Free With Me In Seattle: Bundle Two by Kristen Proby Page A

and turns on the water in the shower.
    I may be exhausted, but I’m not dead. Dear Jesus, the man is just hot.
    “What is the tat on your back?” I ask. I can’t read it from here, but it looks like four lines of script on his shoulder blade.
    He drapes a green towel over the bar beside the shower and then backs up so I can get a closer look.
     
    MONTGOMERY, CALEB J
    990001212USN O NEG
    CHRISTIAN
     
    US CITIZEN
     
    “What is it?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
    “It’s exactly what’s on my dog tags, in case I was ever…”
    “I get it,” I interrupt him, not wanting to even contemplate the what-ifs.
    He looks over his shoulder at me and then frowns when he sees the look on my face.
    “What’s wrong?” he asks.
    I shake my head and sink farther down into the water. “Thank God you’re safe.”
    He bends down to kiss my head and whispers, “I’m fine, baby.” Then he walks into the shower.
    Dear God, what if he’d ever been captured? Tortured?
    Killed?
    A shudder wracks my body, despite the hot water. I reach over to grab the soap, but it slips out of my hand, falling to the floor with a loud thunk.
    “Are you okay?” Caleb shouts and throws the shower door open, his eyes wild and chest heaving as he pants.
    “I’m fine. I just dropped the soap.”
    He closes his eyes and shakes his head, and without a word, closes the shower door and finishes cleaning himself.
    When he leaves the shower, he won’t meet my eyes. He dries himself off, tying the towel around his hips, and helps me out of the bath. When I reach for a towel, he takes it from me and dries me himself.
    “Are you okay?” I whisper.
    “Fine.”
    He continues to dry me off, then takes my hand in his and pulls me into the bedroom, where he helps me into my pajamas and pulls on his own underwear and black basketball shorts.
    “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
    He starts to leave the room, but I stop him.
    “Bullshit. You’ll sleep in this bed with me, Caleb Montgomery.”
    He stops in the doorway and drops his head, as if in defeat, and then turns to me, his eyes sad. “I shouldn’t, Bryn. The girls are here.”
    “We’re not naked. The girls will be fine. We’ll probably be up before them anyway.”
    He props his hands on his hips and lowers his gaze.
    “I’m afraid of hurting you in my sleep,” he admits, his voice a hoarse whisper.
    “What?” I ask and instinctively move to him, wrap my arms around his waist and pull him against me. “You’d never hurt me.”
    “Not intentionally, not ever.” He cradles my face in his palms and gazes down at me intently. “But when the nightmares come, I get pretty violent, Bryn.”
    “I’ll be fine.”
    He shakes his head, but I hold on tight.
    “If you abandon me now, after the battle we just went through together, I’ll kick your ass.”
    His lips twitch before he rests them on my forehead and takes a deep breath.
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah, I’m sure.”
    He laces his fingers with mine and leads me over to the bed, tucks us both in, and pulls me against him, my back to his front.
    “Thank you, Caleb. For everything.”
    I hear him sigh before he leans over and kisses the sensitive skin beneath my ear.
    “Good night, Legs.”
     

Chapter Seven
    “Good morning!” Nat announces and kisses my cheek as she moves past me into my living room.
    “Morning, sunshine.” Meg grins and kisses my other cheek.
    “You two are entirely too chipper for eight thirty in the morning.” I shut and lock the door, as Caleb has instructed over and over again, and lead the girls into the kitchen.
    “Oh good, you have creamer,” Meg murmurs as she digs in my fridge.
    “I bought it just for you.” I grin over at the pretty auburn-haired woman and then hug Natalie, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and holding her tight. “How are you, little mama?”
    “Good.” She grins and hugs me back. “I’m hardly sick at all with this one.” She covers her still-flat belly with her hand