Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Cam, wake up.”
She reached for him; even when he flinched from her touch, she reached for him. She stroked her hand up his arm until she gripped his hand holding the gun. Slowly, so slowly, she moved it by increments into the air away from her head. He still held the gun but seemed lost somewhere between the dream and the nightmare he was about to wake up in. She forced herself to his chest. Gulped back the fear and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his throat, kissing his jaw, waking him up with her love.
His breath jerked into his chest. The gun fell to the bed.
“Jo?” Her name on his lips blossomed with knowing dread. “Did I…?”
Cam peeled her away from him, his eyes on her face like a searchlight in the dimly lit room. There was no mistaking the horror in his eyes. He smoothed the sore spot on her forehead with his thumb before jerking back. He ran his hands up and down her arms.
“Did I hurt you?” Pain and terror and disgust brawled on his beautiful face. “Oh God, what did I do?”
“I’m okay.”
“I just held a gun to your head. That’s not okay.”
“You were dreaming, baby.” Jo swiped the tears from her face, falling back from her knees to settle her bottom on her legs and feet. “Just tell me what you were dreaming about.”
“I…I need a minute.”
Cam fled the bed, the sight of his naked body for once the least of her concerns. He slammed the bathroom door. The sound of the lock turning hit her ears like a warning shot. Every moment he stayed on the other side of that door, she was losing him, but she couldn’t bring herself to drag him out. She sank to the floor, pressed her back to the bed, heedless of her naked butt on the cold hardwood.
The shock was setting in. The gun was gone, but she could still feel the unrelenting, deadly pressure of the barrel at her head. Terror still coated her tongue. A scream lay curled at the base of her throat, begging to unfurl. She gripped her knees to stop her hands from trembling. A sob climbed her throat, but she stuffed it down ruthlessly. Cam would not come out of that bathroom and find some sniveling girl on the floor crying and weak. Afraid of him.
The door opened, the bathroom light etching his silhouette from the darkness. His camouflage shorts must have been in the bathroom because they clung to his lean hips now. She lost the minutes as he stood there, silent and studying the floor. Goose bumps sprouted on her arms, reminding her she was naked. They always slept naked, and she had fooled herself that their hearts lay bare in this bed, but she’d been wrong. All these nights, he’d slept with a gun beneath them and she had never known. He’d hidden so much when she had given him everything.
He squatted in front of her and pulled her to her feet. She barely registered him slipping her silk robe up her arms and onto her shoulders. He tied the belt at her waist and freed her hair from the neck of the robe. He cupped her face and pressed his forehead to hers.
“I am so…” Cam’s deep voice gave up and she heard him swallow in the eerie quiet of the room. “Baby, I don’t even know where to start.”
Jo knew that the only weapon she had in this battle was her love for him. It was unconditional, even in this crucible where fear and confusion threatened to consume everything. This was a test she could pass.
“I love you.” She wrapped her fingers around the back of his neck, kissing his jaw and trapping his hand against her face. “Everything starts and ends there.”
“I was dreaming, but it was like it was happening.” He eyed her like he thought she might think he was crazy. “He was in this room.”
“Who was?”
“Mac. He’s supposed to be dead, but it’s like he’s not. He’s alive and in my dreams.” Cam dropped his hands away from her face, clenching them at his sides. “And he was going to hurt you the way he hurt me, and I had to stop him.”
“I know you don’t want to do details, but I need to know what we’re dealing with.”
“I thought it was taken care of. I thought it was over, but it’s not.” Cam shook his head, eyes fixed on the floor. “He’s dead, but he’s not.”
Jo recalled the way Cam had rushed past the details of Mac’s death before. She had to demand the truth, no matter how ugly and difficult.
“Cam, how did Mac die?”
He pushed a shaky breath past his lips and ran one hand through his hair. He gestured toward the bed he’d abandoned.