Depths of Lake (22 page)

In five…four…three…two…

I take a step forward, and snap a twig.

Travis looks up, and I’ve blown my element of surprise.

“Riley,” he says, his voice surprised and caught.
 
He starts toward me, just as I level my handgun and step into the meadow.

“I told you if you didn’t leave me alone that I’d make you regret it,” I hiss as I aim for his head.

“Whoa,” he says, holding his hands up, his eyes going wide.
 

Everything in me roils at the sight of him.
 
He’s disgusting.
 
A filthy, disgusting pervert.
 
I shiver at the thought that he’s been watching me.
 
What he must have seen.
 
What he must have done while he watched me.

“Let’s not go and do anything rash here, darling,” he says.
 
He takes a step toward me.
 
I load a round into the chamber and he stops.
 
“I just…I missed you.
 
I wanted to see you.”

“You’ve been seeing far too much of me lately,” I hiss through clenched teeth.
 
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave.
 
Right now.”

“You going to shoot me?” he asks.
 
There’s disgust in his voice, but also shock, like he’s totally delusional.
 
Like he really believes I want him here.

“If I think I’m in danger, yes,” I say.
 
I take a step toward him, fire in my eyes.

“Such spark,” Travis says, a disturbing smile curling on one side of his mouth.
 
“Just one of the many things I love about you, Riley James.”

“Get off my property!” I scream.
 
Being in the same space as him makes my skin crawl.
 
It makes my stomach roll.
 
Makes me feel like I’m suffocating.

“Hey, now,” he says as he lowers his hands.
 
“Let’s play nice.
 
You wouldn’t want to go upsetting me.
 
I just might do something truly nasty to that hired help of yours.
 
It would be a tragedy if he were to go missing.
 
Right?”

And a noise off in the trees distracts me just long enough for him to rush me.

Travis grabs my wrists and pushes the gun down just as I fire off a shot that embeds itself into a tree.
 
He squeezes and twists my wrists, and the gun drops from my hands.

I swing at him, just as he grabs my hair and
yanks
me back.
 
Instead, I give my elbow some momentum, and catch him on the side of the head.
 
As he goes down to the ground with a yell, I hear the dogs barking off in the distance.

I haul myself on top of Travis and swing a fist.
 
I land one solid blow to his cheekbone.
 
There’s murder in his eyes when he looks back up at me and he catches my fist on the next strike.
 
Using his body weight, he shoves me over, landing on top of me.

I can feel him harden as he presses himself against me in the dirt, even as he presses his forearm across my throat.
 
My lungs grow desperate for oxygen.
 
Frantically, I search for my gun.

“I love you, Riley,” Travis says, spit flying from his lips.
 
He gets in my face, his wild eyes boring into me.
 
“Can’t you see that I just want to love you?
 
Why are you making this so damn hard?”

There it is.
 
Just there.

My fingers stretch for it.
 
Catch the edge of it.

But I can’t close my fingers around the barrel.

“Are you even listening to me?” Travis bellows.
 

And then he realizes what I’m trying to do.

On instinct, I swing my knee up.

I catch him in the groin at the same time Lake comes barreling into the clearing on Sir Devil.

Travis is off of me in a flash and oxygen floods back into my body.
 
There’s yelling and scuffling, and suddenly the two of them crash into a small tree, snapping it right in half.
 

My feet try to get purchase under me, and all I manage to do is slide
myself
through the dirt away from the two of them.

“You picked the wrong woman to jack off to,” Lake bellows as he takes a swing at Travis.
 
His fist meets him square in the face, and I can hear the crunch from across the meadow.
 
Blood gushes from Travis’s nose.
 
He only gets a pissed off look before going for Lake’s throat with his bare hands.

But Lake has to outweigh Travis by at least seventy-five pounds.
 
Lake grabs his wrists, gives a sharp twist and flips him around.
 
Travis loses his balance, falling to his knees.
 
Lake, with one wrist still in his hand, kneels with one knee on the Travis’s back.

“I’ll kill you!” Travis screams madly.
 
“I’ll kill you for touching her!”

Anger surges hot and wicked inside of me.

He’s threatened Lake verbally now.
 
And the look in his eyes as he stares at me says he means it.

My fingers wrap around my handgun, and I close the distance between us, dust swirling around my boots.

“Riley,” Lake says in a breath through the early morning light that shoots through the trees in brilliant rays.
 
One lands right on him, illuminating Lake’s face.
 
“Riley, listen to me.
 
Go call the cops.
 
Let them come and deal with this bastard.”

I shake my head as everything in me goes still and cold.
 
I press the barrel of the gun to Travis’s forehead as I kneel on one knee.

“You can threaten me,” I say, my voice absolutely calm.
 
Travis’s eyes cross as he tries to look at the gun.
 
He’s stopped fighting Lake.
 
He looks terrified and shocked.
 
“You can break into my house, and you can watch me like the creep you are.
 
But you threaten those I love, and you’re dancing with death.”

“Riley,” Lake breathes again.

“My daddy taught me how to shoot when I was eight years old.
 
I am very good, and this is point blank,” I say.
 
My hands don’t shake.
 
There is no hesitation in me.
 
This ends now.
 
“So do not have any misconceptions in my ability to kill you right here.
 
Right now.”

“I’m sorry,” Travis whispers.
 
Blood has run all over his face, and he looks like a disgusting, sniveling pig.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
I’ll do anything.
 
But don’t kill me.
 
You wouldn’t kill me, would you, Riley?”

I
swallow,
press the barrel harder to his forehead.
 
“I want you to leave.
 
I want you to leave this county.
 
I’d prefer it if you left this state, this continent, this planet.
 
But I want you to leave.
 
And if I ever catch a breath of you again, you’ll regret it.
 
And if you ever so much
think
of Lake’s name again, I will kill you.”

He mutters and sobs something as fat tears roll down his face.

“What was that?” I yell, shoving the barrel into his forehead again.
 
“I couldn’t hear you.”

“I’ll go!” he cries.
 
“I’ll leave.
 
I promise.”

“Riley, we can’t just let him go,” Lake says.
 
I feel his eyes shift to me, but I don’t look back at him.
 
“Guys like him, they don’t just disappear.
 
He’ll just find someone else to stalk.
 
You don’t want him doing what he did to you to anyone else, do you?”

Finally, my eyes snap to Lake’s.
 
He stares at me, adrenaline, fear, anger, and justice all there dancing in his eyes.

And I feel sick.
 
I’ve handled Travis.
 
I’ve hated every second of what he’s done to me.
 
But I’ve handled it.

But what if he starts stalking some other woman who doesn’t know how to defend herself?

That would be on me for letting him go.

“He’s got handcuffs in his back pocket,” I say, looking back down at Travis.
 
His face is a bloody, snot streaked mess.
 
His expression wars between terror and anger.
 

Lake pulls the handcuffs out and snaps them around his wrists.
 

Suddenly, I’m filled with violent shakes.
 
I yank the gun away from Travis’ head and back up a few steps.
 
There’s a heavy indent impressed into his skin that’s the exact shape of the barrel of my gun.

Lake stands and yanks Travis to his feet.
 
Travis keeps my eyes as Lake leads him over to Dakota.
 
I watch, frozen and in shock, as Lake not too gently
forces Travis onto Dakota’s back and ties
his cuffed hands to the horn of the saddle.

Lake speaks to Travis in quiet, harsh tones as he makes sure Travis won’t get away.
 
Travis’ eyes are wide and shocked, and he doesn’t say a word.
 
I can only imagine what Lake is saying.

You really don’t want to mess with Lake McCain.

It takes me a moment to spring back to life.
 
I
unthaw,
one limb at a time.
 
I take the few steps back to the trail, and suddenly the dogs run into view.
 
Bear and Chico circle me, panting and licking me like they’re all excited and so confused.

I climb onto Radio’s back, and it’s as if I can hear him give a sigh of relief that everything is back the way it should be.
 

I ride over to the two of them, and holding my eyes, telling me that this is my moment for justice, Lake hands Dakota’s reins to me.

It takes everything in me to not spit in Travis’ face.

Lake, like it’s the most natural thing in the world, climbs onto Sir Devil’s back.
 
And the three of us head back to the ranch.

Lake is not a skilled horseman.
 
Not yet anyway.
 
He barely knows what he’s doing on the back of such a powerful animal.
 
But just like that, he’s taken control of the most out of control horse I’ve ever worked with.

I watch him as we ride back to the property.
 
And something shifts inside of me.

Lake’s strong legs, the Devil underneath him.
 
The muscles that flex in his arms as the commands the beast.
 
His furrowed
brows,
and the line between them that can’t seem to relax.

Lake McCain.

Here he is again.

And I’m never going to be the same.

Lake keeps checking his phone, and just a few minutes later, gets a cell signal.
 
Within seconds, he’s on the phone with Sheriff Akins.

When we get back to the ranch, not another word spoken, the Sheriff is waiting there for us.
 
Travis is read his rights, and then put into the backseat of the police car.

It took hours, lots of questioning, and statements from both Lake and me, but on that day, Travis Malone was brought to justice.

And he’d never terrorize another woman again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When Lake and I walk out of the police station that evening, I want to laugh and to cry and to give a huge sigh of relief.

As the warm summer air hits my skin when we stop on the sidewalk, I stop.
 
I close my eyes.
 
I tell myself that it’s over.
 
I tell myself that it’s okay for me to relax.
 
I tell myself that it’s time.

It’s time to move on.

I open my eyes, and
there
Lake is.
 
Standing just a few feet away from me.

There’s uncertainty in his expression.
 
I’m learning to read Lake’s unreadable eyes lately.
 
I think there was always a little bit of something there.
 
I just didn’t speak the language.
 
But I’m learning it.
 
Slowly.

“I promise I wasn’t walking away from the job,” he says.
 
He stands there, like he’s not quite sure if he should approach or keep his distance.
 
“I just needed a few days to clear my head.”

“It’s okay,” I say.
 
I stand there frozen, rooted on the spot.
 
“Though I wasn’t sure if you were coming back or not.”

There’s a flicker in his eyes that tells me, for a second there, he wasn’t sure if he was or not either.
 
“I called Kyle to keep an eye out for that bastard.
 
I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier this morning.
 
That asshole—”

“I think we should take the rest of the day off,” I cut him off and shake my head.
 
My heart is racing and my stomach is full of flutters.
 
“I…I want to take you somewhere.”

“Okay,” he says, just like that.

Easy as can be, he and I climb back into his truck, and drive home.
 
I take him to the barn, and we roll out the four wheelers.

Lake follows me, and I lead him back along the property.
 
We cut through the trees, a part of the ranch I’m sure he’s never been on before.
 
Towering evergreens surround us, ferns and undergrowth on either side of the barely visible trail.
 
On for five minutes.

And then we break into the clearing.

It isn’t big, maybe a half acre in size.
 
Tall grasses span out before giving way to the rocky, sandy beach that drops down into the lake.
 
A small dock juts out over its glassy smooth surface.
 

“Come on,” I say as I climb of my machine and turn the key off.
 
Lake does the same.
 
I set out toward the dock.
 
I look over my shoulder and see him following me.

A rowboat is tied up to the side of the dock.
 
It bobs up and down as I step inside and bobs a lot harder when Lake climbs in.
 
He pulls the oars out from the bottom of the boat and fits them into their handholds.
 
I untie us and then he starts rowing us out over the water.

Neither of us says anything as we cut through the smooth water.
 
Birds chirp around us, the oars splash softly.
 
A gentle breeze brushes through the trees that surround us.

When we reach the middle of the lake, he stops, pulling the oars in.

“I found a letter, from Cal,” I say.
 
I feel Lake’s eyes shift to me, but I keep my own fixed on my hands in my lap.
 
“It was hidden in my ring box.
 
You can probably guess what it said.”

Lake shifts positions, one foot stretching forward, his forearm resting on his knee.
 
His other hand rests on his hip.

“But I’ve come to realize something the last few days,” I continue.
 
“I wasn’t ready to let Cal go.
 
I guess that’s not the right way to put it, because I’ll never really let him go.
 
But I wasn’t ready to move forward.
 
I wasn’t done mourning him.”

“We all process in our own time,” he says.

Finally, I look up at Lake and nod.
 
“For a long time, I’ve felt like if I moved on that I was betraying Cal.
 
That I would be dishonoring him and his memory by feeling anything like what I felt for him about someone else.
 
But…”
 
Emotion threatens the back of my eyes, but I push it away.
 
I’m done crying.
 
I’m done feeling like an emotional wreck.
 
I’m ready to be me again.
 
Me who is bold and brave.
 
“But that’s not what he wanted.
 
And that’s not how I want to feel.”

Lake holds my eyes, firm and true.
 
He drags his feet toward him, resting his forearms on his knees, his fingers clasped together.

“I don’t know that I can say that I’m in love with you, Lake,” I say as I hold his gaze intensely.
 
“But I do know that I’ve been lying to myself and lying to you for the past few months.
 
I do want to breathe again.
 
I don’t want to suffocate.
 
And when I’m with you, I don’t feel like I’m drowning anymore.”

There isn’t much space between us.
 
Our benches are close, and it only takes a little bit of leaning forward on both our parts to close the distance between us.

When things have gotten too intimate or too personal these past few months, one of us has walked out.
 
We’ve run away from each other and the truth of what has been building between us.

But I know it now.
 
I know it the same way I know the moon will come out tonight and the stars will shine.
 
No more walking away from each other.

“I’m still here, Riley,” Lake says in a whisper.
 
His eyes right now?
 
They are amazingly alive.
 
“Breathe with me.”

Lake’s hand comes up to the side of my face.
 
His skin is rough and calloused, but his touch is gentle.
 
He holds my eyes as we get closer and closer.
 
My own hand comes around the back of his head, my fingers wrapping in his hair.

Our lips together are hesitant and soft when they meet.
 
They linger, still and unsure, as if we’re testing to see if there is still that something between us that was there up in his apartment.

But these lips know each other.
 
These souls have experienced the same great loss, and these two people have accomplished incredible things together.

So it only takes a few moments for our lips to deepen into one another.

My lips part at the same time Lake’s do.
 
His tongue invades my mouth and every cell in my body comes to life again.
 
With the need to be closer, I crawl into Lake’s lap, my legs wrapping around his waist.
 
His enormous hands press into my back, holding me closer.
 
My arms wrap behind his neck, and he reminds me of what it’s like to be
alive
.

I’ve been constantly guilty of comparing Lake to Cal since I met him.
 
And even Kyle at times.
 
But right here in this moment, it’s just Lake.

Lake understands me in a way that no one else could.
 
He knows the pain I’ve gone through.
 
He knows the hardships that come with the service, for those that serve, and for those that sacrifice for them to serve.
 
He knows my love for this land we occupy.
 
He knows how I love the hard work we do day in and day out.

And as we intertwine, I know he can feel that I’m ready for him.
 
I’m right where I belong.
 
With someone who understands me and my own depths.
 
Who was patient enough to wait for me to
surface.

And now I’m ready.

A smile crosses my lips, and I pull Lake’s shirt up and over his head.
 
And something I have yet to see comes over
his own
face.
 
A smile.
 
A real, true blue smile.
 
It’s bright, and crooked, and it does something to my core that I can’t quite explain.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen you smile before,” I say as I look down at him.
 

“It’s been a while since I had a reason to,” he replies as he leans forward and presses his lips to my neck.
 
His fingers make stealthy work as they slip under my tank top, relieving me of it.
 
“Riley, I never thought I’d ever feel what I feel for you, about anyone.
 
You’re…”

“Oxygen?”
I breathe into him.
 
Because that’s exactly what he feels like.

“Something
like
that,” he says with that grin as he presses kisses to my jawline.
 
“But a hell of a lot more than just that.”

“I know how you feel,” I say as I place a hand on either side of his face.
 

And in this moment, I feel whole.

There is no Travis and no hurt.
 
There’s just this moment that is perfect, and exactly when it was supposed to happen.

Lake’s fingers reach between us, and make swift work of unbuttoning my jeans.
 
His fingers brushing my bare stomach make my insides go ballistic.
 
“Care to join me for a swim?” he teases.

“Yeah,” I say, smiling ridiculously as I nod.
 
I climb off his lap and kick my boots off.
 
I peel off my jeans, watching Lake
do
the same.

Together, in only our underwear, and oh what a glorious sight nearly-naked Lake is, we stand on our benches, hand in hand.
 
“On three?” he asks.
 
He looks over at me, that boyish grin still on his face.
 
It really is an amazing thing.
 
His smile.
 
I can’t get enough of it.

I bite my lower lip and nod.

“One, two, three!”

I nearly jump, but at the last second, I panic, let go of Lake’s hand, and he launches himself into the water without me.
 
A screaming squeal leaps out of me as his wake splashes over me.

“You cheat!” he calls when he surfaces.
 
He wipes the water from his eyes and squints up at me.
 
“You can’t back out of something like that.
 
There’s this thing called trust, Riley.”

“It looks so cold!” I squeal.
 
Goosebumps are already flashing over my skin.
 
The air is warm, but it’s getting late, and I’m standing here in only my bra and panties.

“Get in the water!” he taunts me, that lopsided smile wide.

“
You going
to make me?” I tease him right back.

“Riley James, you get in this water right now, or I
will
make you,” he growls, trying to be serious.
 
But that smile won’t leave his face.

“Excuse me!” I mock offense.
 
I put my hands on my hips and everything.
 
I give him a narrowed look.

“I’m sorry, Baby,” he says, putting a stop hand up, even as he treads water.
 
“Just get in, please.”

Then there’s a mischievous glint in his eye.
 
Before I can do a thing, he lunges forward, grabs the side of the canoe, and tips me right in.

I splash into the water, landing half on top of him.
 
As I break to the surface, I send a splashing wave into his face.

“So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” I say as I push myself toward him.
 
With a great kick, I surge myself up, put my hands on his head, and dunk him under the water.
 
Which works, until he grabs one of my feet, and pulls me under with him.

We
both surface
, laughing, and coughing water a little.
 
“Okay, maybe we end this game before one of us drowns,” I say as I doggy paddle in the water.

Lake grabs the side of the boat, and wraps his other hand around my waist, pulling me near.
 
“I like seeing this side of you,” he says quietly.
 
We’re so
close,
I can see the water droplets holding onto his eyelashes.

“It’s nice to see this side of myself again,” I say as I study his lips once more.
 
“And I like seeing the real Lake McCain.
 
I knew he was under the surface somewhere.”

He smiles and then leans in, kissing me softly.