Embattled Minds (Military Romance) (Lost And Found Series) Read Online Free Page B

longer. She heard rumbling beneath her good cheek, but couldn’t understand the words. When he swung her up into his arms, she didn’t even care, as long as he continued to hold her. She heard the squeak as her office door slammed shut, then the world tilted as he sank onto the old couch pushed against the wall.
    Time stopped as she sobbed into his shirt and he gently rubbed her back. He was so solid and strong beneath her fists. It felt like the world could be falling down around them and he would still hold her safely above everything. A warrior battling back the nightmares.
    She lost track of time as she cuddled into him, but her tears eventually began to dwindle away. Embarrassment rolled in as she realized how soaked his T-shirt was. She ran her hand over his broad chest. “I’m sorry, Zeke.”
    His grip tightened around her as she tried to pull away. “It’s okay. J-just a shirt.”
    Ember let him hold her for just a minute more before her pride forced her to sit up on his lap. She started to slide off, but he grabbed her hands in his. “What can I do to help?”
    She blinked, unused to even being offered help. It had been her and her dad for so long, then Drew had been added to their little group, and they were pretty self-sufficient. That had all changed now, though.
    She shook her head as she realized she was going to have to ask for help. “I don’t know. I have to move, and find somebody to watch my son. But I have to be here, too, to make sure everything runs right.”
    When she lifted her gaze, his bright blue eyes were solid and reassuring. She choked out a laugh. “I can’t believe how much I’m trusting you right now. I hardly know you.”
    He grinned at her, and the scar that looped down from his bottom lip pulled his smile off-kilter. “I’m a Marine. I’m a…good guy. Even though I don’t look it.”
    Against her better judgment, she grinned too, then flinched when it hurt her jaw. “Ouch.”
    His eyes drifted down her face and he raised one hand as if to touch her, but stopped. “Who did this? Really?”
    She looked down at her lap, debating what she could tell him. Everybody would probably know eventually anyway. “My dad. I walked into our house last Saturday and it was dark. I thought he was sleeping, so I just started to walk through the house like I always do, but he was having a flashback.”
    He tensed even further beneath her and his cool blue eyes darkened with anger. “PTSD?”
    She nodded. “Although he doesn’t think so. He just has ‘dreams’ he says.”
    “Where is…h-h-he now?”
    “In jail. I pressed charges against him, hoping that he would finally get the help he needed. The week before Christmas.” Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, but he wiped them away with gentle fingers. “I think he understands, though, because he hasn’t bonded out, even though he has the means.”
    Zeke nodded and tapped his chest, over his heart.
    “He knows? Maybe. I love my dad so much, but he could have seriously injured me. As it is, he gave me a concussion. And this.” She waved at the marks on her face. “If he’d done this to my son, he would never have seen me again. Us.”
    Zeke tipped his head in agreement, and Ember appreciated that he wasn’t trying to stand up for him, in some misguided Marine solidarity. She already felt like shit for putting her father in jail; she didn’t need somebody disagreeing with her actions.
    “All…veterans n-need counseling. Sometimes the older ones m-more. Because th-they didn’t get it when they came home.” He smiled his lop-sided smile. “You’re…lucky he didn’t break your jaw. No fun, beli-lieve me.”
    He sounded like he spoke from experience. Her eyes traced across his beard. She curled her fingers into her palm to keep from running them over his square jaw.
    “You did fine,” he continued. “I w-would have done the s-same thing.”
    Zeke wasn’t anybody to her, just a guy that came in sometimes that she had a bit