“Ryan,” he said calmly. “Grab the wheel and maneuver the boat again.”
“You’re not hurt?” Frantically, she turned the boat to the left, then back to the right, trying desperately to get to Jared. “He didn’t shoot you?”
“Missed, but I got a nasty bump.” He held the boats together with one hand, reaching for her with the other. “Come here, please.”
“I was so scared,” she whispered leaping into his arms. “When he showed up…I couldn’t believe it. At first I thought, the nerve of the guy, I mean I told him to buzz off earlier.”
Jared cupped her face. “Are you okay?” His finger traced a path over her swollen cheek. “He hit you.” Jared’s eyes narrowed, then he peered over her shoulder. “Bastard,” he muttered. “Wait right here.” He vaulted from one boat to the other.
A loud moan echoed in the still of the dark night.
“Oh, shut up,” Jared said. “One of your rights. Along with the right to an attorney, but you already understand those rights, don’t you.” Jared pulled Tom to the driver’s seat, yanking his hands behind his back and tying them with the stern line.
“I’ll get you for this,” Tom sneered.
“Not where you’re going.”
Sirens rang out in the distance.
“Here comes the cavalry.” Jared looked over his shoulder and pointed, then looked to Ryan and frowned. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine, really.” She rubbed her tender cheek. “He only hit me once, and I’m more worried about that lump on the back of your neck. It’s huge.”
“It’s nothing, but we’ll go together, okay?” He heaved her to his chest and held her tight, but said nothing.
She clutched at him like he was the air she needed to live, but before she could muster up the courage to tell him how she felt, cops surrounded them.
* * * *
A few hours later, she found herself in the back of Frank’s personal car, getting a ride home. Jared sat next to her, holding her hand, but staring out into the dark night. He seemed distant and unreachable.
Why would she think he’d be anything else?
He’d only come back because he’d found out about Tom.
“Thanks, Frank,” Jared said.
Ryan blinked, then realized they’d pulled into Jared’s driveway. He held his hand out to her. She glanced at her watch; it was well past two in the morning. “Pat’s probably worried sick. We should just go there.”
“I spoke to him before we left the hospital.
He’ll be here in the morning. Besides, we need to talk.” He tugged at her hand.
Swallowing, she glanced at Frank. “Thanks,” she mumbled, feeling the exhaustion hit her bones as she scooted from the car.
“See ya around.” Frank waved, then backed out, his taillights disappearing down the road.
“Finally,” Jared muttered. He yanked her to his body, pressing her against the cold metal of his pickup.
She opened her mouth, but couldn’t say anything because his tongue dove in. Grabbing his shoulders, she intended to shove him away, but just rested her hands there instead, lost in the moment. But the better the kiss got, the more she knew it had to stop. She gave him a good shove.
“What?” He scowled. “I’ve been waiting hours to do that.”
“Thought you said we need to talk.”
“Oh, that.” He took a step back. “I suppose we need to do that, too.”
“I appreciate you coming back here to help when you heard about—”
He chuckled, pressing his fingers against her lips. “I turned around long before I knew what was going on with Tom.”
“You did?” Her heart raced in a panicked frenzy. “Why?”
“To do this.” He walked over to the For Sale sign, kicked it a few times, then lifted it from the ground.
“You sold the house?” she asked, anger surging through her body.
“Usually when that happens, a ‘Sold’ sign goes up for a while. I’m taking it off the market.”
“What?” She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. Nothing made sense. “I’m tired. I need some sleep.”
“Might happen, eventually.” He tossed the sign behind the garage, then sauntered over toward her with the weirdest smile on his face.
“I must have fallen asleep, because this doesn’t make any sense.”
He laughed and pressed his hand on the small of her back. “Come on, I think I have some explaining to do.”
“Can the explaining happen when I’m awake?” she mumbled, unable to believe any of this was real. “Are we still at the hospital and I’ve just fallen asleep on that ugly blue couch or something?”
He pushed open the kitchen door and nudged her forward. The bright lights forced her to blink a few times before she adjusted to the brightness.
“Let’s go intp the family room. Would you like a drink?”
She shook her head, letting her body relax into his strong arm. “I hope you won’t get in trouble with your new boss.”
Jared laughed.
“I don’t think that’s funny. I know what that job means to you.”
“You mean more,” he whispered, pressing his soft lips against her neck.
Dropping her head to the side, she closed her eyes, getting lost in the sensation.
“Sit down,” he said softly, easing her back onto the couch. “Open your eyes.”
“I don’t want to wake up. Jared just told me I meant more to him than his job.” She curled herself in a ball, fiddling with what she assumed was a pillow and let herself drift off into a land where Jared loved her.
It was nice to dream.
* * * *
Jared listened to the soft, even breathing of the woman he knew he couldn’t live without, waiting for her to wake up. He shifted, hoping to upset her sleep, but she just kept snuggling in, using his lap for a pillow.
“Great,” he mumbled, letting out a long breath and threading his fingers through her hair. He couldn’t sleep if he tried. How the hell could she? He tossed his head back and stared at the ceiling. Hours had passed since Frank had dropped them off. Jared couldn’t wait any longer. “Ryan,” he said.
“What?” She jumped, smacking the back of her head against his nose.
“Damn it.” He covered his nose as water welled in his eyes. “Sleeping with you is going to break my nose yet.”
“Huh?” She sat up, recoiling to the other side of the sofa. “What happened? What’s going on?”
“I was trying to have a serious conversation with you, but you fell asleep on me.”
“Oh.” She adjusted her hair, tucking her feet under her butt. “I do remember you telling me you wanted to talk. Then I had the most bizarre dream.”
“I don’t think it was all a dream.” He rubbed his nose, satisfied it wasn’t really hurt, then scooted closer to her. “Tell me about your dream.”
“No way.”
“Was I in it?”
“I’ll take the Fifth.” She reached out and ran her finger down his nose. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Seems to be a habit with us.”
“Did you take the house off the market?”
He nodded, inching closer. “I’m not taking that job.”
Her lips pursed together and her nose flared.
“I took a different one, right here. And it’s not because of you, well, not entirely.”
She rubbed her temples. “That job was everything to you.”
“Not when some lunatic was waving a gun at the woman I love.” His heart skipped a beat and his hand trembled when he touched the bruise on her face. “I do love you, Ryan.”
She met his gaze dead on. “That’s not love. That’s guilt.”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He cupped her face. “I won’t let you tell me how I feel or don’t feel.”
She laced her fingers around his wrists. “You care about me, always have. But you don’t just all of a sudden fall in love with someone in a situation like that.” Then she pushed him away.
“Damn it, Ryan.” He stood up and started to pace. This wasn’t going quite like he had planned. Then again, he didn’t know what he was doing. “You’re right.” He stopped and stared at her. “But that’s not when I fell in love with you. Hell, I have no idea when it happened, and I sure as hell didn’t want it to happen. I pulled over on that damned highway half a dozen times before I decided I had to tell you I loved you. Now, either you love me or you don’t. So just tell me one way or the other.” He let out a puff of air and planted his hands on his hips and waited.
She just sat there and gaped at him with an open mouth and wide eyes.
The longer she sat there, the faster his pulse raced. “Well,” he said. “I can’t stand here much longer. Do you love me, yes or no?”
She blinked a few times, then shook her head. “You came back because you love me? Not because you knew that Tom wasn’t who he said he was?” She stood, facing him dead-on.
“Yes,” he said. “I wanted you to know, and hoped you’d let me spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”
“Are you suggesting we get married?” Her brows shot up.
“Well, yeah. I’d like that.” This really wasn’t going as planned.
She turned from him and did her own pacing on the other side of the coffee table.
“What about my job? I mean, I won’t quit.”
“Wouldn’t ask you to,” he said, with a scowl.
“What about kids? That would be a deal breaker.” She locked gazes with him.
“I didn’t realize we were making a deal.” He swallowed the large lump in his throat.
She narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t a joke, Jared. I’m not putting myself out there for you to tell me I can’t have what I want.”
“I want to give you everything,” he admitted. “I want it all, and I want it with you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared into a pair of scrutinizing blue eyes. He couldn’t blame her for being suspicious. He’d given her every reason to believe that love, marriage, and kids weren’t for him. Hell, a few weeks ago he thought the same thing. “I love you. I don’t know how else to say it.”
“That works.” She put her foot on the coffee table, then hurled herself at him.
“Humph. Good Lord, woman, are you trying to kill me?” He stumbled backward, landing on the couch with her on top of him.
“Just wanted to let you know I love you, too.” She smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry.” He kissed the salty tears, needing to taste every inch of her. “I don’t like it when I make you cry.”
“Trust me, these are happy tears.”
He pushed the coffee table back with his foot, then rolled her to the floor, setting himself between the softness of her legs, where he belonged.
She ran her hands across the top of his head, then down his back. “Tell me again,” she whispered.
“I love you.” He pressed his lips against hers. “I think I always have, I’ve just been too stubborn to admit it.” His pulse hammered in his ears so fast he didn’t think he’d be able to breathe. But the softness of her body pressed firmly against his gave him everything he needed.
“Condoms are upstairs,” he said with ragged breath. “Unless you want to work on that aspect of our lives right now. Not sure I want to wait.” Tears filled his eyes. “I want to have children with you.” He stroked his thumb across her bruised cheek, then kissed it with tender care. “Whenever you’re ready. Don’t want to rush you or anything.”
Her head hit the floor with a clunk, then her arms dropped to the side, while she shut her eyes tight.
“Ryan, you okay?”
She shook her head, covering her face, mumbling a bunch of words he couldn’t understand.
“Ryan, you’re kind of wigging me out here.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled from behind her hands.
He shifted to his knees, pulling her to a sitting position and leaned against the couch. “Come on, what’s wrong?” He pulled at her hands. When she finally looked at him, she had chomped down on her lower lip and had a guilty look on her face. “You lied to me.”
“Not really.”
“Are you pregnant?” He swallowed, not able to tell if he was angry or happy. Or both.
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t get your period, did you?” He rubbed his hands across his unshaven face.
“I sort of lied to you about that.”
“And if you’re pregnant, were you planning on telling me, ever?” He hated hearing his angry tone, but he couldn’t help it. She’d lied to him about something really important. Not a good way to start out.
She jumped to her knees. “I wouldn’t have kept that from you, but understand I didn’t want you giving up everything just because I might be having a baby. You did that once and look how bad that turned out.”
“I didn’t love Lisa.” He shook his head. “And wouldn’t that be my choice to make?” He looped his arm around her. Staying mad at this woman would be impossible.
“And you could’ve come back, if you wanted to. I would never keep your child from you. I just didn’t want you to give up something for me again.”
“Leaving you would’ve been giving up something, something wonderful. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want to know what it would be like not to have you in my life.”