He chuckled. “Ditto.” Rising, he double-checked that the alarm system was on and they went upstairs.
The house had three enormous bedrooms,all on the second floor. The long front half of the house was taken up by the master bedroom and bathroom, while the back of the house was split into two, with a guest bath and the stairs between them.
There were enough beds and pullout couches to sleep an entire squadron.
“Why don’t you take the this one?” Caitlyn asked, standing in the doorway to a yellow room with two king beds. “More spacefor you to spread out.”
“Actually, the queen beds in the other room are lower to the ground. They’ll be easier for me to get in and out of.” Once he took off his legs.
“Oh. Right. No problem.”
They said goodnight and he went to the green bedroom while she headed for the bathroom. He dug the chargers and batteries for his legs out of his pocket and placed them on the dresser. He didn’t go anywherewithout them, because running out of juice for his legs could ruin a man’s day. The batteries could last up to five days, but nightly charging was recommended. He chose not to test it.
Luke thought it was cool that he could plug in his legs to recharge, like a robot or something. He loved his nephew’s perspective on the world.
The latch on the bathroom door unlocked with aclickand the doorto Caitlyn’s room opened and closed again. He set the Sig he’d stolen on the nightstand and entered the bathroom, locking the door to her side. He found a stash of new toothbrushes and various toiletries—Marlowe was ready for surprise guests—and happily brushed his teeth and washed his face.
Finally, he sat on the toilet to remove his legs. At least he had privacy, though he’d still prefer tobe sharing a bed with Caitlyn.
Hung up, much?Stupid, stupid, stupid. This was hardly the time to make a move.
He broke the vacuum seal on his sockets before he slid them off his stumps and set the legs aside. Then, he massaged each limb the way Caitlyn was probably rubbing her feet after running around in heels all night. Sweet relief.
With a damp washcloth, he did a full-body wipe down, andthen moved his prostheses into the bedroom so they wouldn’t startle Caitlyn if she used the bathroom later.
At midnight, he was still staring at the ceiling, listening to the wind and waves, restless sounds that matched his mood. Despite the cool air whispering through the vents, a light layer of sweat covered his skin, and he’d pushed all the sheets to the bottom of the bed.
Every few minutes,a faint rustle came from Caitlyn’s room and the bedsprings squeaked. Was she a turbulent sleeper or was she struggling too?
Two hours later, a crash woke Kurt from a hazy half-sleep. He sat bolt upright, his pulse slamming, and reached for his weapon. Had he been dreaming?
On the other side of the wall, the wooden floor creaked.
Kurt slid from the bed and cut through the bathroom—far quickerthan going around and down the hall. Flinging open the door to her room, he raised his weapon and did a visual sweep.
The outside security lights cast enough of a glow through the shutters that he could see Caitlyn standing next to the bed in a long T-shirt, gaping at him. No one else was in sight.
“Sorry,” he said, lowering the weapon. “I…heard a noise.”…am an idiot.
“It’s okay.” She grimaced.“I bumped the alarm clock and it fell off the nightstand.” Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she said, “Did I wake you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. As exhausted as I am, I’m having trouble sleeping.”
“Me too.” She shifted to sit against the headboard and hugged her knees to her chest, wrapping the shirt over her legs. “I can’t stop thinking about Rose, wondering where she is, if she’sokay.” Her chin dropped to her knees. “If only I’d acted sooner. I should have hired your guys to get her back and damn the consequences.”
She couldn’t have known Rose would be gone, but he’d be suffering the same guilt in her shoes. No point in arguing.
He wore only boxers, stumps bared, but she hadn’t asked him to leave, so he slipped onto the sofa and set the gun to his side.
Caitlyn lookedher fill, her gaze lingering on the tattoo on his chest, but said nothing.
“Tell me something about Rose,” he said.
Her head lifted. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I know she’s a graphic artist, you have different dads, she has a girlfriend… I don’t know. Tell me a story. Or whatever you can think of.” She wasn’t going to stop thinking about Rose, but he could help her quit dwelling on theunknown.
Caitlyn stared at her toes in thought for several minutes. “When I was fourteen and Rose was eleven, my mom’s brother Gary came to visit from San Francisco right before school started.” Her voice was low and intimate and made Kurt wish he was closer. “He had rented a shiny red convertible that he worried about parking in our neighborhood, the nicest car we’d ever been in. My mom hadto work, but Gary took me and Rose and Mike out to lunch and bought us toys and candy and books. He fed us ice cream and French fries from room service and let us watch HBO in his posh hotel room.
