Trust in Me by Kathryn Shay

prayed for them.”
    He grunted.
    “Did that help?”
    “The outcome wasn’t too bad. Not as bad as it could be.” Lazily, he rubbed his large, calloused hand down from her shoulder to her elbow, his heat penetrating her black lambs wool sweater. His serenity seeped into her by degrees, and she found herself closing her eyes to savor it. To savor him.
    “You gonna tell me about it?” he asked.
    She stiffened, then cursed. Without saying a word, she’d given herself away.
    “It’s okay, honey.” He brushed his hand down her hair, tangling it between his fingers. “I know something’s wrong.” She buried her nose in his chest. “You always know.”
     “So tell me.”
    “Promise me you won’t get mad.”
    His chuckle reverberated in his rib cage. “I gotta be the only person in the world you’re afraid to piss off.”
    “You are.”
    “I won’t get mad.”
    She said simply, “Philip hit on me during the trip to Boston.”
    Linc’s whole body tensed. “The bastard.”
    She tried to pull back to look at him, but he held her close. He was really angry if he wouldn’t face her. “I wasn’t going to tell you, because of how you feel about him. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”
    His heartbeat speeded up—she felt its thump under her hand. “Did you...I mean...the pass...did you want it?”
    “Hell no. I hated it. And I told him so.”
    Linc’s body relaxed.
    This time Margo did pull away, summoning righteous indignation. “Jesus Christ, Linc, he’s a married man. You know how I feel about that kind of thing.”
    But, as usual, Linc didn’t back down. Which was one of the reasons he had that little scar just below his jaw. She’d witnessed the knife fight when he’d gotten it, could still hear the blades hit and his low moans in her nightmares.
    “I know,” he said sternly. “I also know how you feel about Pretty Boy.”
    Raking her hair off her face, she tried to get up. He yanked her back down so that she fell back onto his chest. His arms vised around her.
    After a long moment, he kissed the top her forehead. His lips were warm and familiar. “You know why this is so hard for me.”
    Margo knew. Though they never verbalized it, not once in the eleven years since he’d come to Glen Oaks, Margo was all too aware of his feelings. As he was of hers. Which was why she shared as much as she could about her dates, and prodded him to tell her about his. There was no chance for them together, and they struggled to keep finding ways to keep themselves apart. “I know.” She waited. “Don’t say any more.”
    “I won’t.” A long silence. “What’s the situation with Hathaway now?”
    “He apologized the next morning. And at work he’s been just like always. But it’s been hard for me to forget.”
    “Do you have feelings for him, Margo?”
    “Not like you mean. I care about him as a friend, that’s all. I just wish this hadn’t happened.” She smoothed down his shirt. “It’s over. I put it back in its compartment, but it still bugs me that he did it.”
    “Feelings aren’t easy to compartmentalize, babe.”
    Ah, but he was wrong, she thought as he slid to the edge of the couch and eased her to the inside. She stretched out next to him, and he lay down beside her, propped up by pillows. One arm still snug around her, he reached over and clicked off the lamp on the end table. The room was plunged into darkness, except for a sliver of moon peeking through Beth’s front windows. The only sound came from a ticking grandfather clock in the entryway.
    Margo sighed. How many times had they slept this way?—on a park bench, at a bus station; even when they got their own apartment in college, sometimes they fell asleep together on the couch.
    She hugged him tightly. The demons never came after her then, and he knew it. Linc Grayson could keep them away just by his even breathing and the feel of his arms around her. Closing her eyes, she treasured both