Cambria Hebert - Text

I knew what those reasons were. It was exactly why I couldn’t stay with my mother.

I sighed. “Look, you and I both know he’s still out there. What if he finds me?”

“He can’t find you if you aren’t home.”

“He doesn’t know my address.”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “Have you ever heard of the Internet?”

“I can’t put my parents in danger,” I said low.

He pressed his lips together. I knew he understood. Still, he protested. “Your safety matters too.”

He was right; it did matter. But I honestly thought I would be safe at home. Lex didn’t even know my name. Finding my address would be very hard if he didn’t know who he was looking for. Unless, of course, if he read paranormal and romance novels, which I highly doubted.

“I will be safe. At home. I’ll be comfortable there too,” was all I said. God, how I craved the quiet comfort of being at home.

“I don’t like this.”

“It’s not your decision.”

He didn’t like that too well. I could read it on his face. He said nothing else but thrust the paper before me and handed me the pen.

I scrawled my number across the top.

“I want your address too,” he said when I tried to hand it back.

“Why?” I scowled.

“I’m nosy.”

“I’m private.”

“I’ll join sides with your mother if you don’t write it down.”

Well, damn. Then I would never get any peace. “Fine.” I wrote down my address.

Nathan took the paper and read it over. Then he tore off the blank bottom section of the paper and wrote something on it and handed it to me. “Here’s my number. You can call me. Anytime. Night or day.”

“I thought it had water damage, you know, from the rain?”

“I took the battery out when we got here and let the pieces dry. It’s working now.”

“That’s good,” I said, glancing down at the number again. “Thanks.” I looked at my mother, who was still talking animatedly to my father. It was a good time for me to escape. “I’m going to go shower.”

I glanced down at my hands. One was taped up where the IV had been and the other was wrapped, covering my stitches.

Showering likely was going to be a challenge.

“Need some help?” Nathan said, giving me a roguish grin.

I laughed. “You wish.” I pushed back the covers and the air brushed over my bare legs. I hoped my mother brought warm clothes because I seriously wanted to bundle up. And I desperately wanted some coffee. With cinnamon creamer.

Yum.

Nathan stepped back as I flung my legs over the side of the mattress and sat up. My ribs protested and I wasn’t looking forward to moving around or seeing the black and blue marks all over my body once I was naked.

They were only ugly reminders of what I just went through.

Bruises fade. It’s the internal damage you need to watch out for. The inner thought caused me to stumble a little as I stood.

But I didn’t fall. Nathan was there to steady me. His hands caught me around the hips, supporting me, as his pine scent whirled around us. I probably smelled like dirty butt, but he smelled delicious. So unfair.

“You doing okay?” Nathan murmured close to my ear before straightening up to look at me. He kept his hands at my waist.

I nodded.

“Come on,” he said gently. “I’ll help ya.” The southern drawl to his voice washed over me. It was like balm to an open wound. Like music notes to a song.

Yeah, okay, I could have made it to the bathroom all by myself. Still, I leaned into him just a little bit more.

You would have too.

He was so much bigger than me, something I hadn’t paid much attention to when we were on the mountain. My body had always been aware of him, but not like this. It was as if the more I was around him the more hyperaware my nerves became.

When we reached the bathroom door, he used one arm to push it open and hold it there while I walked ahead. I glanced back at my mother, and she was no longer talking to my father. She stood there watching us, smiling, while holding the phone pressed to her ear.

Yet another reason I had to go home. She was going to be relentless on insisting that Nathan and I were soul mates or some such crap like that. I was the writer, but my mother had always been a dreamer.

“Lace,” Nathan said, staring at the panties my mother displayed on top of the sink. I swear if I hadn’t known any better I would have thought she did it on purpose.

I felt my face blush as I took in the light-peach lace panties with the lavender bow at the front. I wasn’t about to grab them and hide them. Like I told my mother, I wasn’t twelve.

I tried to think of what one of the kickass heroines in my novels would do. Hell, they would probably tuck the tiny fabric into his jeans pocket and tell him to keep them.

I wasn’t that bold.

And I wasn’t about to go commando.

Talk about uncomfortable.

“Looking at a lady’s panties is impolite,” I told him, taking in the shower stall with the safety bars all around.

“I never claimed to have any manners.”

Well, if that didn’t send heat pooling into my nether regions and make me think of all the naughty things a man like him could come up with… I blushed again.

He chuckled. “Turn around.”

“What?” I asked dumbly.

“Turn around so I can untie your gown.”

“Uhhh…”

“Relax, I might not have any manners, but I sure as hell have respect.” He reached around me and felt for the tie between my shoulder blades. He found it and tugged the string as he spoke. “Figured it might be uncomfortable to reach around this far up.”

Oh, well, yeah. “Thanks,” I said, feeling a little bit of air brush over my back.

“You’re set on going home, huh?” he asked after he pulled away.

I nodded. I wasn’t going to change my mind. I didn’t want anyone else in danger because some crazed asshole was after me. And I wanted to be home, in my own bed, in my own house with my own coffee creamer.

“Can I call you, Honor?” His voice brushed over me like a caress.

“I gave you my number,”

“Give me permission to use it.”

“I thought you didn’t have any manners,” I countered, smiling.

He stroked a finger along my jawline. My entire body turned to Jell-O. “I want to hear you say it.”

I didn’t hear my voice when I spoke. I couldn’t hear anything over the thudding of my heart. “You can call me, Nathan.”

He gently hooked his hand around the back of my head and stepped closer. His lips pressed against my forehead and stayed there for long, blissful seconds. Too soon, he released me and I had to steady myself by gripping the counter.

“If you need me, call.”

I nodded.

“I mean it. I’ll always come if you need me.”

“What if you’re in the middle of hot steamy sex?” I burst out. Then I gasped. What the hell was I thinking?

Oh, wait. I wasn’t. My damn hormones had taken over.

A slow smile spread across his face. “You won’t need the phone, then, sweetheart, because you’ll be the one beneath me.”

I stared at him dumbly, unable to reply. After one long, heated look, he turned and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

The second he was gone, I collapsed against the sink in a flurry of heat and desire.

I hated the quiet. It was too loud.

Meaning it made it way to convenient for the memories, for the ghosts, to come out and play.

It was going to be quiet when I got home tonight.

I decided not to go home right away. I called Patton while I was still at the hospital and he came to pick me up. I knew he would ask me questions, but I needed a ride and help with my Wrangler. I was waiting outside when he pulled up in his black Dodge Ram. On the back window was a giant Marine Corps decal sporting the eagle, globe, and anchor that made up the emblem of the Corps.