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“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked, afraid he had been too rough in his taking of her.
“Hmmm?” Her face was still buried in the couch cushion. Her head popped up from the pillows, her dark hair falling around her shoulders.
He regretted having to withdraw his length from her warm cocoon.
She turned her toward him. He leaned back to give her room to twist around. A crooked smile graced her lips, and she shook her head.
“I asked if I hurt you?” He leaned in to place a small kiss on her lips.
A genuine smile spread across her face. “No.”
“Good.” He stood and grabbed her. He tossed her over his shoulder and carried her off to the bedroom.
“I promisedyou a meal and I always come through on my promises,” Declan announced, holding open the door to the diner.
“Well, I’m famished,” she giggled, walking through. “Somebody caused me to work up quite an appetite.”
He growled and pulled her under his arm. They waited for the hostess to come greet them. This was the most relaxed she had felt in a long time. Even with only short spurts of sleep, she felt refreshed, almost like a new woman.
“Just two this morning?” A young teenage girl came over to greet them.
“Yes, ma’am.” Declan nodded, not letting Aspen go.
She was comforted by the feel of him by her side. In the back of her mind, she knew this would be temporary, but she blocked that thought. She would bask in the feeling of a semi-normal…whatever this was between her and Declan.
“Follow me.” They trailed behind the young woman over to a booth. “Is this okay?”
“It’s fine. Thank you.” Declan bobbed his head at her as Aspen slid into the booth.
She gasped when he slid in next to her.
“What are you doing?” She chuckled.
The hostess handed them the menu with the promise of their waitress coming soon. She quickly took their drink orders and disappeared.
“I want you within reach of me.” He stretched his arm out along the back of the booth. They had been given a back booth where they were in the corner and could look out into the entire restaurant.
Her stomach clenched at his words. She leaned into the crook of his arm and reached for his face. She guided his lips down to meet hers in the softest of kisses.
She opened her eyes and met his green ones.
“I thought you were going to say something cheesy about not wanting your back to the restaurant.”
He laughed, placing his arm around her.
“You know that’s what they always say in the movies,” she said.
“Well, there is that, too.” He grinned.
She was enamored by his relaxed features. Her pulse sped up at his smile, and her heart longed to be able to just spill the beans about herself. Throughout the night when they weren’t wrapped up in each other, they’d talked. She’d learned much about him and had to hold back and recite what she was taught about her new self. She ached to tell him about her real life, her real past, and what she had come to be.
But she couldn’t.
She knew he was a good cop, a former Navy SEAL. If she couldn’t trust someone like him, who would she be able to trust?
She already knew what US Marshal Ball would say.
No one.
