“Thanks.”
He grinned so hugely his wrinkles had wrinkles. “My pleasure.” He carefully scooped up the book and deposited it into the lead-lined box he’d shown up with earlier. There was a satisfying click as he locked it. “The council will be keeping this.”
Juliet turned, and found herself folded close in Chase’s arms. “I’ve heard of losing yourself in a good book, but you damn near took it too far, Juliet.” Still panting from the near miss, she threw her arms around him and rested against his broad chest. His heart beat hard beneath her ear. His arms tightened around her.
“Juliet.” Miranda’s voice broke on a sob.
No. This couldn’t end in tragedy. They’d come too far in three days to have it end badly. She sat up to look past Chase’s arm to Miranda. She cradled Caleb’s head tenderly in her lap, tears streaming down her face.
“No.” After everything they’d been through, if Caleb were to die…Juliet pushed free of Chase’s embrace. The hard tile floor bit into her knees as she crawled to her sister. She swept her gaze over Caleb’s battered features.
“He won’t wake up,” Miranda breathed.
He lay still, the rise and fall of his chest shallow but regular.
Exhaustion weighted Juliet’s limbs. The huge expenditure of power had drained their resources. If he was badly injured, they might not be able to heal him.
Her hand shook as she extended her palm over him and drew a meager healing power to her. She slowly swept it over Caleb in search of an injury. The bruises on his face drained some of it away and she paused there a moment, then moved down over her chest, stomach and his lower limbs to his knees.
“It isn’t an injury that’s keeping him asleep. And I don’t sense any drugs.”
“It’s a spell?” Miranda’s hand flew to her throat. “Since Vivian created it, we may not be able to break it.”
“You just sucked two psychotic witches into a book they were obsessed with…” Chase paused, then grimaced.
“What is it?” Juliet asked.
“It sounds corny as hell, but maybe Vivian put Caleb to sleep like Sleeping Beauty.”
A picture of Vivian holding a book about that fairy tale flashed through her mind. Juliet could picture the sadistic pleasure the woman would have gotten when she kissed Caleb awake only to tell him she’d killed the woman he loved.
Miranda had nothing to lose. “Kiss him,” she urged.
The hope and love she read in Miranda’s face as she gazed lovingly at her man brought a quick rush of tears. Miranda eased his head off her lap and curled her legs beneath her. Holding her hair back away from his face she bent and pressed her lips to his.
A moment then two passed, and she kissed him again. “Caleb, please wake up.”
Caleb’s breath hitched, and one of his hands twitched.
Juliet’s hope latched on and clung, waiting for a reason to rejoice. Chase took a step closer and rested his hand on her shoulder. She reached for it and gripped his fingers tight.
Caleb’s lids rose and he blinked, perhaps to clear his vision. His smile was something special. “Hey, Mandy.” He sat up enough to pull her close, and two clung together. Without releasing her he looked around the room. “Wow, look at that mess.”
Juliet took in the destruction. Papers were strewn around like a ticker tape parade had driven through, hundreds of books littered the floor, and the two of them looked a little disheveled.
Caleb smoothed Miranda’s hair from his face. “What did I miss?”
Epilogue
Miranda studied her kitchen with deep satisfaction. Boxes with her name on them lined one side of the room, and on the other, near the small kitchen table, stood boxes with Juliet’s name on them.
And at the moment her sister seemed to be taking a break to read one of the many newspapers she’d gathered to wrap her stuff. Joining her, she bumped Juliet’s hip with her own. “Hey, you’re supposed to be helping me pack.”
“I am, I’m just reading this article in the paper about Bobby Bush.”
Miranda looked over her shoulder at the picture on the front page of the Superstition Times. Bobby’s normally perfect hair was ruffled, and his tie hung askew. His hands were cuffed behind him so he couldn’t hide his face from the cameras. The story hadn’t only been in the Times; it had hit every paper in the state. Beside him, gripping his arm, his features grim, Chase Robinson was leading him to a patrol car.
“He’s finally gotten what he deserved years ago. Sleazebag.” She met Juliet’s gaze and smiled. “Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?” The two of them laughed.
“I may be imagining it, but it seems Detective Robinson’s name has been in the paper more and more recently.”
Juliet smiled. “Yeah, it is. Did you read where Brian Underwood left the police force? Rumor has it he was going to be demoted back to patrol officer but quit instead.”
“I heard the same rumor.” She raised a brow. And her gaze flicked back to the picture of Chase. “He’s settling injustices for you, Juliet.”
“I know.” Her voice softened.
“Has he called?”
“A few times to check in on me.”
“And?”
“We had an agreement. We’d hold off seeing each other for a few months until I got deeper into my therapy.”
The stirrings of hope fluttered in Miranda’s belly, and she turned aside to hide quick tears. She wrapped another coffee cup in newspaper. “That was a responsible thing to do, and a brave one.” Her throat hurt with the attempt to conceal her emotions. She’d waited so long to find happiness herself, and she wanted desperately for Juliet to find it too.
She stuffed the cup in the box and turned back to Juliet. “We could use an extra pair of hands and some strong shoulders to help us load and unload,” she suggested.
Juliet bit her lip. “I went a lot of years and slept with some questionable men looking for something they couldn’t give me. I couldn’t feel things. They couldn’t even give me pleasure at first. Then I finally discovered a couple who could and thought maybe it was a way to feel better. But I didn’t. I couldn’t feel anything in here.” She pointed to her heart. “I tried so hard with Tanner.” Grief shadowed her face, but she contained it. “I’m afraid to try again. And I’m afraid not to.”
“You’ve grieved for him for months, Juls. I think you did love Tanner, but were afraid to acknowledge it. And I was the same way with Caleb. But I took a chance, and it worked out beautifully. Chase may be that one man who’ll break through everything and help you find what you need.”
“Well, he has given me something I couldn’t get for myself.”
“What’s that?”
“Closure. The cops aren’t stopping me anymore to ogle my bartending leathers.” She held up the newspaper. “Bobby Bush has gotten exactly what he deserved. And Brian Underwood has been outed for the fat, lazy, sadistic bully he is.”
“After all that, I think Chase deserves at least a chance. If he didn’t really care about you, he wouldn’t have put himself out there to make things right.”
“No he wouldn’t have, would he?” She looked one last time at the photograph, then reached for another coffee cup off the island. She rolled the paper around it and Miranda turned away in disappointment.
The rattling of the paper stopped and she glanced up. Juliet pulled the paper free, set it aside and reached for a different piece.
Miranda smiled and emptied the last few cabinets of dishes onto the counter to be packed.
Caleb came to the door carrying a large box. His blond hair was mussed and the muscles of his upper arms bulged with the weight. “Hey, hon, you forgot to write what room you want this in. Want to write it on there real quick? I’m about to make a trip to the house and unload.”
Miranda smiled. “I’ll go with you.” She turned to look over her shoulder. “We’ll be back in a little while.”
Juliet nodded and kept working.
* * *
Now her s
ister was gone, Juliet pulled the article back to her and smoothed it out. She studied Chase’s photograph. He’d waited for her more patiently than she ever thought he would. Miranda was right. He was setting things right for her.
She’d relived Chase’s kiss a hundred times. No, she was lying to herself, it was at least a thousand.
Why not call him? They could take things slow. An instant excitement assailed her and she smiled. She set aside the paper and reached across the counter for her cell phone.
He picked up on the second ring. His resonant, masculine hello set off a nervous quiver, making it difficult for her to catch her breath.
“I don’t suppose you have some free time on a Sunday afternoon to help a lady move, do you?”
“Move where?”
Instead of taking umbrage at his sharp tone, she smiled. “I’m not going far. Well, actually, Miranda and I are both in the middle of a move.” She wasn’t doing this very well, but she felt tongue-tied and anxious. “She’s moving in with Caleb and I’m moving into her house. I’m there now.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
He was just as brusque and decisive as he’d been when they first met.
She rushed to the bathroom to wash up and check her appearance. Yikes! She didn’t have on a scrap of makeup, and her hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. Maybe she should have thought this through a little more. She washed the newsprint from her face and hands and brushed her hair.
The doorbell rang, and she scrambled to tuck the wisps of hair that hung on either side of her face behind her ears.
Nerves battled with her eagerness as she opened the door. Chase’s eyes were still icy blue, but full of a warmth that triggered a flutter in the pit of her stomach. Dressed in jeans and a sweater, his tall frame looked muscular and fit. His shoulders seemed somehow broader as they stretched against his sweater. The late afternoon October sun turned his blond hair to silver.
Her mouth dried with a swift sweep of physical longing. She cleared her throat in an attempt to speak.
“No one’s ever fought my battles for me the way you have.”
“I wasn’t around when you needed someone to do it, but I’m here now.”
She felt his words touch the tender, hungry part of her heart and had to fight back tears. “I don’t need you to carry my baggage for me. I just need you to give me a hand to cling to now and then while I do it.”
Chase nodded. “I can do that, Juliet.”
She extended a hand to him, and when he clasped it she drew him into the house and shut the door. They grabbed each other as if it had been a year instead of four months, clumsy in their eagerness.
His voice was husky as he tilted her face up to him. “I’ve been waiting weeks for your call.”
“I’m so glad you did.”
Then he kissed her. There was hope in this kiss, with this man. She’d been waiting a lifetime for this moment. With an open heart, she embraced it.
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Teresa Reasor was born in Southeastern Kentucky, but grew up a Marine Corps brat. The love of reading instilled in her in Kindergarten at Parris Island, South Carolina made books her friends during the many transfers her father’s military career entailed. The transition from reading to writing came easily to her and she penned her first book in second grade. But it wasn’t until 2007 that her first published work was released.
After twenty-one years as an Art Teacher and ten years as a part time College Instructor, she’s now retired and living her dream as a full time Writer.
Her body of work includes both full-length novels and shorter pieces in many different genres, Military Romantic Suspense, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, and Children’s Books.
Books by Teresa J. Reasor
BREAKING FREE (BOOK 1 of the SEAL TEAM HEARTBREAKERS)
BREAKING THROUGH (BOOK 2 of the SEAL TEAM HEARTBREAKERS)
BREAKING AWAY (BOOK 3 of the SEAL TEAM HEARTBREAKERS)
BUILDING TIES (BOOK 4 of the SEAL TEAM HEARTBREAKERS)
TIMELESS
WHISPER IN MY EAR
DEEP WITHIN THE SHADOWS
HIGHLAND MOONLIGHT
CAPTIVE HEARTS
SHORT STORIES
AN AUTOMATED DEATH
TO CAPTURE A HIGHLANDER’S HEART: THE BEGINNING
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
NOVELLAS
BREAKING TIES: A SEAL TEAM HEARTBREAKERS NOVELLA
TO CAPTURE A HIGHLANDER’S HEART: THE COURTSHIP
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
WILLY C. SPARKS: THE DRAGON WHO LOST HIS FIRE.
FOR NEW RELEASES
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Deep Within The Shadows (The Superstition Series Book 1) Page 23
