by Callie Croix
“What are you—Reid!”
“What?” he grunted, doing a pull-up to lever himself onto the roof.
When he stood, Becca’s anxious face appeared below the edge of the roof, peering up at him with wide eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Getting inside so I can let you in where it’s warm,” he answered evenly, climbing up the steeply pitched roof to her bedroom windowsill. “Your alarm set?”
“Yes, but the upper windows don’t have sensors.”
Well, they would starting Monday, he vowed. He gripped the bottom of the open window and shoved upward until he had enough room to squeeze through, then climbed in. Jogging through her bedroom and down the stairs to the front door, he unlocked it and let her in, ignoring the funny look she gave him.
She punched in the code on the keypad inside the front door with shaky fingers before speaking. “It’s slippery up there. You could have fallen.” Her tone held a bite of accusation.
Part of him wanted to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded. She knew what he did for a living and understood better than most the risks associated with it. He did things a thousand times more dangerous than climbing a wet roof on a daily basis during training, let alone in combat. “You’re freezing. Go grab a hot shower and get warmed up.”
Instead of immediately heading upstairs, she licked her blue-tinged lips and stared at him. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what was running through her head but he was sure he’d find out soon enough. Bec never held back about what was on her mind. “Okay. Go ahead and use the guest bathroom,” she said with a nod toward the end of the hall. “There are fresh towels in the cabinet under the sink.”
He couldn’t help notice that she hadn’t invited him to shower with her. Before this last deployment he would have joined her there without question. “Here,” he said, gently prying the damp blanket from her cold fingers. “It’s not doing you any good now.” Standing there in nothing but his gray T-shirt that hit her at midthigh, she trembled from her head to her bare toes. He couldn’t stand it.
Before he could think about it, he reached out and drew her into his arms, holding her tight against his bare chest to warm her and offer comfort. She needed it, even if she was determined to hold herself apart from him. The brave face she’d put on didn’t fool him. He knew she was shaking just as hard on the inside and refused to let it show. While he admired that strength, he wanted her to turn to him for reassurance and it was obvious she wasn’t ready to let him in that far. Just how much of their trust had he ruined with his silence over the past few weeks?
He rested his chin on the crown of her head with a sigh and closed his eyes, loving the feel of her in his arms, wanting to take care of her. After a moment Becca seemed to wilt, turning her cold cheek into his shoulder as she wound her chilled arms around his bare waist, making him flinch.
“You’re frozen.” He stroked his palm up and down her spine in a soothing motion. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Thanks to you, yeah.” Her voice turned husky. “I don’t know if I’d have gotten out without you.”
Reid squeezed her. “Yeah, you would have. You’d have found a way.” He had no doubt of that. Becca was smart and resourceful.
She drew in a fractured breath and pressed tighter to him, as though she couldn’t get close enough. A surge of protectiveness swelled inside him. Don’t cry, he almost said but bit the words back. She was struggling so hard to hold it together; maybe crying was the best thing for her right now. He held her firmly against him and kept running his hand over her back, willing to give her whatever she needed. Except space. He didn’t think he’d be able to do that right now if she asked.
The shivers wracking her gradually subsided to tiny tremors. Soaked as she was with muddy water, he could still smell the faint scent that was all Becca.
He wanted to do so much more than hold her. With her delectable curves molded against him, Reid couldn’t control his body’s reaction to her any more than he could go back in time and undo the way he’d hurt her. His throbbing erection pressed insistently against her abdomen. All he had to do was bend his head a little to brush his lips against the silky smooth skin of her cheek, kiss every mark on her face and chase away the cold the best way he knew how. There was so much he had to say. Would she listen?
Becca lifted her head and gazed up at him in the softly lit entryway. A tremulous smile quivered on her lips. Tightening his hands on her back, he lowered his head and the smile froze in place, a spark of unease entering her blue eyes. Reid silently cursed himself and reluctantly loosened his grip, easing back. Her withdrawal confused and frustrated him. She squeezed him once before pulling away and wouldn’t meet his eyes when she turned from him. Reid watched her bare sexy legs as she climbed the stairs until she was out of sight, battling the need to go after her. In spite of everything, she still wanted him. Maybe even needed him.
He’d come here to set things straight between them, attempt to repair all the damage he’d done. His initial plan had been to seduce her in exactly the way she’d laid out in her fantasy. The accident changed things only slightly. He’d let her get cleaned up and warm, give her a little while to deal with the trauma she’d just been through then do whatever he could to make her feel safe. After they showered, he’d say his piece and hope for the best.
It wasn’t going to be easy. Becca was stubborn and as independent as they came. She’d already made it clear that while she was grateful for his help, she didn’t need him. He planned to prove her wrong. Even if she threw his apology back in his face and told him to leave, he wasn’t going anywhere. After all that had happened, no way in hell was he leaving her alone tonight. If she wasn’t interested in hearing what he had to say, he’d go with his original plan and settle for using his body to show her exactly what she meant to him.
Chapter Four
On her way through her bedroom to the en suite, Becca stopped and changed her mind about leaving the flash drive. Darting back downstairs, she found it lying on the desk in her office. Her heart beat just a little faster when she picked it up and hurried back to her room, where she placed it on the dresser next to her work phone. Her mind whirled with thoughts about the accident and Reid.
She kept veering between a sense of unreality that she’d almost died because someone had purposely run them off the road and the knowledge that Reid was downstairs right now, naked in her guest shower. More than anything she wanted to go to him and let him warm her with his naked body, burn all the fear and uncertainty away for at least a little while. The steely erection pressing into her earlier told her he still wanted her. Physically, at least.
It was her uncertainty about the rest of it that had stopped her from kissing him.
When she flipped on the bathroom light and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she grimaced at her reflection. Her skin had a bluish cast to it and her eyes were ringed with smudged black makeup. Her cold nipples poked at the soft material of Reid’s shirt, and her bare arms and legs were covered in goose bumps. She had scrapes and cuts on her nose, jaw and hands, plus a few more around her hips, where the broken glass had caught her.
She shuddered, her mind going back to when she’d been trapped beneath the dark, freezing muddy water. David had knocked her backward when he’d escaped, totally disorienting her. She’d panicked, not knowing which way was out. If Reid hadn’t been there to haul her out, she might have drowned.
Her skin crawled at the memory of taking in that last desperate, gulping breath as the rushing water crashed over her head, not knowing when she’d get her next lungful of air.
Rubbing her hands over her arms, she turned on the shower to hot and peeled the shirt over her head. The bandage around her hand was next. The cuts across the side and heel of her hand were shallow and weren’t bleeding anymore, though they stung a bit. She stepped beneath the spray and let
the steaming water pound down on her tense neck and shoulders, sighing in relief at the warmth. She leaned her forehead against her hands, braced on the white-tiled wall, and let the water chase the lingering chill away.
Determinedly she focused on nothing more than the warmth, not allowing her mind to replay the accident or worry about what would happen with Reid. When the shivers had stopped and she was warm once again, she washed her hair and scrubbed herself clean. Braced beneath the heavenly flow of warmth, she couldn’t bring herself to shut the water off just yet.
Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to remember what it had felt like to be pressed up close against Reid’s solid chest, his steely arms around her once again. She’d missed that so much since he’d been gone, his easy affection and the feeling of contentment whenever she was with him.
Partway through the dinner she’d made up her mind to talk to him at some point over the weekend, hoping he had a good reason for dropping out of her life. The sensible, logical part of her had warned her she had to end things permanently between them before he crushed her heart completely. Now she wasn’t sure what she wanted. He’d already proven he wasn’t as emotionally invested as she was, yet he’d come to see her as soon as he got back and, coincidence or not, saved her life in the process. Was giving him another shot to hurt her just plain stupid? At the moment it was hard to be practical. She ached to be with him tonight.
She needed to feel him against her naked skin, absorb his warmth and strength, the comfort he so obviously wanted to give. It wasn’t weak of her to want those things. She could accept the solace he offered and hold it close, give them a proper goodbye. She still loved him, and part of her always would.
Becca ran a hand over her wet hair. God, she was confused. Why had he shown up tonight? Would he have driven all this way to her house just to end it? Or did he want to fix everything and start over? He acted like he still cared, but she was so afraid of being hurt again. Could she honestly let him go now?
Not tonight, she couldn’t.
Standing beneath the warm spray, her body hummed with a new awareness. Every sense seemed heightened. Maybe it was because she’d nearly drowned tonight or maybe because Reid was finally back, though the reason didn’t matter. Blood beat heavy through her veins, sending a pulsing ache from her breasts to down between her thighs.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood beneath the steady stream of water, but eventually the flow began to cool. Sighing, she shut it off and quickly toweled dry then took the blow dryer to her hair. Once it fell in sleek waves over her back and shoulders, she retrieved her favorite calf-length fluffy pink robe from a hook on the back of the door and wrapped herself in its cuddly folds. It might not be sexy, but too bad. She needed all the comfort she could get right now.
After brushing her teeth then putting on a little eye makeup and a touch of lip gloss, she felt a thousand times better when she emerged from the steam-filled bathroom. She paused on the threshold for a moment, clearing her mind of clutter as she drank in the soothing atmosphere of her bedroom.
This room was her haven, her sanctuary, and she’d worked damn hard to make it that way. The walls were a pale vanilla trimmed with glossy white crown moldings, and the huge four-poster bed dominated the far end, draped with sheer white mosquito netting. Pretty and fresh but not overly feminine, a perfect retreat after writing code at the office all day. At the moment she couldn’t wait to crawl under the covers. Not that she’d be able to sleep much tonight. Her body pulsed with the need to be held, for Reid to press her down on that bed and take her beyond thinking into pure sensation.
“Hey.”
She jumped and whipped around. One hand flew to her chest, over her racing heart as she stared at Reid, backlit in her doorway. “Reid, God!” She sagged as her already tired muscles turned to rubber. “You scared me.”
He took a step toward her, tall and imposing, this time dressed in dark jeans and a black T-shirt that hugged his muscled torso. The chandelier from the hallway cast a warm glow on his dark hair, longer than it had been before he’d left for Afghanistan. Light glinted off the heavy stubble on his cheeks and jaw, reminding her he hadn’t shaved in a while. “Sorry.” He sounded anything but as his gaze raked over the length of her, sending a primal tendril of heat through her system.
He didn’t move from the doorway.
Confused by his stillness, she stayed where she was. “What…what do you want?” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded breathless. Her heart beat a frantic rhythm, her mind racing to make a decision. Did she want this or not?
“To talk to you.”
“Okay.” Only that look he’d just given her said the last thing he wanted to do was talk. She raised her chin and steeled herself for bad news, preparing to take it like a big girl. If he was here to break up with her after what she’d just been through, then she didn’t know him as well as she thought and definitely wanted nothing more to do with him.
He aimed a pointed nod behind her, his face an unreadable mask. “You shouldn’t leave your window unlocked, let alone open.”
The buzz of arousal and anticipation died away at his stern warning. She’d only cracked the window open a couple of inches. He couldn’t possibly be implying that someone in her safe neighborhood—besides him—might climb up on the roof and come through her window. In light of recent events, that was the least of her worries right now.
Off-balance and hating it, she scowled, fighting to stop the tremor that snaked through her at the potent, dark sensuality he emitted. “Okay, I won’t do it again.” He didn’t answer, so she raised her brows to prompt him. Was that what he wanted to talk to her about? She couldn’t read him and it unsettled her. What did he want? He wasn’t coming toward her, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to make the first move.
After a lengthy pause, Reid finally advanced on her. Slowly, like he was stalking prey. She had to stop herself from taking a step back at the strange, almost predatory vibe coming from him. He seemed dangerous all of a sudden, something she’d never seen in him before. She had no idea what he’d do next.
He stopped in front of her, mere inches away, so close that she could feel the heat from his body and smell the delicious scent of soap and male musk. Too harsh to be truly handsome, the strong angles and planes that made up his face never failed to take her breath away. But that closed expression kept her on edge and stopped her from reaching for him.
His dark eyes searched hers for a breathless moment, assessing her, like he was delving into her innermost thoughts. “I needed to see you tonight.”
Her heart pounded crazily beneath her ribs as she fought to keep from touching him. She wouldn’t until she knew what was happening here. “I’m glad you decided to drive down.” His hands had pulled her out through the darkness and up toward the light. His arms had anchored her through the blinding panic that followed. She wrapped her arms around her waist as a shiver snaked through her and tried not to think about the accident.
“Yeah, I’m glad too,” he said, lifting a hand to stroke a lock of hair back from her cheek. She ached to lean into that touch. “I drove down because I needed to say something to you face to face. But after seeing you under the water like that, the last thing I want to do is talk.” His stare was so intense it burned, his need for her clear in his eyes.
Beneath the power of that gaze, she trembled even more. She couldn’t control her body’s reaction to the adrenaline crash anymore. The scare, the knowledge that someone had tried to kill her, that Reid was standing here because he’d come for her was too much. Despite her resolve to hold back, she was already lost to him. Her breath hitched in and sudden tears burned her eyes before she could blink them away.
Reid’s expression softened immediately. “Hey. C’mere.” Before she could utter a protest, he reached for her and drew her tight against him.
Becca gasped and shuddered at t
he contact, biting her lip to keep from crying. His wonderful, strong arms surrounded her, one hand cupping the back of her head to press her cheek into his muscled shoulder. She automatically gripped the back of his T-shirt with both fists, needing to hold onto him, fighting the urge to grab handfuls of his hair and devour his mouth with ravenous kisses, pull him to the floor and tear his clothes off.
After all this time Reid was finally here, holding her the way she’d dreamed of for so long, and he still cared. It was enough for now.
She pressed closer, famished for the feel of him. Warmth. Strength. His embrace was both protective and possessive, and she didn’t protest because it was exactly what she needed. When he held her like this she could temporarily forget the accident and how he’d shut her out these past few weeks. Her body was alive with sensation, hungry for more.
“I was so scared,” she admitted hoarsely, knowing it was okay to say it to him.
“I know, baby. But you did great.”
She tried to battle the memory of the crash and the resulting tide of adrenaline coursing through her blood, but her breath continued to come in sharp little gasps no matter how hard she fought to control it. “Sorry.”
Reid lowered his head and rested his bristly cheek against hers. “Shhhh,” he whispered against her hair, enfolding her tightly as though he wanted to wrap around her and never let go. She wished he wouldn’t. “Shhhh.”
The feel and scent of him helped ground her. Becca let the soothing sounds he made flow over her trembling body, the safety and solidity he offered wrapping around her like a blanket. The stubble on his cheek prickled, but she didn’t care. Every tiny sensation was another reminder that she was alive, that every moment should be treasured.