Chapter 27 Safe Harbor #2
“He set up Amy’s store as the central drop.
Gave them keys, and they came and went. I guess it started out as an occasional thing, but then traffic ramped up.
He got nervous, wanted out, but you don’t walk away from guys like that.
As you’d expect, they applied more pressure.
” Shane wasn’t going to divulge how Micky had robbed Amy—it was up to Amy to share that detail, and only if she wanted to.
“Jesuuuus! Gambling?”
“Right? It surprised me too.”
“He didn’t hurt Amy, though, so there’s that.”
Shane’s temper bubbled to the surface again.
“Not physically, maybe, but he did a lot of mental damage. He used her. He put her in danger. Jeopardized everything she’s built.
He took advantage of her generosity, her trusting nature.
On top of that, he helped put the grab on her at her store when she stopped by to pick up a box of paper cups.
He should have stopped that shit right then. ”
“The one guy had a gun. And the other guy had a KA-BAR.”
“Yeah.”
“So they probably threatened him.”
“That’s what Micky claims, but that’s no excuse,” Shane snarled. Not only could he not fathom using Amy in the first place, but he would have done everything in his power to keep them from taking her. He’d have taken a bullet for her without batting an eye. “What if that had been Neve?”
“Good point. It’s no excuse,” Reece agreed.
Jesus, I’m tired.
The door to the exam room opened, spilling light into the hallway. The two women appeared, Neve with her arm around Amy’s shoulders still covered by the blanket. On her feet, Amy wore white crew socks, probably given to her by Neve.
“Can I release our patient into your tender care, Deputy?” Neve teased.
Shane hopped to his feet. “Absolutely.” He strode to Amy and pulled her against him.
To hell with keeping their relationship under wraps.
She leaned into him, pressing her cheek to his chest. The blanket slipped off as she wound her arms around his waist. She let out an extended, shoulder-shuddering sigh, and his fatigue slid away.
He kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go home.”
Back in the safety of Shane’s apartment, Amy’s body was about to give out on her.
Weariness weighed down her bones, her head, every part of her body.
Her legs ached where rocks had jabbed her, her feet hurt from scrabbling across those same rocks, and her wrists throbbed and oozed from the zip tie.
But those were only the physical leftovers of her captivity.
Her emotions sparked like surges of electricity, zipping from paralyzing fear to a fog of disbelief before finally jolting to a rage so profound it shook her entire being.
And though Shane told her every single thing she felt was normal after the trauma she’d experienced, it didn’t blunt the sucking whirlpool those emotions caused inside her.
She wanted to crumple into a tiny ball like a roly-poly, yet she couldn’t for the overwhelming urge to scrub herself raw.
The filth crusting her skin seemed to be embedded below its surface, and she wondered if she’d ever feel clean again.
They stood just inside his front door, Shane holding her apart from him by her upper arms. “Amy, I am so, so sorry I ever doubted you.”
Shaking her head, she placed her fingers against his mouth. “Forgiven. I’m sorry too.”
“What do you have to be sorry about?”
She told him how she’d held out on him about Benny, explaining what Micky’s odd text had really meant.
“He said he wanted me to keep his friendship with Benny a secret, so I went along. What I didn’t understand at the time was they really weren’t buddies.
It was more of a … business association.
I thought I was doing the right thing. I should have told—”
Now he placed his fingers against her mouth. “Forgiven. Now tell me what I can do for you.”
He was so damn sweet she wanted to cry. She wasn’t used to the kind of attention he lavished on her, and she wanted to curl herself up inside him and stay there forever.
Before she could give in to it, though, she had to get something that was gnawing at her off her chest. “I need to go see Micky.”
Shane froze.
“Not tonight, but soon. I need closure.”
“Amy, have you ever set foot in the jail?” When she shook her head, he went on. “It’s not a pleasant place. I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“I have to go through with it,” she insisted. Shane was trying to protect her, and she loved him for it, but she needed this for reasons she didn’t fully comprehend.
“All right.” The reluctance in his eyes was palpable, yet he was still willing to do this. For her. And her heart overflowed with the love she felt for him.
She looked up at him, hoping he could see that love and the gratitude reflected in her eyes. “Thank you.”
He leaned in and laid a soft kiss on her forehead.
“I want to take a shower,” she told him. He nodded. “This time, though, I do want your help scrubbing my back.”
“Whatever you need, I’m there for it.” He smiled down with a tenderness that made her chest ache.
In the bathroom, he undressed her slowly as though she were a delicate flower that might crush under his touch.
He stripped down and got under the spray with her, taking his time to wash her hair, her entire body.
His movements were unhurried, gentle over her wounds.
There was nothing sexual or erotic about them, even when he soaped her breasts or her ass or between her legs.
Just the simple act of a loving man taking care of her basic needs, and she was in a free fall of love for him.
When they stepped out, he dried her off and dropped his sheriff’s T-shirt over her head. She pulled the fabric to her nose and inhaled.
“Are you smelling my shirt?” His lips quirked with a smile. His handsome face was dusted with days of golden stubble. He took her breath away.
Fatigue had lowered her guard, like being tipsy, and she told him the truth. “Yes. It smells so good. It smells like you,” she replied, her voice thick with sleep. It smells like home.
Wearing only flannel PJ pants, he opened his arms wide. “Well, your source is right here. Feel free to smell me all you want.”
A giggle she didn’t know she had inside her escaped, and with it, some of her fatigue left too.
He fed her warm milk and ibuprofen, held her hair back while she brushed her teeth, and tucked her into bed before climbing in beside her. He pulled her against him, and she melted into his strong arms as he stroked her hair.
Safe. Cherished. Utterly and completely in love.
“I love you,” she murmured against his chiseled chest.
“And I’ve always loved you.”
They fell asleep wrapped up in each other.
The sun had cleared the mountain peaks and flooded Shane’s apartment with light when Amy finally awoke.
She was still cocooned in his warm embrace, but now his body was curled protectively around hers.
Miraculously, she had made it through the night without dreaming, without waking.
That had everything to do with the man holding her.
How had she lived in Fall River this entire time and never known this sweet, selfless side to Deputy Shane?
She picked up his rough hand, kissed it, and pressed it to her chest. He stirred behind her, tightening his hold and humming in contentment.
He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“So am I.”
Her mind fired to life. Memories of last night came crashing over her like a rogue wave breaking on shore. She rode out the storm, lying here safe and sheltered. A question wormed its way to the choppy surface and niggled at her.
“Shane, I need to ask you something.”
“Mm-hmm?”
“Would you have come after me if I had been caught up in … I don’t even know the right terminology.”
“Of course I would. I was going nuts not knowing if you were all right.” Propping his weight on an elbow, he rolled her onto her back and fastened his eyes on hers. “Amy, I should have gone with my gut instead of worrying about rules. I should never have misjudged you. I—”
“You did what you had to do. Shane, you said you are who you are, and you don’t want to change that.
I don’t want you to change either. You had your doubts about me, and I admit it stung, but I get it.
You tried not to let your heart drown out what your training was telling you.
But you know what I still can’t get over? ”
He shook his head, and sprigs of his hair bobbed.
Warmth flooded her bones. “You came for me anyway. In spite of your conflicted emotions, in spite of your doubts. That had to be incredibly difficult.”
“It was a simple decision, actually.”
“So you put yourself in danger for someone who might have been breaking the law?”
“No, I did it for you. I will always come for you, Amy. You should know that by now.”
She fought to contain a fangirl sigh. Oh Gaia, this man! She cleared her brain. “What would you have done if you discovered I was, in fact, part of their operation?”
He picked up her hand and gently kissed each fingertip. “I’d have visited you in jail. It wouldn’t have been my first choice for a date, but yeah, I’d have been there. I would have also brought you coffee. Pastries. Maybe a cake with a file in it.”
A laugh burst from her. When she recovered herself, she said, “That’s so sweet.”
“Cake is pretty sweet.”
“I meant you’re sweet, and you know it.”
He kissed her, a drawn-out, soulful affair. When he drew back, he smoothed the hair from her face. “Do you still think I’m sweet if I’m damn glad I don’t have to do that, though?”
“Yes, I do.” She stared into those warm, nut-brown eyes that seemed to be lit with amusement. “I don’t think I thanked you for coming to rescue me. I’m sorry I passed out on you after you pulled me up.”
“You didn’t pass out. You just sort of folded, so I did what any boyfriend would do. I held you up.”
Boyfriend. Oh, she liked the sound of that. He was putting a stamp on their relationship, staking his claim, and she liked that too.
He grinned. “Do you remember what you said to me?”
“I don’t remember saying anything. I couldn’t even breathe.”
“You said, and I quote, ‘Is that a rifle in your hand, or are you happy to see me?’”
“I did not!” Laughing, she rolled back onto her side.
“I swear, you did. Deputy’s honor.”
“No lie, it was kind of hot.” She wiggled her ass against him shamelessly.
He let out a groan, then laid his mouth against the shell of her ear. “What was kind of hot?”
His sexy rumble made her suddenly shy, and she was glad to be facing away from him, yet close at the same time. “The whole knight in shining armor thing.”
“I’m no knight.” He lay back down with a grunt. “You thought it was hot, though, huh?”
“Hot. As. Fuck.”
He busted out a laugh, his breath puffing against her hair. “Councilwoman Caufield, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard you use that kind of language.”
“Hey, when it calls for it, I use it. And this whole knight situation calls for it.”
“Is that right?” His hand snaked under the T-shirt and traveled to her breast, where it paused to fondle. His other hand inched between her legs and cupped her. “I forgot you’re not wearing panties.”
“You did?”
“No, of course not.” He kissed her neck, her shoulder, her ear, his whiskers a delicious scrape against her skin. His long, tapered fingers began doing magical things that turned her body into a landscape of goose bumps and made her buck against him.
She was lost in a world of bliss when he breathed against the spot right below her ear. “Wanna show me how hot you thought it was?”
Sitting up, she pulled the T-shirt from her body and reclined on her side, facing him.
His eyes had widened in surprise the instant she’d bared herself, and they were still wide when she slid her hand below the waistband of his pants and took his hard length in hand.
“I’d love to,” she purred, “but first you need to get naked.”
In less time than it took to blink her eyes once, his pants were sailing through the air, and his mouth was crashing down on hers.