Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“Do you mind if I turn on the radio?” Esme’s voice was muted. After their talk in the den, some of her vibrancy had vanished, and frankly, Tyler hated that shit.
He wanted flippant Esme back.
Smiling and charming and seducing and over-the-top Esme.
“Go ahead.” He sounded like a freaking bear. His hold tightened on the steering wheel. Tyler cleared his throat and tried again. “Turn on anything you want.” They were almost to the main part of town but if she wanted music, she could blast it as loudly as she wanted.
Hours had passed before Esme had come down the stairs again. She’d looked just as beautiful as ever, but the unease in his gut warned Tyler that maybe she’d been crying. Hell, there was no maybe about it.
She’d cried alone, upstairs. As if she hadn’t wanted him to see her tears.
Esme is the woman I carried out of that hellhole in Paris? He’d thought of her too many times over the years. The woman who’d seemed so fragile in his arms. She’d been trapped beneath the rubble, and he’d had to heave half of a damn wall off her body. Her eyes hadn’t opened. She’d been limp as he carried her out. He’d worried so much about a spinal injury but leaving her hadn’t been a possibility. The whole place had shuddered around them. He’d had to pick her up and rush through the wreckage.
He’d barely gotten out and then…
I’ll never forget the sound of that building collapsing completely. The dust and ash had choked him. He’d stumbled forward with her cradled in his arms. EMTs had pulled her from him. Tucked her into the back of the bright ambulance. The siren had wailed but he’d barely heard it. And he hadn’t seen her again.
Rock music filled the car. Not soft rock. Hard rock. Of course, that somehow seemed perfectly Esme.
“Cute town.” Her head had turned as she gazed out at the main hub that was Asylum, Alabama. “Ohmygosh. Look at the gazebo in the middle of that park. I bet they put Christmas lights all around it for the holidays.” She sucked in a breath. “I bet they have a whole tree lighting ceremony here! That’s what they do in small towns, right?” She bounced. Some of her light was coming back, and the tightness in his chest seemed to ease even as Esme excitedly continued, “They probably have a whole event that everyone comes to attend with carols and hot chocolate and?—”
“Esme.” A smile tugged at his mouth. “We’re at the bottom of Alabama. Do you really think it gets cold enough down here for hot chocolate, ever?”
She rolled one shoulder. “I can drink it and still sweat.” Her head craned as she took in the sights. “Those buildings are adorable. Is that a tea shop?”
It was .
“An art gallery?”
“Try not to get sticky fingers.”
She sniffed. “You take one Rembrandt…”
He slammed on the brakes. “ What?”
“And suddenly someone thinks you just steal everything you see. Relax, handsome. I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Had she really stolen a Rembrandt? But Tyler bit back the question as he drove forward. Tyler was curious about what Esme’s best behavior entailed. “We’re going to the hardware store. Our cover is that we’re updating the house, so we need to pick up some paint and a few supplies. Then we’ll hit the grocery store. We’re only paying in cash. Keep to our story line. Don’t go getting overly chatty with anyone.”
“Yes, sir.”
They’d check in at the sheriff’s station soon enough so that Clay could help spread word that Tyler was an old Marine buddy. But first, Tyler thought he and Esme should be spotted doing “normal” things in the area. He parked in front of the hardware store. She started to hop out immediately. “Nope.” He leaned over her and opened the glove box. “A few things to handle first.” He slapped a cap on her head.
“I’m a football fan now?”
“Hardcore.” He studied her critically.
“I can cut my hair. Change the color. Probably should have done that before we came to town, though.” Esme nibbled on her delectable lower lip.
“You’re perfect as you are.” She’d braided her hair. Loose tendrils tickled her cheeks. Golden hoop earrings curled from her lobes. Had Gray packed the earrings for her? If so, his buddy had been thorough. Esme was dressed casually in jeans and a white t-shirt. Her voice held zero accent, and when she grinned at him the way she was currently doing…
My dick could not salute her more. Dammit.
“You just need one more thing.” Tyler slammed the glove box closed and dug into his pocket. A few seconds later, he had the ring in his hand. A simple gold band. Actually, two of them. One for him. One for her. He reached for her fingers.
“It’s so sudden,” she demurred.
“Cute, Esme.” He slid the ring into place.
Before he could put his on, she took it from him. She pushed it onto his left ring finger.
For some reason, his chest got a little tight.
“Guess we’re official now?” Her smile flashed at him.
Killer smile. His gaze swept carefully over her face. “Your nose is different from the way it looked back in Paris.”
Her smile dimmed. “Different bad or different good?”
“Don’t know that there could ever be anything bad about how you look. You’re beautiful, Esme.”
Her hand slid from his. Her index finger ran down the bridge of her nose. “Don’t know how much you recall, but my nose was broken. That probably was why so much blood was on my face. I’m sure when you saw me, my nose had to be horribly swollen. Maybe twisted. No worries, it was one of the first things the doctors fixed for me.” She grabbed for the passenger door handle.
“Sometimes, it’s easier to fix the stuff on the outside.”
Her knuckles whitened around the handle. “Are you saying that you think I’m broken inside? Because that’s not a very kind thing to tell a woman. Hardly charming.”
“I don’t think there is anything broken about you.” Quite the contrary. She might just be one of the strongest people he’d ever met.
She cleared her throat. “Elizabeth.”
She’d lost him. “Excuse me?”
“I think that, instead of being called Esme, when we’re in public, you should call me Elizabeth. I know the general routine is to keep first names, if possible, when you’re in witness protection, but I think Esme might stand out a bit too much. We’ll have to be sure and tell your sheriff buddy about the change. I’ll be Elizabeth from here on out.”
Okay, first, she was wrong about the general routine. “You don’t have to keep your first name. You can. Or you can change it. Your choice. I’ll call you whatever the hell you want. But you have to be able to answer to the name. I can’t be shouting Elizabeth, and you just walk past me, humming.”
“I won’t walk past you.”
He didn’t think she would.
“But I will still be Esme to you,” she added quickly. “This is just a public thing. In private, I’m your Esme. Because I absolutely love the way you say my name. Makes me want to jump you.”
“Esme—”
A shiver slid over her. “Not now. We have paint and groceries to buy, lover. Save it for later.” She shoved open the door.
He climbed from the vehicle, too. Took his time walking to her side. And when they were close, he leaned in and rasped near her ear, “How many times do I have to tell you, don’t play with me?”
“And how many times do I have to assure you…I’m not playing?”
“Tell me again why you insisted we get so much black paint.”
Esme tossed angel hair pasta into the buggy. “Because it’s like the song goes, ‘I see a red door and my black heart wants it painted black.’” She snagged pasta sauce. Nodded in approval before putting it in her buggy. Then she continued strolling down the aisle.
“I don’t think that’s how the song goes,” he assured her.
“No? Probably close enough though, yes?” She paused in front of the coffee. “Okay, what is the best for your black-coffee-loving self?”
He snagged his favorite coffee. Tossed it in the buggy and was oddly warmed that she’d remembered he needed it.
Music played on the store’s speakers, and every few moments Esme would hum along to the beat. Damn if he didn’t find her hums oddly charming.
She grabbed bread.
Then some super, super sugar-heavy cereal that was covered in chocolate.
He stocked up on protein for them. Steaks.
“You grilling?” she asked with a bat of her lashes.
“You’ve never tasted heaven until you’ve sampled my steaks.”
She laughed and he smiled back and holy shit… this feels too real. Esme wasn’t pretentious or cold or…hell, he didn’t know what he’d really expected her to be. The woman had acted like an excited kid in a candy store when they’d gone to pick up the paint supplies. And, honestly, she was pretty close to acting the same way as they shopped for food.
A random and startling thought struck him. “ Sweetheart, you have gone to a grocery store before, haven’t you?”
Laughter sputtered out of her. “What kind of question is that?” She turned for the next aisle.
It was the kind of question she had not answered. She did that a lot. Evaded. Sneakily.
He caught her arm. Pulled her closer. “Let me rephrase.” A pause. “Sweetheart, have you gone to a grocery store before?”
“There are a lot of open markets where I used to live. But, FYI, yes, I have been to a grocery store before. Excuse me for enjoying myself.”
He considered her words. “I kind of think you might enjoy yourself everywhere you go.”
“Well, it’s better than hating every moment of your life.”
Uh, yes. He supposed it was.
They continued. She hummed. Stopped in front of a freezer. “What is your favorite ice cream?”
“Vanilla.”
More laughter rang from her even as she took out the vanilla ice cream.
“Care to share the joke?”
Two people had turned at the sound of her laughter. One looked like a college kid. The other appeared to be in his early fifties. Both let their stares linger a bit too long on Esme.
Tyler moved to block their view.
“Sure. I’ll share.” Her eyes danced. “If I had to describe you and your taste…well, I never, ever would have taken you for a vanilla kind of guy.”
She was talking about sex. It was Esme. Of course, she was talking about sex. In the frozen section of the grocery store.
“No handcuffs? No kink at all?” She clicked her tongue. “I am shocked. Especially considering the way you eagerly slapped those cuffs on me not too long ago.”
“ Sweetheart.”
“What? I spoke in a whisper. No one heard.”
He’d heard.
And, blessedly, she was done with her shopping extravaganza. They wheeled toward the checkout. One lady was in front of them. A woman in blue scrubs who had her daughter seated in the buggy. The girl’s braids swung around her head as she twisted to take in everything around her. The girl was around three years old. Maybe four. She clutched a small teddy bear in her hands.
“Doctor Bear,” she announced.
Esme frowned at the child.
“He’s Doctor Bear, and he can make you feel better.” A wide grin to reveal a mouthful of baby teeth.
“Doctor Bear looks amazing,” Esme assured her. She gave the little girl—and the bear—a wave.
The mom finished paying and stacking her bags into the buggy. She glanced over at Esme and Tyler. “We have to take Doctor Bear with us everywhere,” she explained to them. “Everywhere.”
“Oh, look, honey, he has his own stethoscope,” Esme breathed. “That is adorable.”
The mom laughed. “I’m a doctor, and my baby girl insisted on getting him as soon as she saw him in the store. Said he was just like me.”
“He can fix anyone,” the girl boasted with no small amount of pride.
“I am absolutely certain he can.” Esme nodded. And as the mom and daughter wheeled away, Tyler could have sworn he saw a hint of wistfulness on Esme’s face. He touched her shoulder.
She just flashed a megawatt smile his way.
The clerk began swiping their items. “You two must be the couple who moved into the sheriff’s old family place.”
The words had him glancing at the woman behind the counter. Her shrewd gaze swept them.
“Guilty,” Esme responded happily.
His fingers squeezed her shoulder.
“How’d you know?” Esme asked.
“It’s a small town. New people always stand out.” The scanner beeped as she rolled items right past it. “Hear that you’re friends with the sheriff?”
“My husband is,” Esme helpfully clarified before Tyler could respond. “Such good friends. And I am thrilled to be down here. Can’t wait to get all settled in. Tell me, what is your absolute favorite thing to do in town?”
The woman blinked. Stopped scanning. Then nodded as if she’d reached a decision. “Catch the sunset on the bay. That’s my favorite. You see the sunset from the pier, and it’ll bring peace to your soul.”
Esme’s throat moved the tiniest bit. “I could use a little peace. Thank you.”
The cashier finished ringing up their items, Tyler paid in cash, and?—
“Chocolate chips!” Esme rounded on him in dismay. “I forgot them.”
“We don’t need them.” He pushed the buggy toward the automatic doors at the front of the store.
“Um, yes, we do. Tyler, please, go snag some for me? I’ll stay with the buggy. I swear, I’ll be good. Just get my chocolate chips, would you? They’re needed for my recipe. ”
Great. She looked so hopeful. She’d been so damn happy in the store, and… I keep seeing her after the blast. It was almost impossible to match up the two images in his head. Beautiful, bold Esme as she was now. And the battered, lifeless body he’d held in the wreckage of that café.
Tyler swallowed. He liked the happy Esme. The bold and sparkling one. “I’ll be right back.”
“I will be on my best behavior. Promise.” She rose onto her toes and skimmed a kiss over his cheek. “Thank you. Best husband ever, that’s you.”
Jaw locking, he hurried back through the store.
She hadn’t wanted to block the doors, so Esme pushed her buggy outside and eased next to a display of charcoal and tiki torches that waited in front of the grocery store. Her gaze scanned the parking lot.
She caught sight of the doctor loading her groceries into the back of a mini-van. The little girl was spinning in circles near her mother’s feet. And…
The little girl took off running—heading back for the store.
Esme’s eyes widened.
The mother hadn’t noticed that her little girl was gone.
The child seemed locked and intense on her goal. Esme’s mouth dropped open when she realized that the teddy bear the child had been clutching was on the pavement near the store’s entrance. The girl was going straight for it.
And an engine was growling.
Esme’s head whipped to the right. A big, souped up truck raced forward—rolling right toward the bear and going far too fast in the parking lot. What looked like a teenager was behind the wheel, but his head was turned and he was laughing with a friend who sat in the passenger seat.
Everything seemed to happen both incredibly slowly and incredibly quickly.
The little girl ran forward with a burst of speed. A mad dive for the bear.
The truck’s engine growled as the big vehicle barreled straight ahead.
Esme screamed and the sound just seemed to echo and echo in her own head even as she lunged forward. Her arms were outstretched as she tried to grab the child.
Then she heard the screech of brakes. The wail of metal. And she felt the bone-jarring thud as her body slammed down onto the pavement.