Page 61 of Little Ballerina
“It’s not even eight o’clock,” she protested as he started for the stairs.
“Regardless, you need some rest, that was emotionally exhausting. Besides, I want to hold you in my arms and never let you go. I want to hold you until you believe that I will never let you go.”
She did believe that, but unfortunately it still didn’t solve everything. Someone still wanted to kill her and was going to hurt as many people she loved as they could before they killed her too. And she still wouldn’t allow another person that she loved to be hurt. Whether she could say the words aloud or not, she loved Sam.
* * * * *
11:44 P.M.
Something startled him awake.
Immediately, he knew what it was.
Naomi.
She was no longer lying in his bed, curled up against his side, with her warm breath tickling his neck as she had been when he’d fallen asleep.
Had she decided to go looking for her stalker after all?
In a panic, Sam bounded out of bed, his pulse was thumping loudly in his ears, and his heart was hammering painfully in his chest. He was a warm sleeper and wearing only his boxers, he threw on sweatpants and a shirt then went searching for Naomi.
Perhaps she had needed space to sleep in the middle of a bed to keep the monsters at bay. After everything she had unloaded tonight, he certainly couldn’t blame her if she had, although he wished she had woken him to tell him.
He checked all three of his guest rooms, but she wasn't in any of them.
He checked the bathrooms, but she wasn't in any of them either.
Nor was she in any of the other rooms.
His panic was escalating quickly.
Was she gone already?
Sam was about to call in back-up to help him track her down when he saw that his backdoor was open.
And there he found her. Standing in the middle of his backyard, wearing a long, white, cotton nightgown which was whipping around her legs as the wind swirled about her.
“You scared the life out of me,” he reprimanded as he willed his still wildly beating heart to calm and joined her out in the cold night.
“Sorry.”
She wouldn’t look at him, but even in the thin light spilling out of the house he could see her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying again. That killed him. Hearing her tell him what had happened to her had killed him even though he had suspected that someone had abused her.
“I know I shouldn’t be out here on my own, but I thought enough cops were surrounding your house that I'd be safe.”
That was a glimpse of his Naomi. His smart, intuitive, and always aware of what was going on around her, Naomi. He hadn’t told her that Allina and the others were planning to set a trap, but apparently she had figured it out for herself anyway. “You could have woken me, I would have …” he broke off as he touched her arm. She was ice cold. “How long have you been out here?”
She shrugged. “A while I think.”
“Too long. You're freezing.” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, attempting to warm her a little. “Come on, let’s get you inside.” Sam wasn't used to being gentle and tender, but with Naomi the more time he spent around her the easier it seemed to come.
She didn’t protest as he led her back inside, locking up behind them. As the warm air of the house encompassed her it was like Naomi’s body finally realized that it was cold. She began to shiver violently against him, and her teeth chattered loudly. He scooped her up so his body heat could help get her body temperature up.
“I'm putting you in a hot bath,” he informed her as he headed upstairs to his bathroom.
Her head shook against his shoulder. “No.”
“Honey, I’d bet anything you're borderline hypothermic, you must have been out there for hours. Did you sleep at all?”