“I don’t know what that is,” I whispered hoarsely.
He nodded, seeming to accept that. He stood up and pulled me into his arms, claiming my seat and pulling me into his lap. “We’ll just watch the screens a little while longer then,” he murmured, dropping a kiss to my ear.
I leaned back into his warm strength, my eyes on the screen. Despite the state I was in, I knew with certainty that if I had a man who’d sit with me, so patiently watching empty screens, if I had a love like that... well, then fear had nothing on me.
****
“I want to try something,” I announced, sitting up from where I’d been lying on top of Travis while we watched TV for much of the morning. We’d both dozed for a little while, and I was feeling a bit more like myself after a hearty breakfast and so much snuggle time with my man.
“Oh?” he prompted as he lazily stroked my hair.
“I want to take a bath. With you,” I added, in case that hadn’t been clear. I looked at his chest, tracing the Navy SEAL emblem on his shirt. “Not feeling safe right now—I feel like I need to take something back that’s just for me.” I tried to explain how I was feeling, but worried that it came across muddled.
“You don’t have to convince me,” he cut in, saving me from further blathering. “Come on, you can help me break it in,” he prompted, standing up and pulling me up with him.
“You’ve never used your tub?” I demanded incredulously. “That’s like… some sort of crime!”
He chuckled as we hit the stairs. “Baby, serious? Can you picture me taking a soak in there by myself?”
“Maybe not alone, no,” I grumbled, wondering why I was voluntarily putting that visual in my brain.
He stopped me, turning to look down at me from the step above mine. “No other woman has been under this roof aside from you, my sister, and our friends,” he said, his eyes glittering with sincerity.
Wow, that was really something to take in.
“Not only are you here,” he continued, “but I want you to stay. I want you to put your mark on it—to help me make it a home. So again, babe, no, I’ve never used the bathtub.”
“Okay,” I replied breathlessly as he turned to continue up the stairs, pulling me with him.
Watching him pull his T-shirt off as I got the water temperature right was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen. It was still surreal that I got frequent access to such a gorgeous body.
He offered me an easy grin as I unabashedly ogled him. “We taking a bath or getting into bed?” he asked with a lifted brow.
“Um….” I trailed off, not at all sure what my answer was anymore.
He stepped into my space, taking the hem of my T-shirt and lifting it over my head. “Let’s take a bath first,” he murmured, making it clear bed would come later.
I managed a nod as he leisurely slid my leggings down my thighs.
When I followed him into the warm water, leaning my back against his chest, I truly relaxed for the first time in days.
I toyed with his hands, dancing my fingertips along his knuckles and up the length of his fingers. “Even your hands look so strong,” I murmured.
He merely grunted.
We lay in silence for several moments, the only sound the soft lapping of the water around our bodies.
“I felt so helpless,” I lamented finally.
“Em, you took your first chance to escape. You scaled that tree like a goddamned monkey, which was the smartest thing you could have ever done. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
“How did you find me?” I asked, for the first time able to ask the question that had plagued me since I’d woken up in the hospital.
“I took a shot and called Harris in on it. Figured we’d had the wrong guy, and I was right. Harris had had his eye on Morales for a while—the whole department did. They’d gone so far as to put a tracker on his car stating they had enough probable cause.”
“Wow,” I marveled. “I totally had Harris pegged all wrong.”
He squeezed me. “We all did. I mean, the guy didn’t really give off a vibe that put anyone at ease,” he added dryly. “Anyway, they patched the information from the tracker over to headquarters—all that took way longer than I wanted it to.” He growled. “Damn red tape. Harris had to fight to get me access to the information. He really went to bat for us.”