Chapter 20 #2
“Dial this number, please,” he said as he recited his buddy Chuck’s phone number.
Emma did so and then handed him the phone.
“Hey Chuck, it’s Cap. I need a big favor.”
“Sure.”
“I need a room, but nobody can know. I mean, nobody.”
“Um, okay.”
“Do you have anything?” Cap asked, knowing the odds were slim since it was June in Door County. Likely every room in the entire county was booked.
“Yeah, it even has a water view. Just took the cancellation a minute ago.”
Cap didn’t really give two shits about the water view. He saw the water all the time. But the comment from his buddy was probably reactionary since almost everyone who made reservations at the resort he managed wanted a water view and was willing to pay through the nose for it.
“I’ll take it. Any way I can avoid checking in at the front desk?”
His buddy was silent. Probably trying to figure out the reason for the secrecy.
“Chuck? It’s important that nobody knows I’m there.”
“I figured that. When are you getting here?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“I’ll put my name in the system and go unlock room 303. I’ll flip the bolt so it stays open and put the keycard on the counter.”
“Great. Thanks.”
Cap disconnected the call.
“Where are we going?” Emma asked.
“Harbor Resort in downtown Sturgeon Bay. My buddy manages the place. It’s a large hotel right by the Michigan Street bridge. First, though, we’ll stop and get some provisions.”
After lightning speed in the convenience store, Cap drove to the hotel.
He hung a right off County S onto the highway, then exited into the business district.
He drove down Madison Street past one of his favorite bars, thinking he could sure use a drink.
Knowing that wouldn’t help matters any, he continued toward the old steel bridge that at one time had been the only bay crossing, or so he’d been told.
He’d always known there to be two bridges, and then a third was built over a decade ago.
Once off the bridge, he hung a left to the Harbor Hotel.
The first pass through the hotel parking lot revealed no vacant parking spaces.
Not wanting to park in the parking structure across the street just in case he needed to access the car for a quick getaway, he drove through the lot again and waited as a minivan pulled out of a spot, then he slipped into it.
He scanned the parking lot. The coast looked clear, so they made a break for the building, hopped on the nearest elevator, and got out on the third floor. Just as Chuck had said, the door was ajar, and the keycard was on the counter.
Emma unloaded their meager groceries into the refrigerator, then went into the bedroom and unpacked her duffel bag. He did the same with his.
“Now what?” she asked.
He shrugged. “We wait as the police try to draw him out.”
Emma sighed. She looked defeated.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. It had been a rough few days. For her, especially. She wasn’t used to this kind of shit happening. He, on the other hand, was. Or used to be.
Emma broke first.
“I don’t know who I am in all of this,” she whispered.
Cap’s jaw tightened. “What do you mean?”
“Look at me. I’m hiding in a hotel, running from drug dealers. Watching people I care about get killed,” her voice cracked. “I just wanted to take a nice boat ride with my friends, and now I have blood on my hands.”
“This is not your fault. Do you understand me? None of this is on you.”
“I know you say that, but even after all Jonathan did, he didn’t deserve to get killed in his hospital bed. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to grieve him.”
She pressed her fingers to her temples.
“And you, I dragged you right back into a life you left. You didn’t deserve this either.”
Cap’s heart twisted. Was he an asshole? After hearing the grief and guilt in Emma’s tone, had he allowed himself to take advantage of a woman on the rebound?
He certainly hadn’t meant to, but here he stood staring at a woman grieving another man.
He hoped this spiraling path she’d gone down wouldn’t bring her to regret what they’d shared or make her feel like he took advantage of her.
Cap reached over and touched her cheek. “Emma, one doesn’t earn grief. You don’t need permission to feel it.”
She swallowed audibly. “What if…” Her words cut off, and she averted her gaze.
“What if what, sweetheart?”
Her gaze returned to him. “I feel so bad about Jonathan. For Jonathan. I mean, as I told you before, I’d thought about breaking up with him before he broke it off with me. But, what if…I don’t mean to hurt you, I really don’t. I’m so confused and worried.”
Cap’s heart seized in fear of where she was going with this, and at her pause, a lump clogged his throat, preventing him from speaking. Stopping him from trying to convince her that what they shared was real.
Her eyes watered. “What if I’m just replacing him with you and I don’t realize it? What if this thing between us is just adrenaline, fear, or confusion? It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
Cap stayed silent. He’d finally broken out of his hermit crab shell and fallen for a woman who didn’t know what she wanted or where she was going.
His chest tightened, and his heart begged him to speak, to convince her that what they shared was real.
His brain, though, registered anger and hurt as if he’d been used.
He cleared his throat.
“Emma…” he leaned back and stopped touching her cheek.
His hand went cold.
“I’ll give you the space you need if that’s what you want. I’m not here to fill the void or compete with a dead man.”
“Cap, I’m really screwing this up. This is not at all how I wanted this conversation to go. Let me try again.”
He liked the sound of that.
Emma’s dark gaze intensified. “It scares me how much I want you. But considering all that is going on, I want to make sure it is real, for your sake, because the last thing I want to do is hurt you. Do you know what I mean?”
Cap’s heart thudded. She cared enough to worry about him.
Cared enough for him to make sure her feelings for him were real.
That depth of consideration meant she really cared for him, and that was good enough for him to go on for now.
All she needed was a little time to prove to herself this was the real deal. He could wait for that.
He pulled her into an embrace and kissed the top of her head.
“I understand. I’ll take my cues from you.”
When he released her, she stepped back and held his gaze.
“Thank you.”
Then, she pulled her gaze from his and looked around.
“This is a nice suite.”
That was for sure. It looked like a little apartment. Kitchen, living room, bedroom, and a balcony that spanned the length of the living room and bedroom, both of which had a set of sliding glass doors.
Emma looked over her shoulder toward the bathroom then moved in that direction, snagging her makeup bag off the dresser. From the doorway, she leaned back and focused her gaze on him.
She pointed into the room. “Look at the size of the jetted tub.”
He peeked around her, looking into the room. With as beat and battered as he was, that tub with jets looked inviting.
“I’m getting in there,” she said without hesitation.
“What about your stitches?”
“I’ll prop my foot up or hang it over the side. I don’t care which, but I’m getting in that tub. I need that tub.”
He didn’t doubt she did. A good soaking to ease her physical pain and a relaxing moment to ease her mind after the heavy conversation they’d just shared. The same might be good for him as well.
She leaned over and turned on the hot water. Then she stripped down, exposing her battered body. The worst of the bruising was on her forearms and shins. Thin scrapes covered her feet, except for the side of her foot where the stitches were. That spot was dark red, almost maroon.
His heart pinched at the sight of the large eggplant colored bruise on her right hip. That one must have hurt like hell. Yet, she didn’t complain.
Emma stepped into the tub with her left foot and then carefully crouched down, working to keep her right foot propped up on the edge.
“See, easy peasy.”
“Is the temperature okay, or do you need me to adjust it?” he asked.
“The temp is good. God, this feels nice,” she said as she pressed the button to turn the jets on.
Her moan of pleasure was a familiar sound to him and made him want to jump in that tub with her. Give her something to moan about. But with the heart-to-heart conversation they’d just held, that was out of the question.
Reaching back, Cap snagged a towel from the rack and rolled it up.
“Would you like to slip this under your neck?”
She opened those lovely dark eyes of hers.
“Yes, that would be great.”
He didn’t wait for her to move; he gently raised her head instead and slipped the towel under her and carefully laid her head down. Her silky strands of dark hair floated in the water.
“Thank you.”
Among the bright white bubbles in the water, he eyed her pert breasts with darkened nipples. His mouth watered. He needed to get out of this room before he made a move for her without waiting for a cue, as he’d promised.
Conversely, she did just bare all to him. Was that a cue?
When her shoulders went slack and her eyes closed, he knew it hadn’t been a cue. She needed this time alone.