The men all shared a look. Logan said, “I wanted to take him
in.”
Hands locked in fists, Peterson agreed. “I wanted him to stand
trial. I wanted—”
“Sometimes,” Alice interrupted, “it’s better when they’re
dead.”
“Whoa.” Pepper leaned into Logan’s good side.
Sharing that sentiment, he hugged her with his uninjured arm.
Better when they’re dead.
So who else had Alice
tangled with? And who were
they?
“Alice?” Reese touched her chin and brought her face around
toward him. “Any second now I’m going to have my hands full. Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
Pepper glanced at Logan with sharp worry. He understood her
concern, but he didn’t know what he could do about it.
“You’ll watch my dog?” Reese asked her.
Alice stood there, lost in thought for too many heartbeats
until she finally pulled herself together. “Yes, Cash will be safe and waiting
for you when you return.”
“I want you to be waiting, as well.”
She lifted her chin. “I’m not running off.”
“Good to know.”
Logan figured there was a whole lot going on there, but now
wasn’t the time to ask about it.
“Let’s go.” Reese hauled the other man off the floor and,
ignoring his complaints, half dragged him from the room. Alice took the dog’s
leash and followed Reese.
“Dash?”
Being a cop’s brother, Dash knew enough to stand just outside
the perimeter of destruction. Smart. Logan drew his attention. “Would you mind
making sure that no neighbors wander in?”
He scrutinized Logan, glanced at Pepper, and rubbed the back of
his neck. “Yeah, sure. No problem.”
Amused, Logan said to Pepper, “My brother is concerned for me,
but he’s manning up so he won’t upset you.”
“He’s considerate.” She narrowed her eyes at Rowdy. “Unlike my
brother.”
Rowdy tossed a sheet over Andrews. “How’s that for
consideration?”
She shuddered. “It’s morbid but…thank you.”
Logan would have worried about him taking off, except that he
knew Rowdy wouldn’t leave his sister.
Pepper was damn good insurance toward a new life for Rowdy. And
that pleased Logan, because they both deserved so much.
Pepper gazed in the direction Alice had gone. “I think
something very tragic must have happened to that poor woman.”
“Probably.” Logan drew her closer to kiss her brow. “But she’ll
be okay.” Reese would see to it…somehow. “What about you?”
She stroked back his hair, touched a bruise on his jaw. “What
about me?”
He’d already told her that he loved her; no reason to belabor
the point right now. “You’re doing all right?”
“Andrews is gone, thanks to you.” She exchanged the bloody
towel for a fresh one and winced. “Where are those damned paramedics,
anyway?”
Peterson said, “I’ll check on them.”
Logan struggled to his feet.
“What are you doing?” In a near panic, Pepper scrambled up
beside him.
He didn’t want her to be in the same room with a dead body, and
beyond that, he had no intention of sitting on his ass while others around him
handled things.
Unfortunately, he barely made it out of the room before the
paramedics were on him. He clasped Pepper’s hand. “I want you with me
tonight.”
“Ha!” She kissed him again, quick and hard. “Just try getting
rid of me.”
* * *
I
N
THE
PREDAWN
HOURS
of the
following day, after a lengthy stint at the hospital, too many questions and far
too much time away from Pepper, Logan finally got into his own bed, in his own
home. Peterson had called just a few minutes ago to update him on the progress
with the human trafficking ring.
They’d busted a lot of people and were now en route to
intercept a transfer…of women.
Over and over, Logan had to remind himself that Morton Andrews
was dead, and Pepper was no longer in any danger.
He sank into the mattress with a great sigh of relief.
“Okay?” she asked while touching his jaw.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want something to drink?” She smoothed back his hair.
“To eat?”
This was a quirky mood for her, being so touchy-feely while
pampering him. “No, I’m fine.”
“Thank God Reese brought you a clean shirt.” She opened the
buttons while saying that. “Tell me if I hurt you.”
As long as she didn’t leave him, she wouldn’t hurt him.
She eased the shirt away and went to work on his shoes and then
his pants.
“I’m not an invalid, you know.”
“No, but you are right-handed and the doctor said your deltoid
is going to hurt like crazy for a while, so I’m helping, end of story. Now, can
you lift your hips?”
Charmed by the mix of bossy and nurturing, Logan did as
directed. “Okay if I keep my boxers?” he teased.
“If you insist.” Her hair fell around her face as she dragged
the pants down his legs. She plumped a pillow behind him so he could rest back
on the headboard, then drew a sheet up and over him.
Trying to ignore the constant throbbing in his arm, Logan
watched her move around the room, putting his clothes on a chair, tossing his
shoes in a closet.
He had her in his house, in his bedroom, and whatever it took,
he’d keep her there.
Strain showed in her drooping shoulders, the shadows under her
eyes. Her hair hadn’t seen a comb since early the previous morning.
“You are so beautiful.”
A secret little smile peeked through the fatigue as she dug in
a drawer and found a clean T-shirt. She shook it out. “Pain must be affecting
your vision. Are you sure you don’t want a pill?”
“Not yet.” He’d already gotten a shot for pain along with a
load dose of antibiotics in his backside. He’d be taking more antibiotics for a
week and wearing the damned sling for longer than that. He had pain pills to
take, but he wanted to be clearheaded for his conversation with Pepper.
He waited for her to remove her clothes.
Eyeing him, she held the shirt to her chest and chastised him
with another indulgent smile. “You realize that hot stare is wasted. You’re in
no shape to do anything.”
“I can hold you.” He patted the left side of the bed. “Right
here.” He wanted to feel her heart beating with his. He wanted to breathe in her
scent and listen to her sleeping. He wanted to tell her that no one and nothing
could ever hurt her again—but in many ways, he was the one who’d hurt her the
most.
Worry etched her brow. “What if I bump you in the night?”
Bumping he could take. Sleeping alone—no way. “I
need
to hold you.”
She said nothing, just stood there, his shirt in her hands,
several feet from the bed.
He tried for patience, but it wasn’t easy when he so
desperately wanted her beside him. “Are you hungry?”
“No. Dash got me a sandwich at the hospital.”
Thank God both his brother and hers had stuck around to keep
her company until he’d finally been released. After dropping off clean clothes,
Reese had joined Peterson in a sting against the traffickers.
“The master bath is through that door. There’s another in the
hall if you want privacy.”
“It’s a nice house.”
A house she hadn’t even noticed as she’d hustled him through it
and into bed. “Thank you.” He started to tell her that she could change anything
she wanted, but maybe that’d be moving too fast for her. She needed time to
acclimate to an entire transformation in her life.
“Rowdy will come by tomorrow.”
“He told me.” As soon as the hospital released him, Rowdy had
taken off. Logan didn’t know where he’d go, and Pepper seemed to take it for
granted that he’d do his own thing, in his own way.
Dash had driven them to Logan’s home, and Logan knew he’d
wanted to hang around, but like Rowdy, he understood that Logan wanted time
alone with Pepper. “If you’re worried about him—”
“Rowdy?” She shook her head. “No, that’s not what I’m worried
about.”
He’d already shared Peterson’s report about the trafficking
ring, so she knew that was over. And while they were both concerned for Alice,
they had no influence there.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
She licked her lips. “I don’t have…anything.” As if they were a
longtime couple, she stripped off her clothes without fanfare or modesty and
pulled on the T-shirt.
Logan would never tire of looking at her. “What do you
need?”
“Everything.” Warming to that subject, she explained, “What
little I owned was in the apartment that burned down or at the warehouse, and
now that the police know about it, they’ve taken it over, at least for now.”
So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours, he hadn’t
thought that far ahead. “We can go shopping tomorrow.”
Absently, she said, “No, tomorrow you have to rest. The doctor
said so.” She put her clothes on the chair with his. “I was trying to think
about it, but…now that I don’t have to hide anymore, the list just keeps growing
in my mind.”
Rowdy said he and Pepper had enough money to endure, but what
did that mean? Logan wanted her to do more than endure—he wanted her to
thrive.
With him.
She sat on the bed near his hip. “Everything is so different
now.”
Logan couldn’t deny that. “I want it to be better.” He’d wanted
that almost from the day he met her.
“We have money, you know. Rowdy’s always seen to that. And he
probably has a car for me.” The corner of her mouth lifted. “He usually thinks
of everything for me. But there’s no job, no home, no clothes or food or dishes
or furniture.”
How unsettled must she feel? Logan needed to reassure her. He’d
be happy if she moved in with him, if she let him take her shopping.
But how could he suggest that without insulting her independent
nature or stepping on Rowdy’s toes?
She licked her lips. “The thing is, there’s no fear, either. No
threat, no worry.” She inhaled. “And I hope no more…loneliness.”
A hint? God, he hoped so. “Do you think you can forgive
me?”
As if he hadn’t spoken, she said, “I want to jog. God, I miss
jogging.”
“As soon as I can, I’ll jog with you.”
With the softest expression he’d ever seen on a woman, she
touched his wounded arm in a butterfly caress. “I want to go to movies and
restaurants. Maybe the park. And the lake. I’d love to go swimming, boating,
too.”
“I won’t be up for all that today, but tomorrow…” He shifted,
felt the burn of his wound, and retreated. “Maybe day after tomorrow?”
She paused, a little self-conscious, and said in a barely-there
whisper, “What if that bullet had struck a little higher?”
“It didn’t. It’s just my arm, and that will be fine soon
enough.”
Her eyes went glassy; her lips trembled. “You could have been
killed, Logan, and I…”
He took her hand and lowered it from his arm. If she cried, it
would
kill him.
To distract her, he said, “Give me a few days, and I’ll do
everything with you.”
“Everything, huh?” Her hand smoothed over his abdomen, making
him twitchy. “There’s no more risk for me, you know.”
Meaning she’d rather do those things alone? She kept him so
bemused, his head started to pound. “I never want you at risk again.”
Looking impish, she whispered, “Well, maybe a little risk…”
“No.” He sat forward—and she immediately protested the stress
on his injury. Logan didn’t care. He caught her upper arms and held her still.
“The only risk I want you to have is my last name.”
Slowly, she stopped fussing at him and gifted him with a smile
so scorching, his arm could have fallen off and he wouldn’t notice. “Seriously,
Detective Riske? I don’t know. I was thinking more about risking my heart.”
His blood rushed. “With me.”
She outright laughed. “Yes, with you.” She leaned forward and
kissed him. “Though I have to say, the last name works for me, too.”
His heart skipped a beat. “You’ll marry me?”
“You need to understand, Logan. When you left me in Alice’s
apartment and went off to tangle with Andrews…” She closed her eyes a moment.
“God, I was so scared.”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“No, you don’t know. Because I haven’t told you.” She touched
his chest where the white sling wrapped over his shoulder, and shuddered. “But
I’m not a coward.”
“No, definitely not.”
She met his gaze. “I let you think I was only worried for
Rowdy. I even told myself that’s all it was, because I was still mad, and hurt,
and…a little afraid.”
“With reason.” He folded her hand in his. “I never should have
used you like that.”
“But I’m so glad you did.” She smiled at his surprise. “You’re
the best thing that’s ever happened to me. If you hadn’t come into my life, what
would my life be right now? You not only freed me, you freed my brother,
too.”
He wanted no misunderstandings. “I love you.”
She breathed a little faster. “You’re a part of my life now—a
better life—and I don’t ever want to lose you.”
He’d damn well hold her to that—right now. “Tell me you’ll
marry me, Pepper.”
Laughing a little, she said, “I will. And I’ll love you. And
spend my life with you.”
Contentment moderated his aches and amplified his
exhaustion.
“But for right now,” she said, easing him back in the bed, “I’d
really like to just sleep.”
“With me.” He pulled her down with him, locking her in
close.
“Yes.” She hugged him carefully, kissed his chest. Sleepily,
she asked, “Big wedding or small?”
“Whatever you want.”
She yawned. “Tomorrow we can tell Rowdy and Dash about our
plans to marry.” She snuggled closer. “And of course we’ll tell Reese.”
It pleased him that Rowdy and Pepper now trusted Reese.
“Maybe, if Reese wants, we could even invite Alice to the
wedding. I don’t really have any female friends, but I liked her. And I think
she’s more than earned the chance to celebrate with us.”