She peered at him, trying to contain her amusement.
“What?” he asked, pinning her with a questioning look.
“You weren’t kidding about the super breed. Your little guys really do know how to swim.”
Laughing softly beneath his breath, he offered a knowing wink.
“I’d hate to see what happens when you try.”
The comment drew his attention. Turning slightly, Sebastian leaned over her, his lips curling with a contented smirk. Trapping her beneath his stare, he let his gaze roam over her at a leisurely pace.
“You’ll find out someday, darling. That much I promise,” he said, issuing the last word in a hot whisper against her ear.
Taylor’s cheeks flushed as she shifted against his side and tried to nudge him away. “You’re horrible.”
“Mmm. That I am,” he agreed, tracing a reverent path along the underside of her jaw. “But you love me.”
“I do. I’m just trying to figure out why.”
He clicked his tongue at the barb and tipped her chin up with an admonishing shake of his head. “Careful, sweetheart. You’re going to make me feel I have something to prove.”
Her shoulders jerked with silent amusement. Turning her head, she rested her cheek against the warm, reassuring strength of his body. The movement brought a fresh wave of pain and she stiffened. Sebastian adjusted her, turning her slightly into him and soon, his cool fingertips settled above her brow and rubbed in gentle circles. It amazed her how much relief the subtle pressure brought.
“Rupert,” she asked. “Is he…”
“Shh. He’s fine, Taylor. He has some cuts and he took a beating, but he’s going to be okay. They released him this morning.”
“How long have you been here?” she asked, bracing herself for the answer. The last time she woke up in a room like this, she’d learned she’d lost three weeks of her life.
“Since yesterday,” Sebastian stated softly. “You’ve been in and out for the last few hours. They wanted to keep you comfortable and keep an eye on your head. We should be able to go home soon though now that you’re awake.”
She let out a thankful breath. “Good. You really need to wash up and change.”
The teasing helped lighten the atmosphere some. A small smile curved her lips as she felt Sebastian shake beneath her.
“It’s probably not my best look,” he admitted with a sheepish smirk. “But it’s nothing a hot shower and a shave won’t fix. Now you on the other hand…”
“I…” she faltered, her words fading as she fingered the butterfly sutures stretched above her eye. “Is it really that bad?”
Sebastian sighed. “No, baby. You will always be beautiful. Especially to me. I was just trying to be funny and failed.”
She fought a smile. “I hate to say it, but you did. You really do need a better sense of humor, Sebby.”
“So I’ve been told.” A long silence spanned between them, filling the minutes with an uneasy tension. Sebastian broke it by burying his face in her hair and pulling the scent of her deep into his lungs. “I need you to tell me what happened, Taylor. Whatever it is, no matter how bad or how upset you think I will be I need you to tell me the truth.”
She stiffened, ignoring the pain rolling through her battered body as she tried to focus. The details were fuzzy but bit-by-bit they started to filter back to her. The memories chilled her to the core and spawned a bone-numbing fear. Fear of Marx, of SKALS, of all the unseen threats that seemed to lurk, waiting, around every turn. Part of her wanted to cry, to ask God one simple question: Why? Hadn’t they been through enough already? Caution advised her to keep silent. For whatever reason, posing such rhetorical questions only tended to make things worse, like you were tempting fate.
They had done enough of that lately, too.
Settling against him, she let her eyes drift shut once again and released a shaky sigh.
“I don’t know, Seb. I really don’t.” She bit the inside corner of her mouth for a second and shook her head as much as she could muster. “It’s kind of blurry, but I remember the car started acting funny. We hadn’t even made it halfway down the road yet and it started shimmying and shaking. I was trying to make it to the shopping plaza so I could pull over and pop the hood. I’m no expert, but I had to jimmy things in the pickup truck so many times I thought I might be able to figure it out. The stoplight changed, but when I tried to brake, nothing happened. I put the pedal to the floor, I tried pumping it, but nothing,” she said, her breath coming quicker as she remembered gliding through the open intersection and the absolute panic that came before the deafening crunch of metal and splintering glass. “I tried everything, but I just couldn’t stop, Sebby. I couldn’t stop…”