Lydia couldn’t argue with the truth of that. “Okay. I get it. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t do anything to put you in danger.”
Brows high, he let out a short laugh. “It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s you and Dad and your mom. Let them come at me. I’m ready. But you all aren’t.”
Maybe it wasn’t the job that was so secretive. It was Mack. Was it really necessary? Or was he paranoid? She reviewed what she knew of recent events. There had been that shooter at the recruiting center. Those Marines and a sailor had been killed.
His running a hand down her cheek brought her attention back to Mack. “You’re holding up pretty good after what happened—for a civilian.”
It was a lame joke but she got that he was trying to lighten up a very serious subject.
She swallowed hard, remembering those horrible few minutes. “I did what you said. I remembered and I did it.”
A frown creased his brow. “What did I say?”
“Run, hide, fight. Marissa was ducking under the table but I knew that wasn’t a good enough hiding spot, so we ran. I couldn’t see him from where we were so I figured he wouldn’t see us either if I stayed low and tried to get closer to the exit. When the sound of the shooting stopped—I think he ran out of bullets and had to reload just like you said he would—we got out.”
His eyes looked glassy as he swallowed before saying, “Good girl.”
“Did I do what I should have?” she asked.
“Yeah. You did real good.” He nodded and then crushed her against him so tightly she had trouble breathing. Not about to pull away, she made do the best she could.
CHAPTER 20
Mack was still shaking an hour later remembering Lydia’s recount of the shooting.
So many things could have gone wrong . . . but they hadn’t. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Lydia was in her own bed. Sleeping. Unhurt.
If he hadn’t needed to get up to get a drink of water so desperately, he’d still be laying there next to her. Not sleeping. Just listening to her breathe.
He’d spent the past hour touching her more for his comfort than for hers. He needed her warmth to remind himself she was alive.
Standing in her kitchen in nothing but his underwear, Mack pressed the water glass to his lips and swallowed a large gulp of tap water.
The irony that he was willingly going to spend the whole night in a woman’s bed, and not even have sex, wasn’t lost on him.
But there was no way he was leaving Lydia. Not tonight. Not until he had to.
Flipping on the cold water, he moved to refill the glass when he heard a key in the lock of the apartment door.
Lydia had a roommate. He’d seen confirmation of that all around the apartment, from the two toothbrushes in the bathroom, to the two laptops charging on the counter.
He wasn’t quite up for meeting new people in just his blue boxer briefs but he didn’t have much choice.
Being in nothing but underwear didn’t bother him. His lack of a weapon did, given what had happened on campus just today.
Training had him already very aware of the location of everything he could use as a weapon within reach. Kitchen knives. Teakettle. Half-empty bottle of some kind of flavored vodka. All would be good enough to act as an improvised weapon if he needed it.
He set the glass on the counter with barely a sound and took one step back, deeper into the shadows of the room, and waited.
The door opened and a girl pushed through. Tall. Blonde. A purse on her shoulder. The key in her hand.
Not a threat.
In fact, though he hadn’t gotten a good look at her face, she was most likely the girl he’d seen in the pictures around the apartment, usually smiling and hugging Lydia.
He let out the breath he’d been holding and decided to make his presence known before she spotted him and he scared the hell out of her.
His ego could only hope that this girl wasn’t used to walking in on Lydia’s partially dressed, overnight male visitors.
“Hey. I’m—”
Her eyes flew wide as she let out a frightened squeal.
Mack held up his empty hands, palms forward, and rushed to finish. “I’m a friend of Lydia’s.”
Friend. Pfft. More than that, he hoped, but that term was good enough of an explanation for here and now. They’d define what he was to her, and her to him, later on.
In her defense, Lydia’s roommate recovered quickly. She went from startled to surprisingly curious in seconds.
She lifted one brow. “Are you, now? Well, well, well.”
While she was checking him out, he was very aware of his state of undress.
“I’m Mack. And you are?” Under this girl’s scrutiny, he felt the need to prompt her with the usual social niceties.
“Marissa. Lydia’s roommate.” A small smile appeared on her lips. “Hmm.”
Mack raised a brow of his own. “Hmm?”
“Just thinking how she didn’t exaggerate.”
He was afraid to ask about what so he grabbed his glass of water and decided to make an escape while he could. “I’d better get back to her. She went to bed early.”
“Oh, I’m sure she did.” The humor and innuendo was clear in Marissa’s tone.
Mack couldn’t let it go. “She’s been through a lot today, being in that room with the shooter.”
The humor drained from Marissa’s features. “I know. I was there with her.”
Of course. The girl hiding under the table. The one Lydia told to run. He’d forgotten.
Mack nodded his head to acknowledge her ordeal. “I’m glad you’re not hurt.”
“Because of Lydia. She dragged me out of there. If she hadn’t I probably would have stayed right there and . . .” She let the sentence trail off, swallowing hard.
He knew what she hadn’t said but was thinking. If they hadn’t gotten out they could both have been among those in the hospital now, or worse.
“It all worked out so . . . You should probably get some rest too. Good night.” With a nod, he turned to go.
“Hey, um, Mack?”
He turned back. “Yeah?”
“You’re not a jerk, right? Because you kind of disappeared on her before and now you’re back and . . . I just need to know what kind of fallout to expect when you go again.”
“I won’t disappear again.” Mack realized he couldn’t make that promise in his line of work. “At least, I won’t without getting her some kind of word first.”
Marissa tilted her head to the side and eyed him critically—his face this time and not the rest of him. “So what are you? Like some kind of Black Ops?”
He let out a laugh. “Not exactly, no. But uh, it’s probably better—safer—if you don’t tell anyone anything about me. Okay?”
Her eyes widened. “Okay.”
Shaking his head as he walked, he realized he’d just opened a big can of worms, which he’d have to deal with.
He’d worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, all he wanted to do was hold Lydia. He turned for the bedroom and this time Marissa let him go.
Even creeping into the room as silently as he could, he wasn’t quiet enough. Lydia stirred and then sat up.
“Hey. How long did I sleep?”
“Not long.” He set down his water glass on the bedside table and sat on the mattress. Slipping under the covers, he pulled Lydia closer so she was leaning against him instead of the pillow. “Your roommate’s home. I just met her in the kitchen.”
“In your underwear?” she asked.
He laughed. “Yup.”
She twisted to face him. “So, she’s pretty, huh?”
He heard the underlying insecurity in Lydia’s question. He hated hearing that.
“I didn’t notice. I was too busy thinking about getting back here to you to do this.” Leaning low, he pressed a kiss to her mouth.
Climbing on top of him, Lydia straddled his hips. He watched as she hiked up the bottom of the oversized T-shirt she wore and saw she had nothing underneath.
His pulse quickened as Lydia reached between them, sliding her hand beneath the elastic of his briefs. His body reacted.
She freed him from his underwear. Wasting no time, she braced both hands on his shoulders and slid down over his length.
He didn’t ask if she was all right. He knew she wasn’t all right, but she would be.
He didn’t ask if she was sure she wanted to do this, now, after all that had happened today. He knew she needed this, as much as he did.
All of those questions would have been moot because he knew the answers already. He’d been here before. Narrowly escaping death. Coming back from the edge and feeling the need to cling to life.
She moved over him, every stroke affirming she was here. She was alive. She was his.
Maybe not quite his yet, but he’d work on affirming that tomorrow.
CHAPTER 21
Morning dawned brightly in spite of the dark tragedy of the day before.
Mack’s soft breathing next to her had memories of another kind pouring into Lydia’s consciousness.
She knew he’d spent half the night holding her, watching her. She’d awoken a couple of times to find him wide awake.
If she could somehow manage to get out of bed without disturbing him, he could sleep a little longer.
Flipping back the corner of the covers, Lydia moved slowly, swinging first one leg and then the other over the edge of the mattress.