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“Did you sleep this afternoon?”
She had. And that had shocked her. She’d dropped off far easier than she’d expected, and if she’d had a nightmare, she couldn’t remember it.
Only issue was, instead of waking up refreshed, she’d woken all dazed and kind of nauseous.
Raid had told her it was because her body didn’t want to wake up. That it wanted more sleep.
She guessed over a month of sleep deprivation would do that.
“Yes. You know I did.”
“And do you usually sleep that well?”
“No.”
“So you sleep better when I’m here because you know I’ll keep you safe. I’m staying the night.”
“Raid, you have things to do.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“Like . . . like whatever it is that you do.”
“Well, my plan tonight was to watch the game and think up something to do to annoy West. Maybe Maddox, he’s a fucking stick-in-the-mud now that he’s a dad. Those are things I can do here.”
“But you don’t have anything with you.”
“Alec dropped me off a bag of stuff.”
“He did?”
“Yep. I called him while you were napping.”
“Wow. He works fast.” She tensed. “He came in here while I was asleep?”
Not that she thought Alec Malone would hurt her or anything, but she didn’t like that she hadn’t woken up when someone had come into her apartment.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t let anyone in your apartment while you were sleeping.”
Holy heck.
That made her tummy all warm, but she tried to hide her reaction by dropping her gaze to her plate of food.
“Saxon came by too.”
“Really?” Her head shot up again in surprise, although she should have expected it. In fact, she would have expected him to come check on her earlier.
But she guessed the fact she kept running away from him had put him off.
God, she hated what she was doing. Why couldn’t she just get over what had happened? Move on. Go back to old-Hannah.
Because she’s gone. And you have no idea how to get her back.
“He and Aspen want to have us over for dinner one night,” Raid went on. He ate some more lasagna.
“What?” she asked in a strangled voice.
“Yeah. For dinner. Weird, right?”
“Very.” She chewed at her lip. She didn’t know what to do with that right now. Obviously, Saxon thought she and Raid were an actual couple. “You won’t get very good sleep on a blow-up bed.”
“Darlin’, if you want me to sleep in bed with you, you only have to ask.”
Her mouth dropped open. “That’s not what I meant!”
His gaze turned to her again, his face serious. “I know what you meant. Darlin’, I will stay on the bed out here. I am not going to press you for anything you’re not ready for. I know you think I’m being a pushy bastard and I’m moving too fast. But nothing happens that you don’t say yes to. Understand?”
Her breath was choppy, her pulse racing. “Right.”
“And it might seem fast, but I’ve wanted you for a long time, Hannah. Do you know what that means, though?”
“What?” she asked.
“That I’ve got patience. Because I’ve already been waiting for a long time and I can wait some more. I can wait for you. Because you’re worth it.”
Dear. Lord.
“Now, are you going to eat some food, or do you need me to feed you?”
“I can feed myself!” Sheesh.
“Too bad. I do a killer choo-choo train. Total hit with Seb, Liam, and Lucas.”
His nephews.
She’d love to have some nieces and nephews. She’d make a great aunt.
But that wasn’t in the cards for her. She didn’t have any siblings. Or even any cousins. All she’d ever had was her grandma, and she’d died years ago.
God, Grandma would be so ashamed of her. She’d sold the family house.
For Steven.
Fuck. Him.
15
Raid got his way.
It felt like Raid got his way a lot. In fact, she was willing to bet that he didn’t often hear the word no.
He was spoiled.
“Darlin’, I can hear you tossing and turning. You need me to come in there and sing you a lullaby?”
She froze as she lay in bed.
Holy. Crap.
He’d do it too.
When he’d decided that she wasn’t eating enough dinner, he’d picked up her fork and started doing the choo-choo train. It was ridiculous. It wasn’t just train noises, but a whole performance with the conductor (the fork) and a tunnel (her mouth).
No wonder his nephews loved it.
Loved him.
Just like she . . . whoa, nope! She was not going there. Because there was no way that she was in love with Raid Malone.
That was ridiculous.
She barely knew him.
Liar. You’ve known him for years. Had a crush on him for over a year.
She wasn’t in a place to love anyone.
It was hard to love someone else when you loathed yourself.
“Hannah?”
She glanced over to find him standing in the doorway. He’d insisted that she keep the door open to help her feel safer.
She’d tried to protest.
