Nearest Thing to Heaven (Maverick Junction)

by Austin, Lynnette

  His hold loosened slightly, and she drew in a little more air.

  “Great place, by the way. Looks like you’ve managed to get some work done. I saw your flower drawings. The one you did of that little kid and the guy in the barn, too.”

  She’d put those in one of her dresser drawers. That meant he’d gone through her things. Her stomach rebelled, and she swallowed hard.

  His hand slipped from her mouth to reach around to the front of her blouse. Slowly, he undid the first two buttons. He ran a finger along the opening, over the top of her breasts.

  “What are you doing?” Her voice sounded small and breathless. Fearful.

  “I want us to be together. You and me.”

  “There is no us, Nathan.”

  “Why do you have to do that, Sophie? Say things you don’t mean.”

  “I do mean them.”

  “No, you don’t, and I’m tired of waiting. Tired of your games. You’ve put me off long enough.” His voice grew gruff. “No more.” With one quick tug, he rent her blouse from top to bottom.

  With a gasp, she tried to pull away, but he slammed his body into hers, knocking her into the edge of a cabinet. A jarring pain rocked through her cheek and had her seeing stars. She tasted blood and ran her tongue over her cut lip.

  Damned if she’d cry or beg. Desperately creating and discarding ideas, Sophie stilled. Had she heard footsteps on the outside stairs?

  Please let it be someone who can help me, she prayed. Not Ty, though. Oh, God, she didn’t want him to see her like this. Didn’t want him to walk in on this. And, yet, she wanted him desperately. Wanted his strong arms around her.

  Nathan heard the footsteps, too, and jerked her deeper into the kitchen, out of sight of the door’s window. “Who’s that?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Don’t give me that. Who is it?”

  “I don’t know, Nathan.”

  When he jerked her arm up behind her back, tears sprang to her eyes. “Get rid of whoever it is.”

  “Nathan,” she whispered. “You said you loved me, yet you’re hurting me. Why are you doing this?”

  “I asked you to come home, Sophie. Nicely. You didn’t listen.”

  “I still had things to take care of here.”

  “Yeah. Ty Rawlins. I heard about him over lunch. His sister-in-law was at the café when I was there, and she’s not opposed to sharing secrets with her friends.”

  Her cheeks flared with heat. “I—”

  A knock sounded at the door.

  “Sophie?”

  Brawley. Tears clogged her throat.

  “Who the hell is that?” Nathan demanded.

  “A friend.”

  He tugged her arm again, and she bit her lip to keep from whimpering. “You seem to have lots of friends here. A lot of male ones.”

  “Let go of me.”

  Brawley knocked again. “Sophie, you home?”

  “I need help!” she screamed. “Call the cops, Brawley.”

  Nathan clamped a hand over her mouth, and the cut on her lip stung.

  “Sophie!” Brawley rattled the knob, then shoved at the door, but it refused to budge. Putting his shoulder to it, he rammed it. Nothing.

  Sophie shuddered. The old thing was stronger than it looked. She tried twisting out of Nathan’s grasp, tried kicking back at him, but she couldn’t get free.

  She gasped as Brawley slammed an elbow through one of the window panes. Knocking out the shards, he reached inside and turned the lock.

  Nathan put her body squarely between himself and a meaner-than-spit Brawley.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  “This isn’t any of your business. This is between my girlfriend and me.”

  “Really?” The deep voice made Sophie want to cry. Ty stood in the doorway, broken glass crunching under his boots.

  He stepped in, glanced at Brawley. “I decided to meet you here instead of Bubba’s.” Face hard, he studied her bruised cheek. Her cut lip. Nathan’s pressure on her arm intensified, and she let out a small cry.

  Ty’s eyes blazed. “You’re gonna want to let go of her.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Before Sophie could open her mouth, Ty had covered the distance between them.

  The coward in Nathan surfaced. He released his grip on her and backed up several steps.

  Ty reached for Sophie and thrust her behind him. “Get her out of here, Brawley.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not leaving.”

  Catching Nathan by the shirtfront, Ty jerked his feet off the floor till they were nose to nose. “You must be Nathan. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t beat you to a bloody pulp.”

  “Brawley, call the cops,” Sophie pleaded.

  Without even glancing at them, Ty ground out, “You do that, pal. In the meantime, this joker and I are gonna have ourselves a come-to-Jesus moment.”

  “I don’t have to say anything to you.”

  “No, you don’t.” In one quick move, Ty dropped him, turned him around, and jerked his arm up. He leaned over Nathan’s shoulder, his mouth close to Nathan’s ear. “How’s it feel, buddy boy? Huh?”

  Clutching at the torn shreds of her top, Sophie listened as Brawley gave the dispatcher her address, all the while keeping her eyes on Ty. She’d never seen this side of him. Never seen anything like it before, period.

  “Ty—”

  “Stay out of this, Sophie.” Applying a little more pressure, he said, “So you’re the guy who’s been bothering our Sophie. And now you’ve broken into her home. Hurt her.”

  “She’s my Sophie.”

  “She’s not your Sophie,” Brawley said, tucking his phone in his pocket. “From the looks of things when I got here, she didn’t appear any too happy to see you.”

  “I flew here from Chicago, Sophie, just for you,” Nathan whined. “I sent you flowers. Notes.”

  “You’re stalking me, and it stops now. You’re breaking the law.”

  “Your lip is bleeding, sugar,” Ty said. “And you’ve got one hell of a bruise on your cheek.”

  “She made me do that. She wouldn’t listen to me.”

  Sophie held her breath. The look on Ty’s face surely meant death for someone, and Nathan had to know it.

  Just then the sound of a siren split the air. Thank you, God. But before Jimmy and his deputy could make it up the stairs, Ty drew back his fist and caught Nathan with a right hook to the jaw.

  The man dropped like a baby grand piano from a fifth-story window.

  Ty shook his hand and caught her gaze. “He was resisting me.”

  “I saw him,” Brawley said. “And I’ll testify in court.”

  Sophie’s swollen lips turned up in a hint of a smile.

  “Oh, Ty.”

  “I owed him one—if for nothing else than that look of fear he put in your eyes.” Nudging Nathan with the toe of his boot, he said, “Thank God you decided to stop by here, Brawley. If he’d laid his hand on Sophie once more, he’d be drinking his meals through a straw for a long, long time.”

  The sheriff and his deputy came through the door, guns drawn. Taking in Brawley and Ty, Nathan unconscious at their feet, they both stopped.

  “You okay?” Jimmy asked Sophie.

  “I am now. Ty and Brawley—” Her composure slipped. Now that it was over, she started to tremble and sat down right there in the middle of the kitchen floor. While Derik Mullens cuffed a shaky, dazed Nathan and listened to his complaints of brutality, Jimmy led Sophie to a chair and took several pictures of her bruises, her torn blouse. Asked questions.

  When she told him about the florist delivery, he glanced up from his notepad. “You still have those flowers or the card that came with them?”

  “I threw them in the trash. Outside.”

  “Mind if we dig them out?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Got any of his e-mails? They’d help prove a pattern.”

  “On my laptop.”

&n
bsp; Jimmy nodded. “In and of itself, neither of those would be enough. But you put them all together, along with what he did tonight, we should be able keep him behind bars for a good while.”

  “If it goes to court, there are several people in Chicago who will be more than happy to testify.” She told him about Kyle’s tires, Nathan’s visits to Madison and Dee.

  “He has a key.”

  “For your apartment?”

  She nodded. “Both here and in Chicago, apparently. He found the ones I hid and had copies made.”

  “We’ll relieve him of those.”

  “You’ll be sorry,” Nathan warned as Derik walked him out the door. “You’re mine, Sophie. Forever.”

  “And that will help,” Jimmy said, even as she paled. “Come on into the station tomorrow to fill out the paperwork, okay?” He cast an eye at Ty and Brawley. “You two gonna be here for a bit?”

  “Yes, sir,” Ty answered.

  “Good.” Jimmy tipped his hat at Sophie. “Get something over this broken window.”

  “I’ll take care of that,” Brawley said. “Dottie’s got all kinds of stuff in her shed, so I’m sure I can find something to nail over the opening.”

  He left, and the cruiser—with Nathan in it—pulled from the drive.

  Ty dragged Sophie to him and buried his face in her hair. The rapid beat of his heart matched her own. “Oh, Sophie, he hurt you.”

  “I’m okay, Ty. I’m okay. You stopped him.”

  “If Brawley hadn’t decided to come by with that tag—” He broke off.

  “Why did you come?”

  “I had a gut feeling something was wrong. Oh, God, Tink.” He kissed the top of her head, her forehead, her unmarked cheek.

  “I…I think…” Her tears started then in earnest. “If you hadn’t—”

  “Shhh, darlin’, don’t go there.” He wrapped her in his arms and held her close while she cried.

  The cat crawled out from behind a chair and wound herself between their legs, making little mewing noises as if she, too, understood and sympathized.

  Ty picked Sophie up and carried her across the room. After settling her on the old couch, he covered her with an afghan.

  When he stood, Sophie grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t leave me.”

  “Hush, sugar. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into her bedroom and came back with a T-shirt. Slipping it over her head, he slid off the torn top, and helped her thread her arms into the shirt.

  Brawley quietly came through the door with a piece of plywood. He nailed it in place and swept up the glass. “If you’re okay here, I’m going to head home.”

  When Sophie made to get up, Ty held her in place. “We’re good. I owe you. Big time. Thanks, pal.”

  Sophie blinked back still more tears. “Brawley, thank you.”

  “Oh, God, Soph. I’m so sorry neither of us got here before the jerk hurt you.” He strode across the room, gave her a hard hug, then left, closing the door gently behind him.

  “Sophie, I—” Ty’s gray eyes darkened to the color of a winter day just before a major storm. “Pack a bag. I’m taking you home with me tonight.”

  “Ty, I don’t want to take this to your home. To your kids. If anything happened—”

  “Nathan’s in jail, Tink. None of it goes with you. There’s no danger to the boys.”

  “Then why do I—”

  “Because I want you with me. Because I need it.”

  She said nothing, just stared at him open-mouthed.

  “What? You have nothing to say all of a sudden?”

  She shook her head.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I’m sleeping in the guest room.” Sophie stood uneasily in the middle of Ty’s living room, clutching her overnighter. Lilybelle meowed angrily inside the cat carrier.

  The house was silent, the kids and Trouble fast asleep upstairs. Haley had said her good-byes and hightailed it for home the minute she’d spied the less-than-happy expressions on their faces.

  Ty jammed both hands in his back pockets and bit back an oath. “You’ve been through a hell of a scare tonight, Tink. You don’t have to pretend everything’s fine.”

  “You’re coddling me.”

  “What? Because I wouldn’t let you drive yourself here?”

  She nodded.

  “Look at your hands, Sophie. They’re still shaking.”

  She quickly tucked them behind her.

  “You’re a mess. It wouldn’t have been safe. For you or anybody else out there on the road.”

  She opened her mouth, ready to argue again.

  “Don’t,” he said. “It’s done. Brawley drove your car here, although, right now, he’s not the steadiest thing I’ve seen on two legs, either. But he’s a damn sight better off than you.”

  Sophie scowled. “You shouldn’t have called him back to do that. And now he’s driven home in your truck and his is back at my place. Which means tomorrow you two have to waste time shuffling vehicles.”

  “No big deal. In the meantime, everybody’s got a ride. The van’s here if we need it…and you’ve got your own car. I get that you need some control. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a win-win.” He paused a heartbeat. “But sleeping in the other room is just plain stupid.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yeah. You’ve already spent a night in my bed.”

  “The kids weren’t here then.”

  Exasperated, he swiped a hand over his face. “Look, sweetheart, tonight’s been hard on you. Hard on all of us. Hell, when I walked in and saw Nathan with his hands on you…”

  He stopped. Closed his eyes. “I can’t begin to imagine what you went through. The fear. Walking in. Having him there. I swear they’d better keep him locked up a long, long time ’cause if I ever run into him, I’m not quite sure what I might do.”

  Sophie took his hand, raised it to her lips, and kissed the back of it, the knuckles scraped where they’d met with Nathan’s jaw. “You came. And I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

  “I didn’t know, Tink. When I decided I needed to see you, to meet Brawley at your place instead of Bubba’s, I didn’t know. I aged ten years in the few minutes it took me to get Nathan away from you. I can never repay Brawley for tonight.”

  Their eyes met. “Sophie, you’re killing me.”

  He leaned down and their lips touched, setting off a fire so hot she wondered they didn’t both burn to a crisp.

  “Does your lip hurt?”

  “Not anymore.”

  He kissed her again, gently.

  When she pulled away, she patted his cheek. “I’m still sleeping in the guest room. Lilybelle and me.”

  She opened the carrier, and the huffy cat walked out, all straight-legged and injured pride.

  Ty thumped his head against the wall behind him. “You might look delicate, but you’re one tough cookie.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I didn’t mean that as a compliment.”

  “I know.”

  “Tink, I’d sleep a whole hell of a lot better with you beside me.”

  She mustered a weak smile. “Liar. Neither one of us would get any sleep.”

  His dimples winked. “You’re probably right, although I want you to know I can control myself when necessary.”

  Her eyes held his.

  He raised a hand in surrender. “Okay, the guest room it is—if you’re sure that’s what you really want.”

  “It’s what I need, Ty.”

  “Fine.” He kissed the top of her head and took her bag. “I’ll be lying awake in my room if you change your mind.”

  *

  When Ty’s alarm went off, Sophie hopped from bed and opened her door, Lilybelle following. She’d tossed and turned till dawn peeped around the edge of the blinds in her room, then had dropped into a dreamless sleep. Now, she felt groggy and disoriented.

  Jesse and Jonah burst from their bedroom with ear-splitting whoops. Josh followed slowly, dragging a ratty old blanket and l
ooking on the verge of tears.

  Spotting Sophie, all three rushed her. When they caught sight of the cat, their onslaught turned into a stampede.

  Lilybelle turned and scurried across the hardwood, taking refuge beneath the bed.

  “Whoa, boys. You’ll knock Sophie down.” Ty stepped into the hall, shirtless, his hair on end. He looked rumpled and absolutely gorgeous.

  Their eyes met over the kids.

  “Good morning,” he said, voice husky from sleep.

  “Good morning.” She felt ridiculously shy, considering she’d shared a bed with him last time she’d spent the night. Somehow, though, this was different.

  “Not quite what you’re used to?” he asked.

  “Not even close. I like to ease into my day.”

  “Not gonna happen here. We start the day with a vengeance. Zero to ninety in the space of a heartbeat.”

  Josh patted her leg to get her attention. “Is the kitty coming out?”

  “Probably not right now,” she answered. Trouble had wandered into the guest room, and Lilybelle was now howling and spitting from her hidey-hole. Sophie shooed the puppy out of the room.

  “Can we stay home and play with Sophie today?” Jesse asked.

  “Now there’s an idea,” Ty whispered as they followed the kids downstairs.

  “Yeah, can we, Daddy?”

  “No, Josh, you can’t. Grandma and Grandpa will be here soon to pick you up for Sunday school.”

  He started to whine.

  “Enough, bud. Sophie will be here when you get home.”

  “Her kitty, too?”

  “Her kitty, too.”

  She shot Ty a warning glance. “Don’t make promises you can’t deliver.”

  “I’m not.” He kept his voice low-pitched. “You’re staying here till I’m sure you’re safe.”

  “I never said I’d stay more than last night. Even that was under protest.”

  “No, guess you didn’t, but it’s the only plan that makes any sense. Don’t go cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

  She decided not to answer him. Right now wasn’t the time for this discussion. Not with the kids and their little ears.

  Bumping and jostling each other, the boys descended on the kitchen and scooted up to the table. They rested heads on folded arms, watching her and their dad dance around each other.