AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The thought made him smile. Damn, it felt good to care about someone, to be interested in someone, to want to share his space with another human being.
And if they left?
The thought made darkness surge toward him so fast that he couldn't breathe for a second. Shit.
He couldn’t worry about that right now. Worrying was just a way of imagining a future he didn't want. His only job was to stay in the present. Keep them safe. Explore what it was like to have them in his space, in his life.
See if they still made him want to live after another day. And then another. And then another.
To see.
Nothing else.
At all.
Except keeping them all alive.
Shit. There was that.
CHAPTER NINE
He'd slept on the floor.
Phoebe smiled at the sight of the large, rough man sprawled on the floor in front of her door. Jacob was using a sweatshirt for a pillow, but his body was on the hardwood floor. There was a chair in the hall, and it looked like he'd tried to stay awake in the chair and then had finally dozed off.
She pulled the door shut and crouched next to him, studying him. His face was so much younger when he was asleep. The lines of tension were gone, and the muscles in his face were relaxed. She put her hand on his shoulder, feeling the heat from his body under her touch.
How incredibly sweet that he'd slept outside their door all night.
Yes, it also was a little concerning. Were they in so much danger that he needed to sleep that close? That his mattress down the hall wasn't close enough? Her smile faded at the thought, and fear slithered through her belly.
No.
She wouldn't live in fear. She couldn't go back to the emotional place that had nearly killed her. The absolute terror haunting her at every turn, certain that this time, when she walked around a corner, he'd be there, with a gun and a smile, ready to finally kill her.
That terror had died with her ex, and she didn't, couldn't go back to that way of living.
She had to be normal. Live normally. Let Annie grow up normally.
She patted Jacob's shoulder, and his eyes snapped open and he bolted upright. "What's wrong?"
Shoot. She hadn't meant to alarm him. "Nothing. Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. You just looked so adorable sleeping there that I had to pat you. It's like when Cupcake is sleeping, and I just can't keep my hands off him."
Jacob's sleepy eyes regarded her as he ran his hand through his hair. "I'm like a puppy?"
"You're a complex man at night. A cute puppy the next morning. It's hard to keep up." His hair was mussed up, and her fingers itched to smooth it back. "Thanks for looking out for us."
He yawned. "Didn't mean to fall asleep."
"Heaven forbid you're human," she teased. "What good are you to us if you're too tired to fight for our honor when the moment comes?"
He cocked a brow. "You can defend your own honor. I'll just take care of your life."
She smiled. "This is true. We can take care of ourselves. I appreciate you noticing."
He smiled back, and before she realized what he was doing, he reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Morning."
And just like that, the heated, smushy tension of last night was back in her belly. "Hi."
