Page 38

S adie woke early the next morning, staring around her room.

Feeling a weight beside her, she rolled over to see Morrison stretched out beside her, atop the covers, wearing only jeans, seemingly sound asleep.

She smiled, then gently stroked his cheek.

“How come you’re out here in the cold and not under the covers? ” she whispered.

He opened one eye, looked at her, and explained a bit sheepishly, “Last night you were having nightmares, so that’s why I’m here, and also why I’m not under the covers.”

“Ah,” she muttered, her hand falling away. She stared up at the ceiling for a long moment. “I wonder how long it will take before the nightmares ease up.”

“It won’t take long,” he replied. “You have a lot of good people around you, and I’m sure you’ll get through this just fine.”

“It doesn’t feel like it just yet,” she noted. “It feels shitty all around.”

“Of course it does. You found two siblings, lost one before you even had a chance to meet him, and the other one? Well, he’s obviously been through so much that part of him is badly broken.”

“I think he must have been sexually abused,” she shared, turning to look at Morrison, “when he was younger, you know? All of them probably. His story was confusing, and I’m not sure that we’ll ever get the whole story.”

“I’m not sure he’s capable of telling the whole story, but maybe, over time, as he heals, with some proper care in a stable environment, he might make measurable improvements.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, but she looked at him and smiled. “You’re trying to be optimistic for me, and I appreciate that.”

He burst out laughing, as he propped himself up on his elbow.

“Trying to be positive is one thing,” he murmured.

“But I think, in your brother’s case, there has been a lot of trauma in his life; and, with any luck, he can get the help he needs.

As far as the shootings and all the victims, a lot of them will be put on Darren’s plate.

We don’t know whether he did it, or his brother, but it won’t matter in the eyes of the law.

Either way, your brother Don is not fit to stand trial any time soon, if ever, and that’s where it ends. ”

“Right, and he’ll be in therapy a long time, won’t he?”

“He’ll be a permanent resident in a psychiatric hospital, trying to get help. I don’t know that he’ll ever be well enough to get out. So, we need to prepare ourselves for that possibility.”

“Yes, and I hate to say it, but a part of me would be relieved if that were the case. He’s scary right now.”

“He is, especially when he flips back and forth between personalities, and you don’t know just what’s going on. In fact, he may have more than just the two known personalities.”

“That’s something I’ve never experienced before,” she whispered.

“Hey, neither have I. Not many of us have ever seen that, and it’s not that common, and yet it’s not considered uncommon either,” Morrison shared. “It’s just nothing we’ve seen until now.”

She smiled. “So, what are your plans?”

“I’m taking some time off,” he shared, rolling over on his back. “I’ve met this woman, and I know she’s been having a tough time, so I thought maybe I would spend a few days with her and ensure she’ll be okay.”

“I can tell you right now that she’ll be okay,” she declared. “It takes a lot more than that to knock her for a loop.”

“It did seem to me that she was pretty resilient,” he confirmed, with a chuckle. “On the other hand, she got the stuffing knocked out of her a couple times, with events well beyond her control.”

“Absolutely,” she agreed, rolling over and smiling up at him. “Besides, that same woman very much wants to know if there’s a relationship in the offing here, and, if there is, just how she should go about getting there.”

“Well now,” he began, looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes, “that depends on what kind of relationship she wants.”

“We can start with one of mutual appreciation and affection, then move into some hot and steamy sex,” she suggested, as she leaned over and kissed him.

“I really like the last part.”

“What’s wrong with the first part?” she asked, frowning at him.

He burst out laughing, pulled her atop him. “Somehow I’m thinking you’ll probably want me to go shave first to avoid whisker burns.”

“That’s fine. Go shave if you prefer. I’m not going anywhere today, and neither are you,” she stated, lifting her head to stare at him inquisitively.

“No, I’m here for a couple days at least, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s absolutely okay with me,” she confirmed, “and then I might talk to Terkel.”

“Oh? What about Terk?”

“He mentioned something about spending some time at his place to learn about this stuff,” she reminded him. “I need to know an awful lot more, so I’m thinking I’ll take him up on the offer.”

“I agree,” he said. “Opportunities like that don’t come along very often.”

“I got that impression,” she noted, smiling at him as she kissed him gently on the chin. “So maybe, just maybe, I should do that. Where will you be?”

“I have a place a county over,” he added, with a smile.

“Close to but not living in the castle though.” At the word castle , her eyes widened, and he nodded.

“Their compound is located on the site of an old castle, which they’ve updated into some very cool headquarters,” he noted, “and I have a pretty nice little country home not too far away. Not that I’ve told them about it. Although I’m sure Terk already knows.”

“That’s perfect,” she declared. “I would suggest that I stay with you, but, you know, that castle just might win out.”

He chuckled. “You can always split your time between both,” he suggested, “but a word of warning. A lot of kids are at the castle.”

“Kids,” she repeated, her eyebrows raised.

“Lots of kids, nearly all of them under two years of age.”

Her eyes widened again, and she started to laugh. “Oh, Lord, I don’t know if I’m up for that.”

“Exactly. Take some time and figure out just what it is you want to do, with no pressure from anyone else, myself included. You haven’t had two seconds to yourself since your mom died, so maybe a holiday, a break, a chance to reassess what you want in life is in order.”

“I will take you up on that,” she agreed, “but one of the things that I would like to do is take some time to assess whether or not we have something together.”

“Ah, I would say from my perspective that no assessment is required on that point,” he declared. “I absolutely think we have something special, and it just becomes a matter of whether you want to do the work for a relationship or not.”

“They are work, aren’t they?”

“Absolutely they are, no matter how well things go,” he stated. “Compromises are required.”

“ Hmm . I’m not sure I’m into compromise just now.”

He chuckled. “I’m starting to see a whole lot more to you than I saw before.”

“Absolutely there is more,” she said, chuckling. “What there is right now is somebody who would very much like you to kiss her.”

As his eyebrows shot up, a smile lifted the corners of his mouth, and he whispered as he flipped her over and under him. “Your every wish is my command.”

“Oh, I don’t think so just yet,” she teased, as she wiggled beneath him. “But maybe, just maybe, we’ll get there.”

He lowered his head and kissed her.

The kiss knocked her socks off, if she’d been wearing any. That kiss held such a smooth heat, a sense of rightness, almost as if puzzle pieces in her life fell into place, and she was stunned. When he lifted his head, she stared up at him, her eyes wide, and whispered, “Wow.”

He nodded. “Wow is right, but then isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?” he asked, his nose gently nudging back and forth against hers. “There should definitely be a wow factor.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” she whispered, as she kissed him again and then again.

Finally he lowered his head, putting her out of her misery, with a deep kiss of heat and longing, then proceeded to raise her blood pressure to a point that she could barely even control her cries and her squirms as she wriggled beneath him.

“Damn it,” she muttered, “you have way-too-many clothes on.”

He ignored that comment as he slowly caressed and explored every inch of her, carefully stopping at all the interesting places, until she pleaded with him to stop teasing.

He chuckled, hopped off the bed, and quickly stripped down, then tossed her skimpy excuse for a nightie onto the floor beside him.

She smiled, then opened her arms for him. “You know I’m totally okay with everything that happened, if the result was meeting you.”

And, with a nod and a big smile, he slowly climbed her body, slid inside, and rested at the heart of her. He grabbed her hands, pulled them up over her head until she was arched beneath him, and whispered, “Ditto.”

Then he slowly started to move. She was crying out within minutes, her body in an agony of delight and torment, when she suddenly exploded beneath him, and it took only a couple more plunges on his part before he joined her.

He collapsed beside her, a smile on his face, and whispered, “I guess maybe you don’t have to worry about the whisker burns after all. ”

She chuckled. “How about you go shave, and we will try it all over again? Let’s see which is better.”

“I was thinking about maybe a shower with you,” he offered, mischief in his eyes.

“Oh, I like that idea,” she said in delight.

He turned his head and waited a beat. “Maybe in a minute though.”

“Why?” she asked.

“I think you killed me.”

She chuckled. “If I killed you, you’ll have to work up some endurance.

” He raised an eyebrow and looked at her, as she shrugged.

“It’s been a long time for me, so I just might be a little hungry.

” She slid a hand over his big, warm chest. “Like a lot hungry.” She leaned over and kissed him, wrapping her arms around him, then her thighs, as she rolled him onto his back and mounted him.

He shuddered beneath her and whispered, “I always did like a gal with a big appetite.”

She burst out laughing and proceeded to carry them both back to their place of pure joy.