Impossible Odds: Rescue Team Nine (Book 3)

Chapter 23

Cloey

I wake with a start. Looking around the dark room, I study my surroundings. Something has startled me awake. A muffled shout sounds again from the direction of the hallway. Pulling the covers back, I stand and approach the door. Opening it slowly, I glance out. The hallway is empty, lit only by the moon shining through a window at the end. The sound comes again. It takes a few minutes to realize the noise coming from Dice's room. Stepping carefully across the hall, I stand staring at his door. Biting my lip, I wonder what to do when the sound comes again. This spurs me forward. I step inside, inching his door open slowly so as not to awaken him.

There, strewn across the sheets, lay Dice. The only article of clothing gracing his masculine body is a pair of boxers and a silver necklace around his neck. I can't make out the pendant at the end due to the lack of lighting in the room, but I can tell by the way he's moving that the dream he's having isn't a good one. I don't know much about those who have experienced combat. The time I've spent with the man lying there hasn't been spent in sleeping form. There is something personal and vulnerable about the way he sleeps. This is a side of him I've never witnessed before.

Suddenly, he swings an arm across the sheets to battle an unknown enemy before shooting straight up in bed. I step back into the shadows, afraid of making any sudden moves. His eyes open at the same time he takes a large gulp of air. Wiping at the damp hair on his forehead, he lays back on the pillow with a sigh. My heart thumps loudly, watching him struggle for the next few breaths. No amount of flirting or selfishness can keep me away from him at this moment.

"Dice," I whisper.

He turns his head toward me, sleep still heavy in his eyes. I walk to the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. I heard you and followed the noise."

He stiffens, and his eyes narrow as he studies me from head to toe. "You didn't try to wake me, did you? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

The crease in between my eyes deepens. I'm warmed by his concern but also perplexed at his change of mood. I make a note to talk to Ayasha about Bear's sleep patterns later. "No ... I watched from across the room."

He sighs, allowing himself to relax again. "Good."

When he looks toward the ceiling to study the fan spinning above us, it worries me. No flirty taunts or naughty innuendos escape his mouth. The man before me isn't the man I've dealt with daily. Sitting down on the bed, I reach out and take his hand. He squeezes it in return. Neither of us says a word as I stretch out next to him. We stare at the fan together. The silence is oddly comforting.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I whisper

I turn my head to watch him. He keeps his gaze diverted. "No."

"Do they hurt?"

He turns to face me, then. His gaze is filled with pain and uncertainty. "Does what hurt?"

"The memories."

He studies me briefly before fixing his gaze back on the ceiling. A car sounds in the distance from a nearby street. A cat meows from the kitchen dumpster located behind the house. Gunner's snores can be heard from the room next to Dice's.

"Can I hold you?" His voice breaks the silence.

I want to tell him no, to make him work at it a little more. I can still feel the sting of emotions I battled the day he left me standing in my driveway. But something in his gaze works its way into my heart.

As if sensing my hesitation, he whispers, "I just want to hold you, Cloey, I promise."

I nod. I place my head on his chest and allow him to tug me closer. Pulling the covers over us, he kisses my forehead before wrapping me in his arms. The sound of his heartbeat is both comforting and exciting. It feels strange being with him without fighting the passion between us. My skin heats under his embrace, and butterflies dance in my stomach, but the feelings are comforting. I still want him in a million different ways, but there's something passionate about lying in his bed with the fan turned on high. The circulation causes the air to cool our bodies. I know this isn't typical Dice behavior, and I feel my heart constrict at the knowledge that I'm probably the only female he's ever slept next to with no sex involved.

"You take the pain away," he whispers drowsily.

It's not long before his soft snores fill the air between us. I reach up and run my hand through the damp curls stuck to his forehead, moving just enough to kiss him.

"I love you," I whisper back, knowing he's not able to hear the words. Moments later, the warmth of his body and the steady sound of his breathing begin to seep into my bones. I yawn. In seconds, I'm fast asleep in the only place I ever considered home: his arms.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This scene was one of the hardest and easiest scenes I have ever written. My dad was a war veteran, and to some, he was their hero. When he passed away, we received emails from his fellow comrades about how "Mississippi" (my dad's call sign) had walked them out of the jungle on their last day of service. My dad received two purple hearts, but it left him with demons he fought every day for the rest of his life. He preached to us never to wake him up from a deep sleep after he almost choked my sister once. Thankfully, he woke up quickly. It upset him so badly that he made us promise never to wake him from up close ever again. My mom kept a water gun in the fridge to shoot at him on mornings when she had to wake him from a deep sleep. It was his idea. This scene was written based on experiences from my own childhood being raised by a war veteran/hero.