Page 6 of Saved By the SEAL

I can’t instantly see what’s going on here. I can’t lay my eyes on anyone in particular. I can sense danger, but I can’t see it. I hate not being able to see it because I can’t stop it that way. Michelle is thrashing away under the blankets, fighting off an assailant, but I can’t see the attacker at all. Even as I whip the duvet off in an attempt to help, there isn’t anyone there.

“Michelle?” Oh, God, I don’t think this is an attack, after all. I think it’s a nightmare or something. That strikes me so hard I can hardly breathe. I’m all fired up, ready to fight back, and there isn’t anyone to beat down. I don’t quite know how to handle this. “Michelle, what’s going on? I…” I take a step back because I’m a little weirded out by this. “I don’t know what to do here.”

Do I walk away? Am I supposed to leave her sleeping here, suffering the nightmare? It feels wrong to do so. I don’t like it, but I think it might be the correct thing to do. I’ve heard that you shouldn’t wake someone in this sort of situation, but it feelswrong. I can’t leave her in the middle of this. It’s horrible. She has so much pain on her face that I can hardly stand it.

“Michelle.” I touch her gently, just because I’m afraid of her reaction. “Michelle, is everything okay?”

She bolts upright. I jump back, but she reaches out and yanks me back toward her. Much to my surprise, she wraps her arms around me and hugs me to her, sobbing hard against my chest. I can’t do anything but hug her right back.

“Someone is going to get me,” she wails, as if someone has his hands around her neck right now. “Alexander will get me. He’s going to follow through on those threats and tear my organs out, Jordan. I’m so fucking scared. I’m terrified.”

She speaks with much more of a Russian twang as she yells these words out. I can see that I’m getting to see more of who she is underneath the surface. This vulnerable, terrified side of her needs me to be close to her. She won’t let me go.

“No one is here, Michelle,” I say in a quiet, soothing voice while gently stroking her back. “It’s only me. I think it was a dream.”

“But Alexander… Alexander… he was…” She pulls her eyes up to look at me, still a little glazed over as if she hasn’t quite woken up yet. “He was saying all these things to me, telling me that… that he’s going to kill me, and… he was here.”

“No one’s here.” God, I’m so relieved to be able to say this for real. “Only me and you. This Alexander isn’t going to do anything to you. No one will do anything to you when I’m with you. Max hired me to work with you for a reason, and it’s because he trusts me to keep you safe. I’ll make sure that no one can get to you. You’re safe when you’re with me. I promise you.”

She clings to me tighter, still weeping against my shoulder, but I can sense that she’s calming down a little bit. I do everything that I can to keep on with that, to keep her cooling down. I don’t like seeing her all wound up like that. It hurts me to see her so sad and distressed. Perhaps there is more to her trauma than I’ve allowed myself to believe.

“So… sorry,” she mutters in the end, her voice shaking with emotion. “I didn’t mean to crack like that…”

“Is that something that happens often?” I ask her cautiously. “The nightmares, I mean. Do you suffer with them a lot?”

She offers me a one-shouldered shrug before she begins nodding. I don’t think she was going to tell me the truth at first, but now I’m glad she’s being honest. I can’t help her if she doesn’t open up to me about this. Especially when it’s this bad.

“I’ve been suffering from nightmares ever since I got dragged into this spy world,” she whispers while pulling back and wrapping her arms around herself like a protective barrier. “It’s never been what I wanted and it’s a terrible world. But escaping it is worse. It’s what I want, it’s what I need, but it scares me. I kinda feel like I’ll always be looking over my shoulder for someone to attack me. I’m terrified that my boss and other people I’ve worked with will be out to kill me.”

I grab onto her shoulders and stare firmly into her eyes because right now, I really need her to hear me. “Michelle, nothing will happen to you when you’re with me. I swear to you, I’m here for you, solely to look after you, to protect you from everyone coming your way. I won’t let anything happen to you. You can trust me with this. You don’t need the nightmares anymore.”

My words are flooded with passion. I really do mean them right now. I know I might be skeptical of her and her intentions, or I have been, but now, I’m much less sure. She really does seem to have a lot of terror inside her right now, and I need to calm that down. I’ll say anything to make her feel better because I can’t stand this. I want her to be okay.

“Will you stay with me?” She clings to my top and keeps me with her. “Please? I just need to feel you beside me right now. I don’t want to be alone. I’m scared that the nightmares will come back once more. I can’t cope. I need you with me, Jordan.”

I nod immediately, even if I’m not too sure that’s the best course of action for either of us. “Of course, whatever you need.”

I’ve promised her that, and I do intend to follow through with that. Even if it makes me uncomfortable, which lying on the bed alongside her will definitely do. But Michelle needs it. She lies back on the sheets in her skimpy night wear, which I presume is all that she has at the moment, and she indicates for me to lie beside her. Where she pats the bed, I crash down and curl up beside her. Michelle wraps her arms around me once more and snuggles herself close to me as if we’re a married couple.

My God, I can’t remember the last time I was in bed with a woman like this, holding on to her and not planning my escape before it gets awkward and feelings are caught. But there is no escape from this situation. I’m here. I’m staying.

What if Michelle really is everything that she says she is?I think to myself as I watch Michelle finally drift off to sleep.What if I’m wrong about her?I judged her before I even got to know her, but tonight, I’m not so sure.What if she’s just lovely?

I kinda feel like she might be at the moment as she lies in my arms. I’m no longer convinced that she’s to be watched as I thought. The Russian agents really do have her terrified in a way that I don’t imagine anyone could put on. Unless Michelle is the best actress that I’ve ever come across in my life, that was all very real. That nightmare was crushing her badly.

Max saw something in Michelle. He tried to tell me that she could be trusted, and perhaps he was right. I should have listened.

I sigh heavily and lean my head against hers, breathing her in. It doesn’t help that she smells absolutely delicious, so beautiful that I want to taste her. Not that I will, of course. I have no intention of following through on that urge, but it’s there all the same.

I tell myself not to sleep because I want to be alert just in case any of Michelle’s intense fears come to light, but I find myself drifting accidentally. The comfort of being close to Michelle and feeling this warmth flowing between us is intoxicating. It creates a storm cloud of desire to start bubbling and popping in the pit of my stomach. I don’t want it to be there because it’s hard to contain, but I can’t exactly stop it, can I? I don’t have any choice but to try and shove it down further. Hopefully, so deep down that I can’t feel it anymore so I can focus on the important things to me, such as my professionalism.

If she reallyisa lovely person, though, if there isn’t anything wrong with her, then I might be in more trouble than I first thought. She’ll be difficult to resist if she’s sweet too. But I’ll do it. I’ll make sure that I don’t cave. Not only will I fuck things up between me and Michelle and this job, but Max will kill me too. I want to impress him, especially right away, and I’m sure that hooking up with a client is such a strong rule that it doesn’t evenneed to be written down. Breaking it instantly with Michelle will disappoint him in every single way. I can’t do that. I mean, it isn’t like Michelle will be the only woman to make me feel this way, is it? I’ll find someone else. Eventually, I’ll find The One and then all of this will be forgotten.

Well, hopefully, anyway. Right now, I can’t ever imagine forgetting Michelle, but then I’m smack bang in the middle of things. There’s time…

6

MICHELLE

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