Defending Hannah

reaching for her. No, not again. “No,” she screamed fighting the hands grabbing for her. She didn’t want to go away with them. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone? Why couldn’t she ever escape them? “Leave me alone you sick fuck.” She screamed.
“Hannah,” A voice yelled somewhere in the distance. She thought she recognized the voice but it was so far away. She was being dragged down the tunnel. A hand touched her face and she tried to turn away from him. “Hannah,” The voice said again only closer. Ben. It was Ben.
Hannah popped her eyes open and saw Ben hovering over her shaking her shoulder and touching her face. Hannah scrambled away from him and tried to calm her racing heart. It was a dream. Just a dream. No one was coming after her. No one was going to take her down the tunnel again.
“Hannah?” Ben asked questionably.
“It was just a dream.” She said reassuringly but she didn’t know if it was for him or her.
“Want to talk about it?”
Hannah shook her head vigorously. Never, she never wanted to talk about it ever again.
“You need to talk about it with someone. How about once we get to base you can talk to the base therapist?”
Hannah did not want to talk to some shrink about what happened but knew that she should. Twice now she had lashed out at someone. It was only a matter of time before she hurt someone or herself. She had heard about PDS from her friend who was a nurse and the ramifications.
“Did I hurt you?” Hannah hoped she hadn’t hit him during her struggles.
“No Goldilocks. Fit as a fiddle.” Ben relaxed back in his seat seeing her calmer.
Hannah sat closer to him breathing in his spicy scent. “I’m sorry for attacking you.”
Ben turned his head and looked down at her. She looked up at him and their lips were almost touching. “You don’t every have to apologize for that.”
Hannah smiled up at him and rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Ben. For everything.” She finished with a yawn and fell back asleep.
Ben watched her sleep for a while not wanting to move. Circulation was getting cut off in his left arm and tingles of pain were shooting through him but he would cut his arm off before he moved her. This was the second time Hannah had initiated touching him since rescuing her and he wasn’t moving for anything. She felt right laying against him. It was why he had fled from her all those years ago. He saw his future with her. He could imagine kids and living on the ranch. It had scared the hell out of him at eighteen and it scared him just as much now. He was dedicated to being Delta Force. He didn’t want to give that up. It was why he stuck to one night stands. There was no chance of his emotions leading him astray. Dammit for it having to be Hannah he had to rescue and make him second guess himself. He wasn’t in the business of second-guessing. You usually only got one chance. She was the link to finding the person who betrayed them. He had to stay focused. He promised himself that he would keep her safe and that’s what he would do. Even if he had to protect her from himself. Ben continued to watch her even after his little pep talk to himself. Watching her trusting him to keep her safe while she slept. She tried to project a hard-ass image and that she was fine but he could see the shadows under her eyes and the fear clouding her beautiful hazel eyes. She was unlike any woman he had ever met. Her fear for not wanting to see her parents was unwarranted. If anything happened to him he knew his parents would be overjoyed to have him back no matter what condition. Ben was thankful for the mission that would keep her closer to him for a little while longer. He wasn’t ready to lose her again yet. He had tried forgetting her by consuming his time with missions and nameless woman. It never helped. Women didn’t compare to her and seeing some of his friends come home to loved ones made his heartache for someone to be waiting for him too.
            “You look content,” Sunshine said coming to sit by them.
Ben should have been with his team throughout the flight going over the new mission but he had been reluctant to leave Hannah. The guys would give him hell for it too he had no doubt.
“Don’t start.” Ben didn’t want to talk about his obsession with Hannah and frankly, it was nobody’s business but his own.
“What’s up with you?” Sunshine asked losing his cocky grin. “I’ve never seen you hooked on a woman before.”
“There’s something different about her. I can’t explain it.” That was all he would say. Ben wasn’t willing to explain why he was so attracted to Hannah. But the moment he saw her at the lake with her hazel eyes locking on him and coming out of the water like a sea goddess he had been lost. Who was he kidding? He was lost even before that. He just couldn’t admit it to himself until that day at the lake.
“Well, you better get over it quick. We’re about to land and have a job still to do. Romance doesn’t work in our world. One night stand yes. Happily ever after isn’t in the cards for us. There are too many secrets. Women don’t take that well. You taught me that, Midas.”
Sunshine wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. It was why he had never tried to pursue a relationship before. He took the occasional barrack bunny to bed but that was few and far between. Hannah had white picket fence and marriage written all over her. Her parents would expect her to marry some ivy league school guy who made more