Page 51 of Forever Never
“If you didn’t want to be with me, you didn’t have to go off and marry my best friend,” Remi said.
He stood there open-mouthed as she shuffled off toward the bathroom.
There was a muffled yelp and a thump followed quickly by an “I’m okay!”
“Are you sure?”
“Is my macaroni done yet?”
He rolled his eyes and turned up the heat on the burner.
She was singing now as water ran in the bathroom. It sounded like she was getting ready to take a shower.
“Psst! Brick!”
He looked up and then immediately glanced away again. She was wrapped up in nothing but a towel. And that towel was only covering one of her two spectacular breasts.
He was a fucking gentleman, damn it.“Uh. What?”
“Can you find me something to sleep in?”
“Can’t you find it yourself? I’m making you a snack.”
“Oh, right! I totally forgot.” She smacked herself in the forehead, laughing. Then stumbled into the bedroom. He listened to drawers opening and closing and a few muttered curses before the telltale sound of her small body hitting the mattress.
He finished the pasta, dished some into a bowl and grabbed a spoon big enough for a drunk to hold. On his way to the bedroom, he stopped by the bathroom to turn off the shower she’d started.
“Remi?” He knocked on the partially closed bedroom door.
It was dark in the room, and she was curled in a ball on top of the covers. At least she’d managed to dress herself. The Mackinac PD hoodie was huge on her and it was on backward, the hood bunched under her chin. He let out a sigh and put the bowl on the nightstand. “Come on, Rem. Get under the covers before you freeze.” He managed to pull back the quilt and sheet and stuff her under them without coming into too much contact with her bare skin.
“Do you want to eat or do you want to sleep?” he asked, smoothing the covers over her.
“Will you turn the lights on?” she asked in a small voice.
“Which ones?”
“All of them.”
He paused. “Are you afraid of the dark, baby?”
“Don’t tell anyone,” she whispered. “I just need to be able to see him coming.”
Him.
“Who, Remi? Who are you afraid of?”
Fuck temporary promises. If there was a man out there who scared her, he wouldn’t rest until the scales were balanced.
“This is why I came back,” she murmured against her pillow.
“Why?”
“You make me feel safe.”
He stood there staring down at her, hands fisted at his sides as a wave of possession knocked into him.
He made her feel safe.
