Trust Me (8 page)

She ate another bite of food before she placed the spoon back on the tray. “I’m sorry, I’m not feeling that good. I think I need to lay down.”

He thought she was just running but he couldn’t deny she looked a bit green around the gills. He removed the tray and lifted her once more. Her small frame trembled and he mentally berated himself as he continued back to his room. He shouldn’t have done this now, shouldn’t have pushed when she just was recovering.

As she slept, he made a call to check on Derek then returned to the bedroom. Pausing outside the door, he frowned as he heard her crying. Scratching his shoulder, he walked in and shucked his pants this time as well, climbing in the bed wearing just his boxers.

“Shh,” he said, pulling her tight to him. “You’ll get through this, Pix.
We’ll
get through this.”

She didn’t turn to face him but she did hold tight onto his forearms as he enclosed his arms around her. He woke later when she kicked him with her cast.

Biting back his curse, he pushed up in bed. She still slept and he checked the time. Nine at night. They’d crashed and slept through the afternoon and evening. He left the bed and swiped his cell as he did so. Checking for an update on his brother, he then called the rest of his family to see how they were doing as well. Content all was fine outside of the house, he turned his attention to what was going on inside. He cleaned up from her unfinished meal and got her a glass of water.

She was awake when he walked into the room, the lone light highlighted the dark circles beneath her eyes. Exhaustion apparent everywhere, he offered the glass and she sat to accept it.

“Are you hungry? Or would you like to go back to sleep?”

She finished the water and lay back down. “Sleep.” Her eyes were barely open as she replied.

This time when he climbed in, he did so facing her so he could pull her to his chest. She burrowed close as she used to do, back in their day as a couple.

“I need to call Tracey,” she mumbled before she sank back under the lure of the sandman.

Adam remained awake long after she’d crashed once more. His mind running over ways to keep her part of his life and not lose her forever this time.

“I’m fine, Tracey. I promise. I have a broken leg and some bruised ribs but I’m fine.” Physically at least, emotionally, well, she’d be wrong for a while yet. Shelly Marie stared at her cast, heart heavy as she listened to Tracey yell about her almost dying.

Adam had been gone when she woke, granted it had been midafternoon when her exhausted body had been roused by the need to relieve itself, so she understood why he hadn’t been there. However, she knew he had been, not just because she was still in his house but because there were two dozen gladiolas in vases.

The colors ranged from pink to reddish or purple with white. With the contrasting markings, they were stunning and brought tears to her eyes. How he’d snuck out to get them without waking her she wasn’t sure. The gesture was wonderful and she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to convey to him what it had meant to her.

“When can I come see you?”

Tracey’s question yanked her from daydreaming. She fiddled with the top of her cast. “He asked me to marry him.”

“What? Oh my God.” A pause. “Oh my
God
! Details, details,” she cried.

“In a manner of speaking. He mentioned it casually. May just have been a spur of the moment thing which slipped from his mouth.”

“When’s the wedding? Oh God, I finally get to meet the fucking gorgeous brothers you’ve gone on about.”

Shelly Marie shook her head. “It’s not—”

“Tell me you didn’t say no. I mean, really? You said yes, didn’t you? Of course you did. You’ve been in love with him forever.”

She hung her head in shame. “I actually didn’t say yes, Tracey.”

“Wait, what?” Disbelief owned her tone.

“I almost got his brother killed. I can’t have kids. What the hell do I have to offer him?” Her heart broke at the prospect of losing Adam for the second time. Tracey was right, she did love him but she wasn’t going to bring her past hell into his life and ruin his future. He had so much to offer a woman. A woman that wasn’t her.

“Why don’t you ask him?” Adam’s voice wound around her like a velvet rope, stroking along the overexposed and raw nerves. Making her all the more aware of him.

She turned in time to see him stride toward her, pluck the phone from her hand, and hang it up. Honestly, she couldn’t say if he said anything to Tracey or not for she was mesmerized by him. It was hard not to be.

His wide shoulders stretched the fabric of his blue shirt and his jeans fit in a way that shouldn’t be legal in any state. He stepped into her personal space and tipped her head back from where she’d been staring at the outline of his cock.

“How many times do we have to ride this ride, Shelly Marie?”

“You heard me?”

“State that fucked up statement that you have nothing to offer me? Yes. Do you really think I would love you any less because you can’t have children? Is that the type of man you think I am?”

Tears burned her eyes and she shook her head. “Not that you would say it, but you would eventually come to resent me for not being able to give you a child.”

The clenching of his jaw preceded the flare of his nose. He crouched before her. “Listen to me, Pix. Stop letting that man in your head. Don’t let him steal your future. He’s dead and gone. Can’t hurt you anymore.”

Her chin wobbled. “Derek almost died because of me.”

“Derek almost died because that bastard shot him twice close range. He did what he did to protect you. Don’t take that on yourself. He’s going to be fine so that isn’t an issue.”

“It could have been.”

“So could any of the missions he went on when he was a SEAL or any of the assignments we’ve taken while operating D.A.R.K Cover. This isn’t your fault and you have to accept that.”

“I’m trying, I just don’t know if I can. Your mom is going to see me as the one who almost killed her child.”

“No, she won’t.” He laid her back on the couch, moving her broken leg with care. “She’ll see you as a daughter.”

“You always said you wanted children.”

“I also said I wanted to be in the Rangers forever and die with my boots on in the field. If we can’t have children, there are other options. A child we raise will be ours, regardless of how it came to be in our life.” He lifted her hand and teased her skin with his touch.

God she wanted so much to step off the edge and grasp the lifeline he offered her. Her feet were encased in cement however, and she shook her head. “I don’t want you to regret anything later.”

He drew up the hem of her shirt exposing the scar-ridden belly. Dipping his head, he kissed three of the scars. She trembled.

“These are part of you, Pix. They don’t make you ugly to me.” He kissed another, allowing his tongue to slip along the edge. “You are a gorgeous woman. Smart as hell and to damn good for me. I’m right here, hell, I’m damn near on my knees, asking you to stay here with me. Stay with this soldier. Trust me that I will protect and keep you safe for the rest of our lives.”

She reached out and sank her trembling hand in the hair on the back of his head, lightly massaging his scalp. His blue eyes met hers.

“And what would I do here, Adam? I can’t work in your company. I’m not teacher material. I belong in the lab and I’ve been away from it for far too long.” He moved until she tightened the hold she had on him. Sure, he could have broken free but he stopped. “I do love you, but I truly think you are saying this out of remorse for not being able to stop the crash and what happened after. I don’t want you to feel that. You tell me it’s not my fault well, it’s not yours either. You did save me and if there was ever a man I trust it’s you.”

Disappointment filled his gaze. “But you’re still leaving.”

She blinked back tears and didn’t say a word.

“Okay then.” He removed her touch and got to his feet. “I’ll arrange for you to get back to Tracey and we’ll get you home.” He walked to the doorway of the living room where he paused and spun back. “You won’t be happy there, Shelly Marie, just like I’m not happy without you in my life.” He left the room and her heart shattered into a billion pieces.

αβ

“So you’ve been a dick lately, I’ve heard.”

Adam turned his head and removed his ear protection at Derek’s statement. This was the first time he’d seen him since he’d left the hospital. “And you still look like shit.”

They hugged and when he stepped back, Derek didn’t back up, just leaned against the counter, arms crossed.

“Wild and Rhodi both refuse to come see you. There a reason?”

“You’re not a shrink, Derek, let it go.”

“You wouldn’t go see one anyway. So that’s a moot point. If you’re pining over her that much, get off your fucking high horse and go see her. Bring her back.”

He slammed the new magazine into the Beretta and bit off a growl of annoyance.  “My high horse? I asked her to marry me. To share a life with me. She’s the one who chose work over me,
again.
”

“Waaa waaa waaa. Poor you. A woman who’d been forced to be away from the work she’d devoted her life to wants to go back to it and see if it’s still what she wants to do it. How hard that must be on you. Did the Army teach you to whine so pathetically?”

“Fuck off, Derek.”

“Nope. The others won’t bother you, I figure, I’m still on pain meds so if you hit me I can just up my dosage. This needs to be said. Christ, man, for five years she had to do work that she didn’t care about. You told us how she glowed when she was helping Ricki with his project. Give her time to get back in the world. Let her find her life is truly her own once more.” He picked up another magazine and turned it around in his hand a few times. “Let her have a say in what she does.”

“I didn’t force her to stay, Derek. I thought that was apparent by the fact, oh yeah, she’s not here.”

“You really can be dense as shit sometimes, brother. Let me get the crayon and draw you a picture for your little pea brain. For five years, a man has dictated what she could and couldn’t do for fear of her life. Now, he’s gone and you think she wants to give everything up the same instant she gets her freedom back for another man?” Derek took the sidearm from him, nudged him to the side and fired six shots. Center mass. Nice grouping. Six more and the cluster was in the head. “Not bad for my non dominant hand.” He gave the weapon back to Adam. “Give her time and go see her.”

Derek walked away. Adam tracked his departure, his brother wasn’t moving as fluidly as he had been but he was on his way to a full recovery. Turning back to the target, he sighed and braced his hands against the table. His brother had a point and as he’d explained, Adam hadn’t seen it. Time to rectify this.

Pulling his phone from his belt, he called a pilot on his way back inside his house. Later that night, they were airborne as he headed for Shelly Marie.

It was the following afternoon before he parked his rental in front of her building. Climbing out, he grabbed the flowers and slammed the door before he locked it behind him. He took the stairs to the third floor and knocked on her door.

The door opened a crack and she peered out at him. “Adam?”

He fought the urge to wipe his hands on his pants, they were sweating. “Hello, Shelly Marie. Is this a bad time or may I come in?”

She closed the door and opened it wide seconds later. “It’s not a bad time.” She looked both ways up the hall. “What are you doing here?”

He stepped in and waited as she closed and locked the three locks on the door once more. When she looked up at him, his heart leapt to his throat.

“I came to see you.” He offered her the flowers, loving her softening expression as she took in the half dozen purple gladiolas.

“These are beautiful, thank you.” She went to the kitchen and put them in a vase. “How are you? How’s your family?”

He pushed up against her, trapping her between him and the kitchen sink. Bracing his hands on either side of her, he nuzzled her neck. “We’re missing you. How are you?”

“I’m okay. Still jumpy as fuck and I rarely go out at night unless I have to.” She trembled slightly. “I miss you, too.”

Adam reached up and took hold of her thick red tresses, hair he had wet dreams over, and wrapped it in his fist, turning her head how he wanted it before he captured her mouth. Their moans mingled in their mouths as tongues dueled. She spun, never breaking contact and wrapped her arms around him.

“Bedroom?” he mumbled unwilling to stop kissing her to ask her properly.

“It’s a one bedroom, one’s got a bed in it, the other a shower. Both rooms work for me. So you pick.”

His growl rumbled up from his throat and he lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and yanked on his hair.

“We’ll talk after about this, Pix.”

“Nothing to talk about. I’m coming back with you. My bags are already packed. Now, can we talk later?”

He pushed into one of the rooms and kicked the door shut behind him. “Later. Much, much later.”

Adam couldn’t explain how happy he was to hear she’d been coming to him. But as she’d pointed out, there was time to talk later. Right now, they had some catching up to do. A lot of it. And he planned on making up for all that lost time. More than once.

Aliyah Burke
is an avid reader and is never far from pen and paper (or the computer). She loves to hear from her readers and can be found on Facebook or Twitter at @AliyahBurke96.

She is married to a career military man. They are owned by four Borzoi, and a DSH cat. She spends her days sharing time between work, writing, and dog training.

For more information on other books by Aliyah, visit her website:
www.aliyah-burke.com
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ARe Books

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It Was Always You

Totally Bound Publishing