Chapter 28
Ivy
“We have to call this into the local authority,” Davis tells me as four broad-shouldered bodyguards crowd inside the tiny cabin. With Tex, Ro, me, and the dead sheriff in the bathroom it’s almost claustrophobic inside.
They’ve already scoured the scene and called time of death on the man who was ready to kill us for Nicole when efforts at administering First Aid failed.
One of Riot’s guys has assessed Tex’s wound and confirmed a graze.
No bullet and no exit wound to worry about.
Tex barely needed a bandage and was back on his feet as soon as he caught his breath.
Ro is glued to him, even though she isn’t touching him. She’s still heightened by being held at gunpoint.
“They’ll have to send the coroner,” Davis says. “He is local law enforcement.” Was. Now he’s just a man who had the misfortune of getting involved with Nicole. What did she have over him that he would be willing to commit murder for her? “He was the sheriff.”
“Really?” Davis’s gaze returns to the dead man.
“Perhaps I can help.” Agent Lane steps inside the already too small space. “Do I need to flash my credentials?”
“I’ve seen them,” Davis says.
The agent scans the room, his gaze hesitating on the broken pink web in the bathroom before settling on the body. He moves closer. “Local law enforcement, you said?”
“Yes.”
“So what is he doing here? In… whose room is this?” He puts on a pair of gloves and retrieves an evidence bag from his pocket to pick the gun he’s noticed is still on the floor, but at some distance from the dead body thanks to Davis kicking it away.
“My sister Dizzy’s,” I say, hoping my voice doesn’t betray how nervous I am.
“Where is she?” he asks.
Shit.
Rogue appears in the doorway.
“Thank God.” I hurry over to him.
“I heard gun shots! Are you okay?” He holds me at length so he can frantically look me over. Even though he already knew I was okay, we need to sell the fact that he didn’t already know what happened. He engulfs me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
The stiffness that has been holding me upright desserts me. In his arms I am safe. Just being with him makes me feel better. “I am now.”
“Ro?” he asks, cementing the idea that he wasn’t here earlier. “How are you doing?”
“Glad it’s over,” she says.
“Your sister?” Agent Lane asks.
“Sleeping up at the main house,” Rogue leaves his arm around my shoulder. “Right, Ivy?”
“Uh-huh.” I doubt she’s anywhere near the main house.
“It’s wedding tradition,” Rogue explains. “Not spending the night together. Though how I let you convince me…”
This part is true. He hadn’t liked the idea. Probably hates it more now. “Rogue is spending the night with his brother. And Dizzy is staying with me. But she had a little too much champagne at Rebel and Summer’s dinner.”
Rogue turns his face into my hair. “It was meant to be our rehearsal dinner.”
I smile up at him. “So she’s already asleep.”
The agent nods and then fixes both me and Ro with a shrewd gaze. “Why were you two here then?”
I glance at the bathroom. At the broken webbing. “I had planned a surprise for my husband-to-be. I was setting up when a masked man came in and pulled the gun on me. He told me to call Ro and get her over here.”
“And you didn’t think anything was strange about that?” Agent Lane asks Ro.
“No. We’re all pretty close,” Ro shrugs.
“After that it all happened so quick,” I say.
“Not for me,” Ro says. “Time slowed down. Ivy was great though. Working out he was working with Nicole Hawthorne.”
“Nicole Hawthorne?”
“My stepmother.” My hand makes a fist in Rogue's shirt. “Alec was her son.”
“She isn’t taking his death too well,” Rogue explains.
“What made you think he was working with her?” Agent Lane asks.
“She’s sent a few threats.” Rogue takes over answering his question. “And we were run off the road last night. So we visited her this morning, and she confirmed that she had someone doing her dirty work.”
His face slackens. He blinks. “Any idea why a local sheriff would be willing to go to such lengths?”
“Unfortunately, no.” My gaze is drawn to the body again. The adrenaline must be wearing off because I am freaking exhausted all of a sudden. “Will you let me know if you work it out?”
“I’m going to walk her up to the house,” Rogue tells him. “She’s been through enough tonight.”
“If I have any more questions…” Agent Lane strides toward the bathroom.
“We’re happy to answer them,” Rogue says. “But not tonight.”
“Same here,” Ro says as she walks toward us with Tex trailing. “I am utterly exhausted.”
The four of us leave the cabin with two of the bodyguards trailing. Davis and one of the others stay behind to help Agent Lane if they can.
Rochelle and Tex split off two seconds later, heading for her cabin.
Our bodyguards fall behind, giving us privacy as we take the trail to the main house.
“Dizzy?” I squeeze the tips of my fingers one-by-one. I’m still antsy. She was barely conscious when we moved her and West was adamant that we don’t touch her.
“With West. Who is watching over Duke’s brother, Dawson.”
“What? Wait… I didn’t know he had a brother.”
Rogue fills me in on rescuing Summer and Violet from Duke and the others.
“Violet killed the poor goat.” That poor woman. My heart hurts. “I can’t imagine…”
“Under duress,” Rogue emphasizes. “And the Heart brothers don’t know yet. But that was when it became obvious that Kyle was working with Nicole.”
“I just wish I knew why.” Because it doesn’t make sense that she would have a random corrupt sheriff in the middle of Devil’s Bend, Kansas willing and able to do her dirty work at the drop of a hat. “How did she even know this is where we would decide to get married?”
“Unfortunately. We might never work that out. But I don’t know that it matters.
She didn’t corrupt him. He was a terrible human being before he was sheriff.
What he and Duke and those other men were doing is much bigger than we’re aware of.
Summer found branding equipment and multiple cots when they were locked in the basement.
And Violet was with them because she’s looking for her best friend. ”
I can’t help a sharp intake of breath. Poor Violet, getting mixed up with them. Poor Summer. What the hell is wrong with this town that they support these pricks?
We get to the bottom of the steps in front of the house. I should go in. Tomorrow is a big day. But I hesitate. Going to bed without him... It’s not like I’m going to sleep anyway.
He takes my hands in his. There is so much love in his gaze when it locks on mine.
His chest rises and falls. “Tonight has been a lot more than we bargained for. People—bad people—are dead. We could find ourselves a part of an investigation for a while. But the night is almost over and in a few short hours you will be my wife.”
I smile up at him. Caress his cheek. “I can’t wait.”
“All I know is that my heart stops every time I look at you,” he says. “To know that we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together, no matter what or who tries to come between us… I could not be more impatient.”
“I am too.” I am so full of love for this man. So ready to share everything with him, grow old with him, fight with him, make up, and make love with him. I lean up to plant a chaste kiss on his mouth. “I should head in.”
“You should.” He doesn’t let go of my hand as I try to walk away, pulling me back in before he has to let go. Claiming my mouth with a deep kiss.
I’m swept upon him. My body coming alive to the demands he makes with his tongue. I whimper into his mouth when he places both hands on my ass and lifts me up his body. My legs grip his hips. The exhaustion from tonight disappears and is replaced with need.
He strides away from the steps and into the shadows around the side of the house.
We grope and caress each other in the darkness, knowing each other’s bodies by feel.
Our mouths fused, he presses my back to the wall.
Hand skimming under my skirt, his fingers curl in my panties and tug them aside.
With a third finger, he pushes inside me.
He teases me with it, pumping in and out of my pussy in small increments.
Circling my clit until the tension he’s building explodes inside me.
He withdraws so that he can take his cock out. The velvet head is hot against my entrance as he rolls his hips in sweet, shallow thrusts until he’s seated inside me all the way.
Winding my arms around his neck, I pour myself into the kiss as our bodies move on one another in a way that I am obsessed with. I am never going to tire of loving and making love to this man.
Our mingled breaths grow ragged.
“Ivy,” he says my name like it’s a wish. His heart reaching out to mine. Always.
Mine reaching back. Because no matter where we are or what is happening around us, we are two pieces of one whole. We are each other’s everything. “Rogue.”
His face slackens at the same time my orgasm hits. I feel the heat of him inside me when we come at the same time. We move in tandem. Joined by body and mind.
Soon to be joined with the promises we’ll make to each other in front of friends and family.
We stay locked together after my orgasm recedes. He’s soft inside me before he’s willing to pull out.
I rearrange my panties when he puts me on my feet. He tucks himself back into his pants.
Holding my hand, he walks me back to the steps. He still seems hesitant to let me go. “You sure you wouldn’t rather I come to bed with you?”
“Where will my sister sleep if I kick her out?” I smile against his mouth. He made it Dizzy’s alibi and even though the idea of sleeping without him seems impossible, we better make sure not to give the agent a reason to be suspicious that we’re hiding something.
“Fine.” He clasps my face and places a lingering kiss on my mouth. “But this is the last night I will ever be willing to sleep without being beside you.”
He lets me go then, his gaze lingering on me while I climb the stairs and open the door. I blow him a kiss before I shut the door.
I won’t see him again for hours. The longest hours of my life.