Unforgettable (Untouchables)
Page 20
He prowled the length of the kitchen. “Would you sit down before you fall down?”
“I’m fine.” But she hurt like someone had beaten her with a baseball bat. The nurse had warned her that the pills were slower than IV drugs, but she hadn’t stayed ahead of the pain. Now she was paying the price with every beat of her heart. “Answer the question.”
“Sit down first.”
She’d argue, but her stomach lurched and she figured she was ten seconds from embarrassing herself completely. She went back to the living room and hunkered down on her corner of the couch. He tucked the comforter around her with such concern on his face she wanted to cry. “Why?”
“I found your bags. Packed. You were going to walk.”
“So what’s the cat? Going-away gift?” Packing her bags seemed like an eternity ago, but she remembered why. Leaving Blake before he left her was imperative. A girl had to have her pride. She licked her chapped lips. “You bought me a cat for company?”
“Victoria, you left me once. I headed to class with you in my bed. Came back and you were gone. Not a trace left. Took me to a dark freakin’ place.” He prowled the room, his boots stomping the hardwood. “I told you up front I wasn’t the same man I’d been. I wouldn’t let you go. You walk, I follow. That was the deal.”
She’d had to walk. Then and now, and she needed him to understand. Stringing things along would destroy her. She’d known that when she’d seen him again at his club, before she’d gone to the hypnotherapist. That’s when she’d discovered his link to her brother’s business and realized that she needed to forget him. To protect herself. To protect Nathan. “Blake, I tried to forget you.” She shook her head. “Not forget. Wrap you up in my head and hide you there. Two for the price one with the hypnotherapist.”
“Whoa.” He nailed her with a glare. “You used hypnosis to forget me?”
“Tried—you wouldn’t stay hidden. You have to really want to forget something for it to work. And you? You were—” She stirred restlessly. “You’re not very forgettable.”
“When?”
She brushed a hand over the velvet, smoothing the nap in a single direction. “Last fall. I saw you at the club.” The heartache had been instantaneous. Excruciating. All of it came back. What she’d felt for him, why she’d had to leave. Across the club on that balmy fall night, he laughed with a waitress, and the sight of him had entranced Vicki. Hair longer, older and rougher, he’d worn leather and looked like the quintessential bad boy. She’d never been able to resist a bad boy, and Blake was more than.
“The thing is, I sealed my fate when I buried you.” She stared down at her lap. She should have known that she couldn’t fight fate. But trying to avoid Blake, she’d forced fate’s hand. “When Manny showed up across the street, I didn’t remember seeing you that time. Didn’t know what waited for me at the address he gave me. I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known.” She’d have run, fast and far, to avoid the heartbreak.
“Victoria, you’d be dead.”
Pride hardened her gaze as she snapped at him. “Don’t underestimate me.”
“Don’t underestimate Sully.”
She waved a hand to dismiss his comment. “It’s just as well I didn’t remember.” She’d gone willingly to her emotional destruction. “I needed to face the past, but I didn’t think I’d repeat my mistakes.”
“Leaving me was a mistake.”
She huffed out a laugh. “You’ve got some ego there, Slick.”
He sat on the sofa next to her, grabbed her hand. The kitten hopped up and batted at his arm. “Gypsy likes you,” he told her.
“You named her Gypsy?”
“She’s got your eyes.”
Vicki glanced into the kitten’s mischievous green eyes. The cat pounced on their joined hands and rolled, snagging the soft velvet.
“And your claws,” he teased.
“Funny man.” She looked at their joined hands, turned them over, and ran a finger across his palm. His rough to her soft. She took a breath. “Blake, I did something really stupid.”
“Gonna have to narrow it down for me, darlin’.”
“Jerk,” she said without much feeling. Her heart pounded. The man was distracting, with his soulful eyes and hair and that body. “You’re pushy and bossy, you know, tied up in a sarcastic bow.” Should she tell him he was sexy as hell? Definitely not. “It was supposed to be a good time. Have a little fun, walk away when it’s finished, and then I fell for you.”
He squeezed her hand in a tight grip. “Sorry? What was that?”
“I love you.” She battled back tears. “Stupid jerk.”
“Victoria, I need to see your eyes. Look at me.”
“What? So you can see me cry for the third time? I don’t think so,” she snapped. She really hurt. How long did it take those pills to work anyway? “What?”
“I love you.”
Her heart rolled as she fell all the way. “Pardon?” Her pulse pounded. She’d almost left him. Walked away and never looked back.
“I love you, darlin’.”
The kitten twisted, roughed up the smooth velvet.
“Could have said so sooner,” she mumbled.
He rubbed a thumb over her split lip. “I did.”
Her body responded instantly to his touch, even as she winced at the bruising contact. “I think I’d remember if you said you loved me, Slick.”
“This is the third time, actually.”
“I know I’d remember that.”
“In the hospital. You were in and out.”
He had? “What did I say?”
“Left me hanging.”
“Good.” Since he’d made her say it first this time, he’d deserve to hang. She winked at him, which was wicked painful on her bruised eyes. “That’s something.”
“Victoria.” He paused, looked around the room. “It’s not going to be easy. You’re a pain in the ass.”
“No one said you had to stick—”
“Quiet, just for one minute, let me speak.”
She tightened her jaw. “Fine.”
“You may be a pain in the ass, but you’re my pain in the ass. Mine. So I’m going to be bossy and overprotective until we put Sully away.”
“You’re always bossy.” It didn’t bother her as much as it should.
“We’ll figure it out, find the balance between protection and prison, but the operation is ongoing, and you’re not safe until it’s finished.”
“We’ll make each other crazy inside of a week.”
“We’ve done okay so far,” he said. “As long as we’re together, we can handle the challenge.”
Those danged emotions were tugging at her tear ducts again. Sometimes he said the sweetest things. Not that she’d tell him.
“Would it hurt too much if I—”
“If you try to land a lip lock, you’ll find out how sharp my claws can get.”
He laughed low, the gravelly sound soothing and stirring her up at the same time. “Not what I had in mind.” He rearranged them at the end of the sofa, propped some pillows, and leaned against the corner. He pulled her between his legs, her back against his chest. It was a million times better than a reclining hospital bed. He was warm and solid behind her. Heaven as she settled into his arms, the best she’d felt in too long. The meds started to dull the throb in her shoulder, so she relaxed deeper into his embrace. The kitten hopped up on her lap and circled three times before settling into a ball.
Vicki sighed. Another snuggler. She was a goner for sure.
“I can’t believe you tried to forget me,” he said.
“Didn’t work.” She brushed the cat’s soft fur, smoother than the velvet comforter. Blake’s solid chest behind her back comforted and protected. She was right where she belonged. “There are a dozen things in my life that are forgettable. You’re not one of them. You’re unforgettable.”
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Acknowledgments
Many thanks to retired police officer David Knowles for providing me with insight into the psyche of a police officer, police departments, and a federal task force. Our discussions improved this book in ways large and small. Any errors in police procedure or fictional alterations for the benefit of the plot are my own.
This book owes its success to many wonderful people in my life. To the talented Awnna Marie Evans, thank you for being such a wonderful editor and advocate. You make me want to be a better writer. Once again, I owe thanks to writers Jennie Marts and Beth Rhodes for writing sprints and writing sessions at the local café, both of which held me accountable for putting actual words on the page (as opposed to social media). My list of acknowledgments wouldn’t be complete without thanking my friend August Trimbath for the use of her name as my DB. You’re beautiful inside and out, and my secret sister. Thanks also to the wonderful people at the Pikes Peak Library District and Library 21C for never looking at me funny when I asked weird, random, and occasionally scary research questions. Library people are the best! Also, many thanks to the readers who kept asking, “Where is the next Untouchable book?” You kept me focused on those days I wanted to run away.
Finally, to Brianna and Noah, you are my everything. Love you always.
About the Author
Cindy Skaggs grew up on stories of mob bosses, horse thieves, cold-blooded killers, and the last honest man. Those mostly true stories gave her a lifelong love of storytelling and heroes. Her search for story took her around the world with the Air Force before returning to Colorado.
As a single mom, she’s turning her lifelong love of storytelling into the one thing she can’t live without: writing. She has an MA in Creative Writing, three jobs, two kids, and more pets than she can possibly handle. Find her on Facebook as Cindy Skaggs, Writer, @CLSkaggs on Twitter, or www.CSkaggs.com to sign up for her newsletter.
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