“Do you want to talk about it?” Matthew’s fingers combed soothingly through her tangle of curls, caressing her head with each sweep of his hand.
Grace nestled her face against his neck, breathing in the slightly woodsy scent she had come to associate with Matthew. “I feel like there’s something important I don’t remember. Something that will tell you who Emmanuel is.”
“You’ll remember.” He said it so confidently that it was hard not to believe him.
Hard but not impossible.
“What if I don’t?”
“Then we’ll catch him when he comes here to get you, just like we planned.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll work out another plan. I promise you, Grace, wewillfind Emmanuel, and hewillbe punished for every horrible thing he did to you and all those other women.”
Tilting her head back, she looked up at him, studied his strong jaw, his kind eyes, allowed his strength to become her own. “Why do you think he did it?”
“I don’t know, honey. I hope that when we find him, we get the chance to ask him, but in the end it won't change anything. He did what he did and knowing why won't undo anything, it won't erase the pain he caused you.” His lips brushed across her forehead. “I wish I could take that pain away from you, curly.”
She smiled at the cutesy nickname, and the horror of her dreams receded a little further. “You are. I don’t know how you're doing it, but somehow, you're making that pain fade little by little.”
* * * * *
2:45 P.M.
“Come on, let’s go out,” Matthew announced. He couldn’t take the look in Grace’s eyes any longer.
She’d been different since her nightmares last night.
It was a subtle difference. If you didn't know what to look for she’d look like any other young woman enjoying lounging by the pool on a lazy summer’s day. But he did know what to look for, and every time he saw the shadows lurking in her eyes it drove him crazy.
He wanted to chase those shadows away so badly, but he didn't know how to do it.
Grace was pushing herself too hard, trying to remember whatever her subconscious was attempting to tell her. There was more to her dreams than she’d been willing to share, and while he didn't doubt that if she knew something important about Emmanuel she would have shared it with him and the team, he wanted her to tell him everything because she trusted him.
Trust was a hard thing to earn. He knew this because he could count pretty much on the fingers of one hand those he trusted. His partner Rylla, her husband Nate, his boss Heidi, a few of the other cops he worked with and that was it. When your trust in others had been decimated by the very people who were supposed to love you unconditionally, it was hard to get past that.
Grace was worth the risk of getting hurt.
Matthew was under no illusions that while he was developing real feelings for the pretty curly haired blonde, her feelings might be less than genuine. Not that he thought she would do it on purpose to hurt him, but he had been the one to save her, they’d connected over the fact they had both taken lives, and she needed him to be safe.
While he wanted to believe that they might just get the happy ever after he was pretty certain neither of them quite felt they deserved, he had to be prepared for that not to happen. For Grace to realize once she started rebuilding her life, gotten her feet back beneath her, that she didn't need him after all, and that the feelings she thought she had were nothing more than gratefulness and friendship, would destroy him. After that there would never be another woman he'd allow himself to get close to.
Still, he’d settle for being Grace’s friend if it was the only way to stay in her life.
Yep, he was that much of a sucker for this gorgeous woman.
“Matthew.”
“Yeah?”
A small smile quirked one side of her mouth. “You keep accusing me of being distracted today and yet you were completely zoned out then.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. What were you saying?”
“Youwere saying you wanted to go out, I said we’ve spent all day outdoors by the pool.”
“No, I meantoutout. Like, leave the property kind of out.”