Free Saving You by Jessie Evans

could speak. “That’s it. No arguing. Come to the
bunks with me, and let me tuck you in. Right now.”
    Jake met her eyes, holding her gaze for a
long moment before he sighed and nodded. “All right. But I only
need thirty minutes.”
    “ Take an hour,” Jamison
said. “I’ll wake you sooner if we get any news.”
    “ Thirty minutes,” Jake
said, proving he was the most stubborn person in the world. “And
I’ll want a full report of what I missed when I wake
up.”
    Naomi resisted the urge to roll her eyes as
she hooked her arm through his and walked him out of the large,
open office space and down the hall to the bunkroom. Inside, the
room smelled lightly of feet, detergent, man, and bleach cleaner,
but Jake’s bunk at the far right of the room was cozy enough and
Naomi knew he could fall asleep anywhere. It was one of his super
powers. Naomi needed high thread count sheets, lavender spray, and
a white noise machine to get to sleep and still had trouble, but
Jake—give him a lumpy chair or a wall to lean against and he was
good to go.
    Still, she had brought a few things she
hoped might help make his nap more refreshing. She set her bag down
on the tile beside the bed and started pulling out her emergency
supplies.
    “ What’s all that?” Jake
asked as he stripped his Summerville Fire tee shirt off and hung it
over the end of the bed, revealing his thickly muscled
chest.
    Even now, seven months after seeing Jake
semi-clothed for the first time in years, the sight of him still
made Naomi’s insides flutter. He was a beautiful man, inside and
out, and she was determined to take excellent care of him, even
when she had to fight his own stubborn nature to do it.
    “ This is passion flower tea
with honey,” Naomi said, uncapping her thermos and pouring Jake a
steaming cup. “It’s going to help you relax and get to
sleep.”
    Jake sat on the edge of the bunk, accepting
the thermos cap with a mildly amused expression. “You know I don’t
need any help with that, babe.”
    “ I know,” she said, “but
you’ve been under an abnormal amount of stress. So drink the tea.
You’ll like it, I promise.”
    Jake took a cautious sip, nodding as he
swallowed. “That is nice.”
    “ This is going to be even
nicer.” Naomi uncapped her lavender oil and held it out for Jake to
stiff. “When you’re done with your tea, I’m going to give you a
back massage and then I’ve got a beanbag neck warmer to heat up in
the microwave. We’ll slip it around your shoulders before your
drift off and you’ll wake up without any stress knots.”
    “ You’re good to me.” Jake
glanced up at her, his half smile fading. “But it doesn’t feel
right to have you making a fuss over me while Faith’s still out
there.”
    Naomi sat down beside him on the mattress.
“I understand, but making a martyr of yourself isn’t going to help
find her. Let me take care of you, and you’ll wake up in a better
place to deal with the search for Faith and everything else.”
    He took another sip of his tea before saying
in soft voice, “I don’t want to lose someone I love so much. Not
again.” He turned, staring into her eyes with a look so raw it
broke her heart.
    This was the Jake he only showed to her, the
vulnerable, naked Jake who could admit he wasn’t always the
toughest man in the world, and who needed her strength every bit as
much as she needed his.
    “ It’s going to be okay.”
She cupped his face in her hands, looking deep into his troubled
eyes. “We will get through this as a family. All of us—Jamison and
Maddie and Mick and you and me. We’ve got each other and everyone
out in that room on our side, and all of them are praying for
Faith.”
    Jake nodded, but the wrinkle between his
eyes stayed firmly in place.
    “ And Lucy may be a little
odd, but she’s a sweet, smart girl and a complete professional,”
Naomi pressed on. “I know helping run a bakery and looking for
missing people are vastly different