Chapter 21 Hannah
HANNAH
My body trembles with unbridled anxiety.
I’ve been sitting up in bed against the headboard for two hours, waiting, listening, and watching.
Thomas fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, and you would think that my brain would have settled by now, but it hasn’t.
I can’t stop thinking about how easy it would be for someone to break in.
They could come in from the other side of the woods, totally avoiding the Graff’s house altogether, and sneak in without us even knowing.
Sure, we could put up a fight between Arson’s attack instincts and Thomas’s gun, but still, I am sure we would be outnumbered. And what help am I? I’m a burden. Thomas would be worried about me, and distracted, so he makes for an easy target.
How can he possibly be asleep right now? Hasn’t he considered these potential things happening? Shouldn’t we be awake and on the lookout?
Thomas rolls over in his sleep, the bed shifting as he adjusts. He snores loudly as he does, and Arson pretty much copies him, letting out a weird moaning noise as he scoots closer to me. As if he can sense my distress, Arson blearily opens his eyes, and shifts to be nearer yet.
He shoves his head underneath one of my hands that is picking at the skin of my fingernails. He plops his entire body across my midsection, and the weight of his body calms my labored breathing.
I pet his soft head, and having physical to do helps soothe my increasing anxiety.
Even though it helps calm my racing thoughts, it does nothing to help me sleep.
The potential of things happening with us asleep are still too great to risk one of us being asleep.
This way, if I hear something, I can wake Thomas up right away.
I sit and stare into the dark night for another hour until the sun slowly starts to rise.
With the light rising in the sky, my anxiety dissipates.
If they were going to ambush us, during the night was the best time.
There’s too much risk of being seen during the day. At least that’s my thought process.
Arson is still sleeping in my lap, and I slowly sink down so my head is on the pillow, sleep finally taking over.
A soft whining wakes me up. There’s a heavy weight on my chest, and it slowly dawns on me that Arson has been lying on my chest since I fell asleep early this morning. The sun is high in the sky now, illuminating the small cabin easily.
The smell of coffee stirs my senses even more. I sit up, and Arson rolls off me, jumping off the bed and onto the wood floor. His nails clack against the wood as he tippy-taps his toes in a combination of excitement and probably the need to pee.
“Alright, buddy, I’m coming,” I tell him. The sheets beside me are pulled up neatly, the spot Thomas was in empty.He must be downstairs with the coffee. I can’t believe I slept through him getting out of bed. I wonder what time it is?
Arson bolts down the stairs, running to the front door as soon as he hits the floor. Thomas chuckles. “Gotta pee, Arson?” As I make my way down the stairs, I see him stand from the couch, set his coffee mug on a side table and head to the door to let Arson out.
“Morning, freckles,” he greets as he sees me.
Self-consciously, I run my hand through my hair, sure it’s a mess of waves and tangles since it was wet the first time I fell asleep, and when I finally fell asleep the second time, I was still a little restless. I tug my shirt down a little too, hoping it’s covering me up.
“Morning. What time is it?” I ask, glancing around to spot a clock. The oven is an old-style stove with no clock on it.
“About nine. Sorry if Arson woke you. I’ve been trying to get him to come down since I woke up at seven, but he wouldn’t leave your side,” he explains.
“Oh, it’s fine. I needed to get up anyway. Can’t waste the day,” I say with an awkward laugh.
“You can sleep as late as you want,” Thomas says. “We have a lot of sleep to catch up on.”
I shake my head. “I’m good now.” I don’t fully believe myself, though.
I can feel the pressing tiredness behind my eyes, my body heavy with exhaustion.
Thomas glances me over like he doesn’t believe me either.
He lets Arson in the front door, who dashes over to me again, like he only left my side because he absolutely had to.
“Coffee?” Thomas asks, gesturing to the half-full pot in the kitchen.
“Yes, please.” I move in the direction of the steaming pot.
“Sit, I’ve got it.” He shoos me over to the couch. I flop down, pulling my legs up and crossing them underneath me.
“How did you sleep?” he asks as he pulls a cup down from the shelf.
“Fine,” I respond. Probably a little too quickly, because Thomas eyes me warily.
He doesn’t question me though, instead asks, “Cream and sugar?”
I nod, and he pours a generous amount of each into the cup, giving it a stir. He heads back over to me, handing me the warm mug of steaming coffee. He surprises me when instead of sitting down next to me, he first leans down, pressing a long kiss to my cheek.
“You look beautiful this morning.” He sits beside me, closer than I anticipated. I fight the urge to shift away.
I take a sip of my coffee, hoping that it helps explain the sudden heat coursing through my body instead of trying to blame it on his proximity to me. “Thanks,” I murmur, instead of telling him I surely look like a potato.
Arson snuggles into my side. “What are you going to do today?” I change the subject away from me.
“I figured we could head to the main house and get to know Ron and Dottie. I want to do some work for them while I’m here. Whether that be repairs, helping feed the animals, whatever, I want to make myself useful. I’m not great at sitting around.”
I nod along. What am I going to do? It’s not like I have any special skills to offer them while here, I mean unless someone gets injured, but it’s not like I want them to get hurt so that I have something to do.
“Would you want to join me?” His brows lift in question.
“Yeah, but I don’t have much to offer them.”
“Stop that,” Thomas says.
“What?”
“You offer a lot, even if you think you don’t. You’re so smart, Hannah.”
I shrink back into the couch a little, taking another sip of coffee to disguise the heat racing through my veins again.
We sit in silence as we finish our coffee.
“I’m going to get dressed. Should we plan to leave here soon?” Thomas asks as he stands up from the couch.
“That works,” I respond, drinking the last sip of my coffee. Hopefully this helps me wake up a bit. Thomas heads up the stairs, glancing back at Arson who has not moved from my side on the couch.
“Are you coming?”
Arson huffs, snuggling further into my side. I snicker as his fur tickles my arm. “I get it buddy. I want to stay and snuggle with her, too, but you got to snuggle her all night,” Thomas says.
My stomach swoops at the words. He wants to snuggle with me? I clear my throat and shift. “Arson, go with your dad.” I gesture to Thomas standing on the stairs. Arson glances up at his dad, and huffs again, ignoring him.
I’m not going to lie, it feels good having Arson at my side, almost like he knows I’m anxious and need his protection. “He’s fine, if you’re okay with him staying.” I pet his smooth fur.
“Of course,” Thomas responds. “I didn’t want him to be annoying you, that’s all.”
“Not at all. I like it.”
“Alright, then.” He continues up the stairs, and I hear the shuffling sounds of him rifling through his bags. “One unfortunate thing about not having our phones is not being able to check the weather at the drop of a hat. I don’t even know what the weather in Missouri is like,” he calls.
“I’m not sure, either.” I raise my voice a bit so he can hear me. “It looks sunny out. I can see if there’s a weather channel on TV or something.”
“Nah, we can live on the wild side for today.” A second later, he’s striding down the stairs in a pair of gym shorts and a shirt.
The deep navy Ivy Ridge PD shirt clings to his chest, showcasing his broad shoulders, thick pectorals, and the softness of his stomach.
The shorts broadcast his thick thighs, something I didn’t expect to be a turn on, but apparently, I have a thing for thick thighs. Noted.
A tingling feeling settles between my thighs, something new and unexpected. Thomas glances at me, and down to my hand. “Are you done? Can I take your cup?
I nod, my mouth dry and my brain unworking. I stand from the couch, Arson clambering down after me, and dart past Thomas throwing my thumb over my shoulder in a gesture toward the stairs. “I’ll go get changed.”
Arson dutifully follows me, and I almost feel bad that he’s following me so much, rather than hanging by Thomas.
Without waiting for an answer, I rush up the stairs and scan the area for my suitcase.
Thomas must have moved it last night so that it was on my side of the bed after I fell asleep the first time, as it’s in the far corner of the loft.
I grab a pair of comfortable jean shorts, change out of my pajama shorts into them, and exchange my top for a sports bra and a band shirt from a concert Julia and I went to last year.
I run a brush through my snarled hair, and grab a claw clip from my bag, twisting it up and off my neck.
I slide on some socks and my tennis shoes before heading back downstairs.
Arson plods beside me, his nails clacking on the wood stairs.
Thomas is sitting back on the couch, quite literally twiddling his thumbs. He stands when we reach the floor, and I gesture toward the bathroom. “I need to brush my teeth. I don’t think Ron and Dottie would appreciate my coffee and morning breath.”
“Eh, I’m sure that’s the least of their concerns.”