Chapter Eleven
He’d almost lost her.
John walked out of the small bathroom, tendrils of steam following him. Long hours had passed since the hell on that mountain. He’d answered dozens of questions for the sheriff. He’d gone over the attack again and again during a night that never seemed to end.
The nightmare was over now. Shelly’s attacker—his attacker—was out of the picture. They were both safe.
He hadn’t wanted to stay at the cabin that night. After everything that had happened, John had thought Shelly needed to escape for a little while, too. And since the place had been swarming with deputies and fire fighters, getting out had seemed like the best plan.
For the time being, they were in the apartment over Sammy’s bar. The same damn bar he’d been thrown out of his first day in town. Sammy had offered the place to Shelly, and she’d accepted. She’d been so quiet. So withdrawn, and the pain on her face absolutely ripped John apart.
He strode into the bedroom. Sparsely furnished, but with a big, wooden bed that dominated the space.
A patchwork quilt covered the bed, and Shelly sat on it, her shoulders hunched, her head down.
Like him, she’d taken a shower, and her long hair—still wet—hung over her shoulders.
A fire crackled in the nearby fireplace.
John stilled when he saw her. And he remembered the absolute terror he’d felt when he’d woken on the cold ground, and she’d been gone.
An ache had burned in his chest, right over his heart.
Ice had encased his body, but the burning in his chest had kept getting stronger and stronger until he’d broken through that ice.
He’d jumped up and seen the wreckage of the garage.
Seen those flames shooting so high into the sky.
He didn’t remember getting out of the blaze.
Now, he knew exactly why he didn’t remember. “You pulled me out of the fire.”
She flinched at his voice. Dawn was coming. Dawn, finally. He could see the streaks of light trying to push through the blinds.
He stepped toward her. The wooden floor was covered with a thick, dark rug. “You went into the garage, when it was burning, and you got me out.”
Her head lifted. Her dark gaze met his. There was pain in her stare.
Grief. “I didn’t know if you could come back, not if your body was burned.
And I couldn’t leave you. I had to save you.
” Her lower lip trembled. “But when I got you out, you were so still. Your heart wasn’t beating, and then Devin was just there. ”
“He fucking stabbed me in the heart.” His hand rose to his chest. The skin was still red.
Shelly jumped to her feet. She wore a heavy, blue robe. One that Sammy had given to her. She came toward him and the robe swirled around her feet. She put her hand to his chest.
He was clad only in a towel, one he’d knotted around his waist. So her fingers brushed against his bare skin, seeming to sear him straight to his soul.
“I thought he’d run after me,” she said, voice husky. “That it would give you a chance to heal.”
“Guess he wanted to make sure I was dead first.”
Her gaze met his. Her touch lingered on his chest. “I think he killed my brother.”
Yeah, it sure as hell looked that way.
“And I think…back in Miami…I think he may have killed you, too.”
Rage twisted inside of John.
“Devin said that he served with you. We can pull your military records, John. We can find out more about your life. We can retrace your footsteps, can see who you were.”
He stepped away from her. “On the phone…back at the cabin, Devin said I was obsessed with you.”
Her lips twisted. “I think it’s safe to say that the man was a liar and a killer.”
“When I escaped the lab, I came straight to you. You’ve been in my head for months—”
Once more, she closed the distance between them. “Because you knew—deep inside—you knew I was in danger. You found me because you were coming to help me. And you did. You saved me. You saved that deputy. My brother’s killer isn’t going to be on the streets any longer. All because of you.”
“I killed a man.” And he’d done it so easily. Hadn’t hesitated. Because when Devin had targeted Shelly…I knew I wasn’t going to let him live.
“Am I supposed to be afraid of you because of that? I’m not. I’ve never been more grateful than when I saw you standing over me.”
But she was still painting him as a hero, and he wasn’t sure that he was. “It was too easy to kill.” And something that he knew—I think I’ve done it before.
“Devin didn’t give you a choice. If you hadn’t stopped him, he was going to kill me. He was going to stab me and leave my body at the cabin.”
Rage flared hotter and harder inside of him. Not her. Never her.
“Devin was right in front of me, all these years, and I didn’t see the monster staring back at me.”
John was the one staring at her right then. What did she see, when she looked at him?
The fire crackled, and he jerked. His gaze slid to the flames in the fireplace.
His fingers flexed, stretching, then fisting.
“You shouldn’t have come into that garage.
” He now knew that Devin had rigged the place to blow.
Tricky bastard. Devin had stayed back, safe from a distance, and he’d detonated when John went inside. “You could have been killed in there.”
“Maybe I wanted a turn at trying to save you.”
His gaze flew back to her. A faint smile curved her lips, but as he gazed down at her, the smile slipped away.
She shook her head. “No, no, that’s not what happened.
” Her chin lifted. “I heard the explosion. When I got outside, I saw the flames. I knew you were inside, and nothing on this earth would have made me leave you there. I get that you’re super strong and pretty much indestructible, but you were burning.
I couldn’t leave you to burn. I couldn’t do that. ”
“Shelly…”
“Maybe I’m the one who’s obsessed,” she murmured.
“I’m the one in too deep. Because I swear, John, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.
I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest when I saw those flames.
I got inside, and there was so much smoke.
The fire was everywhere. There were boards on your legs, and they were on fire, and I couldn’t get you to wake up. ”
He caught her hands in his. Saw the bruises and the scratches and the blisters on her fingers. He’d healed, but she hadn’t. She carried the pain on her. He brought her hands to his mouth. Pressed tender kisses to her skin. “Thank you.”
“John?”
He lifted her into his arms. Took her to the bed.
“When I was in that fucking lab, I used to think…someone is going to come. I’m not going to be locked in this hell-hole forever.
Someone will remember me. Someone will get me out of here.
” He eased her onto the bed. Sat down next to her.
Caged her with his arms. “You’re that someone, Shelly. ”
“I didn’t.” A furrow was between her brows. “I didn’t know—”
“You walked through fire for me tonight, baby. If you’d known I was in that lab, you would have torn the place apart in order to get to me.”
She nodded. “Yes.” And the truth was there, right between them. Emotions that neither of them quite understood, but a connection that bound them nonetheless.
He’d fight for her. Kill for her. He had killed for her.
And she’d gone into the fire for him.
His gaze searched hers. “I’m sorry about your brother.”
Her lips trembled. “I was preparing to bury him while you were dying.”
“I’m not dead.” He had another chance. A chance with her. A chance at a life, and he was going to grab it tight with both hands.
But it was her soft hand that rose. Her hand that curled under his jaw. “You’re not dead.” Her hand trailed down his chest. Stilled over his heart. “I can feel it beating again.”
His heart was beating even faster, for her.
“Where do you go, when your heart stops?”
He wasn’t sure. Sometimes, he had brief flashes. Images. Bursts of light. Sometimes, John swore that he saw her.
“I want you to try reading my mind again,” Shelly told him.
John hesitated. “I thought you told me to stay out of your head.”
“I want you to know what I’m feeling, what I’m wanting, right now.”
But he didn’t ease the safeguards he’d put in his mind. Instead, his head bent toward her. His mouth hovered over hers. “Tell me what you want, and it’s yours.”
“You. I just want you.”
He knew she was coming off an emotional landslide. Devin, the attack, her brother…John didn’t want to slip into her mind because later, she’d hate the invasion. When her pain eased and when the adrenaline left her, she’d be angry that he’d seen her most private thoughts.
“Do you want me, John?”
His cock was full and heavy, shoving against the towel that tried to confine him. “Baby, I always want you.” She didn’t need to be a mind reader in order to know that. “But you’ve been through hell today, you don’t need—”
“You are what I need. You’re what I want.” Her fingertips skimmed down his stomach. Down to the towel. “Will you make love to me?”
He kissed her. Took her mouth. Let go of the iron control he’d held so tightly in the hours after the chaos on that mountain. Her lips parted for him. Her tongue met his. The kiss was harder than it should have been. He needed to exercise care with her, but a dark demon had been riding within him.
What if he hadn’t woken up soon enough?
What if he hadn’t healed soon enough?
What if he hadn’t gotten to her in those damn woods soon enough?
When he’d arrived, Devin had been about to drive his fist into her delicate jaw. What would have come next?
The bastard’s knife in her throat?
Can’t lose her. Won’t. Shelly was the reason he’d kept going. The reason he’d survived the lab.