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We both go silent, just hugging each other, caught in our thoughts.

Then I pull back to meet his gaze. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to sleep alone. If you have a nightmare, I won’twake you up. Not unless we can figure out a good way to do it. But when you do wake up, I want to be here for you.”

Erik closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them, he looks more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen him. “As long as I can be here for you when you have your nightmares, too.”

My heart squeezes. “Of course.”

As we gaze at each other, the words dance on my tongue.

I’m falling for you.

You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met.

Erik glances at the clock on the nightstand and winces. “Shit. It’s six AM. You need to get some more sleep. Especially after I kept you up so late last night.”

“It was more than worth it,” I reply with a little smirk. “You can keep me up late any time if we’re doingthat.”

Some of the lines smooth from his face. His lips lift. “Well. I suppose we could go for round three. Wear ourselves out so we can go back to sleep. Then we’ll have a lazy breakfast together.”

“What about your workout?”

“I can do it later. And anyway?—”

His phone chimes from its spot on the nightstand. The screen lights up with an incoming text. Erik tenses. “Shit.”

“What?”

“That’s our Blade and Arrow tone. It’s so we always know when someone on the team is calling or texting. And if it’s at six AM, it has to be important.” He snatches up the phone and reads the message.

A beat later, his expression sobers. “It’s Matt. He found something.”

As we waitfor the last of the team to arrive, I try to keep calm by running through one of the meditations Erik taught me.

It involves me working in a beautiful garden, stopping in front of each plant one by one, smelling and touching and if it applies, even tasting them. I’m supposed to visualize the sensations—the vivid green of the cucumbers, the lush scent of the roses, and the burst of sweetness from a ripe tomato. In theory, I’m supposed to immerse myself in the minutia of the garden so my mind doesn’t wander into scarier places.

Sometimes it works.

This morning? Not so much.

My heart feels like it’s about to leap from my chest. My stomach is lodged in my throat. I can’t stop my legs from jittering beneath the conference table despite my efforts to still them.

The only thing thatdoeshelp? Erik’s hand around mine. Our entwined hands rest on my leg, adding a comforting pressure that anchors me to the here and now.

He keeps glancing over at me, worry clear in his gaze. I know he’s not thrilled about me being here—once he read Matt’s text, he immediately offered to fill me in later rather than going through the stress of the meeting.

But I’ve done enough hiding. And besides, I have just as big a stake in this as the rest of the team does. So I want—okay, maybe not want, but need—to be here. Sitting at the same glossy conference table with Erik’s teammates surrounding me.

Except unlike the first time I was here, I know everyone now.

I know Niall turns into the biggest softie when it comes to Jade and Declan, and that he loves to make funny faces at his son to make him laugh.

I know Dante might look intimidating at first, all dark and serious, but he has one of the kindest hearts of anyone I’ve met.

I know Matt is the prankster of the bunch, though you’d never imagine it to look at him. Just yesterday, he convinced me to fill Xavier’s car with balloons, so poor Xavier would have to wrestle with them just to get in.

I know Rhiannon is so much more than the strong woman people see her as. She’s sensitive. Kind. Funny.

“Sorry, guys.” Xavier rushes into the room, looking slightly flustered. His hair is sticking up in ten different directions, like he literally just rolled out of bed to come here. “Alice had a massive blowout in her diaper.” He grimaces. “I couldn’t leave Luce to clean it up on her own.”