Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

she’s autistic, but then I already suspected that, didn’t I?”
    176

    Again Blythe shrugged, watching him the entire time, clearly expecting him to run or explain why he wasn’t running.
    There was no explaining his mysterious connection to Rikki or how she made him feel—totally accepted without strings, a freedom he’d never experienced. Or how the things Blythe was telling him tugged at his heart.
    He didn’t feel emotion, that was supposed to be long gone from his life. His trainers would be horrified at the way his heart melted over Rikki. He imagined her as a young girl in a world she didn’t understand, stalked by a killer and without anyone to turn to, yet somehow, against all odds, she had carved out a life for herself. He looked at Blythe. With this woman. Blythe had stood for Rikki. She’d believed in her. The fierce protection she and the others felt for Rikki was genuine.
    “Is it better to leave her alone when she’s overloaded?”
    “We do,” Blythe conceded. “She calms herself down. If you notice, she keeps things around her that comfort her. She has a blanket that helps, but the ocean is her best resource. When she’s away from it too long, she runs into more problems.”
    She leaned into the car and retrieved the food, two big containers that smelled like heaven. He hadn’t realized how hungry he’d become. He was going to be hacking into Rikki’s files and reading everything he could about her. If she was autistic, she was too high functioning not to have had some help as a child. He needed to read everything he could about her and get a much larger picture of the things that had shaped her life.
    “Thanks for the dinner.” Lev watched Blythe get back into her car. She still didn’t trust him, and he didn’t blame her. He was going to take Rikki and make her his. Blythe knew his intentions and she didn’t trust his motives.
    He took one more slow, careful look around and locked the kitchen door behind him. He ate while he worked, his fingers flying over the keyboard so that he barely tasted the food when he’d been so hungry.
    Rikki’s juvenile files were more easily accessible because the cases involving the deaths of her parents and fiance were still open. Her parents had sought medical help for their daughter around the age of two and a half.
    She was given both auditory and occupational therapy, which continued until she was thirteen, thanks to a very progressive doctor and a parent willing to try newer approaches. She had a speech therapist for a short time while she was in the state-run facility, but she had violent outbreaks to the point that most instructors refused to work with her. She was labeled as unmanageable and even dangerous to herself and others.
    177

    Lev scowled at the screen, shocked at the anger and adrenaline coursing through his veins. He hadn’t realized emotion could shake him the way looking at her past had. Rikki didn’t make any noise, but he sensed her presence and looked up to find her standing in the doorway, watching him.
    He closed her laptop and pushed it away from him, looking right back at her.
    “I’m sorry, Lev. I don’t know what to say, except thanks for the blanket.”
    “Don’t apologize to me, Rikki. Not for being who you are. Never do that, certainly not to me and not to anyone else either. You do whatever you have to do, Rikki. This is your home.”
    She didn’t smile, but simply watched him, holding herself still as if she were waiting for something. “I see my sisters decided to feed you.”
    He flashed her a grin. “I think they took pity on me. I was looking a bit thin.”
    Her gaze drifted over his body. “I don’t think that was it. You look pretty filled out in all the right places to me.”
    His eyes met hers and his heart leapt. There was a speculative look in her eyes, one that told him that his kisses had paid off and she was definitely noticing he was a man. “Come in, sit down at the table. You need to eat something.”
    She glanced at the dirty dishes on the table and shook her head, backing out of the room. “I think I’ll go outside and sit for a while. The rain is starting to really come down, and I like to sit on the porch and watch it.”
    He wasn’t certain he wanted her outside without him, but there was no way to stop her. She enjoyed sitting in her hammock swing and listening to the rain at night. “I’ll be out in a few minutes. Do you want coffee?”
    She shook her head. “Not this