I leaned away from his touch. “And I didn’t wake?”
“You spoke.”
“I did?”
He found my hand and lifted it to his firm lips. “You asked me if I was safe.”
I had?
“You said something about Charles Dickens.”
That brought back my smile. “I was readingATale of Two Cities.”
“Ian said you’d asked that I come to you when I returned.” His warm breath tickled my skin as I made out his silhouette.
“I had, but I don’t remember you being here,” I admitted.
“You’d had a long day. I was beginning to wonder when you’d wake. It’s after noon.”
“It is?” I reached into the darkness, my fingers splayed over his shirt. Beneath my touch, his heart beat in a steady yet fast rhythm. “It’s after noon?” I tried to make sense of everything. “I never sleep this late.”
His light touch caressed my cheek with a familiarity I wasn’t certain we had accomplished. Such as with his tone, I would admit if only to myself that I liked it. My face inclined toward him.
“I’ve been watching you.”
“Watching me sleep? In the dark?” A thought occurred to me. “Did you undress me?”
“I helped you. No one else sees what’s mine.”
The small hairs on my neck stood to attention. With my hand still against his chest, I strained to see him, his features. In the darkness they were there, hidden in shadows. “What happened last night?”
“I just told you. I found you asleep—”
“No,” I interrupted. “Before that.”
“You agreed to be mine.”
That wasn’t what I meant. “After you left. Where did you go? Were you in danger? Who is Noah and what or who was his target. What happened?”
Rett lifted my hand, the one from his chest, and curling my fingers, he molded it to his desired position. The warmth of his touch gave way to the firmness of his lips as he peppered my knuckles with kisses. “We discussed some of that last night. I have questions for you as well.”
“I don’t recall last night. Remind me,” I replied.
“Tell me why you don’t want the door locked.”
My skin chilled. It wasn’t a question I anticipated. “Ian told you.”
“Emma, there’s something you should know. In this house, in this city, there is nothing that I won’t know. There are no secrets. Ian works for me and has been tasked with keeping you safe. When I’m not around, he’ll sacrifice his life for yours. When I’m near, I will do the same. Now, tell me what happened last night. He said you seemed upset.”
I was upset when the door was locked. While he’d just said there were no secrets, he wasn’t being upfront with me either. My issue with locked doors was not his concern as long as the door remained unlocked. I pulled my hand away. “Maybe it was more than the lock.”
“Talk to me.”
I scooted back toward the headboard. “Gosh, Rett. Maybe I was upset about being bartered in a deal that was transacted about me while without me. Maybe I was a bit freaked out about being taken to an undisclosed location, blindfolded, and led to an abandoned suite. Maybe it’s because I too like to know things and right now, I don’t know or understand anything that’s happening.”
The warmth of Rett’s body briefly covered me as he reached behind me, moving a pillow. “Lie back, Emma. I’ll explain.”
“Explain while I sit.”