by Stacey Lynn
“I’m going.” I held up my hands and took two steps back before I turned and ran out of the kitchen.
Behind me, all I heard was Declan’s laughter.
And I couldn’t stop a smile from spreading on my cheeks.
Only Declan would give me something like this. In the face of something horrific, something horribly scary, he not only made me safe…he made me feel safe. He was taking care of me and making things easy for me, and I knew he didn’t mind, because he wanted to do it.
And while I was in the shower, trying not to think about everything that was going to happen later, I decided that as long as he was willing to take care of me, I was willing to let him.
Because while I didn’t make him safe, the way he did for me, I knew that I gave him other things he needed, and that was the true measure of a healthy relationship: knowing what your partner needed and breaking your back to give it to them; knowing that they were breaking their back to give you what you needed, so you both ended up fulfilled and satisfied.
I might not have had a lot of healthy relationships in my life, but I was determined to make this relationship with Declan the best one that either of us had. And I hoped like hell we’d learned from our mistakes in the past, so we could make our relationship better and stronger.
—
“He’ll be okay, though? You promise?”
Dr. Klaus tugged at the ends of his stethoscope and gave me a reassuring smile. “He’ll be just fine. Like I said, keeping him here for the next few days is just a cautionary measure. We’re fortunate that when the bullet struck him, it didn’t hit any major arteries.”
I sunk into Declan’s side and closed my eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“When he gets home, though,” Dr. Klaus said, “don’t forget that he won’t be able to jump on furniture for a few weeks until his stitches are removed. We’ll go over further instructions when he’s ready to go home, but if there’s anything you need to do to make his life easier for the next six weeks, I like to give owners time to do that.”
I nodded frantically. “We will.”
He headed for the door and gave me another smile. “Take all the time you want with him, just try to keep him calm. He’s still coming out of sedation and shouldn’t get overly excited.”
I was the one who was in danger of becoming overly excited. In one of their recovery rooms for dogs, something that looked like a miniature hotel room in a four-foot-by-six-foot kennel, complete with doggy bed and pillow, Boomer was lounging lazily, his tail barely wagging.
Even his jowls seemed more droopy than normal.
Declan gave me another squeeze and shoved me gently in Boomer’s direction. “Go sit with him and hug him. You know you want to.”
I smiled because he was right, but Declan didn’t see it, because I was already moving, getting down on my knees in the short doorway in front of Boomer. He had a large gauze bandage on his chest. Dr. Klaus had told me there was another bandage on his stomach, but I couldn’t see it. He had a total of ten stitches in two locations, the entry wound and the incision necessary for the surgery.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered hoarsely as my hand rested on top of his head. Boomer’s tail tapped against the bed twice before settling down. “I’m so sorry I got you shot, buddy. But I swear to you, you get home and get better and I’ll be the best doggy mommy anyone’s ever seen.”
His cold, black nose nudged the palm of my hand and he licked it once before setting his face back down on the pillow.
I stayed with him for several minutes, gently running my hand from his head to his tail until his eyes closed and I knew he’d fallen back asleep. Leaning forward, I kissed the top of his head. “I’ll be back to see you tomorrow, I promise.”
Pushing back up to my feet, I headed out of the kennel to see Declan’s soft eyes on mine. He held out his hand and took mine, and pulled me to him. He kissed the top of my head and I smiled, because it was so similar to how I’d just kissed Boomer’s.
“You’re already a great doggy mom,” he whispered. “And he’s going to be just fine, too.”
“I know.” My chin wobbled but I held my emotion in. Between the vet and the police station I was too exhausted to shed any more tears today.
“Ready to head to the airport?”
No. No, I wasn’t.
I’d already spent an hour at the police station giving Officer Mars my statement, telling him everything I could remember from yesterday. He had been kind and patient with me, but I still left there feeling ragged and drained. The entire time, all I could think of was getting to Boomer.
Now that I had seen him and been assured he was going to be just fine, I wanted a nap. A really long one. Possibly another bubble bath.
The look on my face must have expressed my thoughts for me.
A low rumble sounded in my chest and Declan snickered. “They’ll like you, I promise. And if they don’t, I don’t care.”
“I want them to like me.”
He pushed me back from him, his hands framing my face. “And they will, because they’ll see how happy you make me and how incredible you are. Swear it.”
“Okay,” I muttered, somewhat petulantly. This only made Declan laugh a little bit harder as he guided me out of the recovery area of the veterinary hospital.
I wanted to believe him.
But I could only imagine what his parents must be thinking and feeling right now. If I was ever in their shoes, I would certainly not be excited to meet a woman whose husband showed up outside their son’s place of business and aimed a gun at their son before killing himself.
Chapter 22
Declan
“Stop fidgeting,” I muttered, even though her nervousness was making it difficult not to laugh.
Next to me, Trina ran her hands down the sides of her skinny jeans, which were tucked into a pair of dark-brown boots. I’d rolled my eyes earlier, when she came downstairs dressed in jeans and boots and a simple, white, V-neck T-shirt, asking if we could stop by a mall and do some shopping for a better outfit.
Like my parents gave a shit what she wore.
And right now, dressed as simply as she was, she looked beautiful. Her blonde hair was braided down her back, and I knew it was more than just the nerves making her cheeks flush. She was excited at the same time.
And once again, I was fucking grateful that I could give her something to look forward to, something to help erase all the shit we’d gone through in the last twenty-four hours.
But I was even more thankful that she could at least be excited about something, knowing that just yesterday, her husband held a gun to her fucking head. I held her last night as she slept. I hadn’t slept for a single second, because I kept expecting nightmares to wake her and I wanted to be there to comfort her.
Other than the shock from Boomer being hurt, though, she seemed to be doing okay.
Or she was burying it in a deep pit of denial, and it was all going to overflow when she least expected it. Which meant that for the next few days, or weeks, I’d have to keep a closer eye on her.
Not that that was a hardship. She was beautiful and I wanted to look at her every day for the rest of my life. Which, surprisingly, wasn’t at that all scary to think about, considering that up until about six weeks ago, I was dead set on the idea of never getting married again.
Now, not only had I practically forced Trina to move in with me, I couldn’t wait to see my bling decorating her ring finger.
As if knowing what I was thinking, even though she’d think I was crazy for it, she brushed against my side.
I wrapped one arm low on her waist, loving the way she fit so perfectly next to me.
“I can’t help but be nervous,” she said, her voice just above a whisper, and tipped her head back.
I covered her hand with mine and scowled. “Stop thinking about it.”
“I can’t help it.”
“My parents are good people, Trina. They’re kind and they’re open.
My dad is going to punch me in the shoulder, my mom is going to roll her eyes and hug me, fussing over the fact that I could have been hurt, and then she’s going to hug you and welcome you to the family.”
“They’re going to investigate what kind of crazy woman you’re connected to.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and tugged her closer. “We’ll see.”
My foot began to tap impatiently. I was beginning to grow anxious, not about seeing my parents, but about proving Trina wrong.
When I called my parents last night, just to give them a heads-up once Tyson had reminded me that this disaster would probably hit the media at some point—and soon—after the shock wore off, all my mom said was, “You happy?”
When I told her yes, I could almost see her smile through the phone line before she said they’d be on the soonest flight out.
My eyes scanned the new crowd of people coming down the escalator toward the baggage claim. Being a head taller than everyone else had its perks in situations like this, and it didn’t take me long to spot my mom and dad on the escalator.
His full head of hair seemed grayer than it had just a few months ago, when I saw them last, but his amber eyes were the same. I watched as he placed his arm around my mom’s waist and pulled her to his hip in a way that was similar to how I was holding Trina.
His eyes scanned the area.
Like father, like son.
His chin lifted in acknowledgement when our eyes met, and I got Trina’s attention.
Gesturing with my index finger, I pointed to where my parents were and she rose to her toes. “They’re here.”
She turned to look for them, and I grinned as my dad began pushing his way through a small throng of people without appearing to be rude while doing so.
He just had that way about him, and at six foot two and over two hundred pounds, he was smaller than me now, but he still was not a guy to mess with. Years of being in the Army Reserve and working as a firefighter had made him a man no one wanted to mess with.
“My boy,” my mom said when she saw us. Immediately her hands framed my face and she pulled me to her. I inhaled the familiar scent of jasmine before her lips brushed against my cheek.
“Hey, Ma.”
She let go of my face and smiled. “What am I going to do with my boys?”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and nodded toward Trina.
“Ma, this is Trina.”
I didn’t have the time to introduce Trina to my mom before she threw her arms around Trina’s shoulders and she yanked her from my hold. “Oh, you poor thing! I can’t imagine everything you’ve gone through. Are you okay?”
My shoulder jerked back with the force of my dad’s punch and I lifted a hand to rub the sore spot. “What’s up, old man?”
I looked at Trina to see her eyes wide and amused.
I flashed her a wink and nodded toward my dad.
“Dad, Trina. Trina, this is my old man.”
“Old man, my ass,” he muttered and reached out to take Trina’s hand in his. My mom released Trina from her hug, but she was fussing over Trina like she was her very own long-lost daughter.
Trina’s eyes grew wider when my dad brushed his lips across her cheek, looked back at me, grinning, and said, “She tastes delicious. I can see why you like her.”
Trina’s face paled.
My mom slapped my dad on the back of his head.
He shrugged.
I threw my head back and laughed.
“See?” I pulled Trina into my arms when my dad left to go grab their luggage. “Told you they’d like you.”
—
“This is absurd,” Trina proclaimed as the door shut behind her. She unwrapped a scarlet scarf from her neck. Outside the door to my house, I could still hear shouts from reporters, and through the window, I could still see the flash of lights.
They’d been camped out for the last forty-eight hours, and if Trina hadn’t insisted that our new life continue as normal—meaning going back to work at the restaurant between visits to the vet to see Boomer, and spending some time with my parents before they left town this morning—I would have wanted to just keep her inside the house until the chaos died down.
It didn’t take long at all for Kevin’s death to become national news. The fact that the senator had flown in increased the media that descended on Latham Hills.
Blue and Tyson spoke to us immediately. Blue had pulled Trina off to our bedroom and told her how to handle it, based on what she’d gone through only months before.
The fact that Blue, formerly Gabriella Galecki, was seen in connection with Trina increased the attention on both women.
At least the madness had caused traffic to pick up at the restaurant, even though I knew it would be short-lived. The number of people who flocked to Fireside wanting to see an actual crime scene, even though it’d been cleaned up and the yellow tape had been removed, amazed me.
I was hoping that now that Kevin’s body had been transported back to Kentucky, interest in Trina would begin to die down, despite the speculation about why she’d been shacked up with another man since before Kevin died.
News that Kevin had been abusive had been released, and Senator Morgenson made several public statements denying any knowledge of his son’s behavior, saying that now, so soon after his death, was not the time to look into such matters. And while Trina had initially been maligned in the papers, the senator, surprisingly, had also fervently supported Trina, saying that if this news was true, he was deeply sorry for the way his son mistreated someone so special.
It’d been difficult for anyone to call her horrific names after such a public show of support, and I knew it wouldn’t have happened if Trina hadn’t had the courage to face both the senator and his wife when they showed up in town the night after we took my parents to dinner.
As I’d promised, my parents fell in love with Trina pretty much the moment we met at the airport. My mother continued to shower her with familial affection for their entire visit.
By the time they boarded a plane to Arizona, I figured my mom was already planning a bridal shower and picking out colors for a wedding that hadn’t been planned yet…but it’d happen.
It was only a matter of time.
For now, I still wanted to take care of Trina and get her through the fallout of Kevin’s death with as much ease as possible.
Even it if was three o’clock in the morning and reporters were camped out on my lawn.
“You doing okay?” I asked, and pulled her into my arms once she removed her coat and draped it over the side of my couch.
The last three days had seemed to go on forever. I was exhausted, but as soon as my hands brushed the skin at her back beneath her shirt, everything south of my waist perked up.
“Yeah. I’m good.”
“Kevin’s funeral is tomorrow.” I watched a deep line form between her eyes. A weight compressed my chest. “We can still head down there if you think you need that.”
I’d mentioned it several times and should already have known her answer, but a part of me thought she needed the closure. That maybe she needed to go back to Kentucky and say goodbye, now that she wasn’t fleeing out of fear.
But she still didn’t want to return unless she had to. “I don’t want to go.”
“You’ve been sleeping all night.”
She tilted her head to the side and frowned. “Is that a problem?”
“No. I just figured after the week you’ve had, after you started realizing the truth of everything that’s happened, you might not sleep so well.”
Her downturned lips turn upward. “Not sure how I can go to bed and not feel safe and protected from everything going on when your arms are around me and you’re holding me so tightly I fall asleep listening to your heart beat.”
And there it was.
I’d found a woman who trusted me implicitly, even when she slept. I’d fallen in love with a woman who not only loved me, but loved the life I’d built and
the restaurant I wanted to grow. She not only loved it, she jumped right in, loving the work and the long, hard hours, right along with me.
After Mara left, I might not have admitted it, but I sometimes wondered if I’d ever find a woman—a good woman—who wanted to be with a man who owned a simple, local sports bar.
But just like Trina believed I could keep her safe and protected from everything that could harm her, I’d found a woman who, simply by being herself and all that she was—good, kind, pure, sexy as hell, and hilarious when she remembered she could tease people—had healed the parts of me Mara had wounded, and healed them so well there wasn’t even scar tissue left behind.
Just a fresh newness inside of me that I couldn’t wait to share with her.
Of its own accord, my finger drew a circle around her ring finger. Her tan line was still there, the faded mark of her former ring still visible. I couldn’t wait to cover it up with my own diamond.
It would no doubt be smaller than the one she’d had before, but I knew that she wouldn’t care.
“I know things moved fast for us,” I whispered against the top of her head, pulling her close to me, “and I hope this doesn’t scare the hell out of you, but I can’t wait until I can make you mine.”
Her soft laugh warmed my chest. “I’m already yours, Declan. Everything I am and everything I have is yours.” She tilted her head back, eyes sparkling with honesty and admiration.
I loved this woman.
I silenced her, pressing my lips to hers, and then I picked her up and carried her upstairs and into the bedroom, where I dropped her in the center of our bed. My body fell on top of her and her legs wrapped around my hips as I sank inside her, and I spent the next hour making love to the woman I knew would always be by my side.
We’d already experienced darkness and rough times, and now, hopefully, it would only be smooth sailing from here on out.
Epilogue
Trina
SIX MONTHS LATER
I scanned the full, but not packed, restaurant, and smiled. The lunch rush was over, but it was a Friday afternoon, and in the last several months, there had hardly been an empty table. With spring break starting soon, and the spring air bringing freshness and the hope of new beginnings, the Fireside Grill was doing better than it ever had, according to Declan.
