Read Online Red Noon by Capri Montgomery - Free Book Online Page B

him. Never once did she look at her surroundings. She looked like a lost kid trying to make sense out of the world around her.
    “They even have a couch in here. Now this is more hotel to me than hospital—except for all this monitoring gizmo stuff,” he laughed again yet she didn’t. Her eyes did finally leave his face and look over in the direction he had pointed for the navy blue velvet tufted couch before looking back at him. Her eyes drifted down to the chair and then back up to his face.
    “You slept there,” she spoke softly but he knew it wasn’t a question.
    “Yes. You had a restless sleep.” The first time he laid down it was on the couch, but the near wailing sounds coming from her fitful sleep had awakened him and he had gone to her. After that he figured being closer to her could help him calm her faster.
    “Sorry,” she closed her eyes and turned her head away from him. “I thought I dreamed getting rescued and that I would wake up with him beating me again, but it wasn’t a dream. You’re really here. You should have been able to sleep in a bed, not a chair.”
    “It’s not a problem. I wanted to be here for you.” She didn’t look back at him. “But if you want me to go—” He was joking but the swiftness of her hand clutching his and her eyes darting open to his told him jokes weren’t going to fly right now. She nibbled on her bottom lip and shook her head.
    “Don’t go.” The softness of her voice, so innocent, so honest, broke his heart more. He wished his bullets had assaulted that demon. He wished he was the man to find the second guy. He wished he could resurrect the one and beat them both for days. And at the end of it all he wished he could burn them both into the grave.
    “I’m not going anywhere,” he brushed his fingers through her hair. “The detectives will be here by eight to get a statement from you.”
    She shook her head no with tears in her eyes.
    “They need a statement.”
    She shook her head no again. “I can’t. Please don’t make me…I can’t.”
    While he hated to say it he had to. They needed the statement because it was necessary to close any file, but more importantly, they hadn’t got the other guy yet so this wasn’t over, not for her, and not for the detectives working the case. And if SWAT was needed, which he was sure it would be, his team might the team on call if it remained in their area. “We only got one of the guys.” He saw the way her face scrunched in fear and the tears that amplified with the knowledge of what that meant.
    “I can’t. I can’t.” She cried.
    “You have to. We have to take down the other guy.”
    She sniffled. “I can’t close my eyes without seeing what he did to me. I can’t breathe without smelling the rancidness of his breath in my face. I hurt. My body feels like the skin is raw and it hurts to be here. It hurts to breathe.”
    He understood the words in that last sentence. “It hurts to breath,” was almost like saying it hurts to still be alive with the memories. The hell he would walk away letting her wish she were dead.
    “My men and I came in hard to get you out of that hell, Miss Brackett; don’t you dare give up on us now.” The harshness of his voice was commanding, but far softer than he gave to his guys. She bit her bottom lip, tears still in her eyes she conceded to his request with a nod of her head.
    “I would like to get dressed first if I can. I don’t think a shower would be good. My skin feels so raw it really hurts.”
    “I’ll get a nurse to see if they can give you another sponge bath.”
    “Could you do it for me? It sounds crazy, but I feel safe with you here.”
    “Um…uh…” he felt the words leave his mind. Sponge bath to a woman he found attractive before he saw her beat up and found even more attractive after he rescued her was a bad idea. He had to remain a little distant on some levels because she was coming out of hell and he couldn’t be the man she latched