Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
H ollis was hurt.
Sawyer hated seeing the blood on her dress and skin.
He pulled out his first aid kit from a cupboard in the kitchen. “Dress off.”
She shifted with a wince, then pushed the top of her dress down. The entire dress slithered off her, leaving her in a black bra and panties made of gossamer lace.
Sawyer’s body locked. Damn, she was beautiful. And hurt. Shoving his desire aside, he made himself focus on the blood on her neck.
There was a small piece of glass embedded in the joint between her neck and shoulder.
She gritted her teeth. “I can feel it now.”
“Sit down.” He pulled out some tweezers, then sat on the couch beside her. “Hold still.” Carefully, he gripped the glass and pulled it out.
“Sawyer, I can’t just hide out here, waiting for a hitman to take a shot at me. If Reuben is behind this, I want to help stop him. I’ve never played the damsel in distress, and I don’t plan to start now.”
He set the piece of glass on the table, then pulled out an antiseptic wipe. He gently cleaned her wound.
“Okay, I’ll have Vander send us the info that he and his team has. We can do our own digging. Tomorrow, I want you to pack some things from your place.”
“We’ll stay here?” She looked around. “I like your cottage.”
“No, whoever was shooting at Mama’s saw me. We’ll have to find somewhere else. Somewhere safe.”
She sighed. “I bet you wish I’d picked another place to stay. Someone else’s coffee machine to set on fire.”
He carefully pressed a bandage over her wound, then dropped a kiss to her shoulder. “No, I don’t. I’m glad you came to my island, Hollis Stanton.”
Her fingers curled around his jaw and her mouth touched his. She leaned into him, moaning as she deepened the kiss.
“No.” He pulled back reluctantly.
She groaned. “Is this that, ‘I’m vulnerable and need to rest’ thing again?”
“Yes. I want to take care of you, protect you.”
“Be careful, Sawyer. I could fall for you.” She rose. “I’m going to borrow a toothbrush and a T-shirt.”
He watched her disappear into his bedroom. Hell, Hollis Stanton was in his bedroom.
I could fall for you.
Shit . He rose and checked the house, locking the doors. He pulled out his phone and checked the exterior cameras he had installed when he first moved in. He adjusted the tolerance on the alerts. If anyone tried to sneak up on them, he’d know.
When he entered his bedroom, he found Hollis wearing his T-shirt, and sitting cross legged on his bed. His cock took a lot of notice. That red hair was loose and looked as soft as silk.
He’d never had a type before, but he did now. Hollis .
Damn, he liked seeing her in his T-shirt.
He took a quick shower and pulled on some boxer shorts. He turned the lights off and sat on the edge of the bed. Hollis was already under the sheet, but tossing and turning. She whacked the pillow.
“Hollis, you need to relax.”
“That is impossible.” She flopped backward on the bed. “The shooting just keeps running through my head.” Then she lifted her head. “Are you getting into bed?”
Sawyer rubbed his jaw. “I’ve…never slept in this bed.”
She sat up, watching him carefully. “Never?”
“I’ve tried.” He released a breath. He hated talking about this. “I don’t sleep well. I just take a few catnaps. Usually in my armchair.”
She was quiet for a moment. “You mentioned this before. And Benny did too. You have trouble getting to sleep?”
“Yeah. And staying asleep.” He shrugged. “I’m used to it. I don’t need a lot of sleep.”
“Everyone needs to rest, Sawyer. I’ve been having nightmares since this Reuben thing started.” She smiled. “Except when I’m sleeping with you.” She cocked her head. “You slept in bed with me at my place the other night.”
“I did. Had the best few hours sleep I’ve had in a long time.”
She held out a hand. “Then maybe you just need me beside you.”
He took her elegant hand in his, and let her tug him down beside her.
“Besides, I need you or I won’t sleep,” she said. “I just can’t get my brain to turn off. I keep hearing the gunshots, seeing the broken glass everywhere, people screaming…”
“I guess I’ll have to help you sleep.”
“What—?”
He pulled her over his body until she straddled him.
“Sawyer—”
He dropped back until he was flat on the bed and then yanked her until she straddled his upper chest. She reached out and gripped the headboard.
“What are you doing?” Her voice was breathy. “I thought I was too vulnerable?”
“For other things, but not for me taking care of you. I’m going to eat your pussy, and make you come so hard you’ll sleep.”
Her face flushed. “Oh.”
“On my face, gorgeous.”
“I don’t?—”
He cupped her ass and pulled her forward. As he’d guessed, she wasn’t wearing any panties under his T-shirt. His mouth found slick folds.
“ Oh, God . Oh, oh?—”
He licked and sucked. Fuck, he loved the taste of her. Soon, she was making sweet sounds.
“ Sawyer ,” she moaned. Her hips rocked as she rode his face.
“Been dreaming of this for days.”
“You have?” She was breathless.
He speared his tongue inside her, then shifted, and licked her swollen clit.
“I’m close, I’m—” Her release broke and her body shuddered. She chanted his name, and it was the best thing he’d ever heard.
When she collapsed, she rolled onto the pillow beside him. Her hair was spread everywhere, her chest rising and falling fast. She looked up at him lazily, with a satisfied smile.
“Relaxed now?” he asked.
“Yes.” She reached for him. “Let me touch?—”
“No.” He pressed her hand back to the bed. “That was for you.”
She blinked sleepily. “I really like you.”
Shit . Sawyer felt things he hadn’t felt in a long time. Or ever. “I really like you, too.”
She snuggled into the pillow, losing her battle against sleep. “Don’t get hurt, Sawyer. Don’t run off. The people I care about never seem to care back as much. They always leave. I think something in me is broken.”
“You’re not broken, baby.” That was on them, not her.
But she was already asleep. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He slipped out of bed and brushed his teeth again. When he lay back down, she made a sound and shifted toward him.
So damn trusting, and he knew she was a woman who didn’t trust easily.
He wrapped an arm around her. “Whatever it takes, I’ll protect you.”
Screams.
Smoke.
Flames.
Horror.
“Sawyer? Please, wake up.”
A voice pierced the nightmare.
“Sawyer, you’re okay. You’re on Maui. You’re with me.”
He opened his eyes, his body tense and his chest heaving.
“Sawyer?” she asked carefully.
Hollis . “I’m awake.”
“You were having a nightmare.” She shifted on the bed.
“Don’t turn on the lamp,” he said quickly.
She paused. “Okay.”
He wiped a hand over his face, and let the last vestiges of the bad memories leak away.
Her hand pressed against his chest. Again, she didn’t ask any questions, and he closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I’m just sorry you have bad memories that haunt you.”
He pressed his hand over hers, and something welled up inside him. It was a part of him that he didn’t usually share. He sat up and jerked off the bed. “Go back to sleep.”
“Sawyer—”
He strode into the darkened living room, his mind and gut churning. His hands squeezed into fists, then relaxed. He crossed to the armchair and dropped heavily into it. He didn’t think he’d get back to sleep.
A faint whisper of sound. He smelled Hollis’s sweet scent.
“Go back to bed, Hollis. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“You’re going to sleep out here?”
“Yeah.” There was no way he’d sleep.
She was quiet, then she moved. He closed his eyes.
When she lowered herself onto his lap, his eyes popped open.
“Then I’m sleeping here with you.” She snuggled into his chest. He slid an arm around her, and she pressed a quick kiss to his pec. “This is pretty comfy.”
Sawyer buried his face in her hair and held on. For once, the darkness didn’t seem so thick, or the shadows so menacing. They sat like that for a while, her body warm against his.
“I was on a mission.” The words spilled out of him.
She tensed for a second, then relaxed. He felt her fingers brush up and down his forearm. A small, grounding touch.
“I’d been training some Afghan soldiers.” God, it hurt to talk about it. “They were the best of the best. We were doing really advanced stuff, and I became good friends with one of the men. Tabish.” Sawyer couldn’t help but smile. Tabish had been the owner of a hell of a laugh. “He wanted a better future for his country, for his family, and for his daughters. He had two little girls.” Sawyer let out a shuddering breath.
Hollis pressed into him.
“There were plenty of people who didn’t want us training the troops.”
“The Taliban,” she murmured.
“Yes. One day, Tabish didn’t show up at training. I was told he’d left the base. It wasn’t like him. I found out that he’d gotten word that there was going to be an attack on his village. I went after him.”
Hollis pressed a hand to his stomach. “Take a breath.”
He realized his chest was heaving quickly. He obeyed, and took a deep breath. “When I got there, his village was on fire. The Taliban were punishing Tabish…and me. I’d had a skirmish with a local warlord a few weeks prior. I’d cost him a lot of money when he didn’t get his poppy harvests.”
“What happened?”
“Tabish had been beaten and tied up. They had him on his knees in front of his burning house. The warlord’s men had locked people in their homes. Including Tabish’s family.”
“Oh, God,” she breathed.
Pain seared through Sawyer.
“When I arrived, I took out as many of the fighters as I could.” He’d taken a bullet. “The rest of them left. They’d achieved what they’d come for.”
Screams and smoke.
“I’m sorry, Sawyer. Sorry that the world has such horrible people in it. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that, but I feel like it was anyway.”
She held him tighter. “What happened to Tabish?”
“When I untied him, he walked into the flames of his house.”
“Sawyer…”
He held her and pulled her close, a hand tangling in her hair. “I like to think they’re all in a better place. That they’re together.” His hand tightened. “You can’t get hurt, Hollis. You can’t die.”
“I’m right here. It’s okay. Just hold me.”
He did, but it was a long time before they both fell asleep again.
“My world-famous breakfast wrap.” Hollis carried the plates out onto the deck.
It was a bright, sunny day. Maui was doing its best to chase off the last of any nightmares and assassination attempts.
Sawyer sat in a wooden chair, cradling his coffee mug.
“Another world-famous Hollis Stanton breakfast.” He shot her a small smile. “Thanks.”
She could tell the night was still weighing on him, hence her efforts to cheer him up with food. And to take her mind off her own troubles.
“You sure it’s okay to sit out here.” She glanced around nervously, half expecting a shooter to pop up.
He reached out and touched her arm. “Jesse and another deputy are patrolling around here until we leave. I’ve already checked in with them.”
She nodded
She set her feet on the railing. Beyond, the ocean glinted in the distance. “Hey, is that the roof of my place? Archer’s place?”
“Yes.”
She bit into her egg wrap. Yum . The taste of eggs and melted cheese hit her tastebuds.
“I thought actresses only ate salad,” Sawyer said, with a wry smile.
She took another generous bite. “And we have three assistants, and an entourage, and we carry tiny, fluffy dogs in our purses.”
He grinned. “Yeah.”
“And I thought former soldiers only wore camo gear, and had so many guns there was nowhere to put them, and spent their weekends prepping for the apocalypse.”
That got her a bigger, more natural smile. “Touché.”
She liked that smile. After what he’d shared with her, he deserved some happiness. She was touched that he’d shared some of his past. Her heart had broken for him, and his lost friend.
“I do work out more, and watch my food more when I’m prepping for a big role,” she told him. “Otherwise, I just try to stay active and eat pretty healthy. Thankfully, I also have a fast metabolism.”
“I’m glad you don’t eat just salad.” He ate some of his own wrap, then he paused for a moment. “Vander sent through everything his tech guy, Ace, assembled on Michael Reuben.”
Reality felt like a big drop of sludge hitting the back of her neck. “All right.”
“And Leilani is organizing some secure laptops and VPNs for us. But before we do more research, we need to move.”
“Move?”
“I told you that Archer’s place and my place aren’t safe.”
Her stomach twisted. “Your life’s been so disrupted?—”
“Enough with that.” He grabbed her hand. “I’m glad I’m here keeping you safe.”
She was, too.
“We’ll have to leave our phones behind, in case the men hunting you have the capabilities to trace them and listen to your calls.”
Oh, God . She swallowed. Suddenly, breakfast was just a bad taste in her mouth.
“I have a burner phone we can use,” he continued.
Suddenly, Hollis’s cellphone rang, making her jolt. “It’s Tavion.”
“Tell him he won’t be able to get in touch with you for a bit.”
She nodded and answered the call. “Hi, Tave.”
“Fuck, Hollis, are you all right?” He sounded frantic.
“Yes, I?—”
“It’s all over the Internet,” Tave said. “A shooting at a restaurant on Maui. There was a picture of you in the middle of the shot-up restaurant. Were you injured?”
“I’m okay. I’m not hurt.”
“Lane said he’d take care of you, but this is not what I had in mind.”
“He saved my life, Tave. Again. The shooter was after me. Someone’s put a hit out on me.”
The line went silent. “What the fuck?” His voice vibrated with rage. “I’m going to find Reuben and rip his balls off.”
“Tavion, I’m okay. Look, Sawyer said I need to ditch my phone. He’s going to take me somewhere safe.”
Her agent cursed. “I hate the idea of having no contact, but if it keeps you safe… Hols, I did some digging on Lane. He has the skills to keep you breathing.”
“I know.” She met Sawyer’s gaze. “And I trust him.”
“All right, Red. You take care of yourself, and as soon as you can, you call me.”
“I will, Tave.”
She ended the call and handed the phone to Sawyer. He powered it down. Then Sawyer’s cellphone rang.
He pressed it to his ear. “Lane. Hi, Koa. What did you find?” A pause. “That’s perfect. I owe you. And remember, you can’t mention this to anyone.” Another pause, then an eyeroll. “Yes, I’ll get her autograph for your uncle.”
He slipped the phone away. “I put out feelers for somewhere we can stay.”
“And you found something?”
“Koa came through. His uncle’s best friend’s cousin has a cottage in Upcountry.”
“Upcountry?”
“It’s the area in central Maui, on the slopes of Mount Haleakala. We can stay there until I find this hitman, and arrest him.”
Worry nipped at her.
“It’s going to be okay.” He kissed her fingers. “I promise.”