Broken Souls: A small-town, strangers to lovers, slow burn romance by Ariana Cane

Author:Ariana Cane [Cane, Ariana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

MARK

Quiet sobbing, followed by someone punching me in my side, wakes me from my heavy sleep. I open my eyes to Alicia shaking, her body pressed to mine. Her little fists punch my chest, but it doesn’t hurt. Silent sobs come from her open mouth

“Alicia,” I call, but she’s asleep, trapped deep in her nightmare. “Alicia, it’s just a dream. Wake up.” I shake her carefully, but she doesn’t wake up. I call louder. “Alicia!”

Her eyes fly open, lost in time and space. She’s still there, whenever she was trapped, and I have a pretty fucking good idea which moment she was reliving.

“Alicia, it’s me.” I repeat myself, hoping she’ll hear me. “Your friendly neighborhood firefighter.” That seems to bring her back, and her eyes finally focus on my face.

“Sorry,” she says, her voice gruff as she wipes sweat away from her forehead. “I’m sorry. I hate when that happens.”

“Does it happen a lot?” My own voice comes out as a groan, and I fear she’ll get scared again, but it doesn’t happen. Instead, she presses her body to mine, looking for warmth and nearness.

“Less and less.” She sniffles. “Thanks, I don’t remember the last time I wasn’t alone in that.”

I don’t want to respond. What can I say? I’d only get angry. At the assholes who did that. At her family who can’t help her, leaving her alone with her demons. At everyone.

“Thank you, Mark.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I bring my arm around her shoulders and pull her closer. It seems like her demons checked out for a moment. She doesn’t jump back in fear when I touch her. And God knows I need to touch her right now, to make sure she’s okay. Somehow, I feel like I’m the one reliving her nightmares.

“No.” She shakes her head against my side. “I just want to lie down here. With you, if it’s okay.”

“It’s okay.” I tug her closer to me, enjoying the feel of her soft body next to mine. I just wish we didn’t have these itchy clothes between us.

I mentally smack myself for being a creep. But to be fair, the clothes we wear so we don’t freeze to death are itchy.

Her labored breathing slows down eventually, and I think she fell asleep when her quiet voice startles me.

“I haven’t kissed anyone in years, and I mean it—years.” She stresses the word as my breath hitches. Did I just hear her right? “I couldn’t. I didn’t want to.” I hear her rough swallow. “Do you think you could kiss me?”

My throat goes dry, and I can barely force out a single word. “Alicia” is all I can manage.

“Sorry! Gosh, I’m so sorry.” She scatters away from me, and I don’t stop her. “I’m sorry, Mark. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, and yet here I am, draped all over you. You probably have a girlfriend, and I don’t even know.” She hides her face in her hands. “Gosh, it’s embarrassing.” She muffles into her palms.

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