The bed dipped, pulling me from my slumber. Unlike nights before, I didn’t recall dreaming. It was as if once I finally closed my eyes, I simply faded into the dark abyss.
“Lorna.”
Reid’s call floated through my consciousness.
Without opening my eyes, I turned toward him and inhaled. The aroma of my husband’s cologne mixed with his bodywash was clean and fresh. But that wasn’t what I inhaled.
Trepidation infiltrated my serenity. Backing away from an unfamiliar stench, I held my breath as my mind sought to identify the rank odors.
Cigarettes and liquor.
“You’re a pretty girl. Open your eyes and mouth, Lorna.”
The increase in my pulse sounded a warning siren.
“No,” I screamed as I scrambled across the big bed, moving as if it were covered with the thousands of ants from my captivity. My heart raced as I fought the blankets and sheets tangled around my body. “Let go.”
Still bound by the bedding, I slipped, falling and landing with a thud to the rug below. My feet kicked as I fought the restraint. “No.”
I will fuck you in the ass.
I continued to kick as the bindings slipped away.
My eyes sprang open as with shaking hands I pulled the fallen sheet to my breast. Trembling from head to toe, I searched my surroundings. There was no cell and no man. I’d heard the dark-haired man, and yet...as I took ragged breaths, he was gone. I searched the corners of our room, the shadows, for that was where dark hid.
The door to our bathroom flew open, flooding our room with artificial light.
Standing in the doorframe, in his most Adonis-like form, was my husband. A cloud of fresh bodywash filtered into the bedroom, taking away unfamiliar scents as water dripped from his hair and handsome face and down his toned torso and muscular legs. Each drop glistened from the bright bathroom lights, creating sparkling diamonds on his skin. His wide chest expanded and contracted as he took deep breaths in rushed gulps. His arms were spread as he held tightly to the door and frame.
With his dark brown eyes staring my way, he asked, “Lorna, what the fuck?”
My chin sunk to my chest, as confusion settled over me.
His footsteps came closer as he squatted down in front of me.
I lifted my eyes from his toes on the soft rug. The way the water droplets clung to his skin had me mesmerized. My gaze moved higher to his bent legs and stalled as I took in what was between those legs—his cock, impressive even in rest.
Reid cupped my chin and lifted my face toward his. “Hey, sweetheart, my eyes are up here.”
My eyes closed as I leaned into his hand. Pulling me to his chest, Reid’s arms surrounded me. The trembling that had accompanied my waking ceased at the sound of his voice as I relished the comfort of his embrace. When he pushed me to arm’s length, my eyes were glassy. “I’m sorry.” I sniffled at my weakness. “You must think I’m a basket case.”
Reid stood and offered me his hand. “I think you’re remarkable, Lorna. Never doubt that.”
Once on my feet, I straightened the nightshirt I’d worn to bed, trying to remember what had caused me to fright. As I slowly turned, taking in our bedroom, I couldn’t recall exactly what had happened.
“Will you talk to me?” he asked as I sat on the edge of our bed.
“I wish I could.” I sighed, laying my hands in my lap. “I feel like I slept well and then as I was waking...it was you, but it wasn’t you.”
“I was in the shower.”
A grin came to my lips as my cheeks rose. “I figured that out from the water.” I ran my hand over his arm, smearing the diamonds. It was as I stood again and stared into his dark orbs that I saw the dark that was threatening me from the shadows clouding his eyes.
Disappointment.
Sadness.
Unease.
I couldn’t pinpoint the emotions, but I knew what caused them. Not what. Who.
It was me.
“Reid, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to worry about me.”
His large palm came gently to my cheek. “Remember that day I asked you to marry me?”
As I lifted my left hand, seeing the diamond ring he later gave me, the scene came back. Despite what had recently happened to Mason, Reid was my Prince Charming. As I was about to leave Chicago for what may have been forever, he charged in. Not on a white horse or wearing a crown. He didn’t need props. Even now, unclothed, he was my prince.
I nodded.
“Remember when we said our vows?”
I nodded again.
“I’d already begun worrying about you, Lorna, before either of those events. Worry is part of loving someone. And I love you, Lorna Murray. I have since I saw you at that huge-ass house in New York. The first time I laid eyes on you.” He teased a strand of my hair. “I knew you were too good for me. I suspected you were an heiress or royalty.”
“I thought the same thing about you.”
“An heiress?” he said as a grin curled his full lips. “Really? Was it my dress?”
“Royalty,” I clarified, recalling how handsome he was in his tuxedo.
“And then you were here,” he went on, “and I knew that even though I wasn’t looking for my forever, it had found me. I’ve never stopped loving you. I never will and hell, yes, I will worry. And I will do whatever I can to not only keep you safe, but more importantly, so that once again, you can feel safe.”
“I should. I mean, this tower is a fortress.”
He ran the pad of his finger over my cheek. “Even in a fortress, I’ll worry.”
“I know what you mean. I worry about you too. I know what you do is dangerous, and I don’t want to add to that. I’m fine. I’m still working through flashes.” A cold chill came to my skin. “I-I think I remember a cell-like room and a dark-haired man. I was fighting him.” My head shook as I closed my eyes. “I just don’t know.”
“How about we eat breakfast here alone?”
“Are you embarrassed by my hair?”
Reid’s smile bloomed. “Hell no. I can’t wait to fuck a brunette.”
Something so crass shouldn’t make me smile, really smile, but it did. And as I did, the dark shadows slithered away. I knew they weren’t gone. They would linger out of sight, not leaving me until they pulled me in, but for now, my husband was my lifeline and I was holding on with all my might.
I lifted my arms to his wide shoulders. “I’m free right now.”
“I guess that invitation depends on your answer about breakfast. If we’re going upstairs—”
My lips covered his before I reached for the hem of my nightshirt and pulled it over my head. The cooler air beaded my nipples as Reid scanned me from head to toe.
“Panties,” he said with a smirk. “Either they go or I rip them off.”
My fingers snagged the waistband, and I pushed them down, over my thighs, my knees, and to my ankles until I kicked them away.
Reid reached for my hand, lifting it and spinning me as if I were the dancer in a child’s jewelry box or we were dancing at that ball so many years ago. Instead of a gown and tuxedo, we were both completely nude. As I came to a stop, he ran his long finger along my collarbone, sending shivers scampering over my skin. “You’re stunningly beautiful no matter the color of your hair.”