Page 25 of Finding Lexie
“Thanks for coming to get me.”
She could’ve sworn she felt him kiss the top of her head, but figured it was just wishful thinking.
“Thank you for being the strong and positive woman you are. This really would’ve sucked if you did nothing but bitch and complain about the accommodations.”
Lexie smiled, though she was having a hard time staying positive all of a sudden.
She’d feel better when she woke up. When she was tired, negative thoughts seemed to sneak into her brain a little easier. By nightfall, she’d have a better handle on her emotions.
Also, sleeping would give her a respite from falling any harder for the man under her.
The last thing she felt before she succumbed to the lure of exhaustion was Midas’s fingers lightly stroking her arm.
Chapter Six
Midas stared at the boards inches from his head. He didn’t know how long Lexie had been asleep against him, but he figured it was several hours.
He couldn’t sleep. He was too hyper alert to the movements above them. People came and went from the back door inches from their hiding spot, and he kept his right hand on the rifle at his side.
He had no idea what his team was doing, but he figured they were hunkered down somewhere waiting for the sun to fall below the horizon, just as he was. He had no concerns that they’d leave without him. A SEAL never left a SEAL behind. Ever. They’d wait as long as it took for him to come out of hiding.
Midas also wondered what had happened back at the hospital. He hoped Dagmar had been able to be extracted without any complications.
As they had all day, his thoughts turned to the woman lying practically on top of him. He’d been right when he’d thought this mission was unlike any other. Not only was it the first in which he personally knew one of the hostages…but he was feeling things for Lexie that he’d never felt for anyone he’d saved before.
He’d hated hearing about her difficult childhood. How she could be so good, so kind, after being treated the way she had was beyond him. But she was. The way Astur greeted her was proof that it wasn’t an exaggeration either. She’d saved that woman’s life, and probably her kids’ lives too, taken them in without asking for anything in return. And Astur was clearly grateful.
He’d never met anyone as unselfish as Lexie. She worried about others before being concerned about herself.
A part of him wanted to shake her and tell her that she needed to look out for herself first, but he suspected that if he did, she’d just smile up at him, pat his hand, and tell him she’d be fine.
He’d never met a woman like her. And he ached to get to know her even better. He wanted to discover all her secrets. All her likes and dislikes. The favorite places she’d worked. Her hopes and dreams.
When she’d asked what came next, he’d laid it out as unemotionally as possible—but what he hadn’t told her was how much he wanted to keep in touch.
Nothing about his situation had changed. He’d have to go back to Hawaii and his job with the Navy would continue. He wasn’t a fan of long-distance relationships, but he ached to know what Lexie’s next steps were.
So while he hadn’t mentioned it earlier, he planned to stay involved in her life, if she was open to that. He wanted to talk to her on the phone, to email, or even write a damn handwritten letter if he had to. She’d definitely piqued his interest, and he wasn’t ready to just let her walk away as if they hadn’t spent some of the most intense hours of their lives together.
Lexie stirred against him, and Midas waited to see if she’d completely wake up this time or if she’d fall back asleep, as she’d done several times before. Midas wasn’t the kind of person to enjoy sitting or lying around. He’d always been a morning person, eager to get up and start his day. He didn’t watch much TV and, if given the choice, would always rather go for a walk or run or swim, than hang around doing nothing.
But surprisingly, he was perfectly content to lie there and hold Lexie as she slept. Yes, he had no choice at the moment but to stay where he was, but he had a feeling sleeping in on a lazy Sunday with her back home would feel just as amazing.
That should’ve freaked him out. Instead it just made him sad…because he was fairly sure that would never happen. He just couldn’t see how to get from hiding out with Lexie in a hole under a Somali shop to having her in his arms in his comfortable bed on Oahu.
“Damn,” Lexie whispered huskily as she woke.
“What?” Midas asked in alarm, his mind already making preparations to get out of this hole and get her some help for whatever was wrong.
“I hoped it had all been a dream,” she said.
Midas relaxed a fraction. “If it’s any consolation, things have been quiet for a while now. In another hour or so, I think we can get out of here and go find my team.”
She nodded. “I didn’t mean to sleep so long.”
“You needed it.”
“Were you able to sleep at all?” she asked.
