Liam even had Roman Robillard checked out, but according to the latest report Aiden got from the PD, the asshole had been passed out drunk when the whole thing happened. Liam set his coffee mug down with a soft click, then frowned as another noise seemed to echo the sound.
Liam froze to listen. The noise came again. A soft mix between a moan and whimper that was trickling in from the hallway.
Pushing his chair back silently, Liam got to his feet and edged toward the soft calls. They came more often now, sneaking out of the bedroom where Jaz slept. Liam paused at the closed door, his hand flat against the wood.
“Jaz?”
No answer. No change in the noise either. She was sleeping.
Liam knocked. Softly, then with a bit more force. Then more than that.
No luck. Damn. He little liked the idea of barging in on Jaz unannounced, but given how deeply she was sleeping, his only other alternative was to bang some pots boot-camp style. He knew from firsthand experience that was a less than pleasant way to regain consciousness.
Jaz whimpered again.
Liam gave the wooden door one more futile knock, then pushed it open and let himself into the darkened room. As his eyes adjusted—and he instinctively peered into every corner just to make sure they were as alone as he expected—he focused his attention on where Jaz was now resting with her covers.
“Get down,” she called in a whispered shriek, whipping onto her back and flinging her arms across her pillows. “It’s coming, Liam… It’s… No!”
Whatever it was that was coming made Jaz arch her back, then cover her head with her arms. Or try to. Her left hand was so tangled in the bedding that it wasn’t getting far.
An invisible band tightened around Liam’s chest. He knew what he was looking at. Had seen this before. Cullen, in particular, had struggled with the roughest memories of past events encroaching on his sleep. Aiden, Liam suspected, wasn’t sleeping much period. And now Jaz. Who he was supposed to have kept safe.
“Easy there, Sprite.” Stopping beside the mattress, Liam brushed a hand along her head, poised to jump back in case she kicked him for it. “You’re having a nightmare. Wake up.”
No reaction. No change.
“Hey,” he said louder, shaking her bare calf where she’d slung off her covers. Jaz scrunched up her face and whimpered, but didn’t quite break the surface into full awareness. Liam flicked on the bedside lamp, a little circle of light brightening up the room as he added a touch of command to his voice. “Come on, Sprite. Open your eyes.”
Her eyes flicked open, wide in fright, as she scrambled away to the opposite side of her bed. In the dim light of the lamp, Liam could see the too-quick rise and fall of her chest, the way her small body huddled around her injured arm, the shadows sculpting the fear the dreams had etched into her features.
Of course she was having nightmares. She’d trusted him to protect her, and instead, a damn truck exploded not three steps away. Worse still, Liam had had no inkling of the danger before they were right on top of it. How the hell was she supposed to feel?
He lowered himself to sit on the side of her bed, careful not to touch her unless she made the first move. “Welcome back.”
“Um, hello.” She shifted her weight. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m sorry.”
She was sorry? “I was awake.” He paused, considering asking about the nightmare before changing tack. “Looks like your arm hurts a bit. Can I see?”
Jaz looked down at where she cradled the limb and let it go at once, as if the skin had turned into glowing coals. “No. It’s nothing.”
“Good,” Liam agreed congenially, and patted the spot on the bed beside him. “Then you won’t mind me taking a look.”
To his relief, she started to move closer, but as Jaz shifted onto the better-lit part of the mattress, something new and determined flashed over her features. Her chin rose, her back stretching like a cat’s. The tip of her tongue flicked out from between full lips.
“What exactly would you like to look at?” The purr in her words sent vibrations all the way to Liam’s cock, which twitched involuntarily.
Jaz grinned. With a burst of new, wicked energy, she straddled Liam’s lap, her hands sliding under his shirt.
Liam steadied her hips on instinct, which only made her shimmy against his hold. Shimmy against his other parts as well. Liam hardened at once, the sudden pressure so intense that it took a moment for him to find his voice. “Jaz—”
“Shh.” She put a finger over his lips, then proceeded to push up his shirt. Lick the skin between his pectorals. Put her own hot mouth over his left nipple and suckle it with a pleased moan.
Liam slid his hands to her shoulders, fighting to get some common sense to coalesce in his quickly muddling brain. “Jaz. What are you doing?”
She rose onto her knees and nipped at his neck in reply. Her hand, which had been splayed over his abs a moment ago, dropped down into his waistband and slipped along his throbbing hardness. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out sooner or later.” Her words tickled his ear. Her fingers encircled his cock, sliding along the length of Liam’s engorged shaft.
He couldn’t quite suppress his gasp, his body reacting to hers with a primal need that pounded through his senses. His hands tightened over her shoulders, his whole body aching to pounce, to bury his cock in her hot tight channel, to breathe in her intoxicating coconut scent with every vicious pump. The effort to keep still raked through his body, a trickle of sweat snaking down the groove of his back to sting against the healing gash.
The sting. The hurt. She was hurt. Shaken up. Drunk on nightmares and memories and fear. Yes, that’s what was off about all this. Liam blinked, drawing breath into his constricting lungs as Jaz pumped her hand along him. Fighting through the need that hammered at him, Liam focused on her face, on the anxious cast of her features that went beyond desire and dipped into desperation.
With a great deal more willpower than Liam thought he possessed, he shifted the woman away from him and held her at arm’s length. “Jaz.” He paused to swallow against the assault of sensations battering his body. No matter how much his body yearned otherwise, he couldn’t do this. Couldn’t take advantage of her this way. “Jaz, stop. You don’t want this.”
She reached toward his groin again. “When I want you to tell me what I want, I’ll ask.”
He caught her wrist. “No.”
“A little explosion and you forget how to fuck?”
More like a little fucking to forget an explosion. “Yeah,” he said softly, but not weakly. “Yeah, it seems I did.” He released her wrist to tuck himself away.
She gestured to his still-twitching groin, her jaw tight. “Why?”
That was a damn good question. Especially given their no-strings-attached carnal-pleasures agreement. If Jaz wanted to bury her fears and anxiety away in a little nighttime recreation, who was Liam to say no? Hell, after the day he’d had, there was nothing he wanted more than to push the willing sprite into the mattress and give them both some mind-numbing satisfaction. And yet…
Before he could second-guess himself, Liam gathered Jaz into his arms and pulled her tightly against his chest.
“Let me go,” she insisted, cinching her arms over her chest, but even as she said it, her voice hitched.