“Mr. MacGregor, Abigail said that you were going to need these files and I thought I’d check on Andi to see how she’s doing,” Travis said with a smile that quickly disappeared when Devyn grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him against the wall.
“You fucking prick,” Devyn snapped, getting in his face.
“I-”
“I told you to take care of her and you fucking left her there!” Devyn shouted, slamming him back against the wall.
“I thought she was right behind me!” Travis said, trying to shove him back, but he wasn’t going anywhere.
Tightening his hold around the asshole’s shirt, Devyn pulled him back and slammed him against the wall again, earning a pained grunt that didn’t erase the memory of Andi struggling. He almost fucking lost her. Devyn opened his mouth only to frown when soft humming drew his attention to find Andi standing in front of the elevator, wrapped in the comforter off his bed, absently rocking back and forth on her heels as she waited for the elevator. He watched as she reached over and pressed the call button again before readjusting the comforter around herself with a satisfied sigh only to realize that they were both staring at her.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, Andi gestured with the comforter towards the elevator as she said, “I-I was working on something.”
When he only glared, she licked her lips nervously, went to gesture to the elevator again only to close her mouth, noticeably swallow, and grumble as she turned right back around and reluctantly returned to his hotel room, pouting every fucking step of the way.
Once she was gone, Devyn slammed the asshole back against the wall and-
“Shit!”
-swung, knocking the little prick on his ass.
“Stay away from her,” Devyn bit out, stepping over the asshole cupping his face and decided to go make sure that the little pain in the ass wasn’t trying to sneak out the window.
* * *
He looked so stressed,Andi thought as she lay there, watching Devyn as he worked on the couch that he’d dragged in here to keep an eye on her because apparently, he had trust issues and-
He’d saved her.
She’d never been more terrified in her life, but as soon as she saw Devyn, she knew that everything would be okay.
“It’s late. Go to sleep, Miss Dawson,” Devyn drawled, not bothering to look up from what he was doing.
“Can’t sleep.”
“And why is that?” he asked, picking up another file that she would really like to get her hands on.
“I don’t like sleeping alone,” Andi said, shifting to get more comfortable as she watched him, taking in everything from his ruffled hair to the shirt that he’d put on after they got back from the emergency room and left unbuttoned, to the cuts on his fingers and found herself swallowing hard as she thought about how he got those cuts.
“You live alone,” he pointed out.
“Which is a problem since I don’t like sleeping alone,” Andi said, deciding that it probably wasn’t a good idea to mention that every time she closed her eyes that she was back in that water.
There was a heavy sigh, and then, Devyn was getting to his feet and tossing the folder that he’d been going over onto the couch and walked over to the bed. Before she could say anything, he was climbing onto the bed and lying down next to her with a sigh.
“Better?” Devyn asked as he folded his arm behind his head.
“Yes,” Andi murmured, snuggling in closer until he took the hint and carefully wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer.
“And when did this level of neediness begin?” Devyn murmured, absently running his fingertips along her arm.
“Birth,” Andi said with a firm nod, only to add, “Twin, remember?”
“What was that like?” Devyn asked as he shifted onto his side so that he was facing her.
“Being a twin?” Andi asked as he reached over and gently brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear, his fingertips lightly brushing along her jaw when he pulled his hand away and dropped it on the bed next to hers.
“I really don’t know how to explain it,” Andi said, worrying her bottom lip as she thought it over.
“Try,” Devyn said as she reached over and began toying with his fingers, needing the familiar movement right now.
“I think it made everything better,” she said, absently tracing his fingers, careful of the cuts.
“How so?” he asked, spreading his fingers apart to make it easier for her.
“I didn’t really fit in with the other kids, but with Drew, I never had to worry about anything. He didn’t care how weird I was, he just…got me,” Andi said, not sure how else to explain it.
“And your parents?”
“Weren’t ready to be parents,” Andi said, shrugging it off as she traced his fingers.
“What happened?” Devyn asked, pulling his hand back just far enough so that he could cover her hand with his and take over, tracing the back of her hand with his fingertips.
“My parents were high school sweethearts with big plans only to find out that they were going to have a baby sooner than they’d expected. They were excited, but they were even more excited when they found out that they were going to have twins only to have all of their hopes destroyed when they found out that the doctors didn’t expect me to survive the night,” Andi said, watching as his fingers stilled.
“It was too much for them to handle,” Andi murmured, watching as his fingertips began tracing lines over the back of her hand and moved slowly down each finger, making it difficult to focus. “My father was the first one to split. He took one look at me in the NICU and suddenly decided that it would be a mistake to put college off for another year and never looked back. My mother, on the other hand, waited two whole days before she decided that she couldn’t handle it. She left a note for my uncle and went home and never looked back.”
“I’m sorry, Andi,” Devyn murmured softly as he watched his fingers move over hers.
“Don’t be. I had a wonderful childhood. My uncle took good care of us. He was the best father that we could have asked for,” she said with a fond smile, unable to imagine a better childhood, which made her wonder about him. “Tell me about your mother.”
“We were talking about your sleeping issues,” Devyn murmured as she pulled her hand free and took over, needing the comforting movement.
Taking the hint, Andi continued. “When I was in the NICU, I was struggling, couldn’t gain weight, wasn’t sleeping, and the only thing that seemed to help was having Drew in there with me. Once I gained enough weight and my vitals looked good, they released us to our uncle, who had no idea what he was getting into until he tried separating us.”
“He quickly learned that if he wanted us to sleep through the night that he needed to put us in the same crib. We shared a room until Drew got sick of finding library books in his bed and asked for his own room. Of course, I didn’t let that stop me. I would wait until he fell asleep before crawling into his bed and when I got too old to do that, I put on music, the TV, anything to make noise so that I could fall asleep,” Andi finished on a soft sigh only to find herself smiling when she realized that Devyn had fallen asleep.
She stopped tracing circles on the back of his hand so that she could reach over and run her fingertips along his jaw, enjoying the feel of the light stubble against her skin. He was so handsome, Andi thought as she finished running her fingers along his jaw and found herself tracing his bottom lip. He really was a good man, kind, sweet, and God, she liked him so much, Andi thought as she reluctantly dropped her hand away, deciding that it was time to get back to work.