A muscle started to pulse in Jacobs’ jaw, but he kept his hands buried in his pockets. “I had orders from above not to act,” he bit out.
Ben made a rude sound of disbelief. “And you always do what you’re told?”
The Fed got right in his face, his voice hard and clipped. “I get that you’re pissed, Hudson. And yeah, you have a right to be. But I came here to tell you that I’m sorry. I didn’t think the idiot was for real.”
“Yeah, well. Why don’t you try telling that to the family of the woman he killed on Saturday night?”
“And if you’d been doing your job instead of fucking Little Miss Freckles’ brains out twenty-four seven, maybe you’d have caught the bastard before he got to her!”
“You self-righteous son of a bitch!” Ben snarled, throwing a punch that slammed into the Fed’s jaw, knocking him back a few feet. Stalking forward, Ben started to throw another one, but his brother was suddenly forcing his way between them.
“That’s enough!” Alex shouted, shoving him back. “This isn’t helping!”
“But it’s making me feel a hell of a lot better,” Ben growled, pushing Alex aside and shoving Jacobs against one of the massive tree trunks.
With a graveled curse, Alex wrapped his arms around Ben from behind and practically tossed him to the side. “Fucking chill!” he said, still shouting. “I don’t know what’s going on, but this isn’t the place for this shit.”
“He’s a fucking Fed!” Ben snapped, flexing his hand.
Alex appeared as stunned as he’d been when he got that bit of news. “What?”
Keeping his attention focused on Jacobs, who was rubbing his jaw, Ben quickly brought his brother up to date. Just as he was finishing, the Fed’s phone started ringing. Walking to the edge of the lake, Jacobs took the call, then made his way back over to them, appearing even more pissed off than he had before. “I’ve got to go,” he said, looking at Ben. “But I meant what I said. I came here to tell you that I’m sorry I fucked up. If it makes you feel any better, I owe you one.”
He wanted to tell the bastard to shove his offer up his ass, but Alex cut him off. “Take it, Ben. It’s always good to have someone like him owe you a favor.”
“Fine,” he ground out, still wishing he’d had the chance to beat the shit out of the prick.
Jacobs started to walk away, then stopped and turned to face him again. “You might also like to know that Houghton’s people have made it clear you’re not a target. From what I hear, the man would personally thank you, if he could.”
Ben scowled. “What the fuck for?”
Pushing his hands back in his pockets, Jacobs said, “Saving his daughter.”
Alex snorted. “Has the jackass found religion or something?”
Jacobs shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. I just thought you might like to know.”
“Well that was a fucking eye-opener,” Alex muttered, after they’d watched Jacobs climb into a Chevy that’d been left in one of the emergency parking spots right on the curb.
“No shit,” he grunted, shaking his head.
Alex slid him a curious look. “Why aren’t you inside with Reese?”
Ben tried not to wince. “Because I screwed up.”
“What the hell, man? You saved her.”
“Not with that shit. I . . .” His voice trailed off, drying up in his throat. Alex was the last person on earth he wanted to talk this out with. He’d have better luck getting relationship advice from the Manson family.
Alex’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he turned his head to the side, squinting into the morning sunlight. “You really care about this woman, don’t you?”
Ben gave a frustrated sigh. “Yeah.”
Ignoring the
NO SMOKING
signs plastered everywhere, Alex shook a cigarette from the pack he had in his pocket, lit the tip, then took a slow, deep drag. After he exhaled, he said, “I never told Judith that I loved her.” He rolled his shoulder a little, staring down at the cigarette pinched between his thumb and forefinger. “I don’t know if it would have made a difference. But . . . shit, it couldn’t have hurt. I don’t think Dad ever said it, either.”
“What? Of course he did.”
“Yeah?” Alex lifted his gaze, locking his pale eyes with Ben’s. “You ever heard him?”
He started to say yes, then realized that he couldn’t actually remember ever hearing those words coming from his father’s mouth when he’d been growing up. His old man had always been so gutted by his mother’s cheating, Ben had just assumed he was crazy about her. But had his father ever actually told her how he felt?
Christ.
Was that part of the problem right there? A piece of what had killed two marriages? The pathetic fact that a Hudson male found it impossible to open his fucking mouth and tell the woman he loved how he felt about her?
If so, Ben didn’t want to be like that. Didn’t want to follow in either of their footsteps. He might end up making a fool of himself, but damn it, he was going to go to Reese and finally lay it all on the line, telling her everything that he should have said before.
Slapping Alex on the shoulder, he murmured, “Thanks, man.”
“For what?” Alex grunted, trying to play it cool.
“For everything!” Ben called out, already heading back toward the entrance. He gave a quick wave to Brit and Mike, who were standing and drinking their coffees near the stand, but didn’t stop to talk, in too much of a hurry as he raced inside. He was moving so fast that people were actually getting out of his way, but he needed to reach Reese
now
, damn it. What if fucking Leighton came out of surgery professing his undying love for her? What if she decided to take the jackass back?
No. Hell no!
Driven by a visceral sense of urgency, Ben was practically running by the time he reached the hallway where he’d left Reese sitting in one of those god-awful chairs. But she was no longer there. After a frustrating conversation with the surgical desk, he learned that she’d gone up to the ICU with Leighton.
When he finally found her, she was coming out of Leighton’s private room, and he was breathing so hard he sounded like he’d just run a fucking marathon.
“Ben, what’s wrong?” she asked, shutting the door to the room behind her.
“Nothing,” he panted. “Nothing’s wrong, baby. Just . . . just tell me that you don’t still love him.”
Her eyes went wide. “Who? Drew?”
He had to swallow twice before he could scrape out a response. “Yeah.”
“Of course I don’t love him. I wanted to make sure he was okay, and to let him know that his family is on their way down, but I don’t have any feelings for him.” Her voice got softer, just like the look in her eyes. “I thought you understood that.”
“Thank God,” he groaned, dropping to his knees before her.
She gave him a startled, worried look. “Uh, Ben? What’s going on?”
With his shaking hands clinging to her hips, he stared up at her precious face and said, “Reese, I’m so fucking sorry for letting you down, because I should have been there to protect you. And I’m sorry as hell for the fight that we had before I left, and for the things that I said. But I’m ready to do whatever it takes to make it up to you.” There were a few muted gasps and sighs from the hospital staff who were working in the area, overhearing every word, but he was too desperate to get it all said to care. “I just . . . I need to tell you that I want you. Forever. I want to be a couple and I want us to live together—for you to move into my house and make it
ours
. Not because you need protection, though I’ll always do everything I can to keep you safe. But because I want to spend every moment of every day that I can with you.”
“Ben,” she said shakily, wiping away the tears that were spilling over her flushed cheeks. “This has been a hell of a night, and you’ve been dealing with so much. You’ll . . . you need to take some time to think, because you’ll probably feel differently once everything has started to calm—”
“Bullshit,” he growled, cutting her off. “I’m not some ignorant kid, Reese. I know my own mind. You may drive me bat-shit crazy at times, but I love you.”
“What?” she gasped, looking like she might pass out from shock. She blinked, those soft, pink lips trembling as she stammered, “I . . . You . . . You
l-love
me?”
“Yeah,” he rasped, feeling the tremor that moved through her. “I should have told you last night, only I screwed up. But I’m telling you now. I’m fucking crazy in love with you, woman, and I want us to live together. Is that something you want, too?”
Reese kept her watery gaze locked with Ben’s, completely undone by the stunning wealth of emotion she could see burning there. Smiling through her tears, she managed a shivery, breathless “
Yes
.”
The normally quiet area immediately erupted with cheers and applause, both of them grinning like fools as Ben moved to his feet and pulled her into his arms, taking her mouth in a deep, deliciously hungry kiss that was over far too quickly for her liking. But when he put his lips against her ear, asking if she was ready to get out of there and go find a nice hotel room to hide out in with him, she couldn’t say yes fast enough.
The local sheriff had left a Jeep in the parking lot for them to use while they were in town, and after leaving Ben’s cell phone number with the nurses in the ICU, so that they could call if there were any emergencies with Drew, Reese asked Ben if they could stop by a Target on their way to a hotel. While he stood outside the store, trying to pick out a place for them to stay using the Internet connection on his phone, Reese hurried through her mental list of things they needed, grabbing toiletries and some clean T-shirts and jeans for them to wear. Despite the horrific night she’d just been through, she couldn’t keep the silly grin off her face. She might look like the walking dead, with dark circles under her eyes, spatters of blood covering her wrinkled clothes, and raw marks around her wrists from the plastic ties—but she was happy, damn it. The happiest she’d ever been, actually. Not even the funny looks she was getting from the other Monday-morning shoppers were going to bring her down.
When she came back outside, she gave Ben back the debit card she’d borrowed and he loaded everything into the Jeep, then drove them to a beautiful little hotel he’d found on the Gulf side of the city. They got a few interesting looks during check in, but no one said anything. And really, they were too excited to pay much attention to anyone or anything going on around them. The ride up the elevator was annoyingly crowded, full of couples getting ready to go down for breakfast, reminding her that they still hadn’t eaten. Reese was going to suggest they order some room service, knowing he must be starving, but Ben was on her the second he’d locked the hotel room door behind them and dropped the shopping bags on the floor, his strong arms holding her against his solid chest in an unbreakable hold as he did things to her mouth that probably melted a few brain cells.
“Wait!” she gasped, when he started undoing the top button on her jeans. “Shower first.”
“Later,” he growled, kissing the side of her neck as he pushed his hands into the back of her panties. “I want you in that bed.”
“And we’ll get there,” she said with a soft laugh, pushing against his chest so that she could look him in the eye. “But I want to get clean first.”
“Fine,” he muttered, obviously realizing she wasn’t going to give in. “But we shower together.”
Less than a minute later, their clothes were strewn all over the bathroom floor, and they were standing beneath a powerful spray of hot water, the sensual scent of the body wash she’d bought filling the steamy air as they lathered each other up. Reese pressed her lips to the nicks on his face and arms from the window he’d busted through, as well as the battered knuckles he admitted he got from punching a hole in his wall . . . and then Jacobs. When she asked who that was, he told her the bizarre story about the dark-haired male he’d kept seeing on the beach, pressing gentle kisses to the raw skin on her wrists while he spoke.
Reese had hung the bag with all the toiletries from a hook in the shower, and after they’d rinsed off the soap, they used the shampoo next. She had to be careful with the bump on the back of her head, which was still tender, but it was worth any discomfort to feel clean again. As she lifted her arms over her head to rinse the suds from her hair, Ben pinched her nipples with his callused fingertips, making her shiver and moan.
“I like showering with you,” she said breathlessly, her sex already swelling for him, going warm and wet and soft.
“I like showering with you, too,” he offered with a wicked smile, dropping down on his knees again for the second time that morning. But instead of another stunning declaration of love, he pushed his face against her mound, which was
almost
even better. After nuzzling the damp curls, he lifted one of her legs over his shoulder and put his mouth on her slick, wet sex, eating at her with a hunger that was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. He’d always been an incredible lover, but there was something so much more powerful happening between them now. The sensations were sharper . . . deeper, the pleasure magnified in a way she hadn’t even known was possible. There was a new, breathtaking possessiveness in the touch of his hands and mouth that said he
owned
her ass . . . and it was his duty to melt her freaking mind. Not that she was complaining. God, no. She was lucky enough to be in love with a man who had the skill and equipment to make her come so hard she forgot her own name. What was there to complain about? She was just going to hold on to him as tight as she could and be grateful as hell that he’d come into her life.
And she planned to do everything she could to make sure he felt the same. Not because she had to and was afraid of losing him. She didn’t know how it’d happened, or why she’d gotten so lucky, but Reese knew he’d meant it when he’d told her he loved her, and she had faith in him. So she wasn’t reciprocating for any other reasons than the fact that she wanted to . . . and because making him happy made
her
happy.
When she’d finally caught her breath after experiencing a lush, mind-shattering orgasm, Reese blinked the drops of water from her lashes . . . and smiled down at him. She lowered her leg and gripped his broad shoulders, telling him without words that she wanted him to stand. He watched her with a dark, avid look in his eyes as she motioned for him to get his back against the tiled wall. Then she leaned up on her tiptoes and stole a quick kiss from his damp mouth, loving the way she could taste herself on him. A low moan slipped past her lips, and he gave a soft, sexy laugh.