Breaking the Ice by Esme Taylor

CHAPTER SIX

Hettie

Bolting upright, I looked around the dimly lit room in confusion. Where am I? What am I wearing? Whose bed am I in? And why does my face feel like someone has kicked me? I thought, pressing my fingers to the tender flesh around my eye.

I struggled to pull myself from the claws of sleep, and as I did, memories from the previous night flooded my mind.

We had fun. We danced, laughed, and drank cocktails, but not so many that I should be in an unfamiliar room in a stranger’s clothes. Suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine. The Viking–Reid–had touched my back and whispered in my ear, but Max warned me to stay away from him.

I felt slightly overwhelmed by the memories from the night before, but I also knew that I needed to figure out what brought me here. Wherever 'here' is.

After the party, we all took a car home, but there was traffic. I decided to get out and walk. The alleyway––sweat covered my overheated skin as I wracked my brain for the events that followed.

Think, Hettie. Take a deep breath and think. I held my head in my hands as I thought back to what happened from the time we left the party until now.

I could see my road from where we were stuck in traffic, so I got out. I assured Max and the girls that I would text them when I got home. I ran my fingers lightly over my bandaged knees. That’s when realization struck and it all came flooding back.

Someone grabbed me. They pushed me to the ground. The next thing I remember was waking up and looking into Reid’s eyes. It felt like my Viking had rescued me when I needed him the most.

Suddenly, I heard a noise… the same noise that had woken me from my sleep. Straining my ears, I listened closely.

There it is again, I thought in confusion. And that’s when it hit me. It was a moan. Almost as quickly as the thought entered my mind, another moan filtered into the room, followed by shouting and sobs. I was just preparing to climb out of bed when what sounded like a smashing lamp echoed through the house. Frozen in fear, my blood instantly ran cold.

What if the muggers found me here? What if they followed me? What if they hurt Reid because he tried to help me? My thoughts were racing and my heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest.

Not only did I not have a phone, I also had no idea where his house was. Which meant, even if I had a way to call the police, I would have had no idea where to tell them to come. I had no idea how to help him fight off his attackers.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath while trying to come up with an idea. And that’s when I heard it. Silence. Letting go of the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I waited. Maybe I was just imagining it, I tried to convince myself. To be fair, it had been a rough twenty-four hours. But then it started again. Only this time, it was screaming.

Long, loud, agonizing screams echoed through the silent house. It sounded like someone was being ripped apart. And that’s when it occurred to me. There was no other noise. I couldn’t hear any footsteps or shouts from an intruder. All I could hear was fear and pain.

I can’t let this carry on without at least trying to help, I thought to myself, pushing aside my fears.

I took a deep breath as I slipped out of bed, my toes sinking into the soft, warm carpet. Quietly opening the bedroom door, I tiptoed across the hallway to the room Reid had told me was his. The door was slightly ajar and the early morning sunlight was just beginning to filter into the room through the window.

“Hello,” I whispered as I pushed the door open, my skin prickling with fear.

While I was fairly certain there was no intruder, I still half-expected someone to shoot past me in an attempt to escape. However, instead of being met with a dangerous intruder, I was met with something else entirely.

In the center of the huge wooden bed was Reid’s muscular, near naked body twisted amongst his white cotton sheets. His body was even more perfect than I’d imagined, and I wanted to make the most of this uninterrupted moment to take every inch of him in. As my eyes began to scan his toned, sculpted muscles, he let out a bloodcurdling scream. His unconscious form gripped the sheets, legs kicking outward as his back arched up. His once even breaths were now coming in heaves as if his lungs couldn’t get enough air.

Despite his massive size, he appeared more like a terrified child lost in pain, tears streaming down his face. The screams continued for what felt like an eternity, one and another, each louder and more desperate than the last. Witnessing him like that nearly broke me.

I wasn’t overly familiar with night terrors, but what I had seen on those TV programs had me frozen in fear as nerves fluttered in my stomach. They always said the worst thing you could do was wake someone up. I desperately wanted to help him, but I didn’t know what to do.

Should I look for his phone and call someone to help him? But who would I call, and what would I say? I don’t know any of his friends. And that’s when I heard it, his voice asking me for help.

“Help! Help me!”

Okay, to be fair, he didn’t ask for me exactly. But he did cry out for help in his sleep. My heart broke for him and whatever was causing his nightmares, so I helped in the only way I could think to.

Pulling back the covers, I climbed into bed beside him and brushed his damp hair away from his sweat-covered face. “You’re safe, Viking,” I reassured him quietly as I pulled myself into his back, one hand stroking his face and the other wrapped around his waist, his delicious six-pack short-circuiting my brain.

Under my hand, I could feel his heart hammering all the way from his chest. With each passing minute, his once rapid, shallow breathing slowed. Without a second thought, I wrapped my leg up and over his thigh so that my entire body was touching his. My hope was that the feeling of being anchored to me would be enough to ease his nightmare.

The feeling of his body next to mine in bed, its slight citrus scent teasing my senses while he was barely wearing anything had my sex pulsating with lust. This really isn’t the time, Hettie.

Doing my best to distract myself from the feeling between my legs, I murmured the same phrase in his ear over and over. “You’re not alone. You're safe. I have you.”

And I did.

Before long, the shouting stopped and I began to feel his body relax against me. As his breathing evened out, he fell into a deep, comfortable sleep. Still, I continued to hold him, cocooning him, protecting him, and soothing him until I, too, eventually drifted into sleep.

When I awoke, several hours had passed. I was no longer wrapped around the body of a Viking. Instead, my only reminder that it wasn’t a dream was the dent in the tangled sheets where he’d once slept.