Chapter 40
Forty
The police station’s back door creaked open, and Porter stepped through. Dust still clung to his overalls, his boots heavier than they should’ve been, feeling like he’d been chewed up by the country and spat out for good measure.
In a sense, he had.
His overalls were streaked in dirt, the sunburn a killer, and his movements were stiff with exhaustion. The bump on the back of his head was a constant dull throb he kept on ignoring—because he was upright and still breathing. Hell, yeah.
His plan was to knock out some paperwork, drink half a pot of stale coffee, file his preliminary report for the Stock Squad to take over, before crashing for the next two days. He’d done enough overtime to earn it.
But she was there.
Amara.
Perched on the bench near the lockers, her sore foot propped up, with the bandage peeking out from under the cuff of her coveralls, and a set of crutches leaning on the nearby wall.
Even though she looked as dog-tired as he felt, she was still the best thing he’d seen all afternoon. Even with the ballgown gone, Cinderella had nothing on this woman.
She was his whole damn reason to search the scorched earth for any man who’d dared to lay a hand on her. And he’d do it again—in a heartbeat.
Sawyer had got off easy.
‘Are you waiting for a taxi that doesn’t exist?’ he asked her.
‘I’ve been waiting for a ride home and you’re all I’ve got.’ Those cushion pillows of pleasure, those illegal lips of her, tugged sideways into a grin.
Whoa—she grinned.
He rubbed his eyes as he dropped his car keys into the tray near the sign-on sheet, and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah. You?’
He didn’t answer. Why lie or bore her with his list of aches and pains he’d rather ignore?
‘Sawyer?’
‘Chilling in the morgue.’
And then came that long pause that hung between them.
Frankly, he was too tired to fill it.
If she wanted nothing from him, so be it.
Then Amara stood and limped a few steps closer to stop right in front of him, her delicate floral soap scent laced with summery peach teased him.
‘I told Finn…’ She licked those sinful lips. ‘How it was me—’
He groaned as he eyeballed the ceiling. ‘Montrose, I went to a lot of trouble to cover your arse.’
‘You don’t need to. I don’t want to be a burden—even though you carried me home. You were a hero today.’
‘Eh?’ He looked at her intently. ‘Are you on any medications?’
‘No. I’ve never been thinking clearer, not only about the job, but about you.’ She tapped the back of her hand against his chest.
‘Ow… Sunburn.’
‘Sorry.’ Her hands hovered over his chest like she was standing before a stove, scared she’d get burned—yet she wanted to touch him, as if willing to take that risk.
This was progress.
She gazed up at him, never looking more vulnerable. ‘I’ve never had someone fight for me like you did. No one has ever taken care of me like that. And I just wanted you to know… that…’
‘What?’
‘Um… You know…’
‘No.’ He shook his head, keeping a straight face. ‘How about you enlighten me?’
She hesitated, chewing on that plump bottom lip as if stalling.
Come on, Montrose, you can say it.
‘I care about you. A lot.’
He arched a brow. ‘That’s it.’
‘I care—’
‘Like how you’d care for some puppy you saw on social media? Or that vintage handbag you got on sale?’
‘I’m being serious. It’s more than that.’
He stepped back, rolling his eyes. ‘Is this some ploy to make me reduce your rent now?’
She scowled.
Porter grinned.
‘Say it, Montrose. It’s not gonna break you. You know I’ve always got your back.’ As if carrying her on his back in the dark for hours didn’t already tell her that.
She inhaled a big breath, winced and said, ‘I love you, Logan Porter.’
He sniffed, keeping that straight face. ‘See? Not so hard.’
She raised a brow. ‘Are you going to say it back?
‘Nah. At the risk of breaking those written house rules, currently occupying prime real estate on my fridge door, I’m waiting to see what it gets me first. Back rubs.
The offer to iron my uniforms. Maybe access to your fancy shampoo.
Oh, and just so you know, food is my love language.
Just not chocolate—apparently my life is on the line if I eat any of the chocolate stashed in my own fridge.
What was that? Rule number four or five? ’
‘Porter—’ She stepped forward, her warm palms gripped the sides of his face, to drag him down and collide with her lips. Those perfectly plump pillows of heavenly pleasure kissed him so deeply he was a goner.
If he had to die from lack of oxygen, he was floating straight into heaven with that kiss. For there was no other woman on the planet who could or should kiss him like this. It was positively illegal.
He had to wrap his arms around her, hold her tight to his chest—forgetting the sunburn because his lips were blazing their own heated trail to kiss her deeper.
He exhaled against her mouth, his hand resting gently on her hip, as if grounding them both, yet he couldn’t quite believe he had the right to hold her this way.
His voice came low and raw with everything he couldn’t hold back—including the most important truth. ‘I love you too, Montrose.’
And he saw in the way she looked at him, there was no need for anymore words or questions when he already had the answer. There were no doubts. No second-guesses. Just that kind of certainty that settled deep in his chest, right where his soul knew it was true. She loved him back.
She glanced around them as if worried they’d get caught, only for her eyes to land on the corridor to the police cells.
‘Not gonna happen, Montrose. There are rules in this station, you know. And I’m too sore to let you play animal on me. But you can rub some ointment on my sunburn.’
‘I’ve got a better idea.’ She plucked up the car keys from the tray. ‘I’m taking you to the hospital. Boss’s orders.’
He blinked. ‘What? No victory cuddle first?’
‘You’re bleeding and sunburnt.’
‘How about we skip all that and you give me another kiss?’
‘This is the no-kissing zone, remember? There are rules, you know.’ That smile—the one she used to save for her horse, for everything else but him—it was his now. Deadset, if it didn’t light up her eyes and knock him sideways.
‘To hell with the rules.’ He grabbed her gently, and kissed her like they had nowhere else to be. Like it was their first kiss, as the start of something beautiful, along with a whole new set of relationship and house rules to make and break…
Their way.