Shiver

she heard Groves yelling something as he came bounding up the stairs. Then Tyler screamed again, a long, high-pitched scream that, even though she should have been used to it, still had the power to make the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The bedroom was dark, but not so dark she couldn’t see Tyler instantly. Racing across the carpet toward him, Sam felt her heart slamming in her chest. Her son sat bolt upright in the middle of the unfamiliar double bed, his small body rigid, his arms straight down at his sides, his eyes tightly closed even as his mouth opened to blast out another of those spine-chilling screams. In that instant she forgot all about Marco, and about those blistering kisses. She forgot all about the terrible situation they were in. She forgot about everything in the world except Tyler. Her entire focus was on her son.
    “Tyler.” She scrambled onto the bed, scuttling toward him as fast as she could. The skirt of her robe got caught under her knees, impeding her progress. Impatiently she jerked it out of her way. Just before she reached him his eyes opened. The fear and bewilderment on his face turned to instant relief as he saw her.
    “Mom.” He held out his arms to her. Reaching him, she enfolded him in a warm embrace. Wrapping his arms around her, he clung to her. She could feel him trembling. “You forgot to use the monster spray.”
    This one had been bad. But then, was it any wonder?
    “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll get some tomorrow.”
    “There were monsters. They were trying to eat me.”
    “It’s okay, baby, I’m here,” she crooned into his hair, rockinghim back and forth, her knees folded beneath her, her hair spilling over them both.
    “I couldn’t run. My feet wouldn’t move.” Tyler burrowed closer against her.
    “You know it was just a bad dream. It wasn’t real.”
    Marco appeared in the doorway, with Groves showing up a split second later just behind him. Both of them were staring in at her and Tyler. Neither said a word.
    “I want to go home.” There was a quaver in Tyler’s voice.
    “I do, too. We will, soon.”
    She couldn’t see the men’s expressions because what light there was came from the bathroom in which she had discovered Marco, and was at their backs. But remembering how clearly she had been able to see Tyler from that same position, she knew that they had an equally good view of her. She frowned at them: the moment should have been a private one. Even with Marco leaning on his crutches again, he was slightly taller than Groves. His shoulders were wide enough to almost fill the doorway. His robe was closed and securely tied around his waist now. With Tyler safe in her arms, Sam found that the memory of what had just transpired between them came flooding back; all of it, the heat, the hunger, every tiny detail, flashed into her mind with fresh, vivid intensity.
    She forced it out again instantly.
    “What happened? Did he hurt himself?” Marco’s voice was low, and she realized that he was doing his best not to make a big deal, not to up the ante on the situation, not to further upset Tyler.
    She shook her head.
    “He has nightmares.” Her response was equally quiet. Her arms were around her son. Her cheek rested on his hair.
    Marco said nothing for a moment. Then he spoke over his shoulder to Groves, too quietly for Sam to make out the words. The two of them moved away, Groves first with Marco turning to follow, out of the doorway, out of her sight. She could hear them talking as they walked down the hall, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying, and she didn’t particularly care. She gave Marco points for having the sensitivity to leave her and Tyler alone, and then she pushed everything else out of her mind and concentrated on Tyler.
    He told her all about his nightmare. By the time he was finished, he was once again lying down, his head nestled on his pillow, although her arm was beneath his head now, too. Curled up beside him, Sam made appropriate comments and gave him the comfort of her presence and waited for him to fall asleep.
    The thing was, she was really, really sleepy, too.
    She would just, for the teeniest tiniest second, rest her eyes . . .

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
     

     
    O kay, it was official: he had a major case of the hots for the woman he had charged himself with protecting. Danny had stopped at the top of the stairs, both because there wasn’t anywhere besides the second floor of this nondescript town