Falling for Her Reluctant Sheikh by Berlin Amalie

Author:Berlin, Amalie [Berlin, Amalie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-10-02T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

ADALYN BECAME AWARE that the big warm body that had been close to her all night was gone. And there was a sound of movement in the small tent.

She opened her eyes to pitch blackness and fumbled around at her side for the lantern, flipping it on.

Khalil was on his hands and knees, his shoulder stretching out the side of the tent, he’d moved so far away from her.

His eyes were open...and his T-shirt stuck to him, drenched in sweat, but he didn’t look awake. People could do all sorts of things in their sleep, but over the years Adalyn had cultivated the ability to spot the differences. Acting strangely aside, there was something missing in the eyes when consciousness was an illusion.

Would he respond to his fake name if she said it? Probably not.

Normally she wouldn’t wake someone in a nightmare, she’d just let them go through it and monitor what happened with her equipment. But she’d promised to stand guard tonight. She had to risk saying his name and hope he didn’t come out of it swinging.

“Khalil?” She said it low, crawling toward him in what she hoped was a nonthreatening manner. The way his muscles strained and the wideness of his eyes said that whatever he was going through was bad enough.

She said his name again, and then just started talking, picking up the thread of the story she’d been telling him, the one that she’d listened to herself repeat a thousand times when wrestling with her own night dragons. Every instinct in her said to touch him, ground him to reality and the moment with her, but that instinct was wrong. Dangerous, until that hyperalert expression faded to the inevitable confusion that would follow when he actually did waken.

“Khalil?” She said his name softly again.

Nothing. If anything, he looked more strained than he had. Even in the low light and with his soaked T-shirt rumpled on his skin, she could see the muscles down his spine and over his ribs bunched and tight.

She couldn’t risk saying his name louder, so she tried something else. “Adalyn.” She said her name, once...twice...and this time she did touch him. First just stroking her fingers over the back of his hand, then up his arm, then to his cheek... By the time she’d combed her fingers through the damp black hair, he’d fully woken up.

The confusion she’d expected wasn’t there, but he did go from looking dazed to grim before she could think of anything to say.

Pulling away, he stood and walked to the opening of the tent, unfastened it and stepped directly out into the cold night air and the open sand in his wet shirt and shorts.

Adalyn gave him a moment. He was awake now, and not in any danger out there.

The danger was in his mind, and she’d promised to protect him from it. Despite her assertions that she’d had sufficient sleep to stay awake the whole night, she’d failed. If she’d stayed awake, maybe she could have gotten him out of it before he’d become soaking wet and panting.

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