Her fingers glanced off the surface as she fumbled for the knob. The door swung open, and she looked in to see Cam sitting at his desk going over drawings.
He looked up when she stepped in.
“Reggie, what are you doing up?”
He pulled his glasses off with one hand and set them down in front of him with a frown. When she just stood there, feeling a little stupid but tremendously relieved just to see him and know he was all right, he got up and walked over to her.
“Are you okay? What are you doing down here?” he asked. He reached out and touched her cheek, frowned again and threaded his fingers through her damp hair.
“Bad dream,” she croaked.
He drew her into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. “I’m sorry. Can I get you anything? You want something to eat or drink?”
You.She just wanted him. Wanted to stay this way for a little longer, until the paralyzing aftereffects of the dream faded.
She shook her head against his chest then pulled slightly away despite her desire to stay nestled in his arms. “Am I disturbing you? Weren’t you working?”
He smoothed her hair from her cheek. “You’re never bothering me, Reggie darling. I was just working on some plans.”
“Want company?” she asked hopefully. Even sitting here watching him work seemed preferable to returning to her dreams.
“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t I make us some hot chocolate, and we’ll go curl up on the couch in the living room and watch some TV.”
She wrinkled her nose. “What kind of TV?”
He grinned. “I recorded stuff from the Discovery Channel I haven’t watched yet.”
She was pretty sure her eye twitched, but she kept her expression neutral. “Uhm sure, sounds great.”
“Liar.”
“I watch educational television. Sometimes.”
His eyes glittered with amusement. “Since when does slap-stick or watching men with IQs lower than my shoe size beat the crap out of each other constitute educational?”
She grinned up at him. “It’s very educational. It’s a study in brain cell loss.”
He turned back to flip off the lamp over his desk.
“Are you sure you don’t need to work?” she asked. “I could make the hot chocolate and sit in here with you. I don’t mind.”
He slipped an arm around her and herded her out the door. “Nah, my eyes were crossing anyway. I can finish it later.”
He stopped in the hall closet and pulled out a blanket and a couple of pillows before directing her into the living room.
He sat her down on the couch, plopped the pillows on either side of her then draped the blanket across her.
“You stay right here, and I’ll be back in a minute with the cocoa.”
She smiled and burrowed into the covers as he walked toward the kitchen. This suddenly needy side of her bugged the hell out of her. Some part of her wondered if she’d always been needy, and she supposed she had. She’d latched onto the friendship with Cam, Sawyer and Hutch and held on tight through school and into their adult lives.
Because she’d always been secure in that relationship, it hadn’t manifested itself in this dark, edgy need that was rearing its head now. Now that she wasn’t so secure. Now that things had taken a decidedly different turn.
She had plenty of casual friends and acquaintances. Her fellow police officers and even a few of the wives, Michelle in particular. No, she didn’t hang out regularly. She much preferred her status as a loner. It was too ingrained.
Growing up in the solemn, isolated Fallon house had taught her reserve, and only around Cam and Sawyer and Hutch did she allow herself to be openly affectionate and outgoing.
But she’d held a part of herself back. Even from them. She’d sheltered the growing need for more from them, too afraid of losing them. When they had taken that first step, she hadn’t known how to react. She still didn’t.
