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My inner cop wanted to question her further; I still needed to knohy they were taken Why Raegan and Braden? Why an to talk had to happen naturally or she claan continued, "There were some really nice cookbooks, but ere never able to cook Food was just brought to us There was also a Massage Techniques book I liked that one… a lot"

So in her tone piqued my attention "A lot?"

"It had pictures"

I was still puzzled by her odd reaction to a e therapy book with pictures, and then it hitat a book that taught how toat the bodies? Male bodies?" I asked in a rough voice

"Yours is much better than any of those pictures" The sound of desire and wanting in her voice could not bemy skin

The sound of the kids’ voices down the hall rean would be inappropriate at this very mo in her eyes With a strangled groan, I scooted myself off the bed

"Now I need a cold shower," I gru back I swore I heard her giggle as I retreated

That girl was a te to lure me in or if she was always this candid We had never spoken enough before now forneed an ice cold shower

- TEN -

RAEGAN –

I felt the me up out of s What had happened toin the air? A pressure in ly painful

A hand pushed into my mouth, while more hands quickly secured a piece of cloth around my eyes The darkened bedroo I distinctly felt a hand slide tightly aroundthat I wasn’t in ful of air so I could let it go in an ear-splitting scream, but then I felt a soft touch brush down the side of my face

"Rae," I heard a deep voice whisper "Rae, you’re having a nightmare"

I jerked away, but then a warnized thattaken They weren’t back for us It was just a dream I had to repeat all of these phrases over and over until my brain believed them to be true

Lane’s body wrapped around me fros entwined, allowing us to be as close as possible His hand threaded through an to slon

"Sleep, Rae, I’ain Sleep baby, I’ve got you now," he whispered

A protest was onnext to us, but his war So I slept, knowingto worry about

~~~~~~~

We had been in the New York apartment for teeks and we still hadn’t spoken about where ere going froether I knew that neither Lane nor I wanted to stay in this apartment, but it was convenient And I didn’t think that either of us wanted to face the real world just yet

A week into our stay, Lane finally started working again He logged in remotely from the computer and made phone calls a couple of hours a day He infor off ashis part

Apparently, Jace had really helped him out and they seemed to have a mutual respect for each other I assuood husband to his friend, Audrey I couldn’t explain irl I had never e better to hear that she was h that I still wondered about Lane and Audrey, because they spoke on the phone inning to think that I had been the only one feeling the pull between the two of us--that et a little bit stronger for me A smile here A brief touch there But Lane never , so I constantly questioned what I was feeling

Could it just be that I hadn’t had any attention for the past four years and now even the s in the world? Could I be ihs when he winked atrooave

That was another thing He was now sleeping in the bed with us every night Kate wouldn’t have it any other way, and I couldn’t bla blue eyes But he also still crawled in behind hts they were excruciating and I craved his cohts when I woke and didn’t reardless, before the sun ca, he would always move back to his side and it wreaked havoc on my heart to see hi sun would dance across his blonde hair and screa for him to come back to ht cuddle sessions It was as if they were a secret, even to us--sohttiination until last night