CHAPTER TEN
Kit
I bend over the utility sink, rinsing paint rollers under running water.
With the inn no longer a crime scene, and the power restored, I’ve kept myself busy painting.
Two bedrooms and a bathroom feel like solid progress.
Podcasts and audiobooks have been playing in my ears.
Anything to keep my mind from circling back to Luke.
I know he was released from the hospital two days after surgery. Seth made it clear we weren’t allowed to communicate until statements were given. I gave mine. I assume Luke gave his.
But it’s been four days. No texts. No calls. Not even a perfunctory thank-you note saying how much he appreciated and valued my care.
That still rankles.
It’s hard not to fill the silence with my own conclusions. We’d shared an intense twenty-four hours filled with danger, proximity, and raw emotions. Anyone could mistake that for something more. Once life settles back to normal, it would be easy to rethink feelings born under pressure.
My emotions are a mess. But what’s never wavered? The certainty I felt when I first saw him bleeding in the snow. In that moment Luke took over my heart, and I’ve held tight to that conviction ever since.
I shut off the tap and squeeze water from the roller.
A sharp knock sounds at the front door. Penny erupts in barking, nails clicking as she charges toward the lobby.
I freeze. Since Briggs, I don’t take my safety for granted.
Leaving my gloves on the sink, I cross the house. A dark shadow stands behind the recently repaired glass.
“Kit, it’s me.”
Luke.
Penny recognizes his voice and quiets. I disarm the alarm, fumble with the deadbolt, and pull the door open.
My heart slams into overdrive.
He looks tired, and his arm is still in a sling. His dark hair sticks up in unruly tufts, like he’s run his fingers through it too many times, and his scruff looks like shaving one-handed wasn’t worth the effort.
I don’t think I’ve ever reacted to a man on such a visceral level.
For a long moment, we simply stare at each other. The moment stretches until nerves and uncertainty have me reverting to hostess mode.
“Come on in,” I say, stepping back. “Let me take your bag.”
I reach for it, but he doesn’t let go.
“Kit.”
“Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich if that sounds good.” He enters and I shut the door behind him.
His duffel drops to the floor with a thud. Then he takes my hand and draws me close. “Kit,” he says again.
I meet his gaze and feel it, the instant pull, the connection that hasn’t dimmed despite distance and silence.
“I missed you,” he says quietly. “Every damn day.”
I see the truth of it in his eyes. “I know we weren’t supposed to talk until we gave our statements. After, I figured you were busy. But I thought…maybe you’d call.”
His brows draw together. “I couldn’t say what I needed to say to you in a text, or even a phone call. And I needed to do my job.” He exhales. “That ended this morning.”
“What ended?”
“I’ve been in Reno, completing the paperwork. I separated from the Marshals Service.”
His words hit me. “You’re quitting?”
“Yeah, and it feels right. This wasn’t sudden.” He studies my face. “Beckett put in a recommendation for me with South Tahoe PD. I applied for a supervisory position.”
He hesitates. “Now I realize I should’ve talked to you first. I’m new to this relationship thing. I guess I’m still learning how not to screw this up.”
“You haven’t screwed anything up.”
“Good.” He breathes deep. “I’ve wanted to make changes in my life for a while. Lying in that hospital bed, I made the decision to quit.”
“That’s huge, Luke.”
He shakes his head. “What’s huge is wanting a life that isn’t always temporary. It’s wanting a relationship with you.” His grip tightens on my hand. “I want to build something—you and me. I’m not asking for promises. Just a chance.”
“Wait.” I back up as far as our joined hands allow. “You can’t have ended your career because of me.”
“I ended it because I’m ready for more. I want it all with you, Kit. A serious relationship with the potential for forever. Say you’ll give us a chance. That we’ll see where this connection between us goes.”
Something in his eyes draws me closer. I swallow against the tightness in my throat.
“I love you, Katarina.”
The words swirl through my mind with a rainbow of colors.
I open my mouth, but he stops me with a gentle shake of his head. “Let me finish. Then if you need space, I’ll give it. If I need to fight for this?” A faint smile curves his mouth. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I don’t answer with words.
I grab hold of his shirt, rise onto my toes, and kiss him.
Breathing hard, we break apart, and he murmurs, “Well. That simplifies things.”
Then his mouth is on mine again, and all I can think is that I’ve finally found the man I truly belong with.
***
We’re warm under the covers of my bed.
Luke is on his back, sling discarded, jaw clenched, his hand cupping my hip as I lower myself onto him. My hair forms a loose curtain as I bend forward and my lips cling to his.
My groan reflects pleasure, long and low, that he captures with the kiss. I rise up, then lower myself, taking him inches deeper.
“That’s right, darlin’, take me in,” he rasps.
His thumb slides, back and forth over my hot bundle of nerves, making my breath back up in my throat.
We move together and I take him farther into me each time, his touch hurtling me closer and closer to the edge. He tilts his hips up and he’s fully seated. We pause, gazes locked in the shadowy light, intimately joined heat to heat.
“It’s too much, Luke. I—” My breath hitches.
“Hold on to me, darlin’. I got you,” he drawls as we move again, his hips thrusting in time with his increasingly erratic breathing.
I grip those hips and close my eyes, drawing in the scent of him, the feeling of being utterly consumed. I break first, my body spasming around him, a keening moan echoing from my throat, and then he’s following me over the edge, his body shuddering into mine.
I return to earth as he rubs his hand down my back and over my rear, long, soothing strokes that make me want to stretch like a cat. I rest against his left side, careful of his injury, and slide my fingers through the wiry hair on his chest.
“Tell me about you,” he murmurs.
“Hmm?” I feel loose-limbed and warm, content in a way I’m not used to.
“Your family. How you ended up owning Falls View Inn.”
I gather my thoughts and tell him about my parents and brothers in Southern California, their ambitious careers, the lives they expected me to want. About Ted.
“As painful as it was finding him in bed with someone else, it forced me to take a hard look at my life,” I say. “Then my aunt left me the inn, and suddenly I had the opportunity to build something that felt…real.”
“That takes guts,” he says, his voice a low rumble beneath my ear.
“I’m not sure about guts. I wasn’t happy with Ted,” I admit. “But I don’t know if I would’ve changed anything if I hadn’t caught him cheating.”
“You would have,” Luke says without hesitation. “You’re not built to stay where you don’t belong.”
“I’d like to think so.” I smile against his shoulder. “What about you? Your family?”
He’s quiet long enough I think he might deflect, but then he exhales noisily.
“My parents split when I was eight. Dad moved on fast. He’s reached out recently. Guilt, I think.” His shoulder hitches. “I’m giving that some time, but I’ll deal with him eventually.”
“And your mom?”
“We talk,” he says. “She was having a rough time and sent me to live with my grandparents in Oregon when I was fourteen.”
“That’s such a vulnerable age.”
“It turned out to be the best thing that could’ve happened to me.” His hand keeps moving, slow and steady. “They had a ranch. They worked me hard and loved me harder. Made sure I knew I mattered.”
“Do they still have the ranch?”
“No. Grampa died when I was in college. My grandmother got sick not long after.” His jaw tightens. “I sold the ranch to pay for her care.”
My throat aches at the sadness in his voice. “I’m so sorry, Luke.”
“Me too.” After a moment, he adds, “You remind me of her.”
I lift my head, surprised. “Yeah?”
He nods. “The way you make people feel safe. Like they belong. Anyone who walks through your door ends up in your kitchen, fed and listened to.” His mouth curves faintly. “This place feels like home, and that’s because of you.”
Emotion swells in my chest. “Home. That’s exactly what I want the inn to be.”
“You’ve done it,” he says quietly. “Even the sign says it. You’re almost home.”
His tone shifts. “Did what happened with your ex put you off marriage completely?”
“For a long time, yes.”
“And now?”
I sit up next to him, pulling the blankets around my shoulders. “What are you asking me, Luke?”
He reaches out, tucks a lock of hair behind my ear.
“I’m not rushing. I know we’re still learning each other, but you should know, one look at you and my life changed.
From the moment I saw you standing over me with that shotgun, I was yours.
” He pauses. “Grampa used to say you know you’re home when you stop looking for the door. I stopped looking the day I met you.”
A soft laugh escapes as his words unravel me. “This has all happened so fast, but I feel that way too.” I trace a finger along the side of his face. “Is this why you left the Marshals?”
He nods. “You’re here. I couldn’t be with you if I remained with the Marshals.” His gaze holds mine. “I want forever with you, Katarina.”
I lean in, and our kiss feels like the answer to a promise.
“I want forever with you too. I love you, Luke.”
His eyes blaze as he cups his hand to my cheek. I take the other hand and press it over my heart. “I was okay on my own, but you make me so much better.”
“I love you, Katarina.”
His heartbeat is steady beneath my palm, and for the first time in longer than I can remember, so am I.