Stone Cold Cowboy(69)
If she wanted to tease him, he was up for the game. He sat beside her on the edge of the bed and stared down at her beautiful, clean face. Without makeup, she appeared younger, more fragile. “It’s both actually. Which is why I haven’t put on a shirt either. To drive you crazy and you’ll have less to take off.”
“I appreciate it. You’re so thoughtful. Are you wearing anything under those sweats?”
“Nothing but skin.”
“Tease.”
Ford and Colt pounded up the stairs and hit the landing, calling, “Night, Sadie and Rory,” as they went down the hall to their bedrooms.
“I’m never going to hear the end of you being here with me.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. She buried her face in his pillow and let the grief she’d held valiantly at bay take her.
Rory brushed his hand over her hair again and again. He soothed her with soft words and promises that everything would be all right while she cried out her grief until she fell asleep, exhausted after all she’d been through the last two days. He pulled the covers up and tucked them around her shoulders. He held her head, leaned down, and kissed her cheek. With his lips a breath away from her ear he whispered the one thing he didn’t have the courage to say to her when she was awake. “I love you.”
He pressed his forehead against her soft skin, inhaled her sweet spring scent, and made himself get up and leave her.
Rory grabbed a shirt from his dresser. He pulled it on over his head on the way downstairs and fell onto his back on the leather sofa, covering his face with both hands and letting out a ragged breath. The last two days weighed on him. He worried about Sadie, her brother, and what came next. One thought refused to leave his overtired mind. Sadie asleep in his bed, ready and willing to take their relationship to the next level. He wanted to take it all the way. Seeing her lying there, so sweet, asleep in his bed, made him want to beg her to stay there for the rest of their lives. She’d think him crazy if he asked her to stay, marry him, build a life with him here on the ranch so soon after they started dating. He’d have to convince her. Actually, he’d have to give her a reason to want to stay.
She definitely felt the connection between them. Did she love him, too?
CHAPTER 19
Sadie ran through the storm across a field, fear driving her to sprint harder. Her breath sawed in and out until she could barely breathe past the tightening band around her chest. Her heart pounded against her ribs until she felt like the bones would snap. The icy rain pelted her bare skin like razor blades. Lightning flashed, revealing the crimson blood running over her skin. Thunder boomed through the night as she ran for the man standing at the other end of the green field. Her father stood with his arms open, ready to take her away from the raging storm. And her life here. She screamed and sat bolt upright in bed, holding her arms up but seeing nothing except her pale skin with the red ring of scars around her wrists.
She sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm her heart, and raked her fingers through her still damp hair, pulling it away from her sweaty face. As the fine sheen of sweat covering her body dried, a chill raced over her skin.
She stared around the unfamiliar room, trying to orient herself. Rory’s room. She was safe. No one lurked in the dark corners. No one was after her. No one screamed for her to help, but only ended up hurting her in the end.
She understood the dark nightmare. Her mind telling her to leave this thing with Connor alone. She couldn’t fix it. If she continued to try, she’d only put herself in harm’s way again. She’d end up dead and reunited with her father. The fear coursed through her, but she still faltered on whether she could turn her back on Connor and live with herself.
Sleep eluded her and offered little distraction for her overactive mind that used sleep to make her face things she didn’t want to think about anymore. She threw off the covers and rolled out of bed. The house stood quiet around her. No lights hinted that someone might still be awake as the night neared two in the morning. She padded down the stairs and headed for the kitchen for a glass of water. Luckily a soft night light cast a warm glow over the countertops by the sink. She pulled a glass from the strainer and filled it at the tap.
Drawn into the living room where Rory slept soundlessly on the couch, she stared down at him, smiling to herself that his big frame didn’t quite fit on the sofa. His huge feet sat propped on the armrest. He’d put on a shirt. Too bad. She liked looking at all those muscles. The man was built. Tall and lean. She ached to touch him. She wanted to run her fingers through his thick blond hair.
Moonlight streamed through the window and glinted off his golden beard. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. She liked the scruff. It made him look dangerous, especially when he didn’t smile. Which was less often now when she was with him. He smiled at her all the time. The first time she heard him laugh, her stomach knotted with nerves because she’d wanted to kiss him so bad for looking so good. He’d been sitting at the table with his brothers, talking about their day. Colt told them about how he’d been cleaning out horse stalls. One of the most ornery horses graciously made a fresh mess for him. When Colt cussed, the horse shifted and dumped Colt right on his ass in the pile of horseshit.