Saving Each Other (BWWM Romance) (9 page)

“Ah!” I screamed when I ran into Justin. He looked down at me and laughed.

“Relax, now that you’re one of us I don’t have any reason to want to kill you.” His words didn’t comfort me much. Soon the fear left my eyes and there was just anger, I glared up at him but he didn’t drop his snarky smile. I tried to step away from him but he blocked me.

“Can you move please?” He was so close to me that I could smell his expensive cologne, and his warm breath was on my face.

“I really hope you aren’t just fooling us. Dan may seem like a tough alpha dog but he has a soft heart, so don’t break it.” My brow furrowed in confusion. Could Dan have that much feeling for me? He must have told Justin something that I didn’t know. “He didn’t tell me much, but I know him. After Abigail, he can’t take much more heartbreak.”

“Who is Abigail?” I asked him quietly. He peered at me suspiciously, reading my eyes.

“His ex, they dated for a long time. He was going to marry her, but she just packed up one day and left. Then he found out she was cheating on him, ran away with someone he knew in law school.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I wondered aloud.

“Because I haven’t seen my best friend look at anyone the way he looks at you. Not anyone. I just hope that when you are rescued, and you will be, you won’t do the same thing she did.” He stepped aside so I could walk away.

His words rang in my mind, losing me in my thoughts. I felt so bad for him, he was so hurt at one point in his life. Even if-when I am rescued, I didn’t think I wanted to be with anyone else. It’s not like Dan ever really hurt me, he was fighting for what he believed in. That’s all I could ever want in a man.

“Tamara?” Dan called my name loudly, but not quite shouting. I hadn’t even realized I had made my way to the stool in the kitchen and sat down.

“Yeah, sorry.” I rubbed my eyes, suddenly I was very tired.

“Are you okay?” He asked me.

“Yeah, yeah I was just thinking.” I smiled softly to reassure him.

“Okay. I’m making grilled chicken and sweet potatoes.”

“Sounds good,” I smiled. He grinned but his eyes were still concerned.

I watched him as he moved around the kitchen. Domesticity suited him, I didn’t really take him for a good cook but when I tasted the food it was amazing. Definitely better than my cooking.

“This is really good,” I said after a few bites.

“Thanks.”

“Where did you learn to cook like this?” I asked him.

“My dad was a chef…he died a few years ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, he lived a great life.” He smiled at me.

When we finished, he took our plates and washed them. I drank more of the water, I was very thirsty all day and I was having headaches more often. I thought my malnutrition had finally taken a toll. Before I knew it, I was racing to the bathroom to regurgitate what I had just eaten.

I wasn’t surprised that Dan had followed me, he rubbed my back soothingly as I kept dry heaving. I really didn’t want him to see me like that, it was kind of embarrassing.

“Are you okay?” I flushed the toilet twice.

“I’m fine, I’m just not used to eating stuff like that yet,” I tried to reassure him. He rubbed my cheekbone with his thumb softly.

“I’m sorry.” He looked at me sadly.

“It’s a necessary evil, remember?” I gave him a small smile. Finally his eyes relaxed, I reached up to straighten out the furrow in his brow with my finger. He grabbed my hand and kissed it softly, holding it to his cheek.

He had a little bit of stubble growing on his face, I ran my hands along it. We sat like that for a while, just holding each other. He picked me up easily and carried me to his bedroom, laying us down on the bed. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I just pretended until he fell asleep.

I unlocked his arms from around me gingerly, careful not to wake him. I laid on the floor right next to the bed, I was more comfortable that way. I just couldn’t sleep on the soft bed, the hard ground soon put me to sleep.

The sun rose and prompted me to wake up. I was hoping I had gotten up before Dan, so I could sneak back into bed. I got up and turned to the bed, only to be greeted by Dan’s hard face.

“Hi,” I said, afraid of what he would say.

“Come here.” His voice was soft. He held out his hand and I took it, he lifted me onto the bed so that I was lying on top of him. His hard chest was somewhat similar to the floor, making it easy for me to drift off to sleep again.

When I woke up, Dan was gone and I was on the bed again. I was surprised that I was able to sleep-oh, I see what he did there.

“You’re awake.” Dan walked through the door, shirtless and sweaty.“Hi, did you work out or something?”

“Yeah I went for a run.” He smiled and sat on the edge of the bed next to me.

“You tricked me,” I said to him. He smiled smugly.

“When I came back from my first tour, I couldn’t sleep on a normal bed. I was more comfortable on a box spring.” I nodded.

“How many tours did you do?”

“Three.”

“Wow, why did you get out?”

“After I got my medal of honor, I was honorably discharged.”

“What was the medal for?” I was curious to hear about his hero days. He didn’t answer me right away though. I reached for his hand, still sweaty and held it tightly.

“You can tell me,” I prompted him.

“I was a prisoner of war for two years; when I got out, I was in extensive therapy for four months. I guess that deserved a medal and a discharge.” He shrugged. I rubbed his shoulder sadly, trying to focus more on him than his defined shoulder blades.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I don’t regret fighting for my country.” I moved closer to him and hugged his shoulders.

He reached up and rubbed my arms softly. Even after what looked like a grueling workout, I inhaled deeply and lost myself in his scent. I rested my head in the crook of his neck and shoulder. He reached over and pulled me onto his lap, cradling me in his arms.

“I should go take a shower,” he whispered in my ear. I didn’t want to move from his embrace, I felt so safe there.

“No,” I pretended to whine but I moved off of his lap.

“I’ll be back.” He smiled and kissed my lips softly before he disappeared into the bathroom.

I collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling aimlessly. My sudden thought of bravery gave me an idea. I stripped out of his clothes and waltzed into the bathroom. I stood in the doorway, watching how the water slid down his body and to his taut buttocks. I bit my lip nervously but walked closer, opening the door slowly. He turned around to look at me and slicked the water back through his hair with his hands.

He raised his eyebrow at me and looked me up and down. I was more self-conscious about my body since I had lost a lot of weight. I peered at him nervously, my eyes traveling down to the fine dark brown hairs leading to a thin bush and a very impressive member. He held his hand with his palm facing up, beckoning me to come closer.

I walked timidly to the shower, stepping inside slowly. The water was very warm but not too hot. He rested his hands on my hips and pulled me closer to him. His length rested against my abdomen, but he was only slightly aroused. I thought it was nice how we could be intimate like that and he didn’t turn immediately to sex. Memories of the dream clouded my brain and I had to shove them aside before I ruined the moment.

“I can only imagine how your body used to look…well I faintly remember.” He smiled sadly.

“It looked good.” I brushed a piece of hair behind his ear and reached up to kiss him. I had to stand on my tiptoes because he was so much taller than me.

He kissed me back reverently, God, kissing him was so perfect. It brought every nerve in my body to life, it just made me feel alive. I broke away, gasping for air.

“You are such a beautiful woman, Tamara.” He spoke against my lips, ghosting across my skin with his soft lips. He kissed my neck softly, sucking at the skin there.

“Mmm,” I moaned, throwing my head back. The sensations from what he was doing mixed with the water splashing on my body and trickling down my skin and drove me crazy.

He kissed me again softly, pushing his tongue into my mouth to meet mine. They danced together in a wake of passion until I had to break away for air. We looked into each other’s eyes, disappearing into each other.

“Oh!” I screamed when the cold water hit me. I had jumped into Dan’s arms, and we laughed together.

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you that the hot water runs out.” He laughed uncontrollably.

“Stop laughing at me!” I whined, even though I myself was laughing.

“I’m sorry, you just looked so funny jumping up like that; you looked like a cat.” His booming laughter filled the shower. We had retreated to a safe corner where the water wouldn’t fall.

“Come on, let’s get out.” He carried me out of the shower and wrapped me up in one of his towels. He went over to the linen closet to get one for himself.

I dried off and went through one of the bags for panties. I wondered if it was awkward for him to buy them for me. He did well though, they were cotton boy shorts. I put on a new pair of soffe shorts and I grabbed another one of his shirts. I was falling in love with soffe shorts again, I used to wear them a lot in college.

“My shirts look good on you.”

“Oh, you startled me.” I turned around. He was wearing a pair of sweat pants low on his waist and no shirt. It showed off the perfect ‘V’ shape he had. Damn, he was body goals.

“Sorry, but it’s true.” He walked in the room and hugged me from behind, kissing my cheek softly.

“You should eat something. Do you feel okay to eat?” he said to me.

“I think so.”

“Okay.” He kissed my cheek again and went to the kitchen.

I followed behind him, watching his perfect ass move in his pants. I sat on the kitchen stool and watched him move around the kitchen.

“I think chicken noodle soup is the best option.” He heated up the bowl and set it in front of me with a can of Sprite.

“Thanks.” I ate slowly, afraid of what happened last time.

“You’re cute when you eat,” Dan said. I looked up at him, confused.

“Thanks,” I giggled, now self-conscious of how I ate. I finished the soup, which was actually pretty tasty for canned food. I finished the Sprite and waited a while, my stomach felt okay so I assumed I was all in the clear.

“Feel okay?”

“Yeah.” I sat while he took care of the dishes. “You aren’t eating anything?”

“Nah, I’m okay. What do you want to do? You have freedom now.” He smiled.

“Um, I think I want to watch TV.” I had been missing watching my show, Supernatural. I started watching it from the beginning on Netflix.

“I don’t have many channels, but I have Netflix.”

“That’s perfect,” I smiled.

He led me over to the living room, we were both shocked to see Justin there.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were in here,” Dan said to him.

“Nah, it’s cool man. I can go.” He got up to leave, giving me a meaningful look as he left.

Dan set up Netflix and gave me the remote. I navigated back to season one and started from the beginning.

“You like this show?” he asked me.

“Yeah,” I giggled.

We huddled on the couch together and watched about three episodes until I fell asleep. I felt much better in the past day, healthier and happier. Then I thought about the truth of my company and what they had been doing. I felt responsible for all those innocent lives that were taken, it was because of me that Rory Corp was able to even transport their said ‘oil’ barrels.

I woke up in the middle of the night and the television was off. I woke Dan up because I really needed to talk to him before I exploded.

“Dan? Wake up.” I ran my hand through his hair and down to his neck. He grabbed my hand and kissed it but didn’t open his eyes.

“What’s wrong, are you okay?” His voice was quiet.