next to me.
“I don't want to keep babbling about my ex,” he said. “It feels wrong.”
“It's only wrong if you're not comfortable,” I said, stroking his cheek. “I won't pressure you to talk about it if you don't want to. Just know, you can always talk to me. I'll always listen.”
His smile was a little rueful, but the sullen mask that he'd put on was wiped away. At least for now. Oliver kissed my forehead, his lips soft upon my skin.
“Maybe another time,” he said. “We need to get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow, after all.”
“Oh yeah? Big day, huh?” I asked. “What do you have planned?”
“Trying to help you remember,” he said. “So, we can hopefully get your life back to normal.”
“It would be nice if people stopped trying to kill me,” I said. “But normal? Ha. My life has never been normal, Ollie.”
As much as I hated being stalked and hunted, part of me wondered what that would mean for Oliver and I. Or, at least, what it meant for us once this was all over.
While I hardly knew the man he'd grown up to be, I found that I connected with him just as easily as I had back then. Although a lot of years had passed, the ease and comfort we'd always had between us still remained. It was buried under years of rust and disuse, of course, but that had been easy enough to wipe away.
The attraction between us had always been there, intense and burning hot. Which was why I'd had to keep away from him back then. Why I'd forced myself to stop seeing him.
But that was then and this was now. Times had changed, we'd both grown up, and it made me wonder where this – thing – between us was headed.
If it was headed anywhere at all, or if it was just wishful thinking on my part.
~ooo000ooo~
I rolled over, savoring the feeling of the down comforter enveloping my body. I'd wrapped myself in the soft, warm comforter tight like a burrito, leaving no blanket for anyone else. As shafts of the sun slanted in through the blinds, I yawned and rolled over, finding Oliver's side of the bed empty. My eyes grew wide and my heart fluttered in my chest when I woke to find myself alone in his bed.
A moment later though, a familiar aroma caught my attention and made me smile, banishing all the fear and dark thoughts that had been injecting themselves into my brain.
