“Where are we going?” she asked, but it didn’t really matter. Anywhere he was, was where she wanted to be.
“My cabin. No chance of being interrupted.” He paused mid-step and looked back at her, his expression uncharacteristically uncertain. “But we could find an empty room in there, if you’d prefer.”
“No, your cabin is fine,” she assured him. And it was. Perhaps it was selfish of her, but she wanted him all to herself. “But I thought you shared a trailer with Mad Dog.”
“I did, but it was only a temporary situation until another place was ready.”
Snow crunched under her boots as they walked into the woods. She huddled inside his jacket, grateful for its warmth.
He led her to a cabin not too far past the tree line, visible only because of the soft glow radiating from the windows and the wisps of smoke curling up from the chimney.
Opening the door, he tapped his boots against a post to dislodge the accumulated snow and ushered her inside. “Sit down and warm up while I make us some of this coffee.”
The cabin was small but fully functional, consisting of the one main room with a tiny kitchenette and a utilitarian bathroom. The furnishings were sparse—a pullout sofa bed, a small table, and a woodstove that made it feel cozy and warm.
It’s not much different than my tiny studio, she realized, but with the added bonus of the rustic feel.
Dare she hope that he felt just as lonely and disconnected in his place as she felt in hers?
Reluctantly, she removed his jacket and hung it up on the hook just inside the door.
Soon, the aroma of brewing coffee mixed with scents of freshly cut wood, fire, and Heff. She breathed it in, greedily filling her lungs.
“Talk to me, Sandy.”
She didn’t want to. Now that she was here, with him, she didn’t want to think about anything else.
I miss you. The words were right there on the tip of her tongue, yet she couldn’t bring herself to say them.
The coffee finished, he poured a mug and handed it to her, then went back to fix one for himself.
“Your job isn’t going well?” he prompted. He was keeping his distance, choosing to lean against the kitchenette counter instead of joining her on the sofa.
She lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug and exhaled. “I got offered a permanent position.”
“That’s great. Congratulations!” She frowned, and he added, “Isn’t it?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s a great opportunity. Good pay, phenomenal benefits, the chance to travel around the world.”
“Isn’t that what you want?”
“I thought it was. Now, I’m not so sure.”
He moved closer. “What’s changed?”
“Everything,” she whispered. She held the coffee mug between both her hands and stared inside. A small, sad smile pulled at her lips. “I love designing but not the job. I love the city to visit but not to live there. I love ...” She let the sentence hang, unable to say the words.
“What do you love, Sandy?”
“I think I love ... you.”
The fire crackled, sounding loud in the ensuing silence. She looked up and found him staring at her intently, but his expression gave nothing away, and she wondered if she’d just made a grave error in judgment. Perhaps blurting it out like that hadn’t been the best way to tell him.
“You think you love me,” he spoke the words carefully. Evenly.
She didn’t know how to take that either and then figured there was nowhere to go but forward. “Yes. It’s the only thing that makes sense even though it makes no sense whatsoever.”
“Go on.”
He was still by the counter, but he’d put his coffee down. His expression remained neutral, but his hands gripped the edge of the counter, giving her hope.
“I know we don’t know each other all that well, but I like the way you make me feel. I like the way I feel when I’m around you. I miss you. I miss seeing you and talking to you and hoping that we’re going to cross paths somehow during the day.”
She took a breath. “I dream about you. You’re the first thing I think of in the morning and the last before I crawl into bed at night. I wonder what you’re doing and if you’ve thought about me even a fraction of the times I’ve thought about you. I find myself coming home at the end of a really long day, wishing you were there.”
He leaned forward, and her words came faster. “This job is a great opportunity, but there will be others. I don’t think there’s ever going to be anyone else who makes me feel the way you do. Maybe it’s not really love, but if it’s not, it’s the closest thing to it I’ve ever felt.”
He moved like lightning. One moment, he had been by the counter. The next, he was across the room, drawing her up into his arms and crashing his mouth down on hers. Everything else faded away. There was only him, only them, and nothing else mattered.
“Is that what you mean? Feeling like that?” he asked huskily when he finally broke the kiss.
“Exactly like that. That’s what I want. More than anything.”
“Really? More than anything?” he asked, a familiar fire lighting in his eyes right about the same time it erupted deep in her core.
Just like that, she was ready to melt in his arms, but she needed him to understand.
“Yes. I want the way you make me feel here”—she took his hand and placed it over her heart—“even more than the way you make me feel here.” She moved his hand down between her legs. “Does that make sense?”
“So much sense,” he answered. “Because it’s exactly the way I feel too.”
He used his bigger, stronger body to guide her down onto the sofa, tugging her sweater over her head.
“Want to pull this thing out?” she asked.
He stopped kissing along the edge of her bra and grinned up at her, his eyes as dark as she’d ever seen them. “Sweetheart, there will be no pulling out tonight.”
She laughed, as delighted by his words as she was turned on by them.
“I meant, the couch. It turns into a bed, right?”
“I know what you meant, but I don’t want to wait. Ask me again after I’ve made you come a few times.”
“A few times?” she squeaked. Then, she closed her eyes as his lips closed around her nipple, and he sucked hard. “A few times sounds good ...”
Chapter Fifty-One
Heff
The fragrant, warm weight sprawled across his body made him smile. Any doubts that this was how he wanted to wake up every morning vanished. Maybe if he kept her warm and languid for the next couple of days, she’d come to the same realization.
He stroked along the curve of her back, enjoying the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingers. Touching her had become his crack.
“Good morning,” she purred in a sleepy voice, snuggling into him.
He kissed the top of her head. “It sure is.”
“What time is it?”
“Around ten, I think.”
“We slept in.”
“Well, we were up most of the night.”
“We were up most of the night because you were up most of the night.” Her hand slid down over his stomach and closed around his erection. She laughed softly against his chest. “You know, I think if it lasts for more than a few hours, you’re supposed to call a doctor or something.”
He laughed too. “I can’t help it. I wake up with a beautiful, sexy, naked woman draped over me, and I get hard. Is that going to be a problem?”
She kissed his chest and began to slide southward. “Not for me.”
He sucked in a breath as she gave him a very special good morning kiss.
If there’s a better way to start the day, he thought as she took him to heaven, I’m not aware of it.
When she climbed back up his body, he wanted to return the favor, but she kissed him and slid out of bed.
“Later. Right now, I have other needs.”
“I’ll see to your needs.”<
br />
He got out of bed, too, taking great pleasure in the way her eyes raked up and down his body. When he got close, she held up her hand.
“Not this one,” she countered. “Sorry, but some things a girl just needs to do on her own.”
He grabbed her hand and tugged her against him to steal a kiss.
“All right, beautiful,” he said, giving her an affectionate pat on the ass. He planned on kissing—and maybe biting—it later. “You do what you gotta do. I’ll run up to the kitchen and bring back some food.”
“You are a god.”
His heart swelled. “Keep saying things like that, and you’ll never get rid of me.”
Sandy disappeared behind the closed door, and he got dressed. He was in great spirits when he entered the big kitchen in the main building, whistling as he raided the fridge and piled a plate high with food to take back to the cabin. He took enough to last well into the night because once he got back to Sandy, he didn’t plan on coming out again for a while.
“Looks like someone had a good night,” Sam commented. “I take it, you two finally pulled your heads out of your asses?”
He grinned back at her. “She got offered a permanent position in the city.”
Sam crossed her arms over her chest; her brows pulled together in confusion. “And that’s a good thing?”
“It is because I think she’s seriously considering turning it down.”
Sam’s expression cleared. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I knew it! I knew you two were the real deal! So, she’s moving back to Sumneyville? Is she going to try to get her old house back, or is she going to move in with you? Oh, it would be so great to have her here!”
“Slow down, Sam,” he said on a laugh. “She hasn’t made her decision yet.”
“She will. And it’ll be the right one.”
“What are we talking about?” Smoke asked, joining them.
“Sandy and Heff! Isn’t it great?”
Smoke gave him a genuine smile. “I’m happy for you, man.”
“Thanks. I—” Heff paused, feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket.
Smoke’s must have gone off as well because he frowned and reached into his pocket too. “Perimeter breach.”
Heff looked down at the screen, his blood turning to ice in his veins as he thrust the plate at Sam and ran toward the door.
“Where?” he heard Sam ask behind him.
“Right behind Heff’s cabin.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Sandy
Sandy stared at herself in the mirrored front of the medicine cabinet. Her hair was a tangled mess, but her eyes were bright, her skin was glowing, and her heart and mind were in total agreement—she wanted to see where this thing with Heff could go more than anything else.
She waited for the regret to take hold or for the uncertainty to settle in, but neither did. For the first time in months, she felt good.
Yes, things hadn’t turned out like she’d hoped, but that was life. Stuff happened. The important thing was, she’d learned about herself along the way.
She was a small-town girl at heart. She liked the mountains and the trees and being able to sit outside at night and count the stars.
She didn’t have the cutthroat, competitive drive to succeed in a company like Kensington, nor did she need it. Success was relative, and she could design anywhere. Sure, she wouldn’t make as much money from making websites and brochures for small businesses in and around Sumneyville, but she would certainly enjoy her work—and the people she worked with—a lot more.
Another thing she’d learned was, while she was basically a solitary person, she did need to connect with other people. She missed grilling with Lenny, getting a rundown of local gossip from Jeannie, and having coffee with Tori. Sure, she could have tried to make friends in New York, if she’d had any free time, but it wouldn’t have been the same.
The most important thing of all was, the connection between her and Heff was as real as it was rare, and she’d be a fool if she let something like that go. That she would regret for the rest of her life.
Maybe Tori was right. Maybe finding the right path did mean taking a few wrong turns along the way.
She turned on the shower and finger-brushed her teeth with Heff’s toothpaste while she waited for the water to turn hot. She stepped under the shower, relishing the feel of the hot water sluicing over her skin, soothing those spots where she was deliciously tender.
She heard movement outside the bathroom a short while later. She smiled into the spray, thinking that Heff must have run the whole way up and back, anxious to pick up where they’d left off.
After a minute though, her smile faded. It didn’t sound like Heff setting out breakfast. It sounded like someone was trashing the place.
Leaving the water running, she grabbed a towel, stepped out of the shower, and pressed her ear against the door. The sound of glass breaking and furniture being overturned confirmed her suspicions. Someone was trashing the place. But who? And why?
Her heart was beating hard and fast as she lifted Heff’s shirt off the back-of-the-door hook, slipped it over her head, and tried to think. What should I do? Her phone was in the other room, as were her clothes. The closest thing to a weapon she could find was the shower rod, but even that idea fell flat when she saw that it was screwed into the wall.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Heff’s voice sounded through the door. Relief flooded her until she heard Heff say, “Put the gun down, Freed. It doesn’t have to go down this way.”
“The fuck it doesn’t,” Freed said.
“Does Daryl know you’re back in town, huh? Is this how you repay him for putting his badge on the line to save your sorry ass?”
“He wouldn’t have had to do that if you had just minded your own fucking business, pretty boy.”
“The Sanctuary is my business.”
“You’re no better than Winston. You think you can just roll into town and take over, but you can’t. No one wants you here.”
A light tap on the bathroom window made Sandy jump. She turned around to find Smoke motioning for her to draw up the pane.
“Dwayne Freed has a gun on Heff,” she whispered.
“We know. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t think he knows I’m in here.”
“Good. Get back in the shower and stay down. Let us handle this.”
That sounded like excellent advice to her.
She would have followed it, too, if she hadn’t heard Dwayne say, “Wait a minute. If you’re here, then who’s in your shower, pretty boy?”
“Freed!” Heff yelled as the door handle jiggled.
Two shots rang out—one into the lock on the door and one somewhere else. Sandy froze, not wanting to cross in front of the door to get to the shower.
“Get down,” Smoke hissed as he took aim at the door.
Time slowed down, as if everything were happening in slow motion. The door burst open, hiding her from immediate view as more gunshots rang out. Without thinking, Sandy snatched up the lid on top of the toilet tank and swung the heavy ceramic with all of her might. There was a sickening thud and groan, and then Dwayne Freed went down, blood gushing from the side of his face.
Heff was there in a heartbeat, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her out of the bathroom while Church and Mad Dog rushed past them.
“Are you all right? Did he hurt you?” Heff asked, his hands roaming over her body as he checked for injuries.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Are you? When I heard the gunshot, I thought ... you ... he ...” Her body began to shake as the enormity of the situation hit her.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Heff said, enveloping her in his arms. “I’m fine.”
He shifted, blocking her view so she couldn’t see what was happening.
“Is he ... did I ...”
“He’s breathing, but he’s going to have a hell of a headache when h
e wakes up in jail. Where’d you learn to swing like that, slugger?”
She laugh-cried into his chest, feeling a sudden, overwhelming rush of dizziness. “Heff?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I think I’m going to pass out now.”
Then, everything went black.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Heff
Heff turned off his phone and returned to the bed, sliding in beside Sandy. He would have preferred to have her all to himself in his cabin, but given what had happened there earlier, he’d agreed that holing up in one of the nearly finished suites in the main building was a better idea. He wanted her feeling as safe and pampered as possible.
Sandy immediately snuggled against his side. “Well?”
“Church spoke with the DA. After Freed gets out of the hospital, he’s going to be moved to a correctional facility and held without bail. She’s compiling quite a laundry list of charges against him.”
“Good. He’s an asshole.”
Heff chuckled, glad she was back to showing some sass. She’d refused to get checked out, insisting that all she needed was a warm bath, a shot of brandy, and him. Since she’d allowed him to give her a thorough once-over, he’d agreed. Physically, she was unharmed. Mentally and emotionally, however, she’d been pretty shaken up.
“What are you not telling me?” she asked. Her fingers moved over his chest, small strokes that seemed to calm her as much as him.
“She’s opening an official investigation into how that gun got into Dwayne’s hands in the first place. As a convicted felon, it’s illegal for him to own, operate, or have anything to do with firearms or ammunition.” He paused. “Your friend Petraski could be in a lot of trouble.”
“Lenny? Why?”
“Freed was crashing with him. As an officer of the law, Petraski knew that all weapons should be removed from the premises before allowing Freed to stay there.”
“Lenny, give up his guns? Never.” Sandy sighed heavily. “He always did show a lack of common sense when it came to his cousin.”
Best Laid Plans Page 26
