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The image of him seared itself into my brain. I turned away and rolled to face the window. Closing my eyes didn’t help; the vision remained.
My God. He slept in the nude.
Even with only the dim light, it had all been on display: the breadth of his shoulders, the prominent pecs, the six-pack abs, the defined V leading down to…down to his…his package.
“You okay?” he asked.
I rolled onto my back. “Uh-huh, why?”
“I can hear it in your breathing. Are you scared?” Having just come from the bright light of the bathroom, his eyes surely hadn’t adjusted. He couldn’t have caught me staring at him—all of him.
Scared, no. Surprised, yes. But I couldn’t admit what I’d seen. “A little.”
“That’s understandable.”
“You think he’s dangerous, don’t you?” I asked.
“Yes, but I’m more dangerous.”
“What if I do the wrong thing?”
“We’ll get through this. I’ll keep you safe. In the end you’ll have an exciting tale to tell the grandkids.”
“I hope so.” What I really hoped was that this would end on a boring note.Excitingsounded like code fordangerous.
This was really happening. I had a man with a gun sleeping in the same room with me, and a Cartwright no less. I’d changed the code on the door at work, and tomorrow I’d go in as the bait in Adam’s trap.
He was quiet for a moment. “What’s with the dots on the ceiling?”
“They let me feel like I’m falling asleep outside, under the stars.”
“Sort of bright.”
“They dim after a while.”
“And the noise?” he asked.
“I like the sound of the rain.”
“You’re an odd girl. If it’s raining, you’re not going to see the stars. You’re just going to get wet.”
I giggled. I hadn’t thought of it that way. “I can change it to ocean waves, if you want.”
“It’s good to hear you laugh, Sugarbear. Your room, your choice. I just didn’t take you for a romantic.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I stayed quiet. It wasn’t until then that I realized how deftly he’d steered the conversation away from the Ghost, chasing me to something lighter.
“I didn’t mean it as an insult,” he said. “You just surprise me is all.”
“Why? Because I’m not a mean Benson?”
He didn’t respond.
I’d clearly stepped over the line again, just as I had in the car. A minute later, I couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s best if we keep family out of this.”
He obviously intended to keep ignoring the elephant in the room in hopes it would evaporate with time.
