“Oh, that’s not necessary. Thanks. I’m not staying at the motel anymore.”
“I know.”
He did? How did he know that? Her mind was feeling a bit fuzzy and it took her a moment.
“Wait, where do you think I’m spending the night?” she asked as they pulled into a driveway surrounded by trees on both sides. Shoot, she should have been paying more attention. They were on the edge of the town. Nowhere near the motel where her stuff was. Where Squawkers was. She didn’t really want to spend another night apart from him.
“With me, of course.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Um, no, I’m not!”
Ed felt a strange sort of satisfaction as he drew up outside his house with Georgina. Yep, he’d made the right decision. He could see her here, sitting on one of the rockers he had on the back porch that looked out towards a small lake.
He sighed with satisfaction.
Totally. Right.
“Ed? Ed! Have you lost it? Are you listening to a word I’ve just said?”
“Nope.”
She stared at him, blinked several times. “Nope?”
“Nope.” He turned to give her a stern look. “Now, stay right where you are while I get out. I’m carrying you in.”
“You are not!”
“I am,” he told her sternly. “No arguments.”
“I’m not staying here.”
“Georgina James, you take one step out of this truck and you’re going to be in trouble,” he growled at her. He stuck a finger in her face. “Do not test me. I’m still not happy with you.”
“About what? Why wouldn’t you be happy with me?” she demanded.
Reaching over, he took hold of her chin in his hand. “Do I need to remind you that you went running on your own, at night, with a cold front coming in? And that you ran on a road without a sidewalk or street lights? You put yourself at grave risk. You’re just lucky you weren’t mine then.”
“I . . . I’m not yours now!”
“Hmm, I’ll have to disagree on that.”
“You can’t disagree. For me to be yours, we both have to agree.”
“That’s true. Under normal circumstances.”
“Under all circumstances. There are no circumstances where that is not true. Because if I don’t agree then you’d be using force. And as an officer of the law, I’m sure you realize that’s illegal.”
“Ahh, but you see, I happen to have some evidence to present that will prove that you want to be in a relationship with me.”
“You . . . you do not!”
“Yep. I do. But I’m not going through all of that while sitting here in my truck. You’re coming inside and you’re going straight to bed. Then I’m going to get you something to eat. You can have a rest. Then we’ll talk about it.”
“Nope.”
He raised his eyebrows, feeling amused at the flush of pink on her cheeks. She was cute when she was angry.
“Nope? You want to elaborate?”
“You’re going to tell me what you mean, right now.”
“Nope,” he replied.
She groaned. “Is there something in the water around here that makes everyone crazy? You can’t just decide that you want to be in a relationship with me, then kidnap me and take me to your cabin in the woods. You’re the sheriff!”
“That just means I know how to navigate the law more easily.”
“Ed!”
He sighed and looked out the window of the truck at his cabin in the woods, as she called it. He was tired of coming home to an empty house, to being lonely.
“Maybe there is something in the water here. I’ve always thought of myself as the voice of reason in the craziness, but maybe I’ve lost it too.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m pretty sure you’d still be considered the sane one.”
He gave her a small smile and leaned back in his seat.
“I don’t like how pale and shaky you are.”
“I’m really all right,” she said softly. “Xavier ran so many tests that I’m certain my insurance company is going to have me on some black list.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Xavier is thorough. There really wasn’t anything wrong? You’re just rundown or something?”
“There’s nothing seriously wrong with me. I guess you could say I’m rundown. Pushed myself a bit hard on my run.”
“That’s good, Georgie-girl.” He placed his large hand over hers and squeezed. “Just answer me one question then decide if you want to stay or go.”
Whether he could actually let her go, he wasn’t sure.
Georgina knew she could refuse to answer, but he looked so worried. About her. When was the last time someone worried about her? Sure, her mother obsessed over every little thing about her. But that was more about maintaining a certain image than any sort of real concern. She didn’t know why her mother was the way she was, but she thought it had something to do with the way she was brought up.
Her brothers loved her. She knew they did. But their love meant they used any weakness to get all into her business. And the last thing she wanted was to be steamrolled by one of them.
But then having your big brothers take charge was a whole different ballgame from having a sexy, handsome man who made you feel incredibly safe.
Yep. No comparison.
“What did you want to ask me?” she asked.
But he was far too perceptive. “Hey, what’s wrong?” His enormous hand cupped her cheek. He was built big. Muscular. And she wondered if he was big all over.
She found herself blushing at the thought.
“You feel a bit too warm. Almost feverish.” His hand moved to her forehead.
“I’m fine,” she squeaked out. “Really.”
Jesus, if he guessed the reason why she was all warm then she really would curl up in embarrassment.
“You’re upset. Why? Did I say something? You got to tell me if I say stupid shit that upsets you.”
“I . . . you didn’t upset me. Please, can you just ask me the question?” She needed to get away from him. Before she threw herself at him and begged him to kiss her again. To hold her tight. To keep her safe.
“Shh, it’s okay. Calm down,” he whispered. He raised his other hand, cupping her face. He moved his fingers to her neck, rubbing his thumbs into her jaw, gently easing the tension there.
She realized her breathing had grown erratic. She wasn’t panicking exactly. But she did feel her anxiety rising. Shoot.
“Breath in. Hold. Breathe out. That’s my good girl. You got it. You’re all right,” he soothed.
“S-sorry.” She couldn’t look him in the eyes, instead her gaze hit his chin.
But she should have known that he wasn’t letting her get away with that. He tilted her face up. “Nope.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He smirked. “No saying sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. Want to tell me what brought that on?”
“No.” That wasn’t happening.
He sighed and dropped his hands. Darn, she felt the loss of his touch.
She winced. Shoot. She hated that he looked disappointed. In her. She had a real issue with disappointing people.
“Is your stomach sore?”
A glance down showed her that she was rubbing her tummy. Darn it.
“A little. Might just be hungry. The question?” She really needed to get away from him. Now.
“All right. But you should know, I want an honest answer. I know you’ve got a good poker face, but I’m also good at reading a lie. And if you lie, you’re going to be in trouble. Understand?”
What kind of trouble was he talking about? He’d yell at her? Freeze her out? Berate her?
“Why did you come to Wishingbone?”
She opened her mouth to answer.
“The real reason,” he added sternly.
Well, fudge.
14
He’d rather have this conversation inside.
With her tucked up
in his bed. Or curled up under a blanket on the couch. The fire roaring.
Under his roof. Under his protection.
Fuck. He’d never felt this possessive of anyone. To the point where if she decided to go back to the motel right now, he had a feeling he’d be sitting out in his truck, watching over her.
Stalker, much?
This was a bit disturbing. He’d never had an urge just to completely chuck the law out the window, throw her over his shoulder and keep her locked up in a room until she agreed to be his.
From now on, he was using bottled water for everything. He was starting to sound far too much like Loki.
He waited impatiently for her answer. She was turned towards him, but her eyes couldn’t seem to settle anywhere.
Then she licked her dry lips. He made a mental note to make sure she drank plenty. She might need some Chapstick, too.
“The case . . .”
“Nope,” he growled at her, making her eyes widen. He might have felt bad about making her nervous, but he had told her no lying. “No lying.”
“I did want to ask you about the case,” she insisted.
“Which, as I said, you could have done over the phone or email. And there would be no reason you would take a motel room for a week and travel for hours just to ask me about the case. So why are you here? See, I have an idea but you need to tell me.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Georgina,” he said sternly. “Stop procrastinating and tell me.”
“I don’t want to.”
His heart softened. He heard the lost note in her voice. “I get that you’re scared of being hurt, Georgie-girl. But you came all this way. You came because of the kiss, didn’t you?”
She nodded and he cupped her face again.
“Because you felt this pull between us.”
“It was . . . it was the best thing to happen to me in years.” A tear fell down her cheek and he nearly broke. But he couldn’t break now. Not when he was so close to getting the truth from her.
“Good.” Her eyes flared at his firm tone and he leaned forward until his face was just a few inches from hers. “Because it was the best thing to happen to me too.”
She attempted to shake her head but he slid his hand around the back of her head and lightly squeezed her neck. “Yes. It was.”
“How?” she whispered in a raw voice.
Shit. He probably shouldn’t push her this hard when she was just out of the hospital, but he knew they needed to do this. Clear the air. Get everything out so then they could move forward.
Because he really didn’t want to let her go. He wasn’t sure he could.
“How? The same way it was for you, I’m guessing. Because there was something between us, in that kiss. Something binding us together. You felt it. I felt it. That was more than just a kiss.”
“But you must have had other women . . . women who were better than me.”
Leaning in, he pressed his lips to hers. She gave a small gasp of shock and he took full advantage, pressing his tongue into her mouth. It took her a moment to relax and react. But then she melted under him, her tongue shyly playing with his.
He might have kissed women with more experience. But he’d never kissed someone where it felt so. Fucking. Right.
She whimpered and he gently nipped her lip before drawing back, both of them breathing heavily. Her eyes were filled with lust. With need.
“I have never kissed a woman who meant more to me than you.”
She shook her head. “That can’t be . . . how can that be true? You don’t know me.”
“I know you. Like you know me. You knew from that first kiss that we were meant to be, didn’t you? Is that why you ran? Because you were scared? Were you scared of your feelings for me, Georgie? Were you scared of how much you felt?”
He knew he’d hit the nail on her head when she tried to draw back from him. But that wasn’t happening. “Georgie?”
“Yes, I was scared. I felt . . . I have never felt anything like that. Like I was on fire, my body out of my control and yet at the same time, so safe, like nothing could ever touch me. Hurt me.”
“Nothing will. As long as I’m around.”
She gave a sad-sounding laugh. “Don’t make promises like that. No one is ever truly safe. No matter what security they have, precautions they take, there is always someone out there who could hurt them if they really wanted to.”
Okay. Fuck. He didn’t like that she sounded as though she was speaking from experience. He was about to ask, but realized he’d have time for that later. Once she was his and she realized he’d do everything he had to in order to take care of her, protect her, then he could ask her what the hell had happened.
But right now, he had to get rid of that panicky look in her eyes. The one that told him she was close to bolting.
“If you feel it and I feel it, then there is nothing to be scared of,” he told her gently.
“But it’s not normal! We barely know each other! I shouldn’t feel this much for you.”
“Well, for a start, if you were looking for normal then you’re in the wrong town.” He gave her a wry grin. “And who said that you have to know someone a certain amount of time to know what you want? Is there a rule? A week? A month? Three months?”
“I don’t know the rule, but it should be more than one kiss, right?” she asked shakily.
“I guess the question is, does it matter? If it’s just one kiss to know, what does it matter? When we both feel it.”
“It matters because it’s . . . it’s overwhelming and . . . “
“Scary?” he suggested.
She swallowed heavily and looked away. “I know I’m not supposed to be scared of things.”
What kind of bullshit was that?
He grasped hold of her chin, turning her face towards him. “Why can’t you be scared?”
“I’m an FBI agent,” she pointed out. “I’m supposed to be tough. It’s kind of in the job description.”
“Bullshit,” he told her. “Yeah, you have a job that takes a certain level of strength. Mental and physical. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get scared. Fear helps keep us alive. It’s when you stop getting afraid that things can happen. That you slip up. I’d be worried if you didn’t get scared. Is that why you always put up such a hard, cold front? Because you think people will think badly if you’re afraid?”
“I know they will,” she whispered.
“Well, screw them. You should have a safe place to let the stresses and anxieties free.”
“I wish I had that. I don’t think I ever had.”
He frowned. “What about with family? Friends?”
“In my family, we’re not allowed to show weakness.”
What the fuck? He pushed that to one side for the moment.
“I get why this is frightening. You don’t know me that well. You don’t know that when I say something I mean it. When I promise something, I always follow through. And that when you’re mine, I will always take care of you. You don’t know that your trust is safe with me. But if you let me in, just a little, if you give this thing between us a chance, you’ll see all that. Trust is a delicate thing. When you have it, you can feel the safest you have ever felt. But when it’s broken, it can shatter you. I’d never shatter you, Georgina.”
She sucked in a breath. “What if I’m already broken?”
“Then we figure out how to help you. Together.”
“You’d want to do that? You’d really want to help me? Because there are things you don’t know . . . that if you did, you would want to run a mile.”
“I’m not easily scared, honey,” he told her gently. “And I’m not really a runner, I don’t exactly have the build for it.”
She glanced over at him shyly. “I like your build.”
He felt his chest puff out. Jesus, next thing he’d be strutting around like a rooster. Idiot.
“I’m the type who will stand and fight, rather than run and hid
e. Tell me why you ran after our last kiss.” He kept his voice gentle but firm. She looked like she was ready to bolt again and he knew he had to tread carefully. He was coming to see that she hid a lot of insecurities and vulnerability beneath the mask she tried to portray to the world.
“I had to go back for work.”
“But you didn’t answer any of my messages.”
She cringed. “I know. I didn’t know what to say. I thought maybe the kiss was a fluke. Perhaps I made it out to be bigger than what it was. I don’t have a lot of experience, maybe it didn’t mean as much as I thought it did. I got scared and I ran and hid. I’m really ashamed of myself for doing that.”
“Then don’t do it again. Don’t push me away. You feel scared, you feel the need to run, then you come to me. I’ll keep you safe. And I happen to make a very good buffer if you need to hide. I can keep the rest of the world at bay, even if it’s just for a little while.”
“And if it’s you I’m scared of?”
He frowned. She was scared of him? Did she think he would hurt her?
“Not physically scared,” she said quickly.
Ahh, right.
“Even if it’s something to do with me, that scares you, I want you to come to me. I want to be that safe place for you. If I do something, say something, then you get in my face and you tell me what it was.”
“Then what?”
“Then we work on fixing what’s wrong.”
“It sounds so simple. This is going fast.” She reached up to rub at her temple. He gently grasped hold of her fragile hand. The last thing he should be doing was stressing her out.
“This can go as slow as you need it to. All I ask is that you don’t run and that you try to talk to me. Come inside with me. Let me take care of you. That can be it for now.”
“No more kissing?” A look of disappointment filled her face before she slammed her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe I just said that,” she mumbled.
He chuckled and removed her hand from her mouth. “There can be as much kissing as you like.”
Sheriff Daddy (Montana Daddies Book 10) Page 11
