Though it was about fifty degrees out, with the rain it was damned cold. “Come inside.” He reached out, offered his hand to her.
She stared at his hand, then at him. Without another word she walked around him and into the house.
He blew out a breath and looked up at the sky. What the hell was he going to do with her? He scanned the dark street and the shadows at the edge of his yard. Anything could have happened to her while he slept.
Water slid down his bare chest. He’d tried hard to do this her way. To stay off her toes. Just a couple of hours ago he’d promised to give her a wide berth. And then she pulled this kind of crap.
Shaking his head, he turned and walked back into the house. He locked the door and then followed her damp trail on the wood floor all the way to the hall bath. She’d dragged a couple of towels from the linen closet.
She tossed one at him. “Sorry I woke you up.”
He scrubbed the terry cloth over his wet hair. “Not half as sorry as I am that you set foot out that dooralone. You’re not making this easy, Addy.”
She didn’t bother debating his statement. Her fingers worked the towel over her hair, squeezing those long blond tresses. His gaze dropped to where the jersey clung to her hips, then traveled up to her breasts. His throat thickened.
His gaze collided with hers in the mirror. “You,” she pointed at his chest, “are dripping.”
He looked down. Yep. Drops of water slithered down his skin and soaked into the waistband of his sweatpants. He scrubbed the towel over his chest and arms, then lifted his attention back to her reflection. “I’m not dripping half as much as you are.”
Water trickled from the hem of the jersey and splattered on the tile floor around her feet.
She looked down and laughed. “Shit. I’m making a hell of a mess.”
A laugh rumbled from his chest. “Just a little bit.”
Her eyes met his once more. “I had the dream.”
“Oh yeah?” He’d figured as much. Knots formed in his gut, clenched with the misery he saw in those blue eyes.
She nodded. “It was different this time. I could hear voices. My dad ... I guess ... and another voice. A man or boy. Sounded young.”
“Your dad?” Maybe being back here was playing havoc with her emotions. What the hell was he thinking? There was no maybe about it. They were both on edge. Raw-nerved.
“He kept saying,here’s Daddy’s little princess.” Her gaze searched his. “He never called me ‘princess.’ I was his angel. Daddy called me his angel.”
Princess.Wyatt’s insides twisted with the worry that didn’t completely fade even when he slept. “It’s the case,” he assured her, “that’s all. Your subconscious is scrambling the past with the present.”
She inclined her head, seemed to think about something before saying more. “And the voice was wrong. Not my dad’s.” She shook her head. “I didn’t recognize it.”
“How about I make some coffee? Warm us up?”
She ignored his question, seemed lost in her thoughts. “The boy—the other voice—that was truly bizarre.”
“How so?”
“He kept saying,just die ... just die.”
Those precise words hadn’t been in any of the letters sent by the perp. Wyatt dropped his towel on the floor and swiped his feet, then ushered it across the tile in her direction. “Slide that under your feet so you don’t slip. Tile’s slick as hell when it’s wet.” He backed up a step, mostly to put some distance between them. This was, he felt fairly certain, one of those moments when she needed her space. “I’ll make the coffee.” The dream had really rattled her. But it wasn’t just the dream. It was that and this case.
Addy wanted to present this situation as just another investigation, but it was deeply personal. This perp had picked her out, just as he had Prescott and Arnold. And he was coming for Addy. It was only a matter of time. That had to be getting to her.
It was sure as hell getting to him. He wasn’t backing out of the cramped bathroom and into the hall because he thought she needed space ... he needed it. He had to get his head on straight before she noticed and definitely before he said or did something he would regret.
“Wyatt.”
He hesitated. “Yeah?”
“Can I sleep with you tonight?”