Page 80 of Trophy
He half nodded, half shook his head.
She went over to sit beside him, wrapping her arms around him.
He made a hoarse sound and kind of collapsed onto the bed, pulling her with him. The position wasn’t entirely comfortable, so after a minute Allison said, “Maybe we should get under the covers.”
Rob moved immediately, and soon he’d pulled her into his arms beneath the sheets and comforter. She burrowed against him, finally feeling warm and dry and comfortable. Finally feeling loved and trusted and needed.
Rob held her tightly, almost too tightly, and the tension in his body felt so urgent that it worried her. “Rob,” she asked after a several minutes. “Are you okay?”
It took a little while for Rob to answer. “I haven’t been okay at all without you.”
“I’m here now.”
“And you’ll stay?”
“I’ll stay.”
They still had other things to say to each other, but this seemed to be enough for the moment. Allison held onto him until his body finally started to relax. She wondered if he would pull away from her then and try to get some sleep, but he didn’t.He started to stroke her hair and back, and it was the sweetest thing.
After a couple of hours Rob’s phone buzzed with a text. He reached to check it. “She’s home. Feeling better after the drugs they gave her. She reported it to the sheriff’s office. Dee’s still there with her.”
“Good. Good. That sounds like it went as well as it could have.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you should try to get some sleep,” she said, stroking his chest over his T-shirt. “It doesn’t look like you’ve gotten much for a while.”
“I haven’t.”
“I can’t believe you cleaned your house.”
He paused before he answered. “I didn’t think you’d noticed.”
“Of course I did.”
“It was the only thing I could think of to do. I couldn’t do anything else.”
“Well, you can sleep now. Everything is okay.”
“Is it okay with you too?” He’d lifted his head to peer at her face in the darkened room.
She gave him a trembly smile. “I really think it is.”
This was apparently the right thing to say. He smiled back and drew her into his arms once more.
Allison felt better now. Relaxed. Safe. Treasured in Rob’s arms but also really needed.
She felt good about him and about herself for the first time in a really long time—and she felt nothing at all like a trophy.
28
Both she andRob had to wake up early the next day. It was a work day, and unfortunately businesses kept running, no matter how many personal crises you’d worked through the day before.
They didn’t have much time to really talk before work. They’d slept later than they should have, so Allison needed to rush over to her house to shower and change for the restaurant. Rob kissed her before she left and asked if she’d come over that evening for dinner.
She said yes.
Any more relationship talk would have to wait until then.
