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A voice pierced the nightmare.
“Sawyer, you’re okay. You’re on Maui. You’re with me.”
He opened his eyes, his body tense and his chest heaving.
“Sawyer?” she asked carefully.
Hollis. “I’m awake.”
“You were having a nightmare.” She shifted on the bed.
“Don’t turn on the lamp,” he said quickly.
She paused. “Okay.”
He wiped a hand over his face, and let the last vestiges of the bad memories leak away.
Her hand pressed against his chest. Again, she didn’t ask any questions, and he closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I’m just sorry you have bad memories that haunt you.”
He pressed his hand over hers, and something welled up inside him. It was a part of him that he didn’t usually share. He sat up and jerked off the bed. “Go back to sleep.”
“Sawyer—”
He strode into the darkened living room, his mind and gut churning. His hands squeezed into fists, then relaxed. He crossed to the armchair and dropped heavily into it. He didn’t think he’d get back to sleep.
A faint whisper of sound. He smelled Hollis’s sweet scent.
“Go back to bed, Hollis. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“You’re going to sleep out here?”
“Yeah.” There was no way he’d sleep.
She was quiet, then she moved. He closed his eyes.
When she lowered herself onto his lap, his eyes popped open.
“Then I’m sleeping here with you.” She snuggled into his chest. He slid an arm around her, and she pressed a quick kiss to his pec. “This is pretty comfy.”
Sawyer buried his face in her hair and held on. For once, the darkness didn’t seem so thick, or the shadows so menacing. They sat like that for a while, her body warm against his.
“I was on a mission.” The words spilled out of him.
She tensed for a second, then relaxed. He felt her fingers brush up and down his forearm. A small, grounding touch.
“I’d been training some Afghan soldiers.” God, it hurt to talk about it. “They were the best of the best. We were doing really advanced stuff, and I became good friends with one of the men. Tabish.” Sawyer couldn’t help but smile. Tabish had been the owner of a hell of a laugh. “He wanted a better future for hiscountry, for his family, and for his daughters. He had two little girls.” Sawyer let out a shuddering breath.
Hollis pressed into him.
“There were plenty of people who didn’t want us training the troops.”
“The Taliban,” she murmured.