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After the washcloth is tossed away, he pulls me up to the top of the bed. Hunter settles on his back and drapes me over his chest with the covers pulled up over us. His big hand rests on my back just above my butt. The other hand tips up my chin until my eyes meet his.
“You okay?”
I curl my lips. “Okay is an understatement. Fantastic is closer, but still not accurate.”
His eyes crinkle when a deep chuckle leaves his lips. “You always manage to surprise me, even after all the years we’ve been married.”
I press a kiss against his chest, right over the spot where his heart beats.
“Why have you never told me you wanted something like that?”
I lift my eyes back to him. “Because I was worried it was something you didn’t want.”
“Baby, I want anything you want. You only have to let me know.”
I smile again. “Well, now you know.”
He tilts my head back further and dips his down. “Now I know,” he says against my lips. When he pulls back, his expression is serious. “About your nightmare.”
I’m already shaking my head before he finishes his sentence. “Please not tonight.” I fight hard at pushing away the images of my nightmare, wanting to forget about them for as long as I can. “Can we talk about it tomorrow?”
Concern pulls down his eyebrows, but thankfully, he doesn’t push. “Yeah.”
I lay my head back down on his chest, my eyes so heavy they close before I’m comfortable. I concentrate on the steady rise and fall of Hunter’s breathing.
I can feel the images, thememories, fighting to come back to the forefront of my mind. I know the wall I’ve kept them behind won’t ever be rebuilt. Now I must find a way to prevent them from crippling me.
ChapterThirty
Hunter
What feels like minutes after I close my eyes after taking Cat like I never have before, a loud piercing noise jerks me awake. I spring up in bed and instinctively reach for the gun I keep on the nightstand. It’s not the same sound as Cat’s screams that woke me earlier. It’s the fucking house alarm.
The bed jostles beside me, and I stretch out my arm—the one not holding the gun—to wrap around Cat’s waist. As I slide off my side of the bed, I take her with me.
“What’s going on?” she asks over the jarring sound of the alarm, her voice trembling with fright.
I let Cat go to pull on the pair of jeans that had been tossed on the chair by the window. Grabbing the robe hanging over the back of the same chair, I hand it to her.
“I don’t know.”
Someone broke into the house or attempted to break in. Cat isn’t stupid. She’s aware of this as well. The fear that darkens her eyes gives away that knowledge. Nevertheless, I keep my thoughts to myself.
As soon as she has the robe tied around her waist, I grab her hand and pull her toward the closet. It’s not the safe room in the basement, but with the reinforced bedroom door, it’s the best place to put Cat on the second floor. Taking her downstairs when I don’t know what’s waiting down there isn’t an option.
“Stay here,” I demand, swooping down and giving her a quick kiss.
She tightens her fingers around mine when I attempt to let her hand go. “Stay,” she begs.
Fucking hell. I hate seeing fear plastered all over her face. I hate even more not giving her what she thinks she needs. There isn’t much I could ever deny Cat.
“Baby, you know I can’t,” I tell her quietly.
Her eyes say she wants to argue, but Cat knows me better than anyone, so she knows it would be futile. I’m not a cower-in-a-closet-and-wait-for-the-police kind of guy. I’ll confront any bastard who thinks they can fuck with me or mine in any way.
Cat’s eyes glisten, and for a moment, I worry she’s going to beg me to stay anyway, but she blinks back the tears, straightens her spine, and pushes back her shoulders.
“Okay.”
