I screamed.
“Dammit, Katie!” someone yelled. “Wake up!”
His voice broke through the nightmare and my body went completely rigid against the sweat-drenched sheets.
I blinked away the vision of red and orange, letting the darkness of the room surround me. I would take darkness over fire any day.
The mattress dipped slightly on my one side, and I turned my head to find Holt watching me. His bare chest practically glowed in the darkness. “I was having a nightmare,” I said, really reassuring myself more than speaking to him.
“I figured that out,” he replied dryly. “I thought you were being murdered back here by the way you screamed.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
A thick strand of damp hair clung to my cheek and he reached out to brush it away. “Wanna talk about it?”
I shook my head. Dreaming it was bad enough.
I sat up, pushing away the sheets tangled around my legs. The scent of smoke seemed to cling to me, reminding me once again of everything I was trying to forget.
I pulled at the tank top I was wearing; it was sticking to my skin. Holt went across the room to the closet and returned with a light-colored T-shirt. “Here. You can put this on if you want.”
“Thank you,” I said. I wanted these smoke-ridden, sweaty clothes off me, and since all my clothes smelled, this shirt was a lot better than anything I had.
He didn’t say anything else, just quietly left the room. I hurried to change, throwing my PJs across the room and into a darkened corner. I’d deal with them later.
A glance at the clock on the nightstand told me I still had several hours until morning, and I knew I was in for a long night. I wasn’t quite ready to get back in bed, and my throat felt dry, so I left the bedroom and padded into the kitchen for a bottle of cool water.
On my way back through the living room, I glanced at the couch and froze. Holt was lying there with a blanket tossed over his legs.
“You’re sleeping on the couch?” I said, surprise lacing my tone.
“I figured it was too soon to climb into bed with you,” he drawled.
A warm flush spread over my limbs. The idea of sharing a bed with him… of being tangled up in his arms and legs… was entirely too appealing. “I’m an idiot.”
He chuckled. “And why is that?”
Because I should have realized that he only had one bed in this house and I was hogging it. He did say my scent was on his sheets. Geez, how slow on the uptake was I? “I should be the one sleeping out here.”
“No.” It sounded like a command.
“Yes.”
He moved so fast I barely saw him, and then he was towering over me, my eyes left to stare at the very wide expanse of his chiseled chest. “What kind of a man do you think I am?” he drawled.
“What?” I said, not really listening to his words. His body was the ultimate distraction.
“Do you really think I would let someone—a girl—who was just released from the hospital, still bruised and burned, sleep on my couch?”
“I’m sure I would be more comfortable there than you would be.”
“Go back to bed, Katie.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“And if I don’t?” I challenged. I didn’t really care for the overbearing type.
“If you don’t, I’m going to rip my shirt off you right here and do things to your body that will echo through your limbs long after I stop touching you.”
I took a sip of the chilled water, thinking it would clear my head of the images he just filled it with.
It didn’t help.
Part of me was very tempted to see if he would follow through on his words. The other part of me wanted to run away.
He leaned down toward my face. “What’s it gonna be, Freckles?”
Like a big fat chicken, I turned and fled into the safety of his bedroom. I jumped onto the mattress like there was something hiding beneath it, waiting to snatch me away. Then I sat in the center of the massive bed and tried to calm the tingle of excitement that coursed through me.
As I buried my head into one of the fluffy pillows and squeezed my eyes shut, I could have sworn his laughter echoed through the darkness.
* * *
He was sitting at the kitchen island, eating a bowl of cereal, when I entered the kitchen the next morning. I was relieved to see he was wearing a shirt. Instead of dealing with a pair of jeans or shorts, I opted instead for a simple T-shirt dress in navy blue. I’d wanted to braid my hair but didn’t feel like aggravating my wrists, so I left it down to fall halfway down my back.