Chapter 58
Flynn
I bolted upright in the bed. Someone was screaming.Anna.
I threw off the covers and was halfway down the hall before she screamed again.She was in her room.
Shit. Was someone in there?
I hollered through the door. "Anna, you okay?"
The only answer was a low whimper. I tried the knob.Fuck.It was locked. I rattled it harder. "Anna! You all right?"
No response.
I hauled back and slammed my shoulder against the door. It didn't budge. With a frantic curse, I stepped back and gave it a good, hard kick. The door flew open and slammed against the nearby wall.
Through the filtered moonlight, I saw Anna, tossing back and forth in her single bed.
Alone.
Thank God.
When she gave another whimper, I didn't stop to think. I bolted forward and loomed over the bed. I reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Anna! Wake up!"
She screamed again, and her eyes flew open, only to cloud with obvious confusion. "What?"
"Shhhh…It's just me."
She sucked in a ragged breath, and her gaze bounced around the room as if looking for monsters in the shadows. Her hair was rumpled and her face was wet.
She'd been crying.
She gave a choked sob that tore my heart in two.
I didn't stop to think. I gathered her against my chest. "Baby, it's okay. It was just a dream."
She clutched me like her life depended on it but said nothing as I rocked her gently in my arms, trying to soothe the nightmare away.
She was wearing a thin, oversized T-shirt, and not much else. Her skin felt damp and cold against my bare chest, and I hugged her tighter, hoping the warmth of my body would seep into hers.
We remained like that for a long moment, with me sitting on the edge of her bed, holding her close in my arms.
When she finally spoke, her voice was a hoarse whisper, "I guess I woke you, huh?"
"Me? Nah."
She gave a trembling laugh. "Liar."
Yeah. I was.I'd been sleeping, but not for long.
Now it was the middle of the night, and I was holding Anna, the girl who'd been haunting my thoughts all day – and the day before that, and so on. It wasn't the first time I'd held her. And I found myself praying that it wouldn't be the last.
She felt right in my arms, like she'd belonged there from the start, and I tried to ignore the feelings that I shouldn't be having. They weren't part of the deal.
And damn it. I wasn't that kind of guy – the one who'd put the moves on a girl in her bedroom just because she'd had a nightmare – and because she was the sweetest thing I'd ever held.
I waited for her to pull away. And when she didn't, I smiled against her hair. "I got your note."
