Beneath the Badge (First Responders 4)

But then his breathing accelerated until he was panting next to her ear and she heard distinct words.

“No,” he said, and she could feel his head twisting on his pillow. “Don’t… No… Jesus. No!”

He gave her a strong shove, ne

arly pushing her off the bed and then sat, sweat beading on his chest as his breath echoed through the room.

She pulled the sheets back up to cover her naked body and stared at him. His hair was flattened on one side and he’d pulled up his knees, resting his elbows there and holding his head in his hands.

Nightmares. The charming, glib cop who acted as carefree as a bird around town had nightmares.

She was getting in way too deep. And the deeper she went, the darker it got. Exactly what she’d wanted to avoid.

“Hey,” he murmured. “Sorry if I woke you.”

Woke her? He’d damn near dropkicked her onto the floor.

“It’s okay. I was awake anyway.”

He sank back against the pillows, his breathing slowly returning to normal. But Lindsay noted his muscles were still tense, like he was ready to spring at a moment’s notice.

The light in the room was grey, saved from being pitch black by the street light down on the corner. She braced her elbow on the bed and rested her head on her hand. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just dreaming.”

“I noticed.”

“It doesn’t happen all the time. Just now and then.”

She wondered if there was a specific trigger. After all, the first night they’d spent together, he’d slept like a baby.

“We fell asleep,” she observed, trying to lighten the conversation. “That was unexpected.”

“You wore me out,” he stated, his voice warmer now and teasing a little. He sounded more like the Matt she knew.

“Likewise.” She relaxed, her hands folded beneath her cheek on the pillow as she faced him. He let out a sigh and then rolled until he was lying in a similar fashion, one hand on the pillow, the other resting possessively on her hip on top of the covers.

He kneaded his fingers gently. “So…we were so focused on each other that I didn’t even ask you how you’ve been. Or how the dogs from the puppy mill are doing.”

“We’re going to catch up on our day now?” She couldn’t help but smile. “It’s the middle of the night.” Never mind that he’d just had a ripper of a nightmare. He might be all smiles, but there was a shadow in his eyes that he couldn’t quite erase. She got the feeling that the subject change was just for show.

“Why not?” he asked.

“I thought it was a booty call,” she reminded him, happy to play along. Anything to keep it from getting heavy. She remembered what those sorts of dreams were like. She’d had enough of them in the days after her mother’s death. Always the same image. And always the same helpless, scared and angry feelings. They’d gone away years ago, but there was always a small part of her that was afraid that one day they’d come back. That she’d slide down into the abyss as well. She forced what she hoped was a flirty smile. “Though I don’t think most booty calls end with staying the night…”

“And you’re well-versed in booty-call etiquette?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. His body relaxed a bit more, letting go of the tension by degrees.

He had a way of teasing with his eyes and a certain way he held his lips. She was sure he didn’t even know he was doing it. It was what made all the women in town flutter their eyelashes when he spoke to them. Why he was so well liked. She bet he’d been a real imp when he was a boy.

“You know I’m not,” she whispered. “This is more than I expected, Matt.”

“For me too,” he admitted, the teasing look erased. His eyes glowed at her in the darkness. “I saw you and couldn’t wait to touch you. Be inside you. But if it was only that, I would have pulled on my jeans and wished you a good night after an appropriate amount of time. I’d be finding excuses to go rather than searching for a reason to stay.”

His words made her heart quiver with a mixture of elation and fear. She was feeling exactly the same way. But to what end, and for how long? Could they make this thing work? Besides, Matt didn’t strike her as the type to stay with one woman too long. Especially one like her, when he could have any woman he wanted with just a crook of his finger.

“Maybe we should put on the brakes,” she suggested quietly. “I mean, you’re only here for a few months. If we keep this up…as much as we deny it, someone’s going to get hurt when you move on.”

“Someone meaning you?”