Authors: Jennifer Ryan
She didn’t say anything for a moment. Her words were soft and filled with regret. “Right before I went for my walk, I had a talk with my grandmother. I told her that I wanted to be with you. I wanted to take this chance at happiness and hold on to it and you as long as I can. I planned to ask if I can move in on Friday. Now if you don’t say yes, I have nowhere else to go.”
“Bell, never doubt that I want you here with me. No way in hell I let you out of my sight until this bastard is caught. So, yes, you’re staying here in our house. I will do everything I possibly can to make you want to stay, because I don’t want to ever lose you. Those minutes today when I thought you were gone were the worst of my life. I never want to feel that way again. So it’s not that I have to say yes to you staying here, it’s I need you here and in my life.”
“I want to be here. I fought with her about it.”
“You mean she said something vile and you defended yourself.”
“I think I’ve spent my whole life defending myself.”
“All that ends now. You’re upset she’s gone. I get that. It’s a terrible thing that happened to her. You’ll mourn her and the hope you’d held all these years that things between you could have been different. You can let go of that now, because life for you will be different. You’ll be happy. While it may not feel like it right now, that is okay.”
“I can’t think about anything right now.”
Dane opened the truck door, slipped out, and held his hand out to her. She didn’t hesitate to take it. He closed the door and walked her up to the porch. Rodrigo stood off to the side of the house and gave Dane a nod that all remained quiet while they were gone. He let Bell into the house ahead of him. She stood in the foyer, staring at the half-empty house.
“I really need to buy some new furniture,” Dane said.
“We’ll work on it soon.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and glanced over her shoulder at him. Shy. Her eyes asked him if she’d overstepped.
“What do you think about starting with the dining room?”
“And maybe do the other living room at the same time. A desk for me to work in the evenings, catching up on patient files.”
“Bookshelves and a comfortable sofa we can curl up on together.”
Tears welled in her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her. “It’s going to be all right. Come into the kitchen, I’ll make you something to eat.”
“I smell like smoke.”
“Food, then a shower. You haven’t eaten all day.”
He coaxed her through eating the simple meal he made for her. Nothing but an egg, cheese, and bacon omelet and some toast. Dusk turned to darkness outside the windows as she sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, staring out the windows, shutting him and everything else out of her world.
He took her hand and pulled her out of her seat, leading her upstairs and into the master bathroom. She stood like a statue while he turned on the water taps and filled the oversized bathtub. Normally, he’d take pleasure in stripping her bare, but this was about getting her clean and relaxed so she’d sleep. She stepped in and settled back into the warm water. He grabbed the bottle of shampoo from the shower and a glass vase his mother left on a shelf next to the tub. He kneeled beside the bath, poured water over her head, added a dollop of shampoo to his hand, and scrubbed her hair clean, massaging her scalp until she sighed. He rinsed her hair and gently helped her lay back against the tub to relax again.
He stood to leave and said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She grasped his wrist so tightly that her nails bit into his skin. “Where are you going?”
He kneeled beside her again and ran his hand over her wet hair. “Just downstairs to clean up the kitchen and turn the lights out. We’ll call it an early night. We both need some rest.”
“You’ll be back in a minute.”
“Yes, sweetheart. Don’t worry, you’re safe here.”
Dane hated to leave her, even for a minute, but he needed to check on things downstairs and with his guys. The haunted look in her eyes killed him.
His guys waited on the back porch. Two of Gabe’s guys hung out with them.
“How’s she doing?” Rodrigo asked.
“Not good.”
Dan said, “Gabe said to let you know Ella and Gillian will be here tomorrow morning sometime. Scott and I will stay here until they find this asshole. Scott will take the front of the house. I’ll take the back. We’ll keep watch at night. Your guys can take the day shift.”
“Thanks, Dan. I really appreciate this.”
“No problem at all. Gabe said if you need more guys, he’ll send a couple of the others over.”
“I think we’re good. I’ll lock up on the inside. You guys keep watch out here. You hear or see anything, bang on the door and let me know. No way this fucker gets to Bell.”
“Whatever it takes, man,” Dan answered. All the other men nodded their heads in agreement.
Dane went over Rowdy’s general description, made sure everyone was clear on what they were supposed to do, and how they were going to protect Bell. They’d all stick close to the house until Rowdy rotted behind bars. Or in a grave.
Dane went through every room downstairs, checking windows and locks and making sure the house was secure. He’d never worried about such things living this far out in the country. Now, he didn’t think anything he did would be enough to keep Bell safe.
The bathroom light spilled into the master bedroom, highlighting Bell sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a towel. She held the cordless phone from the nightstand in her lap.
“I called my sister. The sheriff contacted her earlier, but I wanted to tell her what happened myself. She’s already contacted my father. He’s flying in from California to make arrangements for my grandmother once they recover her body.”
Dane sat beside her on the bed and put his arm around her. “Okay, sweetheart. You know you don’t have to see him if you don’t want to.”
“I’m sure he has no intention of seeing me.”
Dane didn’t know what to say to her about that. The hurt in her voice made his chest ache. She’d been through hell her whole life, and now he’d brought the devil to her door.
“I don’t have anything to wear.”
He barely heard her whispered words.
“We’ll take care of that tomorrow. Tonight, you can wear one of my shirts to bed.”
“I’d rather just be close to you.”
“Crawl into bed. Let me wash the smoke off me, and I’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”
“Did you lock up the house?”
“You have nothing to worry about, sweetheart. Not only did I lock everything but there’s a man at the front door and back. There’s a sheriff’s vehicle parked just off the turn into the ranch. They’ll keep watch all night.”
“You set that up?”
“Gabe did. Not that I wasn’t going to set up a watch myself, but Gabe sent over a couple of guys from Wolf Ranch to help out my guys. We’ll split shifts until Rowdy is caught. You will be safe here. I promise.”
Bell’s lips pressed to his in a soft kiss, which she held and he sank into with a sigh. He needed her so much. She needed him. They’d get through this.
T
he minute Dane slid naked into bed beside her, Bell reached for him. She needed to be close, take in his warmth, smell his skin, and feel his strength wrapped around her. She needed to feel something good and not all this empty numbness.
“Dane.” She poured every request and need into just his name.
Understanding everything unspoken, he rolled her to her back, kissed her long and deep until her mind went blank. He didn’t stop there. His hot, wet kisses trailed down her neck and chest until his voracious mouth found her hard nipple and clamped on tight. With his big body pressed along her side, she sank deeper into the bed and deeper in love with him.
His big hand caressed her side down to her hip and over her thigh in a sweep of heat that spread like a wave of lava. She ran her hands over his wide shoulders and down his back, digging her fingers into all those tense muscles. His hand swept up her thigh to her center, his fingers caressing until she couldn’t help but moan. He pressed one long finger inside her. She rolled her hips and let go of everything but the feel of his big body next to hers and the pleasure he evoked, like a sorcerer casting a spell.
Her body hummed. Completely in tune with her, Dane shifted, grabbed a condom from the drawer, and tore it open with his teeth. She snagged it, sheathed him, and pushed him onto his back. She straddled his hips. He grabbed her sides, guiding her down on top of him. She took him in, filled herself up, and sighed out her relief at being this close and connected to him. She rocked forward, then took him back in slow. His big hands covered her breasts, squeezed, and shaped her to his palms. Eyes closed, she focused on everything her body felt. As all her inhibitions washed away, she let the power of seduction reign and gave herself over to loving this man.
The intensity in Dane shifted from giving her pleasure and holding back his release to joining her in the push and pull that became an erotic dance. They moved in unison. Her hips rocked to his thrusting deep. His hands gripped her hips and smoothed up her back. She leaned down for a searing kiss. His hands smoothed down and over her hips, pressing her center to his as he thrust deep and ground against her. That spell he cast exploded into a fireworks finale that made her gasp and pant as her body convulsed around his. Dane’s whole body tensed and pulsed below her. When his hands relaxed on her hips, she fell on top of him, completely spent. His breath heaved in and out at her shoulder, his warm breath a soft caress that soothed her.
He wrapped his arms around her back and hugged her close. “That was something altogether different.”
She lay with her face buried in his neck, her heart pressed to his, and whispered, “I love you, too.”
He’d given her the words, but she’d held them back until now, too steeped in her grief, when her world had shattered, to share something so wonderful. His love put it all back together. Though the cracks might still be there, she’d gathered herself in and found she was different, but better. She’d let go her past and found that elusive happiness she’d dreamed of having one day with this unexpected but oh-so-right man. He loved her. It didn’t change who she was, or make her better. It made her feel real for the first time in her life, that somehow she was finally enough—just by being herself.
Dane rolled to his side, and she settled next to him. Face-to-face with him, wrapped in his arms, she stared into his dark eyes as he said, “I love you so much, Bell. Don’t ever scare me the way you did today again.”
Tears clogged her throat, but she held them back. She’d cried enough for her past. Now she wanted to celebrate her future and enjoy this moment and all of those to come with this man.
“I’ll try not to. You have to stop running on that leg. Does it hurt?”
“You can’t help yourself, can you?”
“I’ll always take care of you.”
Dane held her tighter. “I will always take care of you.”
She fell asleep in his arms and woke to his smiling face the next morning.
“You’re like a cat. Every time I tried to move this morning, you sank your claws into me.”
She stared at her hand on his chest and the half-moon marks her nails had left. “I’m sorry. I guess I wanted you to stay with me.”
“I’m happy to do so, but I’ve got some work to do before we head over to your grandmother’s place and check on things. You need to call your office and have someone take over for you for at least a week. Maybe two.”
“Dane, I can’t put my whole life on hold until they find Rowdy.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to give me time to figure out how best to deal with this situation and for you to have the time you need to grieve and sort out your life. You lost everything in that fire, Bell. I’m sure it will take at least a couple of days just to buy you a whole new set of books to fill the shelves you need to buy for the living room.”
Her heart felt lighter knowing how well he understood her. She wasn’t worried about her clothes or other minor things. Her books had been her treasures. Her lifeline to a world she’d been kept from for too long. A world she’d thought existed only in books, in which she found solace even now. Her emotions were still so raw, but when she picked up a book and lost herself in a story, she gave her heart and mind the time they needed to heal while she discovered a new place, or person, and experienced a different reality.
“You said you have a ton of time saved up. Take it, Bell, give yourself permission and time to sort all this out in your head and in your heart.”
“How is it that you understand me so well?”
“You’re different. Everything about you interests me. I want to make you happy, so I pay attention.”
“I’m not used to that. No one ever paid attention to anything I did.”
“Get used to it. I am. I always will.”
The doorbell rang three times. Bell tensed, but Dane smiled. “They’re here.”
“Who is here?”
“The family. Come on, put on some clothes and come downstairs.” Dane rolled out of the bed and pulled a pair of jeans out of the closet. He bent and stuck his legs into the jeans, tugging them up to his hips. She admired the view. God, the man had muscles. Long and lean, he took her breath away.
“Like what you see?” he said, smiling at her.
“Yes. I do,” she admitted on a sigh. “It’s hard to reconcile that as smart as I am, you make my insides turn to goo every time I see you naked.”
“That’s a good thing, sweetheart.”
“Yes it is, but I’m a doctor. I’ve seen tons of naked people. But when I see you, I want you.”
Dane planted his hands on the bed on both sides of her head and leaned down for a kiss. “I love how honest you are about everything. Don’t ever stop saying and doing things with that much truth in them.”
Like how she’d made love to him last night. She’d not only told him she loved him; she’d shown him with her open and uninhibited lovemaking. She’d shown him her heart and soul, trusting in him to see the truth she’d laid bare and to not break her heart.
The doorbell rang again. “Go get that before your brother kicks it in.”
“He won’t. He’ll just think I’m up here making love to you.”
The blush went up from her breasts to her forehead. Dane gave her one of those smiles she loved so much. “That smile might kill me.”
“You’ll die happy, sweetheart. I promise.” He kissed her quick, spun and sat on the bed to pull on his leg brace, and left the room to answer the door.
She got out of bed and went into the bathroom. She didn’t hesitate to jump in the shower and use Dane’s things. She found a toothbrush in the drawer and brushed her teeth. Dane walked into the bathroom just as she finished brushing her hair with his brush. He held shopping bags in each hand and set them on the counter, pulling out a new brush, makeup, deodorant, lotion, and an assortment of other bathroom essentials, including a new hair dryer, hair spray, and gel.
“You didn’t have enough time to go into town. Where did this come from?”
“Ella and Gillian are downstairs. I’ve been ordered to tell you to get dressed.” He pointed to the jeans, blouse, underwear, and bra on the bed. “They’re bringing in the rest of what they got you.”
“The rest?”
“You lost everything you own yesterday. Ella is like the master shopper of all time. She met Gillian this morning, and they restocked some of what you need.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“This is what friends and family do for each other. Get used to it.”
Bell stared at the clothes on the bed and the toiletries scattered over the marble counter. “Uh, I guess I’ll get dressed.”
“I’m jumping in the shower.” Dane bent and pulled the straps free on his leg brace, stripped off his jeans, and stood before her gloriously naked. “You’re staring again, Doc.”
“Uh, hmm.”
Dane’s lips met hers in a long, soft kiss. “I love it when you’re speechless. If I had time to erase every thought from your head again, I would.” He smacked her on the bottom and shoved her toward the door. “Get dressed, or we’ll never leave this bathroom and my brothers and sisters will come hunting for us.”
That got her attention. They had company. “They’ll be gone later, right?”
“And I will have you all to myself.”
Yep, that wolfish grin melted her insides every time.
While he showered, she dressed. The clothes fit perfectly. She couldn’t believe Ella and Gillian did so well on the sizes. The pretty dark blue blouse suited her feminine style and her mood for the day. Soft against her skin, the material clung to her figure and outlined her breasts. She turned to see Dane standing in the bathroom door, naked, dripping wet, running a towel over his dark hair. His eyes held a light of appreciation and temptation. She didn’t move, afraid they’d both leap at each other and lose themselves in each other’s arms. A distraction she’d enjoy but wouldn’t stop her from having to face the reality of today. She needed to go back to her house and survey the destruction. She hoped they recovered her grandmother’s remains today. Should she plan the funeral, or leave that to her father? If he took care of it, would she be invited?
“Go back to drooling over me. I don’t like that somber look on your face.”
Dane pulled on a pair of black boxer briefs, his jeans, and a dark gray thermal Henley.
“You look just as good dressed.”
“The new clothes look great on you.” He limped to the bathroom to grab his brace and strap it back on. The man healed quickly. The fact he couldn’t rein in his activities probably accounted for his improved mobility.
“Your sisters are amazing, but they forgot shoes and socks.”
“I’m sure they’re in the bags downstairs. Come see.”
“I’m going to have to go to the bank and DMV. My purse was in the house. I don’t have my ID, a checkbook, an ATM or credit card. Nothing I can use to pay them back.”
“I already took care of it.”
“What?”
“I paid them already. It’s no big deal.”
“It is a big deal. You don’t need to buy me new things.”
“Well, I did need to, otherwise you’d be naked right now, or wearing your dirty clothes. Besides those points, I wanted to do it for you.”
“You knew they were going to go shopping for me?”
“Gabe didn’t say so in so many words yesterday, but I guessed this is what he meant. Face it, sweetheart, you’re a part of my family and this community. Once word spreads about what happened, people will be wanting to help you get back on your feet.”
“I’m fine.”
“You still need clothes. Don’t suck the fun out of this for yourself or my sisters. They are happy to do this for you. You’ll see.”
Dane took her hand and led her downstairs. The stairs didn’t slow him down anymore. He walked in the brace like he’d never been injured.
Bell stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the stacks of bags on the coffee table and sofa.
Ella and Gillian stood behind the couch.
“Our condolences on your loss, Bell,” Ella said, hugging her close.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Gillian said, hugging her, too.
The tears filled Bell’s eyes, but she didn’t let them spill down her cheeks. Instead, she sucked back her sorrow and stared at the bounty before her. “You guys got all of this today?”
“We got to the stores right when they opened. I hope you like what we picked out,” Ella said.
“It should be enough for two weeks. A couple of work outfits that you can mix and match. Jeans, slacks, T-shirts, blouses, sweaters. Oh, a new coat and a heavy sweater. It’s navy blue. Ella and I got the same one in black,” Gillian said. “We couldn’t resist.”
Ella picked up a bag and pulled out an ice blue blanket. “This is for you to curl up under and read a book. Feel it. Nothing is softer than this.”
Bell took the blanket and held it to her chest, running her hand over the ultra-soft material. “I love it. Thank you.”
“That’s not all,” Gillian said, pointing to the door.
Gabe and Blake walked through the door carrying a camel-colored chaise lounge. They placed it next to the side table facing the TV. A couple of guys walked in carrying boxes. They set them on the floor next to the chaise and went back out the front door.
“What’s all this?” she asked.
“Well, you’ve got your blanket and a place to read. All you need is some books.” Ella opened the lid of one of the three boxes and pulled out several books, then stacked them on the chaise. “We stopped by the bookstore in town and picked up a selection for you.”
“Mysteries, a few romances, biographies, and nonfiction books about a range of subjects. Even a few gardening books. Dane said you liked those. I found one on tomatoes, like he asked.”
Bell turned to Dane, one eyebrow raised in question.
“I kept my phone on vibrate last night. We shared a long series of texts early this morning while you slept.”
She looked at everyone around the room and hoped they saw in her how much she appreciated everything. “This is too much. I thank you for everything. No one has ever . . . I never had anyone . . .” She couldn’t find the words. “It’s more than I expected and ever hoped for, but I am so lucky to have friends like you.”