Chapter 31
McCrae
My phone buzzed, jolting me out of sleep. I noted it was barely seven o’clock in the morning. Normally, I was up and going for a run at this time of day, but I’d read Azalea stories for longer than usual, and then I’d held her while she’d fallen asleep.
“Hello?” I asked, answering Damon’s call.
“So I’m just pulling into the station, and I got a call that said the FBI people will be here about nine a.m. Do you guys want to come to the station?”
I stood and tried to clear my head. “Of course. That’s great.”
“Maybe they have more news, or maybe they can help us figure out what we really need to do to have some protection around here.”
I pulled on a T-shirt. “Okay, I’ll see you at nine.”
We hung up, and then I smelled it: breakfast and coffee.
Excitement pulsed through me, and I walked out of the bedroom and padded down the hallway.
In the kitchen, I found the most amazing sight; this woman in her pajamas, making me eggs. She already had place settings out for us.
“And you made pancakes?” I asked in disbelief.
She turned to me and beamed. “It’s Hazel’s recipe, and you’re going to love it.”
I moved behind her and wrapped my arms around her, leaning in and gently nuzzling her neck. “Have I told you how good you feel in my arms?”
She let out a light laugh and then leaned back into me, turning her head gently. “No.”
I kissed her. The warm scent of pancakes surrounded us. “Well, you do.”
She turned in my arms and hugged me. “You feel good in my arms, too.”
So many emotions pulsed through me. I gently kissed her again, then stared into her green eyes. “You’re beautiful.”
A smile played at her lips. “So are you. I mean, in a handsome kind of way.”
I relished holding this woman. I relished the fact she really wasn’t taken and I was allowed to have all of these feelings for her.
She pulled back, grinning. “Okay, go ahead and sit down. We’re almost ready.”
I did as I was told and put my napkin on my lap. She sat too.
I said a short prayer over the food, and we started to eat. I went for the bacon first. Then the pancakes.
She loaded up her plate too.
I put syrup on the whole plate and took a huge bite.
“So you have a complicated system of how you eat,” she teased.
I grunted and then took a another big bite of the pancakes. I paused, noting that she was watching for my reaction. “These are good.”
She laughed. “Told ya.” She took a bite herself.
We ate and smiled at each other. I could see myself doing this with her the rest of my life.
“What?”
“Nothing.” There was no way I was going to freak her out about my thoughts of possibly being with her forever.
She was staring out at the lake. “It’s so nice here. I like how we’re just right on the water, and you can go to the dock and I can mess up your rowing.”
I laughed, and then I reached over and took her hand.
She looked down at her hands and then at me. “Is it strange that this feels so right?”
I picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s sort of strange, but then it’s not strange at all.”
She smiled. "True."
I leaned in and softly kissed her.
Every part of me felt like this was so right between us.
She put her arms around me and pulled me closer.
I pulled back. “So, I need to tell you, Damon called a little bit ago. The FBI people will be here at nine.”
She looked pensive, but then nodded. “Okay.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I guess I’m nervous about what they’re going to say. I mean, if they found a bunch of people going into Arizona, it just makes me curious how deep this operation goes.”
I liked the way her journalistic mind was always thinking. “Hopefully they’ll have some answers for us, and hopefully we’ll be able to figure out what kind of protection you really need.”
Her eyes hovered over mine. “I hate asking you to protect me. Maybe I should go with the FBI into protection, so you and your family aren’t put in harms way.”
I was shocked by this. “What? No.” I stood, keeping her hand in mine. “No way.”
She blinked rapidly and stood. “I’m serious. I can’t keep putting all of you in harm’s way. That’s not fair to any of you.”
I squeezed her hand. “Hey, I found you, remember?”
Tears filled her eyes. She let out a light laugh. “I can’t believe I told you that you had to take me because you found me.”
I laughed, too and pulled her in, not wanting her to leave me. “I want to protect you. I want to be here for you.” I pulled back and searched her face. “Maybe because I have some selfish motives now too.”
She looked confused. “What do you mean?”
My heart raced. “This might sound crazy, but would you leave your life in Texas?”
She looked surprised. “What?”
I took both of her hands into mine. “I have a lot of feelings about you, but maybe that’s too soon and I shouldn’t have even said anything and we’re in the middle of this and never—”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I would leave my life in Texas in a heartbeat.”
“Really?”
Tears misted into her eyes. “Dang it, McCrae. It seems like every time I’m around you, I cry. I mean, I haven’t even known you a week, and I’ve spent most of it crying.” She sniffed. “But my brother … would there happen to be space at the police force for my brother?”
I laughed. “I actually was thinking about that yesterday.”
“No, you weren’t.”
I laughed. “Well, I was thinking about how you don’t have a boyfriend or husband and how I want to date you and … then I got to thinking about what was holding you to Texas.”
“My brother.”
“Wow.” She took a rag and wiped the counter. “Are you really asking me to move to Refuge Falls? I mean, I haven’t known you very long, and I haven’t remembered who I was for … well, I guess a little more than a day now.”
I laughed and and turned, pulling her into my arms. “I guess I am asking you that.” Part of me wanted to just blurt out and say I was asking her to marry me, but maybe that was way too quick, right?
“What were you just thinking about just now?” she asked quickly.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Liar.” She pointed at my face.
I grabbed her finger and then leaned in and kissed her. “What if I’m thinking that I want to ask you another question, because I’m not really the kind of guy to ask a girl to move to my hometown and not mean it?”
She froze.
Now, I really had scared her.
I took a step back and kissed her hand. “Listen, I’m not asking that right now, and I need to go row around the lake. So do you want to come, or do you want to stay here? I’d prefer you come.”
She jolted out of her reverie then. “Let me change into shorts and a T-shirt, and I’ll come with you.” She rushed down the hallway.
My heart raced, and I couldn’t believe that actally was really serious about asking this woman to marry me.