Page 31

Getting home didn’t take long, but he could tell Rowan was exhausted from being in the car. She’d only eaten about half the burger and fries, but he was glad she’d kept it down.

Once at his place, he wrapped her ankle in plastic to keep it dry and helped her shower. He didn’t like how quiet she was, but she’d been through a lot.

Though she was beautiful, and he wanted her, he forced his desire down so he didn’t freak her out. The last thing she needed was a horny guy coming at her.

The creep had violated her. He would do everything he could to keep her safe.

Once clean, he got her into one of his larger T-shirts and carried her to the bed. As he moved to get up, she grabbed his hand. He sat back down and turned to face her.

“Don’t leave yet.”

He stretched out beside her, hoping he really was comforting her. “I’m here.”

Her breathing evened out about two minutes later. It took him less than a minute to get up and leave the room. She must have been exhausted because she’d fallen asleep lightning fast.

His biggest problem was he could imagine what she’d been through. He didn’t want to think about it, but he knew what happened to women held captive by deranged men. Though he tried to keep the images out of his head, flashes of things he’d seen while doing his job hit. They would both need counseling.

He texted the guys on his team with an update, then sent a note to Thario. Heat washed over him. If he hadn’t become close friends with Thario, he wasn’t sure what would have happened with Rowan. They’d found Rowan because Thario was good at what he did and told them where to find that jerk’s ex-girlfriend.

His phone rang, and he answered, hoping it hadn’t disturbed Rowan. He moved as far away from the bedroom as he could get.

“Hello.”

“Hey, it’s Thario. Is she okay?”

He blew out a harsh breath. “Physically, for the most part, yes. The infection on her ankle wasn’t as bad as the doctor first thought it would be. Still, it’s something to watch. Mentally, it’s going to take a bit.”

“That’s rough. It will take time. What happened to me isn’t at all comparable to what happened to her, but it will take time. Be patient.”

Shine nodded. “I will be.”

“And if she wants to visit to see Frog, I’m here. I’ll be in Chicago next month, but I’d love to see you two.”

“Thank you. I’ll talk to her about it when she wakes up.”

“Any time.”

The call ended, leaving Shine with his thoughts. He wanted to help, but he didn’t know how. He had food for meals, his house was clean, and the lawn didn’t need to be mowed. There wasn’t much he could do other than sit and obsess. Or maybe he could do some research on things she might need. But she was the psychologist, and he was just a random dude who didn’t know much about anything.

He needed more information from her, but bugging her for answers wasn't going to get him far. He needed to be patient and let her come to him when she needed someone to talk to.

She slept for a couple of hours, and when she finally woke up, she was quiet. He felt almost like he was walking on eggshells, but any weird feelings were coming directly from him, not Rowan.

After she ate some eggs and toast, she was sitting at the table, looking lost. He sat next to her and took her hand. He didn’t like seeing her like this, but she needed time to grieve and time to think. The last thing she should be doing was acting normal.

“Do you have the name and number of someone you can contact?”

Her head shot up, and her gaze met his. "I don't have my phone."

“Oh, we grabbed it from your place. Let me get it.” He grabbed the phone from the desk where he’d placed it earlier. “I forgot to charge it with everything going on.”

She blew out a slow breath. “That wasn’t the most important thing. Thank you.”

"Let me find a charging cord, and you can get it juiced up."

She nodded and stood, handing over the phone. “I need to do something.”

“Want to go visit Thario and Frog?”

“Do you think he wants to see me? ”

“Yes. I talked to him earlier. He wants to see you.”

“Okay, then. Sure. Let’s go see them.”

Relief washed over Shine. He was glad she wanted to do something other than just sleep. She decided to leave her phone charging on the counter. She said she didn’t want to deal with messages yet. He imagined people checking in would be intense.

He understood. Sometimes, the attention was too much to deal with. He'd had a few missions that other SEALs knew about and called to check on him. Some conversations were just awkward. He hoped to lessen that feeling inside Rowan. He just wasn't sure exactly how he could help. Hopefully, they could get to a place where she had trust, and he didn't say the wrong thing.