Finding Trust (Centre Games) by Natalie Gayle Read Free Book Online Page A

without the sun bothering you.”
    “Sounds good to me.” With that, Rihanna followed Brayden back down the long corridor. He opened the polished timber door to reveal a large, tastefully decorated room. The colours were predominately natural accents but the centrepiece was the rich moss green quilt covering the enormous bed. She also noticed matching heavy drapes at the windows. The room looked cool and inviting.
    He motioned towards another door off to the side of the room. “Bathroom is through there. Towels and toiletries are in the cabinet. Help yourself.” Bray turned to leave and then realised that she had no other clothes than the skimpy dress she was wearing. “I’ll find a shirt or something you can wear and leave it on the bed. Try to get a decent night’s sleep and we can talk in the morning.”
    She was surprised at how accurately and sensitively he had read the situation. She needed to talk but wasn’t quite ready. Her feelings were still too raw from the awful abduction experience. Surely he could also tell how attracted she was to him but again he had not made any attempt to act upon the attraction. Something else she was both thankful for, but the feminine, racy side of her she usually kept contained was also a little disappointed.
    Rihanna moved through the large bathroom accented in the green and cream theme that had been initiated in the bedroom and enjoyed the warm heat of the shower cascading over her tense shoulders. As promised, she found big, fluffy bath towels in the bathroom cabinet. Through the steam of the mirror, she noticed the tell-tale purple smudges of the bruises forming on her throat, shoulders, and upper arms. There was also a small scrape where the knife tip had scraped her ribs.
    Her foot would also need more attention but right now all she wanted to do was enjoy the comfort that the bed promised to offer and an escape from all the images and feelings skipping through her exhausted mind. With those last thoughts, she pulled on the oversized T-shirt Bray had left, pulled back the covers and drew up the sheet.
    Sleep was solace to the events of the evening.
     

Chapter Three
    The cold icy fingers of fear gripped her heart and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
    The muscles in her stomach had tightened into an uncomfortable knot and she was running for her life. Her attackers were continuing to trail her as she ran through the streets. Her voice was reverberating in her head but nobody heard her, nobody was helping; they were going to get her…
    She sat bolt upright and sucked in a huge gasping breath as the realisation slowly came to her that she must have been dreaming. That thought was confirmed almost instantaneously as the door to the bedroom swung open in a wide arc and Brayden came bursting through.
    “Are you okay?” he asked in an urgent tone.
    Rihanna nodded and continued to suck in the air, her chest heaving. The confusion in her mind slowly retreated and her thoughts became more ordered again. Bray walked to the bed and sat beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders in a gesture that provided far more security and reassurance than words could ever achieve.
    She immediately felt the warmth from his body provide a protective link with hers. He reached up and gently brushed the falling tears from her cheeks. Only then did she realise the tears and sobs were still flowing from within. He carefully reclined them back against the mound of pillows and held her as she sobbed. He reached over to the box of tissues on the bedside table and offered her a handful. She took them gratefully.
    Rihanna’s sobs slowly turned to weeps and a large sigh proclaimed the end of the tears, or so he hoped. Crying was a necessary emotion and one that never bothered him. He just wasn’t comfortable with people being in pain and not being able to do anything tangible to ease the pain. He was a man of actions rather than empty promises that words often held.
    He was also becoming