Page 109 of Reset

Thankfully, he didn’t object. All he did was roll into her, snuggling her close. And, secure in Ryan’s arms, with the lamplight glowing and the duvet warming her, Sarah fell asleep.

Ryan woke to screaming, and it took a second to realize where he was. Beside him, Sarah thrashed in her sleep. Her hands pushing at an unseen foe.

“No,” she begged. “Don’t take me. Please don’t take me.”

She was having a nightmare.

“Hey, hey, wake up,” Ryan said softly, trying to wake her without freaking her more.

It was pointless. Because while he soothed, half his team burst into their room, armed to the teeth.

The noise woke Sarah, who shot upright, the duvet falling around her waist. She spotted the team. Screamed at the top of her lungs and dove under the covers.

Ryan patted her through the bedding. “Nightmare, guys. You can stand down.”

The men holstered their weapons and retreated, but not before Dimitri gave him a wide grin and a thumbs-up. The door closed loudly behind him, and Ryan glanced at the clock: two a.m. The team was obviously heading out to pick up Leo Fournier.

Ryan paused, waiting for the urge to join them to kick in. When it didn’t come, he shrugged. He had better things to do.

“Are they gone?” Sarah’s muffled voice came from under the bedding.

“Yeah, you can come out now.”

The wildest hair he’d ever seen appeared from under the duvet, followed by wide molten bronze eyes.

“I flashed your team,” Sarah said woefully.

“They’ve got a tough night ahead of them. They deserved a treat.”

She groaned loudly and retreated back under the covers. Ryan decided to join her. In their little cocoon, breathing each other’s air, he stroked her cheek.

“You okay?” Damn, she was beautiful.

“Bad dream,” she whispered.

“Want to tell me about it?” His caress moved to her throat, reveling at the silky sensation of her skin beneath his fingertips.

She nibbled at her full bottom lip. “We were back in the water. The bodies were there, of the people we found. They were holding me. Pulling me down.”

“Oh, baby, they can’t get you here. Nothing can. You’re safe.”

“I know.” She shuddered. “It’s only a stupid dream, but it felt real.”

“It isn’t stupid. That was a helluva thing we went through. We’ll both be having nightmares for a long time. It’s normal and healthy. Just not so much with the fun.” He traced over her shoulder and down her arm, hating the sight of the bruises and scratches that marked her skin. Hating that she’d been hurt. That she was still in pain.

“You have nightmares?” She sounded skeptical.

“Sure. Everybody does.” His fingers moved to the curve of her hip. Shakespeare could have written sonnets about the way her waist dipped in before her hip flared out in a perfect curve.

“You don’t seem the type,” she said.

“Too manly, I know. It’s a curse.” There was a shallow indent between her thigh and hip that fascinated him. “I had nightmares while I was in a coma.”

“I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Nightmare, vision, delusion, whatever it was, the same thing repeated in my head for months. I was lost. The map didn’t make any sense, and no one could give me directions. I remember feeling confused, and scared, and helpless, desperate to wake up from the dream. But I never did. At least not for seven months.”

“That sounds awful.”