Sucking in a breath, I came to a quick decision. Stepping inside, I closed the door behind me and crept down the hall, unable or maybe unwilling to stop myself from peering through the doorway into Frankie’s room.
My insides trembled as I watched them.
Rex carefully laid her in her bed. Gently, he brushed the chaotic tangle of hair from her forehead. His gaze was so tender when he stared down at her trusting face, his spirit so soft when he edged forward and brushed a kiss to one of her rosy, plump cheeks.
My throat thickened, and I clung to the jamb.
Enthralled and transfixed.
God.
This. Man.
He was undoing something inside me.
Uncovering something I’d never even realized I wanted.
Slowly, he stood. His body seemed so big in the emerging day, the raw strength of him wrapping me in chains. When he shifted, those eyes locked on me, his shadowy figure moving my direction.
I struggled to find air. Reason.
I fumbled a step back into the hallway, fortifying myself, never sure where his anger might take us or where this attraction might lead us.
He stopped in the doorway. His breaths short and heavy.
That same awareness flickered to life. Only this time, it seemed as if it’d gained power from the rising sun.
“Thank you.” The words landed on me like a rough caress.
“Of course. When I told you I thought you might need a friend, I meant it. That means if you need me...I’m here.”
He nodded, though it seemed reluctant. As if he were crossing an invisible line by agreeing. “Okay.”
I nodded back, shocked that he’d yielded. “Okay. I’ll...talk to you later. Just”—I fisted a hand over my heart—“please let me know if you or Frankie need anything at all. I’d really like to know how she’s doing. I know I’ll be thinking about her all day.”
With that, I turned and headed for the door. I needed to get out of there.
Clear my head of the foolish ideas that had begun to spin. This foolish impulse to jump into torrid waters when I couldn’t see the bottom. To sate the churning need that prodded at my consciousness.
Most of all, I wanted to respect him. The space he so clearly needed.
But I had no idea how that was going to work when it was starting to hurt when I walked away.
12
Rex
Iwatched her escaping down the hallway.
At least, that was what it felt like. Like she was fleeing. Putting as much space between us as possible.
She should.
Maybe she was smart enough to run from whatever steadily built in the atmosphere whenever we shared the same space.
Ominous and powerful and unrelenting.
Her footsteps were swift, that silky mound of chestnut a complete disaster where she had it twisted high on top of her head. It left the creamy, delicate flesh of her neck exposed.
