“Did you see him in court?”
“No. Since I was a minor, the judge allowed my testimony to be recorded and shown to the jury in a closed courtroom. I was so badly burned that I was still in the hospital months later having multiple skin grafts when the jury finally found him guilty. Every day since, I have lived in fear he would be paroled and come after me. Now it’s happening. He’s not going to stop until he kills me, too.”
“Anna, listen to me,” Cowboy said, grasping my arms. “I’m not going to let that happen. You don’t have to go anywhere. I can protect you from him.”
I wanted to let him convince me to stay, but I couldn’t put him in that kind of danger. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask me. You’re my woman, remember? It’s my job,” he said, dutifully. He smiled, obviously trying to settle my nerves. “Besides, you have enough FBI agents surrounding you here that you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“You mean Jake?”
“Jake isn’t the only FBI agent around here. Hank is a retired FBI director, and Junior used to do some contract work for the Feds. And even though Ox, Judd, and I aren’t FBI, we learned from the best. Your fath—Stuart Nelson—will have to go through all of us to get to you. Just tell me you’ll stay.”
“I can’t do that. I always wanted to be surrounded by people who cared about me, and now that I am, I can’t risk their lives by putting them in danger,” I said, letting my head fall. “It’s best if I just disappear.”
He lifted my chin to gaze deep into my eyes. “That isn’t what’s best for everyone.”
With my emotions running so high, I knew I wasn’t thinking clearly. But his words filled me with a renewed sense of hope. All the years I’d spent running from my past had finally caught up to me. Would I be able to let all the fear go for Cowboy? For myself? I had to try, didn’t I?
“Okay, I’ll stay.”
Cowboy drew me a warm bubble bath and made me some herbal tea to help soothe my frazzled nerves. When I was done, I started to dry myself off, but he grabbed the towel from me and took care of it himself. Afterward, he helped me into my flannel pajamas and then led me to the bedroom. He was pampering me, and I let him, because it felt good to have someone else to lean on for a change. No one had ever taken care of me that way before.
He held the covers up as I slid underneath, then lay down behind me, encompassing me with his warm body. It made me feel better, safer even, but it wasn’t enough. The mental images I’d stirred up by talking about my past wouldn’t stop replaying vividly in my mind. I needed him to make me forget completely, to make me forgo this feeling of doom hovering all around me.
“Cowboy, I…I need you.”
“I’m right here, baby.” He pressed his lips to my temple and held me firmer in his strong arms. “I’ve got you. No one is going to hurt you.”
“No, I mean I need you…inside me.”
I knew he wasn’t sexually aroused. I could feel every bit of pelvic region pressing into my bottom through my flannel pajamas. He didn’t have any problem sleeping in the nude, but I wasn’t at the same comfort level. Yet the moment I spoke those words aloud, something must’ve stirred inside him. A long, hard ridge suddenly rested uncomfortably against me.
“Are you sure? We don’t have to—”
“I need you,” I whispered again.