“I know they’re just dreams, but when I wake up, I’m so afraid. I don’t want to go to sleep, Thor. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to close my eyes. I’d rather try to sleep in this chair tonight than go back to my room alone.”
Thor released her, scooted to his left, and patted the mattress. “Climb in. We slept in your tiny bed. We can make this work.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Just don’t punch my shoulder.”
Samantha kicked off her shoes, climbed in beside him, drew the blankets up over the two of them to her chin. “God, you’re warm.”
“Good.” He pulled up the safety rail behind her and turned off his overhead light.
She curled up against him, her head pillowed on his uninjured shoulder. “I wouldn’t blame you if you regret it.”
“Regret what?”
“Coming after me. It almost got you killed.”
“The only thing I regret is that I wasn’t the one to kill that fucker.” He kissed the top of her head. “Sleep, angel.”
Samantha inhaled his scent, closed her eyes, feeling safe in his arms. Before she knew it, she was sound asleep.
* * *
“It’sgood to see you alive.” Tower looked out at Thor from his computer screen. “Jones and Segal have kept me up to date on your recovery. How do you feel?”
“It’s good to be up and around again.” He hadn’t yet regained his full strength, and his shoulder hurt, especially if he didn’t wear the damned sling. But he kept this to himself. “I’m grateful for the care I received here.”
“I hear they’re treating you like a hero.”
This was, unfortunately, true. Since his discharge this afternoon, everyone he’d passed in the hallway had thanked him.
“Their attitude toward us has definitely improved, sir.”
“Glad to hear it.” And the small talk was over. “I’ve already gotten a full report from Jones and Segal, but there are questions they can’t answer.”
Thor recounted what had happened, ending with losing consciousness moments after Jones and Segal had arrived on scene. He was careful to refer to Samantha as Dr. Park. “I woke up the next morning after surgery. By that time, Jones and Segal had secured the package, and the Russians were gone.”
Tower asked him questions, breaking it down—standard for a debriefing.
Had he thought about asking Jones and Segal to come with him to Delaney’s office? What had he been wearing when Delaney forced him to go outside? How far was it from the station to Summer Camp? How had he been able to tell from the webcam image that Dr. Park was even still alive?
“I couldn’t.” It was the truth. “She might have been dead already, but I had to act on the hope that she was alive and that I could save her. I didn’t know for certain she was alive until I got her to Summer Camp and checked her pulse.”
Tower rubbed his jaw, a concerned frown on his face. “You gave your weapon and the location of the Golden Horde components to Delaney and risked your life on ahopethat Dr. Park was still alive.”
Thor had known this was going to be an issue.
He explained his thought process—not that he’d had much time to think. “Jones and Segal knew where I was. I knew they’d be warned if Delaney went after the package. Even if he got hold of it, he wasn’t going anywhere. It seemed right to leave Delaney to Jones and Segal and to go after Dr. Park. I believed Delaney would give me her location. I was wrong about that. As it turned out, he planned to kill me outright after getting the intel he wanted. She was just bait.”
“With others on hand, why did he choose Dr. Park?”
Thor answered carefully. “I can’t be sure, but because Dr. Park went with us to retrieve the components, the three of us know her better than anyone else on station.”
That wasn’t the whole truth. Everyone on station knew that Thor and Samantha had slept together. Delaney had gone for Thor’s vulnerable spot—and it had worked. Even so, Thor didn’t regret it.
Then it hit him right in the face.
Did he love her? Was he in love with Samantha?