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  “Stay here tonight, please. You shouldn’t be alone.”

  “You can’t drive me home in the morning, and we have work,” Bryce argued weakly. “I won’t sleep again tonight, and you need to rest.”

  “Then just stay here. Watch over me while I sleep and then you can catch the early bus back home in the morning.” She cupped Bryce’s face in her palms. “I don’t want you to leave me. And I don’t think you need to be alone with this anymore.”

  Bryce bit back a gut-wrenching sob. She rested her forehead on Scarlet’s shoulder and capitulated. She was too tired to do anything else. “I can’t be left anywhere in the dark,” she said, mortified by the admission.

  “Then I’ll leave my bedroom light on. I can sleep through anything. You can read any of the books I have. There’s an iPod if you want to advance your music appreciation or you can surf the Internet all night on my tablet.” She pressed a soft kiss to Bryce’s lips. “I just want you close to me. I can’t let you go home like this.”

  For someone who’d spent so much time alone not coping with the aftermath of what she’d lived through, Bryce finally caved in. She wrapped her arms around Scarlet and just clung to her.

  “You’re going to be okay, Bryce, I promise you. I’m so thankful you’re here with me. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

  I can’t imagine mine without you either and that’s what scares me, Bryce thought.

  “I’ll camp out on the sofa,” she said.

  Scarlet tugged her forward by the towel. “Like hell you will. If you’re going to stay awake all night you can at least let me cuddle up to you and keep you company while I sleep.”

  Too exhausted to argue, Bryce let Scarlet lead the way to her bedroom. She complained when Scarlet began removing her shoes but soon surrendered to Scarlet’s ministrations. Too drained to move, Bryce listened to the sounds of Scarlet going through her nightly routine in the bathroom. When Scarlet returned, she handed Bryce a pair of sweats and a T-shirt and steered her into the bathroom to clean up. Bryce had to smile at the sight of a new toothbrush laid out with toothpaste already squeezed out neatly on top.

  When she returned, the bedroom was brightly lit enough for Bryce to feel safe in. She liked the subtle purple wallpaper and framed landscape photographs Scarlet had hung on her walls. It made a vast contrast to Bryce’s apartment where everything was utilitarian. The apartment was nothing more than a place Bryce lived in, not a home.

  Scarlet patted the bed, and Bryce slipped in under the covers. Scarlet cuddled into her side. “If you manage to sleep and have more dreams, don’t worry. I’m here for you, okay?”

  Bryce nodded, knowing she wouldn’t dare close her eyes again for fear of returning to that front seat. “Thank you for having me over,” she said softly.

  Scarlet kissed her cheek. “I promise further invitations to my bed won’t always be quite this innocent.” Her lips sought out Bryce’s. “But for tonight I need you beside me.”

  I need to be with you too, Bryce realized, pulling Scarlet closer and watching as she snuggled in and closed her eyes.

  God, if only it were that easy for me to close my eyes and sleep. Bryce stared down at her, enjoying how Scarlet’s soft hair felt against her skin. But she’s here and she’s alive. I can watch over her this night and keep her safe…while she keeps me sane.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The coffee machine burbled and hissed noisily while Scarlet stood by eager for her first cup of the day. She turned her head at the sound of the front door opening. For a moment, disappointment streaked through her that it wasn’t Bryce coming back. Instead it was Monica creeping in, obviously not expecting anyone to be up and awake at six a.m. The look of surprise on her face when she caught sight of Scarlet, arms folded, foot tapping on the floor, made Scarlet chuckle.

  “My God, Scarlet!” Monica clutched at her chest dramatically. “Give a girl a heart attack, why don’t you! And quit with the disapproving eyes. You look just like my mother used to when she caught me sneaking back in after curfew.”

  Laughing, Scarlet set to fixing two cups of coffee. “It’s not the same. I know exactly where you have been and with whom. You’ve been with Elton all night, no doubt partaking in all forms of delicious debauchery.”

  “That pretty much sums up our evening quite nicely.” Monica grasped for a mug gratefully and she took a healthy swallow of the scalding hot liquid. “Oh, that is so good. Elton can set the bed sheets alight, but his coffee making skills are sorely lacking.”

  “That’s why you have a live-in lesbian to cater to your ‘night after’ refreshments.” Scarlet sat and took a more leisurely sip of her own drink.

  “Seeing as I have just driven my ‘walk of shame’ home at this ungodly hour, did my eyes, by chance, deceive me? Did I just see Bryce Donovan leaving here as I rolled up?” Monica sat opposite her at the kitchen table and eyed Scarlet over the rim of her mug.

  Scarlet nodded. “She left so she could go home and get changed for work.”

  “Any particular reason why she wouldn’t stay in bed with you until a more civilized hour and just have you drive her home?”

  “Because she hasn’t been able to get into a car since the accident.” Scarlet didn’t believe she was betraying Bryce’s confidence. It was painfully obvious once you realized that Bryce only traveled anywhere in something large with plenty of seating.

  “I did wonder. It’s got to mess with your mind having people die around you in such a confined space. From what your dad told me about it, they were picking up pieces of the driver off the road. The truck just sliced into their car like a knife through butter.”

  And Bryce saw it all, Scarlet thought with a sympathetic shudder. She remembered how Bryce had trembled in her arms, how her tears had ripped Scarlet’s composure to shreds. Bryce’s misery at what she’d lived through, yet couldn’t live with, had broken Scarlet’s heart.

  “Sooooo,” Monica drawled, “Did you two…?”

  “No, we just got to talking and it was too late for Bryce to catch a bus home.”

  “Convenient. So, what did she do? Sleep on the sofa?”

  “No, she didn’t.” Scarlet shook her head at Monica’s not so innocent line of questioning. “I did get her in my bed, and technically we slept together. Well, I slept. She apparently read a good part of the book on my bedside table while I’m told I clung to her like a limpet.”

  “Those dark circles don’t lie then. She doesn’t sleep much at all now.”

  “Not really,” Scarlet said. “But she did tell me she managed to doze off a few times during the night and got some much needed rest, so I am grateful for that.” Scarlet had wanted to hold Bryce tight all night to ward off any more nightmares. Instead, she’d fallen fast asleep cradled in Bryce’s arms, lulled by the beat of Bryce’s heart under her ear. To know that Bryce had managed some sleep without more bad dreams was a relief.

  “She was in bed with you all night, with you dressed in that?” Monica waved a hand at Scarlet’s short nightshirt. “And you’re seriously telling me that she didn’t at least once try her luck?”

  “She’s not like that, Monica.” And after our talk, I wasn’t in the mood either. We were both too emotionally drained.

  “Looks like you’ve found your white knight, Princess.”

  Scarlet snorted at Monica’s fanciful musings. “One night of us not tearing up the sheets together does not make her anything of the sort.”

  “But you’d like her to be?”

  Scarlet nodded without hesitation.

  “So you really like this woman. It’s about time you found a keeper.” Monica raised her mug in a toast. “Well, here’s to you and Bryce.”

  Scarlet considered Monica’s words while they drank their coffee in silence. Like? I want to be the one who keeps her nightmares at bay. I want to help her heal, inside and out. After last night holding her in my arms, I fear love is a more accurate description for what I’m feeling.

  “I th
ink I need more coffee,” Scarlet muttered, and Monica held up her cup again in agreement.

  *

  Bryce deliberately got off her bus a stop earlier to join the line already forming at the local Starbucks. Finally, she reached the counter and was able to place an order for herself and Scarlet. She also grabbed a couple of pastries for breakfast from the bakery next door.

  Feeling oddly lighthearted, Bryce walked the rest of the way to the work site.

  Though the early morning was already bright and sunny, Bryce couldn’t help but wish she’d resisted the need to leave the sanctuary of Scarlet’s bed. Faced with Scarlet’s red hair all tousled and her face still soft with sleep, Bryce’s decision to leave had been a difficult one. In Scarlet’s bed Bryce had found a respite from her self-inflicted insomnia. The small amount of natural sleep she garnered was more than she’d slept in total for months. The insomnia high she usually existed on was tempered by a long forgotten feeling. Rested. She felt rested. Buoyed by the extra boost of energy, it put a long missing spring into her steps.

  It didn’t take long for Bryce to reach the houses. Her chest fluttered with excitement when she spotted Scarlet’s car in its usual parking spot. Taking two steps at a time, Bryce followed the recognizable sound that led to Scarlet’s location. Music played in a back room, and Scarlet was kneeling at her paint cans preparing for her morning work.

  Bryce coughed to attract her attention. “I brought you coffee.” She held the cup out and hoped her nervousness wasn’t noticeable. She’d cried in front of her, had been seen at her weakest. She was nervous as to how to approach Scarlet in the daylight after what had been seen in the dark.

  Scarlet rose and took the proffered cup gratefully. “Good morning again.”

  Her smile made Bryce’s breath release in one long sigh. “Good morning.” She held up her bag of doughnuts. “I brought breakfast too seeing as I had to cut our ‘morning after’ short.”

  Scarlet took the bag from her, opened it, and grinned. “You can sleep/not sleep in my bed anytime you want if you are going to bring me powdered doughnuts afterward.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Bryce leaned in to brush her lips over Scarlet’s. “Thank you for last night. Next time I’ll try to be less of a basket case on what was just our second date.”

  “Never apologize, Bryce. I’m just glad I could be there for you. I need to be that necessary.”

  Her eyes made Bryce’s chest tighten with a want she hadn’t felt before. “You’re more than necessary,” she said. Scarlet’s eyes darkened a shade, and Bryce was captivated by the emotions she could read in them. In Scarlet’s hazel eyes, her deepest feelings were on show, all revealed, naked and unashamed. It was a responsibility Bryce had never expected. This was the boss’s daughter, a work colleague, someone she was still just getting to know.

  I don’t care. I feel like I’ve been dying little by little every day since the accident. But not when I’m with Scarlet. She makes me not afraid to live. Whether I deserve it or not she makes me feel glad to be alive again. The feeling shook Bryce to her very core.

  Scarlet’s soft hand cupped Bryce’s cheek and drew her out of her introspection.

  “How are you feeling this morning?”

  “Like I am the biggest fool on the planet for not staying under the covers with you today,” Bryce replied honestly.

  Scarlet’s answering grin was all at once seductive. “I’d have liked that.” She set her cup down and used her free hand to tug Bryce closer by her belt buckle. “I liked waking up with you beside me.”

  “You’re quite the snuggler,” Bryce said, remembering how Scarlet had wrapped her long limbs around her and clung to her all night.

  “I’d gotten you in my arms. I had no intention of letting you go.” She tugged Bryce’s head down purposefully. Their warm breath mingled and their lips were just a breath away from a kiss.

  “Scarlet?”

  Victor Tweedy’s voice called from somewhere downstairs. It was like a dash of cold water. Bryce stiffened in Scarlet’s hold. Scarlet didn’t let her grip loosen on Bryce’s buckle.

  “Don’t even think about being caught by the boss,” Scarlet said. “I’m all grown up now, and he can’t ground me for kissing you.”

  “I should get going to my job, while I still have one.”

  “He can’t fire you. He needs your skills too much. The fact you want to fuck his daughter and his daughter wants to fuck you is strictly between you and me.”

  Bryce’s simmering arousal skyrocketed at Scarlet’s honeyed words. All she wanted to do was slam the door shut and take Scarlet where she stood. “I definitely shouldn’t have left your bed this morning if that is what you were thinking.” She stole a swift hard kiss from Scarlet’s lips. It wasn’t enough to satisfy her.

  “I think about it a lot.” Scarlet’s hold on Bryce’s buckle got tighter.

  At the sound of someone coming up the stairs, Bryce let out a groan. She tried not to fall further into Scarlet’s seductive aura. She could read promises in Scarlet’s eyes that she knew she would definitely keep. “Work, I have to work,” Bryce muttered and pulled further away, finally breaking Scarlet’s hold on her.

  “Thanks for breakfast.” Scarlet pulled a doughnut out and took a healthy bite. Her lips were instantly covered in the soft powdered sugar. It made Bryce sorely tempted to lick and kiss it all off. Bryce backed out of the room before temptation drove her to do the things her imagination was begging her to try. She almost collided with Victor as he reached the landing.

  “Morning, Bryce,” he said as he walked in on Scarlet. “Hey, you. You have doughnuts? What makes you so special? Have you got one in there for your old man?”

  Bryce escaped while she could, hoping that Victor couldn’t tell how flustered she was. All these sensations were new to Bryce; she’d spent a long time cut off from feelings while trapped in a loveless relationship. After the crash, everything had revolved around her healing and the nightmarish dreams that even colored her waking hours. Scarlet was flame personified. She burned through Bryce’s erected walls of misery, setting her alight with a passion she had never felt before.

  Bryce had a feeling that when they finally made love she would be helpless in the conflagration. Scarlet had a way of burning a path through all the shadows that shrouded Bryce. For the first time in a long time, Bryce was seeing the light as something more than that which chased the dark away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  With a happy sigh to be home early for dinner for a change, Trent pushed open her front door. She was surprised to be met by silence.

  “Juliet?” she called out but was met with no response. Trent closed the door behind her, irritation making her frown. “You’d better not have gone to that fucking worksite for something,” she grumbled as she toed out of her shoes and walked silently in her socked feet. She poked her head around the door to Juliet’s home office. It was empty. She walked through the kitchen into the living room, but again the room was unoccupied. Trent padded upstairs quietly just in case Juliet was sleeping. The door to their bedroom was pulled to so Trent carefully edged it open, expecting to find Juliet resting there. The bed was undisturbed. The nursery was also empty, making Trent reach for her phone. Fear made her fingers fumble over the screen to unlock it.

  Where the hell are you?

  She checked to see if she had missed any calls, but there were none. She brought up Juliet’s phone number and was just about to press the call button when she noticed the door to her game room was ajar. She was concerned primarily because that room was always securely locked. Filled with trepidation at what she was going to see, Trent pushed the door open. Inside she found Juliet fast asleep in her usual position on the sofa. Trent attempted to calm her heart down. She hadn’t known what to expect. Juliet had been exhausted all night and had been easy to persuade into staying home for the day to rest. The fact she had given in without any complaining had given Trent cause for concern. She’d lost count of the nu
mber of arguments they had had concerning Juliet’s need to slow down now.

  Trent knelt in front of Juliet and examined her closely. Juliet’s breathing was slow and measured with sleep. She didn’t look as pale as she had the night previous, and Trent was pleased to see an empty plate and cup on the floor. Not wanting to disturb Juliet, she eased back on her heels to stand. At the last minute, she gently repositioned the blanket that was slipping off Juliet’s shoulder.

  “Trent?”

  Trent shook her head ruefully. Juliet could sleep in the room with guns a-blazing and her shouting out directions, but one blanket shifted back into place and she was instantly awake. She tried not to roll her eyes in amusement.

  “You home already?”

  “Looks like you’ve been asleep a while, sweetheart.” Trent got back down and brushed at the unruly hair that had fallen over Juliet’s brow. “How are you feeling now?”

  Juliet rubbed at her eyes. “Much better than I did. But I want to just eat and then spend the night cuddling with you.” She tugged at Trent’s shirt. “Can we?”

  “I’ll go order us something in and we’ll watch TV in bed. I think I can happily spend the evening just you, me, and Newt chilling out. Scarlet’s coming by later, but she can look after herself.” She tipped forward under Juliet’s gentle tug and planted a tender kiss on her forehead. “Are you going to tell me why you are camped out in my game room? You gave me a heart attack. I thought we were being robbed.”

  Juliet pouted softly, looking abashed. “I missed you. I looked for something of yours to wear, but I can’t fit into anything because of my bump and you being so damn tall and slim.” She slapped at Trent’s hand that she had reached out for payment at her slip. “I couldn’t get comfy sleeping in our bed on my own, not even with me lying on your pillow. So I came in here. This room is all you. I couldn’t sleep at first, I’m so used to the sound of you playing and being lulled to sleep by that.”