Special Forces Savior by Janie Crouch

moaned. No, pain wasn’t part of the memory. There had been no pain in the long minutes where she’d held him before he had gently disengaged himself, kissed her on the forehead, and walked out as silently as he had arrived.
    Oh no, she was dreaming again. And was about to wake up to the living nightmare surrounding her. She didn’t want that. She wanted to stay here in Derek’s arms where she was safe.
    “Molly.” His finger stroked down her cheek. She felt so secure here. Like nothing could ever hurt her again.
    “Molly.” The voice was firmer now. She knew she was waking up because everything hurt and Derek hadn’t talked to her, he’d been silent.
    Well, if she was waking up, she was going to get a kiss in first. She’d always wished she’d kissed him that day in the lab. She drove her hands through his hair and pulled him down to her, not giving him any choice. She kissed him.
    And, ah, it felt so good. So real. She so should’ve kissed him that day. She felt his fingers slip into her hair and pull her closer before moving away. She felt cold without him.
    “Molly, sweetheart, I need you to wake up. We’ve got to get out of here.”
    She decided not to fight it anymore. She had to wake up and try to find a way out of this. But she wanted to stay in the dream with Derek. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered to her dream.
    “I won’t, honey. I promise. But I need you to wake up.”
    Molly reluctantly opened her eyes to find herself looking in Derek’s blue ones, her fingers threaded in his hair.

Chapter Eleven
    Molly was alive.
    When he’d first seen her lying on the floor at such an awkward angle, Derek had feared he’d been too late. But then she’d moved just the slightest bit and relief crashed through him.
    He rushed over to her, cringing as he saw the bruises covering her face, picked her up and laid her on the small cot. She wasn’t dead, but that didn’t mean she was going to be able to assist them in getting her out of here.
    Time was of the essence. The man who had been guarding her door wouldn’t be bothering anyone, but all it would take was one person coming to check on Molly and all hell would break loose.
    “Molly.” He stroked a gentle finger down her damaged cheek. She moved just slightly.
    And then she smiled the sweetest smile, cuddling her face down into his hand. Whatever she was dreaming about, it definitely wasn’t bad. That reassured him somewhat; better than terror controlling her dreams.
    “Molly,” he said more firmly. Her smile had faded, but she still hadn’t awakened. She could have a head injury or have been drugged.
    Then she’d done the damnedest thing: wrapped her hands in his hair and pulled him down to kiss her.
    He’d kissed her back before he could even think about it. It was all he’d wanted to do anyway. But sanity soon resumed. No matter how much he wanted to kiss her, this wasn’t the time. They had to go.
    “Molly, sweetheart, I need you to wake up. We’ve got to get out of here.”
    She’d begun to fret and held on to him tighter. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.
    Derek was so thankful to hear her voice, now she just needed to open her eyes. “I won’t, honey. I promise. But I need you to wake up.”
    And she did.
    He watched a plethora of emotions slide over her face: fear, confusion, relief, joy, embarrassment. Her hands dropped out of his hair.
    “Derek?”
    He smiled at her.
    “How did you find me?” she continued.
    He framed her face with the gentlest touch he could. “A combination of people committed to finding you and a couple of lucky breaks.”
    Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought they were going to kill me.”
    Derek wanted to know why; wanted to know all the details she could tell them about why Belisario had taken her. But not now.
    “We’ve got to go. Every second we spend here is stolen. Liam will cover us as best as he can, but he can’t take out all of Belisario’s men.” Not that his friend wouldn’t try