Chapter 25
Will: Is she alright?
Tate: Yeah.
Will: Are you?
Tate: Just start running a list of people in Vermont who own a gray Toyota Camry and see if anything comes up.
Will: Already on it.
It was late by the time the Autumn Ridge PD left.
They’d watched the tapes from the security cameras and told us they’d keep an eye out for a man that fit Leroy’s description, as well as for a gray Toyota Camry.
Tate looked like he was ready to explode on the rookie cop who told us it sounded like a prank.
I clutched Tate’s arm, forcing him to look at me instead of lashing out at the baby-faced officer.
“They’re doing their best,” I whispered.
Tate rubbed his eyes and kept his anger to a contemptuous snort.
He’d been fit to be tied all night. I was surprised he hadn’t worn a hole in the kitchen floor with his endless pacing.
His parents arrived home not long after Tate had returned.
Ann sat beside me at the far end of the table as the Walker men taped and boarded up the window.
When I began to protest the boards going across the window, hating the idea of Ann’s siding getting ruined by nails, she just waved my worry away.
“That doesn’t concern me one bit. Besides, it makes me feel better having it harder for someone to get inside without us hearing anything.”
“Ann, I’m so sorry I’ve brought all this to you.” Emotion made my voice crack. I covered my face with my hands on the table.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m not.”
I peered out from my hands and looked at her. “How can you say that? I’ve turned your home into a crime scene. Twice now.”
“Someone else has done that. Not you.”
“But this shouldn’t be your problem.”
She shrugged, her eyes sparkling the tiniest bit. “Well, family sticks together. If someone messes with one of us, they mess with us all.”
I smiled at her sadly, appreciating the sentiment, but it hit kind of raw knowing I wouldn’t be staying.
“But I’m not really your family. This is all…temporary.”
She glanced over to where Tate was holding up a board just outside the kitchen door while Tom hammered it in.
“You married my son,” she said quietly. “So that makes you my daughter. The shooting had shaken him up pretty badly before you got here. He wasn’t sure what his future held.
But you’ve given him something to live his best for.
You’ve woken him up in all the best ways, and for that reason, we’re in your corner, Liv. Whether you want us or not.”
I was fighting back tears as I motioned toward Tate. “I’ve turned his whole world upside down. I’m just a big nuisance.”
She patted my hand and smiled at me—the kind of smile full of motherly wisdom and sweetness. “Oh, I do think you’ve been a nuisance to him. But not the kind you’re thinking.”
Surprisingly, sleep came easy that night.
Probably because Tate crawled in beside me. He hadn’t asked. Before he lifted the covers, he shot me a look, almost daring me to refuse him. But I hadn’t made a fuss. I just appreciated the quiet comfort of his body next to mine, though he was careful not to touch me.
Sometime later in the night, I sat up in bed, pushing the hair back from my face, and glanced around, confused.
I had been warm, and now I was cold. I looked around, disoriented in the dark only for a moment before I spotted Tate sitting on the side of the bed, both hands gripping the sheets at his sides.
He was quiet, careful, but I could hear his slow, methodical, calming breaths almost like he was trying to bring himself down from something.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
His deep breathing stopped as he glanced at me.
There was a pause before he said, “Yeah.”
The air between us had an unnatural feel to it. A stiffness. Like I had interrupted something that I wasn’t meant to see.
He stood suddenly. “Sorry. I’m good. Go back to sleep,” he mumbled over his shoulder before striding out of the room.
I lay back down, though sleep was now the furthest thing from my mind.
I needed to see if he was okay. But if he had any inkling that I was going to make him talk about this, I had the feeling he’d sleep on the floor outside my door before he’d come back inside.
So I covered myself with the blanket, closed my eyes, and waited.
Ten minutes later, the door opened quietly, and Tate slid back inside.
I watched through narrow slits in my eyes as he eased himself back down on the bed.
There was an oscillating fan above us, blowing a slight breeze throughout the room.
The air grew heavy with silence. Though I was stiff as a board, my thoughts were loud as I lay there trying to figure out how to bring up—
“You don’t sleep on your back, faker. You’re embarrassing yourself,” came his low voice.
A reluctant grin peeped out across my face as I rolled onto my side, facing him.
“How do you know I don’t sleep on my back?”
“Because when I’m in here, you’re usually sprawled out all over me.”
“I am not.”
I gave his arm a push, the sound of his low chuckle washing over me in relief. We had ended the night so stiff and rigid that the teasing felt reassuring.
Though I generally kept to my own side, I wondered if I did disturb his sleep.
“Do I make it hard for you to sleep?” I asked. “Being here?”
He laughed under his breath.
“What?” I asked as he rubbed his eyes.
“That’s a hell of a question.”
“Did I wake you up?” I asked, my face flushing now. I hadn’t meant it the way he seemed to take it. I was very aware of how much I was putting this family out, Tate included, and if there was any way I could make it easier, I wanted to do it. For my own sanity.
He hesitated. “No.”
“Then what is it? Leroy? Coleson? Are you still worried about your job?”
When he didn’t say anything, I pressed on.
“All of the above is an acceptable answer. A lot is happening in your life. So much that happened before I even got here. I’m sorry if I made it harder, or more stressful for you.
Especially since you’ve just come from an intense situation…
” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. Tate still said nothing.
I tried one last tactic, and put my hand on his shoulder. “Any husband of mine would want to pillow talk to his wife.”
If I wanted a reaction, that did it. Like he’d been burned at my touch, he shot out of bed and pointed at me, an exasperated edge to his manner.
“Alright, wife. You really want to hear all of this? Fine. But you’d better buckle up.”
He didn’t wait for me to say anything—not that I had much to say, though my stomach dipped at the intensity of his gaze.
“The stuff with Coleson messed me up for a while. I wasn’t sure if I could go back to work or even pull a trigger again if I had to. I didn’t regret the shooting. I regret the fact that it had to be done. That I failed to keep my partner safe. We should have walked away, and I knew it.”
“You can’t control everything,” I said, slipping from the bed and making my way closer to him.
“I know,” he said. “That’s the problem.” He put a hand out to stop me from rounding the bed toward him. “Hey. That’s as close as you get to me dressed like that.”
I looked down at my pajamas. It was a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. “These?”
“Yes, Olivia. Stay over there.”
The way he said Olivia, with an exasperated warmth to the word, caused a flurry of heat to race down my spine. I actually wanted to pause the scene and squeal, but I figured he’d lock me in a padded room if I did. He was talking, and I didn’t want him to stop.
I leaned against the closet door, watching him. “So if you know you can’t predict everything, what’s the problem?” I asked.
“You,” he said.
“Me?”
His eyes flashed. “You. When you first got here, I was worried that if something happened, I wouldn’t be able to protect you.
That I’d lost whatever grit I needed to be a cop.
But it took about two seconds of you being back in my life to realize that I’d have zero trouble putting a bullet through anybody trying to hurt you. ”
My heart pounded inside of my chest. I stood almost dazed at his confession.
He ran a hand through his hair. “But here’s the problem.
I never anticipated being married to you.
I never anticipated what that would do to me.
I set up enough cameras around this place to secure a prison.
And he still got through.” He took a step toward me, speaking low and careful.
“He got through because I was trying too hard to make a move on my wife to even notice my phone alerting me about her stalker on my property.” His eyes were on fire as he looked at me just then, sending enough heat my way to singe my cheeks.
I lifted my hands to cover them from view.
“We could have had him,” Tate said. “If I’d had my head on straight, we could have had him. It’s too easy to compromise this whole operation. And I can’t risk you.”
I was a mixture of sorrow and swoon when he ran a hand through his hair.
“So that’s what woke me up. That’s the problem. It was you. I dreamed that he came for you again, and I missed him. And then you were gone.”
Tate’s dark gaze was unflinching on mine while my heart slammed into my stomach.
“This whole arrangement is a giant flaming red flag,” he bit out, holding out the finger showcasing his bright-gold band.
“We’ve gotten way too cozy. Before we got married, I could tease and flirt with you a little and send you on your way.
We’d have a night in separate rooms to cool off.
But now, you’re always here, and I can’t ever seem to cool off. ”
An embarrassed laugh bubbled up out of my throat.
“And it’s easy to forget my number one job here, which is keeping you safe. To do that, I can’t be distracted.”
During one of these pauses, I was going to have to say something. But I couldn’t. He clearly had some steam to blow off, and anything I said would slow him down.
But he was right.
Things had been cozy since our wedding. Delightfully and irresistibly cozy.
The rage I felt for Leroy nipped again at my heels.
Leroy, the one who brought us together and could tear us apart in an instant.
It made me want to steal away to the mountains with Tate and live so completely off the grid that Leroy could never find us.
To pretend he didn’t exist. But he did. And until he was found, our cozy existence needed some parameters. Tate spoke again. This time softer.
“I want this over for you. We’re close, I can feel it. And I need every one of my brain cells to make this happen.”
He moved slowly toward me, broad shoulders in his fitted white t-shirt. His eyes were sharp, but his hair was rumpled and boyish, creating the most delicious contrast that sent another wave of heat pooling in my belly.
“So, I’m at a crossroads now, Mrs. Walker. Because I need you close. For my own mental sanity, I need you close. So moving me or you somewhere else isn’t an option. But I also can’t have you next to me, for reasons I’ll keep to myself.”
“You scared of my brother? I think you could take him.”
He glowered at me, but I could only smile, grateful for the tiny shot of relief from the billowing angst between us. An impish gleam settled in his eyes, and I knew what he was about to say before he even began speaking.
“Smart a—”
With a grin, I clamped my hand over his mouth. “You can’t say it TWICE.”
It was in that moment, with my hand touching his mouth, that I wondered if I overshot my will to resist. We were so close.
The day had turned out to be quite terrible, and the thought of going to sleep wrapped in his arms wasn’t the least bit unappealing.
Turns out, I didn’t need any willpower. Tate was exhibiting enough for the both of us.
Grasping both of my shoulders, he turned me around and marched me toward the bed.
“I’ll do whatever the hell I want. Get back under the covers and face the wall. Do not turn around unless you’re under duress. Got it?”
“What kind of duress?” I asked with big eyes as I settled under the covers.
“OLIVIA.”
A soft laugh huffed out of me. We stared at each other for a long moment, fire between us, but underneath the flames was an ache of wanting and yearning so tender and sweet that I was the first to look away.
Plot Twist: The broody, handsome, irritating, and charming undercover cop who is also posing as a bodyguard can, in fact, do whatever he wants.
At least to me.