Chapter Fourteen
Lawson lifted his head from the pillow with a groan. It felt like there was a drill going off behind his eyes, as his head was pounding painfully. He wasn’t a young man anymore, and he couldn’t get away with pulling all-nighters, like he had last night.
Well, he’d gotten an hour or two of sleep.
By the time he had finished up at the police station for the night, leaving the sheriff and his deputies to get the two guys locked up and ready for interrogation, his head had been reeling from the chaos of the day behind him, and he hadn’t been able to get any rest.
He needed to figure out how he could get the information out of the thugs about Granger and his operation. He had hoped they might have been Granger’s sons, but no such luck. They were just a couple of lackeys, Jim Adams and Paul Donner, and they each had a rap sheet about half a mile long.
The sheriff’s men had dug through their car and found enough drugs and unregistered guns to keep them locked up for a while longer, and the sheriff had promised Lawson that they weren’t going to see sunlight unless it was to go to court.
Lawson was planning on going back down to the police station later in the day to speak to them himself.
Since they were on that highway with the intention of grabbing a young woman, he knew they had to have some knowledge of Granger’s operation, at least a location to deliver whomever they kidnapped.
The question, though, was how loyal the two men were to their boss.
Would Lawson be able to rattle them enough to share information, or were they too scared of Granger and whatever he would have threatened them with to keep their mouths shut? He’d have to wait and see how it played out after he got there and started asking them questions.
He swung his legs out of bed and massaged his temples, knowing he was going to have to fill in Xavier and the others on what had happened the night before.
He was sure they’d want to know details—the same ones he wanted to know himself that he obviously didn’t have—but he could at least tell them the basics of what went down and provide the rest once he knew more.
The only way any of this operation was going to work for them, and to prepare his friends for whatever came next, would be to keep everyone updated on each step forward. No matter how small a detail was, it could end up leading toward the bigger picture.
Lawson was never big on postcase reports, and much rather preferred to be in the action and leave someone else see to the specifics, but he needed his team as strong and prepared as possible, and having all the necessary information to more forward would be the best way for that to happen.
He pulled the door open and was about to head downstairs to grab a coffee to wake himself up when he found Sarah standing in the hall, a couple of steaming mugs in her hands, and a smile on her face.
“Hey,” she murmured, handing him a cup. “I figured you could use some caffeine after your late night.”
He hesitated for a moment before taking the cup. He was sleep deprived and not really up to talking, and he knew she would have questions about what had gone down. He didn’t want to worry her further.
“I can go, if you want,” she told him, seeing his hesitation. “I know you must be exhausted.”
“No, it’s okay,” he replied, and he gestured for her to step into his room. “Come on in.”
He held the door for her, and glanced down at her face as she passed by him, noticing the dark rings around her eyes.
Had she been up worrying about him all night?
He hoped not. He didn’t want her spending all her time concerned about what was going on with him when he knew he was well and truly capable of handling himself.
Plus, she had been so freaked out about the encounter with those guys last night at the bar.
He knew she was right to be cautious, but he could tell that her previous experiences had left a stain on her psyche.
She was hyperaware, jumping at every little noise.
After everything she had been through, he couldn’t say he blamed her.
She slipped into the seat at his desk and he planted himself down on the edge of the bed. Her eyes slipped to his hand, wrapped around the coffee cup, and she noticed a few grazes on it.
“Your hand…” she murmured, reaching out to touch it.
He winced and drew back, but shook his head quickly. “Nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “They got it a lot worse than I did, trust me.”
She smiled at him. “Good. I was so worried about you last night, I…”
She trailed off, and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, we don’t need to talk about that,” she told him. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Not to worry. I’m just tired,” he reassured her. “It was a late night and I feel like I just closed my eyes.”
She glanced around his room, and raised her eyebrows at the sight of a few plants sitting on a shelf next to the window.
“I didn’t take you for much of a gardener,” she remarked. “Especially with how you talk about Hannah’s flowers.”
“I’m not,” he replied, chuckling. “Xavier just bullied me into having something in the rooms other than the bare minimum when we started this place.”
“How do you mean?” she asked, cocking her head with interest.
“I just wanted this place to be simple,” he explained. “I thought that would make things easy for the people who were staying here. The rooms were pretty bare back then, until Xavier said it looked like a prison, and we actually needed to make it more homey.”
“And that’s how he convinced you to put some plants up in your room?” she asked.
“Well, sort of,” he said. “He had to show me a few studies about how improving our living space can have an impact on our mental health. And then I decided I could use some greenery around here.”
“You’d make a great interior designer,” she teased him. “Prison chic. I can see it being the next big thing.”
“Maybe in another life.” He laughed. Even though he was still exhausted, there was something about her company that sent a jolt of energy through his system. Well, that and the caffeine. That helped, too.
She got to her feet to admire his plants, and then, casually, sat down on the bed next to him. After their kiss, it felt like a far more pointed gesture than it might have before. He shifted his leg so it was pressed against hers, his coffee cup resting on his thigh.
“So how are you doing? How’s therapy going?” he asked her.
She sighed. “I’m doing okay, I guess. I’m still processing everything, I think,” she responded. “I haven’t been assigned a therapist yet, but should be soon. I’m worried I’m going to have trouble opening up to someone I don’t know. Putting it all into the right words and having it make sense.”
“Oh, yeah?” he prompted, frowning. “Why do you think that is?”
“Part of it, I think, is because of what I do. It’s hard to be on the other side of the desk, you know? And also, with everything else happening around here, it’s hard to know where to start,” she admitted. “Especially when there’s so much…other stuff going on now.”
She glanced up at him, a small smile on her face.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Other stuff?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Other stuff,” she repeated, as though daring him to ask her what.
“And what other stuff might that be?”
“Oh, well, that will be between my therapist and me,” she replied playfully.
“You planning on talking about me in therapy?” he asked her.
She flashed him an impish smile, her cheeks flushing slightly. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she retorted, shifting so she was pressed against his side.
This was comfortable, in a way Lawson wasn’t sure he had felt in a long time.
He decided then and there that he wasn’t second-guessing this attraction he had to Sarah.
He wasn’t questioning if he was doing the wrong thing, for once in his damn life.
He was just enjoying her company, the memory of their kiss and the new closeness it brought.
“I’d very much like to know,” he replied, turning to face her and putting aside his coffee cup. “But I’m not going to pry,” he murmured, reaching over to take her cup out of her hand, placing it next to his, then resting his hand on her cheek.
Sarah gazed up at him, leaning her head into his hand slightly, letting her eyes soften.
She seemed to finally be able to relax after the chaos of what had happened the night before, and he was seriously glad for that.
The last thing he wanted was for all of this to trigger more fear in her, to give her more trauma to deal with.
Slowly, he closed the distance between them, planting a soft kiss against her lips.
She reached up to grasp his shoulder, her fingertips digging into his skin.
God, she felt good. Even that kind of touch was enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
He pulled back, brushing his nose against hers, and rested his forehead against hers.
“I can’t wait until all of this stuff with Granger is behind us,” he told her softly. “So I can put all my attention where it matters. On you.”
She sank into him, letting a smile spread across her face.
He loved seeing her like this, happy and relaxed, and just enjoying the moment with him.
No matter what was going on outside his room, all he wanted right now was to lose himself to the feeling of the two of them together.
Of her being in his arms and how perfect it felt.
“You have my attention right now,” she murmured to him, her eyebrows raising, her teeth resting on her bottom lip.
He knew at once what she was suggesting.
It had taken them a long time to get to this place, to acknowledge the way they felt about each other.
To be in a place where they could finally act on their feelings.
And damn, he wanted nothing more than to enjoy the stolen moment that they had been given right then.
He leaned close again, but this time, when their lips touched, he deepened the kiss.
She parted her lips, allowing him to get closer, and he wrapped his arms around her, breathing in her scent.
He felt the desire stirring inside him, and the need that he had tried to hold down for so long was rising up to take control.
And, in the soft morning light pouring through the window behind them, he knew he was finally ready. They were both finally ready.
He sank down into the bed with her, grinning into the kiss.