Chapter 30

-James-

**2007**

"I'll take the couch," I said, closing the door behind me.

"Well obviously." Jianna chuckled.

I put the bag I was carrying down on the loveseat across the sofa bed.

"I'm going to take a shower unless you want to go first?" asked Jianna.

"No. You can go ahead." I responded.

She went into the bathroom and I heard the shower turn on. I tried opening the sofa to turn it into a bed but it wasn't cooperating with me so after a couple of tries, I just gave up. I took a pillow from the bed, found the spare blanket in the wardrobe, and made my little sofa bed.

I hear the shower turn off and some shuffling in the bathroom. I pretended to be falling asleep as she was coming out to make sure she was comfortable with coming out.

Jianna emerged from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. I couldn't help but stare at the curves of her body as the towel clung to her wet skin. She is breathtaking.

She noticed my gaze and smirked at me.

"Like what you see, soldier?" she teased, walking towards the bed.

I smirked back and bit my lower lip. She sat down on the bed, her towel slipping down a bit to reveal more of her cleavage.

"Your turn." she gestured to the bathroom.

"Yep. Yeah." I stuttered. I stood up and headed to the bathroom. Before I closed the door, I saw her get out of bed with just her panties on. Her body is in full display. And it is stunning. She didn't notice that I hadn't closed the door yet.

I quickly shut the door, my heart pounding in my chest. I stripped off my clothes and turned on the shower, hoping the cold water would calm my racing thoughts. It didn't work. All I could think about was Jianna and the way her body looked in that towel. My cock grew hard at the thought of touching her, tasting her, taking her.

I closed my eyes and pictured Jianna's hand wrapped around me, her lips on mine, her body pressed against mine. I stroked myself harder, my breath coming faster as I imagined her moaning my name. I finished and exhaled. I finished my shower and hoped that Jianna was in bed already.

I stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in my pajama bottoms, and saw Jianna already asleep on the bed. I tried to be quiet as I made my way to the couch where I had made my bed for the night but as soon as I closed my eyes, the image of Jianna's body came flooding back into my mind, and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. I got up from the couch and walked towards the window and checked our surroundings. It was very dark and I could barely see anything from beyond the lit parking lot below.

"No! Please. Don't. Don't touch me. Please" I turned around and tried to figure out who the voice belonged to. It was Jianna.

"No! Don't! Don't touch me!" she was still sleeping but she was very scared.

I ran to her and tried to hold her. I know for a fact you never wake up someone in the middle of a nightmare. Carlos had one before and I got a swift punch in the gut trying to wake him up. I tried to hold her and rock her back and forth so she could wake up on her own accord.

For a few moments, she relaxed into my arms. Then she started screaming and struggling for freedom.

"LET ME GO! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE LET ME GO!" she pleaded. She was crying and I felt so helpless that I wasn't able to do anything.

"J. Wake up. You're having a nightmare." I whispered. My voice was hoarse but I don't want to raise it more than it already is.

"It's okay. You're safe. I'm here." I tried to comfort her. For her to hear my voice from wherever she is right now.

"J, just follow my voice. Please. Please come back to me." I tried to be as calm as I could.

After a while, she finally stopped thrashing around and relaxed in my arms. Her eyes were still closed but she stopped fighting me. I looked at her closer and saw the tear tracks on her face. Her breathing is still erratic but I can see her calming down in my arms. I tried to hold her tighter and she relaxed a bit more. I was starting to calm down myself. We stayed like that for a while and when I could tell she's fallen back to sleep, I tried to go back to the sofa.

"James?" I turned around and saw Jianna sitting on the bed with nothing but a white T-shirt on. Her breasts were slightly visible through the fabric. The moonlight shining through the window brought out the green color of her eyes. She looked so beautiful, I couldn't help but just stare at her.

"James?" she said again.

"Yes?" I snapped back to reality.

"Can you stay with me?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm here J. I'll be on the couch if you need me." I responded.

"No. I meant here. With me. In bed." she chuckled nervously. "Is that OK?"

I was surprised at this and I didn't want to rush her either. I don't know her comfort level yet and I want to make sure that I don't push. But at the same time, if she's the one insisting, I don't think I can say no.

"I can see your gears turning James. If you're not comfortable about it then it's fine." she started sounding insulted.

I got closer to her and went under the covers.

"No. No. I want to make sure you're comfortable with this whole situation. I don't want to rush anything or assume anything." I mumbled.

"There's no rushing, James. I don't want you to feel forced into anything. I know you have reservations because you don't know anything about me. You don't want to be painted into a corner by a girl you hardly know." she was trying to reassure me.

"It's not that. I just want to make sure we're both on the same page before we do something. I don't want to do anything to you that you're not comfortable with." I tried to explain.

"James, I'm not trying to trap you. I just want you to stay with me." she paused and lay back in bed. "Can you just fucking hold me, James? Jeez!" she chuckled. "Make sure I don't have any more nightmares OK? My runaway soldier," she said sleepily.

I wrapped my arms around her and she scooted backward towards me so I could hold her tighter.

"Don't let me go ok? Don't leave me," she murmured and cuddled closer to me.

I squeezed her tighter and smelled her hair, it smelled of lavender. I imprinted that smell in my brain.

"Never," I whispered as I fell asleep holding her in my arms.