Chapter 30
30
Aaron sighed heavily, not wanting to have this conversation with Belinda but knowing it was necessary. “Right now, we don’t know, sweetheart.”
“I’m no one. I’m just a local photographer. That’s it.”
Her gaze turned to him, and he wanted nothing more than to wrap her up and put her in his bed until she was healed. But blowing out a breath, he said, “We think it might have something to do with your photography.”
Her eyes bugged, and she barked out a snort. “Get real, Aaron. It’s not like I go around and take pictures of bank robbers, thieves, and drug runners?—”
“We’re not saying that you took someone engaged in a criminal act on purpose,” Sam interjected. “It’s just that you might have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She shook her head. “I would have noticed something in the background. Other than the wedding the other day, my most recent shots have been headshots for a new real estate office, and they were all taken inside their office, standing in front of their logo on the wall. Then there was a church group, and those pictures were taken in their church sanctuary. Before that, I had a family reunion down at the beach.”
“Maybe there was something in the background of those shots,” Brad said. “We have your camera, but Bess said you had a laptop and that it was missing from your apartment.”
She gasped. “They stole my laptop?” The idea of having to spend money replacing her laptop hit her, and she dropped her chin to her chest. “That sucks,” she whispered.
Aaron shot a frustrated glare at Brad and stepped closer to Belinda. “The detectives went over the whole building with Bess, and that was the only thing it seems they took. We think they were looking for your camera, so they searched the whole apartment.”
“But my pictures are saved to the cloud, so taking my laptop doesn’t stop me from having access to my photographs.”
“They wouldn’t know that.” He wrapped his arms around her, making sure to be careful of her shoulder. “We’re going to go through the pictures you’ve taken—” He felt her stiffen. “Sweetheart, you’ve got to realize that it could be evidence. It’s all we’ve got right now.”
She relaxed into him, and he tightened his grip. “I won’t be going through them since I’m not on this case. Sam and I are still working on the murder case, and because I’m personally involved with the victim in this case, Hunter and Brad will be going through the pictures along with a couple of other detectives.”
She remained still for a moment, seeming focused on the plate of food that she’d barely eaten. She nodded and said, “Of course. Absolutely. You’re right.” A rueful snort slipped out. “I have no secrets with my pictures. How far back will you need to go?”
“We’ll start with the most recent and just keep going back for a few months to see if anything pops up,” Brad said. “We may notice something that wasn’t evident when you took the picture.”
She nodded again and then leaned forward to rub her head. “I can’t go back to my apartment now, can I?”
“No, you’ll stay here with me. I’m only about ten minutes away from the bakery, so Bess will be able to check on you. Hayley is still going to help out, and?—”
“Ivy will come by as soon as she gets off work,” Andy said.
“She doesn’t need to?—”
Andy smiled. “She really wants to get to know you better.”
“Sally and I will be here, too,” Arthur said.
She glanced back at Aaron, finally nodding, trying but failing to smile. “Whatever you think is best. Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to lie back down.”
Without hesitation, he helped her off the stool and guided her back to the bedroom. Tucking her into bed, he bent and kissed her forehead. “You have no idea how sorry I am that this happened to you. But you also have no fucking idea how happy I am that you’re letting me take care of you. Having you here with me means everything.”
She managed a wan smile, and he retrieved another pain pill from the bathroom since she could take another one. She closed her eyes again, and this time, he kissed her lips, then quietly backed out of the room.
Once more in the living room, he sighed heavily and shook his head. “Okay, Hayley, you and Dad are on duty starting tomorrow morning. Sally can come whenever it works for her. Bess, you know you’re welcome here, but I know you want to stay at your place, and you can come back over tomorrow. A deputy will be driving by while I’m at work.”
“Bess will be watched,” Brad stated with emphasis.
With that, everyone was put in motion. Bess looked over at Brad and, with a grimace on her face, walked out with him. Aaron knew Brad would drop her off at her apartment and then be at the station to work with Hunter in the morning. Andy and Ivy walked out together after hugging Aaron. Sam nodded toward Aaron and said, “We’ll get whoever this is,” then he and Hayley left his place.
Aaron walked over to his dad, but there was no handshake between them. His dad pulled him in for a warm hug, and Aaron allowed himself a moment to feel that surety both in his life and what he needed to do. Finally, with claps on the back, they released each other, and with a chin dip, his dad headed outside.
He wandered to the counter and grabbed one of the sandwiches Bess had prepared and brought for them. He leaned against the counter, not bothering to sit, savoring the simplistic flavors. He filled a cup with water from the tap, too exhausted to reach into the refrigerator for anything else. Drinking the cool water mirrored his attempts to cleanse the heaviness he felt deep inside.
Now that everyone was gone, he cast his gaze around. His home was clean before everyone came, but Bess had wiped the counters nonetheless, probably desperate to have something to do. Looking around his space, he stood for a moment and thought of the woman sleeping in his bed. He’d wanted her here for a long time, but not like this. He’d wanted her to come of her own volition, sure about her feelings for him and being just as sure about his feelings.
But he understood the harsh truth that life doesn’t always hand us what we want or need. And sometimes, all we can do is move forward, be grateful for what we have, and hope for better days to come.
He pushed off the counter and double-checked his apartment security. He walked through the bedroom, pausing to stare down at her. A smile crossed his face at the sight of her slumbering in his bed. Turning, he silently slipped into the bathroom and closed the door before turning on the water in the shower. He stripped, climbed into the shower, and let the water sluice over his body. The shower curtain whipped inward as though the door had opened, and he pulled it back to see Belinda standing there, looking adorably rumpled from sleep.
“Hey, sweetheart. You need something? I can step out if you need the toilet.”
“No, I’m fine. When I woke up, it was quiet in the living room, and I heard the water on. I just wanted to see you.”
He couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. “Well, with me in the shower, you’re about to see all of me if you’re not careful.”
She wiggled her eyebrows, and he chuckled, still standing behind the shower curtain. “As much as I like you here, Belinda, you need to rest. I’ll get finished, then I was going to grab a pillow and blanket and sleep on the sofa.”
Her body jerked at his words, and her mouth turned down in a frown. “Your bed is huge. Why won’t you sleep with me?”
“Because I don’t want to hurt you. I’m afraid I might roll over and bump your shoulder.”
“You wouldn’t do that. Especially since I’m sleeping on the side of the bed where my shoulder wouldn’t be next to you.”
They were silent for a long moment, their eyes doing all the talking, both saying nothing and saying everything.
“What are you really afraid of, Aaron?”
“I don’t want to fuck this up, Belinda. I don’t want to move too fast. I don’t want to do anything that makes you doubt me. And sleeping with someone, sharing a bed, is an intimacy, even if nothing else happens but sleep.”
A heavy sigh left her lips, but her eyes remained pinned on his face. “A lot has happened since we first slept together, Aaron. A lot of water under the bridge. Yes, some doubt, and hurt, and even anger. But I think we’re past that now.”
The air left his lungs in a long, slow hiss, and he nodded his head slowly. “It’s good to hear you say that.” Shaking his head, he amended, “It’s actually great to hear you say that.”
She remained in the room, her gaze drifting over his shoulder.
“So tell me what do you want, sweetheart?”
She nibbled on the lip that he wished he was sucking on. Then she raised her eyes to his and said, “I’d really like a shower. I know I can’t shower by myself right now, so I’ll need your help. But that’s not the only reason. I’d just really like a shower with you. Like you said about sleeping, a shared shower is intimacy, even if all you’re doing is getting clean.”
“You want that, you got it.” He dropped his gaze to her shoulder, and his brow furrowed. Glancing back at his bathtub-shower combo, he said, “It’s a good thing I have the extra handheld showerhead. I think we can make this work.”
As she slipped off her pants, he rinsed off his body wash and shampoo. Then he pulled back the shower curtain and helped her remove the hoodie. “Bess grabbed a couple of things from her place for you to wear. You’ll be a lot more comfortable once you shower and get into clean clothes.”
Once she was naked, he held her tightly and helped her step into the bathtub while letting the water hit his back to keep her out of the shower spray. Her body was beautiful, and there was no way he couldn’t notice her. He willed his cock to behave, but it reacted nonetheless. Her gaze ran over him, and she sighed as her eyes lifted to his face.
He reached over and ran his thumb over her cheek. “I know, babe. We both want what we can’t have right now, but it’s okay. There’ll be time for that kind of intimacy when you’re healed.”
She smiled up at him, and unable to resist, he leaned forward, touching his mouth to hers. “Okay, let’s get you feeling better.”
Bess had also brought toiletries for Belinda and had placed them in the bathroom. He gently rubbed the shower gel onto a washcloth, and the light tropical scent filled the room. “Now I know why you always smell so good,” he said as he gently washed every inch.
She groaned, and his cock twitched again. Grabbing the handheld showerhead, he gently rinsed her off, making sure to keep the water from her shoulder bandage. He had her turn so he could do her back, again keeping away from her shoulder injury.
“Is there any way we can do my hair?”
Staring at the back of her head and where her bandage was over the exit wound, he was dubious. “Sweetheart, I’m not sure how we can do this.”
“That’s okay. I just wondered.”
He heard the disappointment in her tone and hated that he couldn’t give her something so simple. Looking at the bathtub, he sucked in his lips, working the problem. “Believe it or not, I think I have a solution.”
She turned around carefully, and the joyful expression on her face was worth everything to him. As he finished rinsing her off, he looked up to see her eyes on his semi-erect cock.
“Don’t pay any attention to him.” He chuckled. “First of all, he has a mind of his own. And second of all, biology is going to have him saluting when he’s standing next to a beautiful, naked girl who I care for.”
Relief speared through him when she burst out laughing. “I just feel bad that there’s nothing we can do right now.” She held his gaze and continued. “Honestly, I would give you a blow job if I thought I had the energy to finish it out!”
He laughed and shook his head. “There’s plenty of time for all of that when you’re healed.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he snapped his lips shut. Assuming she’d be giving him a blow job was presumptuous as fuck. “That’s not what I meant,” he rushed. “I didn’t mean to assume or imply?—”
Her fingers landed on his lips, and he stared at her smiling face.
“It’s okay, Aaron.” She leaned closer and whispered, “I’m afraid to lift on my toes, but if you lean down, I’ll show you how okay it is.”
He held her securely as he bent, and his heart leaped in his chest when she kissed him gently. Separating, he stood straighter and kissed her forehead. “Thank you, Belinda.”
“For what? A simple kiss?”
“Yes. And for letting me take care of you.”
Her response was to smile as she patted his arm.
Helping her out of the tub, he followed her and then handed her a thick towel. They dried off, and he slipped on his boxers and a T-shirt before walking back into the bedroom and digging around in the suitcase Bess had brought. Finding panties and a large T-shirt with a cat reading a book on the front, he started to walk to the bathroom when he stopped, changing directions. He tossed the shirt back into the suitcase and grabbed one of his clean Navy T-shirts before returning to the bathroom.
Holding up the shirt, he said, “If you have no objections, I’d love to see you sleeping in my shirt.” She nodded, smiling, and he helped slide the panties up her legs and her arms through the T-shirt before re-adjusting the sling.
“Stay here, and I’ll be right back.” He walked into his kitchen, snagged one of the chairs from the table, and then returned to the bathroom, where he placed it next to the tub. “I’ll have you sit, wrap a towel around your shoulders, and you can lean your head back. With the handheld showerhead, I can wash your hair. I can’t promise it’ll be perfect, but it’ll be clean.”
Once again, the look on her face filled him with joy. As tired as she was after the shower, she followed his directions and leaned her head back. He wet her hair, ran the shampoo through it, and then rinsed. “Bess brought over some conditioner. It says to leave it on for several minutes?—”
“Don’t worry about that. Just squirt a little, rub it through the strands, and then you can rinse it out right away.”
He could tell she was tiring and made quick work of conditioning and rinsing her hair. Then with the towel around her shoulders, he lifted it to her head and gently patted her hair.
“Bess included a hairdryer, but other than pointing it toward your head, I can’t do anything fancy with it.”
She laughed. “That’ll do just fine.”
Moving the chair away from the bathtub, he placed it in front of the sink, and she resettled. He plugged in the hairdryer, turned it on, and let the air whip her hair all around. Once he was satisfied it was dry enough for bedtime, she took a big comb and slid it through the slightly tangled tresses.
She stood, holding the sink counter, and turned to face him. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“What’s perfect is you, Belinda.”
She stepped closer, placing her right hand on his arm to steady herself. “What a coincidence… I think you’re perfect, too.”
“I hate to disappoint you, but I’m far from perfect.”
She held his gaze for a long moment and then said, “You don’t have to be a perfect person. You’re just perfect for me.”
At that moment, he wasn’t sure there was enough oxygen in the room to fill his lungs, much less keep his thoughts steadier than his vibrating body. He pulled her close to him, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and kissing the top of her head. Allowing him to take care of her, she’d given him the greatest gift of all—her trust that he would handle all of her with care—something he silently vowed to always do.
He walked her back into the bedroom, flipping off all the lights except the one on his side of the bed. Making sure she was tucked in carefully, he rounded the bed and slid into his side. He kept a separation between them, not wanting to make any assumptions.
“Please tell me you’re not going to sleep over there for the entire night?” she whispered into the dark.
“I’ll sleep wherever you want me.”
“Then slide over here, Aaron.”
He did exactly that. He rolled over to the middle and then turned to face her as she lay on her back. He leaned over and kissed her lips. “Sleep tight.”
With the sliver of light coming from the bathroom night-light Bess had so thoughtfully provided, he could see her lips curve.
“You, too.”
Just as he thought she was about to fall asleep, she whispered, “I’m not happy for the reason I’m here, but I’m happy to be here now.”
He waited until her breathing evened and her body grew heavy with sleep. Finally, with the scent of her in his bedroom and her warm body next to his, he joined her in slumber.