Chapter 36 Harper
HARPER
When the alarm blared and the lights flashed red, I was absolutely certain the prison had installed some kind of sensor that detected when nurses kissed inmates.
I jumped back from Knox so fast, I nearly tripped over my own feet. My heart lodged somewhere between my throat and the ceiling.
Oh God.
A voice bellowed through the speakers, “Lockdown initiated. All personnel, secure your areas. Lockdown initiated.”
I ran to the doorway, trying to make sense of the chaos. Red lights pulsed against the walls. The alarm shrieked in a rhythm that matched my heartbeat. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear shouting. Boots pounding against concrete.
What the hell is happening?
My training kicked in, cycling through possibilities. Riot. Escaped prisoner. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.
Heavy footsteps thundered toward us, and then Officer Dominguez appeared in the doorway, out of breath and already reaching for his belt.
“Nurse.” He didn’t look at me. His eyes went straight to Knox. “We’ve got a situation in C-block. I need to secure the inmate.”
“What kind of situation?”
“The kind where I don’t have time to explain.” He unclipped a waist chain from his belt, the metal links clinking together as he crossed the room in three strides. “Inmate, hands at your sides.”
Knox’s eyes found mine. And stayed.
Dominguez worked fast, wrapping the chain around Knox’s waist and cinching it against his prison oranges.
He clicked the lock at the small of Knox’s back, then secured one cuff on his left wrist, attaching it to the chain at Knox’s left hip.
Then the right. The restraints hung with enough slack that Knox could move his hands, lift them maybe as high as his chest, but no further than that.
Dominguez gave the chain a sharp tug to test it, and the sound snapped through the room like a warning I couldn’t name.
“He’s secure.” Dominguez was already backing toward the door. “Stay put. Don’t open this door for anyone until you hear the all clear.”
And then he was gone. His footsteps faded down the corridor, swallowed by the wail of the alarm.
The door clicked shut behind him.
And we were alone.
Truly, completely alone.
No correctional officer stationed outside the door. No other medical staff in the infirmary, thanks to the doctor running late. Just me and Knox, chained and cuffed, with nothing but an alarm and my rapidly dissolving self-control between us.
Knox tested the cuffs once. The chain pulled taut against his waist, the metal links clinking together before settling.
“Well”—his voice was low, almost amused—“this is new.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“You’re the one who kissed me, Princess.” A slow smirk curved across his mouth.
“I needed to shut you up.”
“It was a very effective method.” He tilted his head, studying me in that way he did. Like I was a puzzle he was determined to solve, and then he ruined all the traces of banter by adding, “But I’m not letting this go.”
My stomach dropped. “You can’t do anything about Silas. I’m handling it myself.”
The shift in him was immediate. The smirk vanished. His entire body tensed.
“So, it is him.”
“Knox.”
“He’s the one who hurt you. And now he’s walking these halls like he belongs here. Like he has any right to be anywhere near you.”
“If he even suspects there’s something between us …” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t voice the fear that had been coiling tighter in my chest since the moment I’d seen Silas walk through those prison gates.
“He’ll hurt you,” Knox finished.
Well, yes. But also, “He’ll hurt you. He’ll make sure you never see the outside of these walls again.
You don’t understand. Silas is like a dog with a bone.
The only way to stop him is through the courts.
If you do something to him, he’ll show up to every parole hearing for the rest of your sentence just to make sure you stay locked up. ”
Knox’s jaw tightened. I watched his fingers stretch slowly, like he was preparing for a fight that wasn’t here yet. His patience thinning in real time.
“You’re asking me to do nothing.”
“I’m asking you to be smart.”
“He put his hands on you.” The words came out sharp. “And you want me to walk past him every day like I don’t know that. Like I don’t see him looking at you. Like I don’t know exactly what he’s thinking when he does.”
“Yes.” I stepped closer. Close enough to see the war happening behind his eyes. “That’s exactly what I’m asking.”
“Harper.”
“Knox.” I reached for him without thinking. My hand found his forearm, just above where the cuff bit into his wrist. His skin was warm. The muscles beneath were rigid as steel. “Listen to me. Please.”
He didn’t pull away. But he didn’t soften either.
“Every time we’ve been alone,” I said quietly, “there’s been the risk that any second, someone could walk in. A guard. Another nurse. An inmate needing stitches. I’ve never had more than stolen seconds with you, and even those came with a countdown clock.”
His chest rose and fell. Once. Twice.
“But right now? This might be the only time we get. The only time for years, Knox.” Maybe ever, if he did something stupid. “So, please, can you give me this? Can you just … be here with me? Not thinking about Silas. Not planning violence. Just … this. Just us.”
I mean, my God, I refused to let Silas steal this from me too. This precious time with Knox.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then something shifted. The stillness cracked. His shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch, and he let out a breath that sounded like it had been locked in his chest for fourteen years.
The cuffs clinked as he reached for me, his range limited but his intention clear.
I moved into the space his bound arms allowed, and he pulled me against him in a hug. His cuffed hands came to rest at my waist, the cold metal pressing against my hip through my scrubs, while my cheek pressed into his chest.
And my body did something it hadn’t done in years. It relaxed. Not the forced relaxation of deep breathing exercises or the temporary calm of a glass of wine. True relaxation. The kind where your muscles remember they don’t always have to be braced for impact.
“How long do we have?” I whispered.
“Depends on what triggered the lockdown. Could be five minutes. Could be an hour.” He paused. “But the alarm will sound different when they’re about to lift it. Three short bursts instead of the continuous wail. We’ll have warning.”
I pulled my cheek away so I could look up at him. “You’re sure?”
“I’ve been through enough lockdowns to know the drill.” His eyes held mine. “We’ll hear them coming, Harper. I promise.”
Something in my chest loosened. Not completely. But enough.
And then a different feeling rushed in to fill the space. Something reckless. Something that felt a lot like want.
Of all people to get trapped in a lockdown with, Knox Blackwood was the one I’d choose. Protective. Devastating. And lips that had felt like a revelation against my own.
If it weren’t for that alarm, I might not have stopped that kiss. I might have kept going. Might have touched him. Let him touch me.
All of this was insane.
So, why did it feel like the sanest thing I’d done in years?
“You’re shivering,” he said softly.
I hadn’t even noticed. But now that he mentioned it, I could feel the tremor running through my limbs. Not from cold. Not from fear.
From him. From wanting something I had no business wanting.
God, he was beautiful. It almost wasn’t fair. The way the red alarm’s light played across his tanned skin, the tattoos that climbed his neck and disappeared into his hairline. He looked dangerous and devastating and like everything I’d ever been warned against wanting.
And I wanted him anyway.
That was the terrifying part. The part that kept me up at night, tangled in sheets that smelled nothing like him.
Knox was willing to risk everything to protect me.
His parole. His freedom. His chance to reunite with his daughter.
He would throw it all away just to make Silas pay for what he’d done to me.
And that kind of devotion, that reckless, all-consuming protectiveness, was making me fall for him in ways I couldn’t afford.
Because here’s the thing about falling for someone in prison: the higher you climb, the harder you crash.
Every moment I spent with Knox, every stolen touch and whispered conversation, was building toward something.
Something real. Something that could actually exist outside these walls if we were just careful enough, patient enough, smart enough to wait.
But if Knox attacked Silas, that future vanished. Poof. Gone. Nothing but a fantasy I’d tortured myself with for however many years he’d be stuck in here.
And I wasn’t sure I could survive that loss.
Maybe if we shared more than just a kiss, maybe he’d see what we had to lose too? Maybe it would give him the restraint he needed to make it just two more months.
Not that I was using passion as a weapon. More like I wanted this. And I hoped it would also serve an important secondary purpose.
His cuffed hand slid higher, the chain dragging across my lower back. One hand traced his knuckles down the curve of my jaw while the other settled at the base of my spine, light and questioning, giving me every chance to pull away.
I didn’t.
The alarm continued to wail. Somewhere beyond these walls, chaos was unfolding. Guards were running, inmates were being secured, protocols were being followed.
But in here, time had stopped.
It was just me and Knox. Alone. Finally, impossibly alone.
I knew what I should do. Push him away. Remind him of the rules, the regulations, the thousand ways this could destroy us both. I was a strong, independent woman who had clawed her way out of one abusive relationship and built a new life from the wreckage.
I was not the kind of woman who melted just because a man looked at her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.
Except, apparently, I was.
Because when Knox cupped my chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting my face up toward his, the chain of his cuffs cool against my throat, I didn’t pull away.
When he lowered his head, bringing his lips closer to mine with agonizing slowness, I didn’t step back.
And when he paused, hovering a breath away, giving me one last chance to make the responsible choice …
I closed the distance myself.