Protection

Chapter Eight

Everything flashed through her head while she laid in bed dreaming. It went from losing her parents to the relationship between Nick and Tiffany and helping her brother through the heartache. She dreamed about being held down in the park on her way home from work on that late night, and then trying to convince her brother not to kill the man who did it.

Then gunfire filled her head, a huge arm coming around her as she hit the ground, “Nicky!” She screamed as she sat straight up in bed.

Ben was suddenly there with her, setting on the side of the bed and pulling her to him. “It’s ok, Love, it was just a dream,” He kissed her head as she tried to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

“I wish it had been,” she leaned away from him. How could she be so comfortable in his arms? He was a cop, the very thing she had grown to despise over the years since her parents had died. Now she was finding herself wishing she could stay with this one forever. Her hand brushed against the gun lying in front of him on the bed, and she looked at him in question, “Is there something wrong?”

“No,” he tried to smile.

She knew there was more than he was letting her know. For now though, she was going to let it slide. Her dream filled her mind. She didn’t want to care about the gun, or why he was carrying it around. She just knew she didn’t want to be alone. “Will you stay with me?”

He softly smiled in the moonlight. He moved the gun to the nightstand then pulled her up to him, holding her close as they curled together, and laying back down. “As long as you want me too.” He gently brushed her hair away from her face as her body curled perfectly to him. They seemed to mold together.

“Have you even been to sleep tonight?”

“Not yet.”

“You didn’t sleep much last night,” she whispered. “You have to be tired.”

“I’m fine.”

She rolled to look at him in the barely lit room, “You’re tired.”

“I’ve done many allniters, Kyra.”

“I’m sure you have, but it doesn’t make you any less tired.”

“True,” he put his hand on the side of her face, brushing her lips with his. “Go to sleep, Beautiful.”

She smiled as she turned away.

She woke the next morning, still in the same place she had fallen asleep. His arm was wrapped around her, and her back was curled to him. She knew better than to move. It was too easy to wake him up, and he needed to sleep. He hadn’t gotten much since they came here. She laid still until she felt him stir.

“Good morning,” he whispered in her ear.

“How did you know I was awake?” She rolled to her back so that she could look at him. He raised his head, resting it on his hand, and looked down at her.

“You breathe different when you're sleeping,” he smiled.

“How do you know that?”

“The other night at the motel,” his smile grew.

“How? I don’t even remember falling asleep.”

“You did before me.”

“How did I end up on your chest?”

“Your head kept moving, and when I tried to lay you down you moved over to me.”

“And you just let me stay there? Why didn’t you wake me up?”