His to Protect: A Fireside Novel(15)

As if he meant every word.

I lost my fight with the shiver and let it flow down my spine, feeling heat hit my cheeks.

A throat clearing caught my attention and both of us snapped our heads in the direction of the noise.

Blue was no longer looking sympathetic, but amused, and Tyson no longer looked concerned, but angry.

It was that expression that spurred me on. In part because I didn’t want Declan’s friend mad at me, if that was the cause of his sudden shift in demeanor.

Also because I was angry. And I had every right to be.

The people closest to me, who loved me, let me down.

It’d been the kindness of strangers in the last week that showed me what a life without the Morgenson name attached to it could be like.

And it was so much better.

It was a life I realized I wanted to keep.

“My name is Katrina Morgenson,” I told Tyson. “I’m sure if you pull up my medical records you’ll find various hospital stays all over Kentucky, and when I say all over, I mean everywhere. I wasn’t allowed to go to hospitals often. I was usually treated at home with a paid-off doctor, but when I did go, Kevin always made sure to give some excuse, some reason we were in town, and I never argued.”

“Why?” Tyson asked, although the question was a surprise.

I rolled my slumped shoulders and looked him square in the eye. “After my first beating, I went home to my family. My father had recently passed away and while I was crying on my mother’s shoulder, she declared that I should return home and find a way to not upset Kevin.”

“Jesus Christ,” Declan muttered.

I ignored him and continued. “I didn’t know it at the time, but learned later that while my father was wealthy, we weren’t millionaires, or anywhere close to the same league as the Morgensons. And on top of finding out my father’s business was actually going under, and his heart attack might have been ‘self-induced’ ”I paused and used air quotes, because while it was never determined, given our personal financials and those of the company, it was highly likely that my father had taken his own life“my mom had just been diagnosed with leukemia.”

“And she had no money,” Blue filled in, figuring it out quicker than I would have anticipated.

“And Kevin did,” I replied, nodding confirmation of her assessment.

“You stayed to take care of your mom even though she sent you back to be with that monster.”

“And when she received her six-month clearance, just less than two weeks ago, I declared myself done. Figure I’ve done my daughterly duty.”

I let the silence, the weight of that statement, settle around everyone.

Blue grinned at me. “You might be the strongest person I’ve ever freaking met.”

Despite the heaviness in the room, despite the fact that Kevin could be outside the house that very minute, and despite the fact that I’d shared more in the last hour than I ever had with anyone in my entire lifeand I was still not certain it was a good decisionI threw my head back and laughed, while Blue joined in. Next to me, Declan chuckled and pulled me closer to him.

And it felt really, really freaking good.



I wrapped my hand around the warm wrist as my back was lowered to the warm, plush bed I’d been sleeping on for the last several days.

With my eyes still closed, I knew Declan was pulling away from me. He’d just carried me up the stairs after I fell asleep on the couch. After I told the rest of my story to Tyson, including specifics I’d never wanted to mention to anyone, I had leaned my head on Declan’s shoulder and closed my eyes while I listened to Tyson, Blue, and Declan murmur quietly.

He felt warm and safe. The gentle brushes of his thumb on my shoulder sent tiny tremors through my body.

I tightened my grip on his wrist.

“Please,” I muttered with a garbled voice. “I don’t want to be alone. Not tonight.”

“Trina.” His voice sounded strained as he pulled his wrist out of my grasp. He brushed hair off my forehead in a way that made me lean into his touch. So soft. So gentle.

So much the opposite of how I’d been touched for the last several years that I felt my body craving that tenderness even though I knew I shouldn’t desire it.

“Not sure that’s a good idea,” Declan said, his thick voice a bit raspy.

“Please,” I whispered again, opening my eyes to see him. The outline of his body was barely visible in the darkened room, and slightly blurred because of my sleepiness.

After what seemed like several minutes passing, Declan finally nodded. I shifted on the bed and then watched as he fumbled with the button and zipper of his jeans. He sat on the edge of the bed, his back to me, and removed them.

The bed dipped as he lay down next to me, his T-shirt still on, and rolled toward my side. One of his arms slid under me and he pulled me to him until my head rested on his shoulder. His hand settled on my lower back, and I felt the warmth of his light but still possessive touch soak into my skin through my shirt.

His other hand rested on his stomach.

Closing my eyes, I shifted my body against him, trying to get as close as possible. His whole body was tense, rigid.

My body felt like it was waking up for possibly the first time.

We lay there silently while tension rippled in the air around us, both of us feeling it, neither of us acknowledging it.

I had almost been lulled back to sleep by the slow movement of his chest as he breathed, when he turned his head toward me and brushed his lips across my forehead.

“Go to sleep, Trina. We won’t let him hurt you.”

I pulled in my last deep breath before sleep claimed me, and fell asleep knowing that Declan believed his own words 110 percent.

I fell asleep cradled in Declan’s embrace, feeling safer with this almost-stranger than I had since the day I said “I do.”

I fell asleep with my life a mess, my future unclear, but I knew one thing for certain. I never wanted this feeling to fade.

Ever.

But when I woke up?

I was all alone.

Just like always.





Chapter 9


Declan


I hadn’t slept since Trina curled herself into me and fell asleep quickly after.

I hadn’t been able to close my eyes without feeling pure rage.

I could only take so much time being next to her, breathing in her soft, clean scent, and touching the delicate curves of her body.

I had to fight the urge to run my hand down her side, feeling her curves. My fingers itched to explore her body, to travel beneath the layers of clothing separating my skin from hers. Between the warmth of her body, the slow rise and dip of her chest, and the way she had practically pleaded with me to stay with her, I couldn’t stop having inappropriate thoughts of inappropriate things I wanted to do to her.

Hours after she fell asleep, her quiet, little puffs of breath hitting my chest and driving me to the brink of doing something insanelike waking her up and covering her skin with kissesI finally pulled myself away from her, careful not to wake her, and got the hell out of there.

Making only a whistling noise to get Boomer’s attention where he slept on the floor by Trina’s side of the bed, I shut her door quietly behind us. For a dopey-looking dog that generally seemed to care only about chasing squirrels and filling his stomach with food, he guarded her well.

As Boomer trudged behind me, the sound of our steps on the carpet the only noise in the house, I carefully made my way through the darkened living room and into the kitchen. I started a pot of coffee, knowing that if I hadn’t fallen asleep yet, I most likely wouldn’t at all.

Scratching sounds came from behind me and I looked to see Boomer clawing at the sliding door. I opened it just enough for him to slip through and flicked on the backyard porch light so I could see him. My yard was fenced, but the fence was only three feet high. If Boomer was ever motivated enough, he could easily clear it. As I closed the door, I jumped back from the quick rush of cool air breezing inside, chilling me to my bones.

It was September and already getting too cold for shorts. It was times like this I thought my parents had it right. Move south. Visit the North to escape the dastardly evil summer heat down there, but avoid the snow at all costs.

Thinking of my mom made me grin. I hadn’t talked to her much recently and I knew she’d have a lot of opinions when she learned I’d invited a woman into my home.

She never liked Mara, but never said anything. It was simply obvious with her quiet hums of displeasure, or the looks she’d shoot my dad when Mara and I were around them. At the time, I figured it was just because I was the baby of the family, the last to settle down, and my mom was having a hard time letting go.

Now I knew it was just her sixth sense about the eventual destruction of our relationship. Moms really did know everything.

Except for Trina’s.

My lips curled into a growl as I walked back to the kitchen and filled my coffee mug with fresh coffee.

That woman. What I wouldn’t give to demand she apologize to her daughter for forcing her to live through something so vile. She had thrown her daughter to the wolves for money, and I found it difficult to summon any compassion for her, even if she did it because of her illness.

My mother would never do anything like that. She’d given up her career to stay home and raise us as soon as my older brother was born. She lived through raising two boystwo hell-raising, football- and hockey-playing sonswith a husband who was just another large kid to take care of. Yet she never seemed to mind. In fact, she always said that looking back, the best days of her life were when her laundry room was overflowing with sweaty socks and piles of sports equipment.