The thought was so absurd, he burst out laughing. “Remy,” he finally said. “We’ve only been seeing each other for a week.”
“So what?” Remy countered. “You’ve known her your entire life, and she’s wanted you pretty much for that entire time.” Remy took a step and closed the distance between them. Under her scrutiny, his heart began to race, sweat building on his flesh. “She deserves your commitment. Totally in. One hundred percent.”
Rhett gave her an incredulous look. “She wouldn’t say yes, even if I asked.”
“Maybe not,” Remy said with a shrug. “But at least you’ll have shown her that you’re serious. That this isn’t just you going with the flow, taking what you want, and having fun. Because soon this is going to get serious. Very serious. You’re having a baby together.”
His back went ramrod straight. “I’m quite aware of the serious nature of things, Remy.”
Her brows shot up. “Are you? Really? Because one day, that little baby is going to grow up and be a kid and ask you, ‘Daddy, why aren’t you and Mommy married?’ And what answer will you give?”
He glanced away, taking in what she’d said. He’d expected Boone to have this conversation with him, but he was actually more supportive than Remy. He waited for a couple of women to enter the bathroom before he said, “You’re talking years ahead. Things are good right now. We’re taking this day by day, slowly.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and dipped his chin, looking into her eyes. “I know you’re worried about Kinsley. I know that my track record doesn’t bode well to ease those worries, but this is Kinsley’s show. The moment she’s not happy, things will change, and I’ll do what I can to ensure that I don’t hurt her.” He gave her an honest smile. “You’re a good friend to corner me and give it to me straight, but hurting her is the very last thing I want to do.”
Remy considered him for a good long moment then sighed and stepped back. “All right, I can live with that.” She began to turn away but then stopped and looked back at him. “Just so we’re clear, if you do hurt her, I’ll hex you.”
He laughed, shaking his head at her. “You know I don’t believe in that magic shit.”
“Yeah, well, hurt her, and kiss your erections goodbye, buddy.” She spun on her heels and marched away as if she meant every single word.
Rhett frowned after her. She couldn’t…she wouldn’t…
Her grin back at him declared she most certainly would.
Chapter 11
“Wild night last night?” Benji asked by way of greeting as he entered the bar from the back room the next afternoon.
“Wild night for everyone else in town but me,” Kinsley said with a smile, adding more beer bottles from the box to the fridge. Truth was, as much as she loved a good party, she had to admit that not being hung over this morning wasn’t horrible either. She’d done her laundry, and Rhett’s too. Her to-do list was basically down to zero, and her accounting had never been this up to date. Though all day her mind had been stuck on when she saw Remy pull Rhett away for an obvious talk last night. When Kinsley had asked Rhett about it later, he muttered something about Remy loving her and something about his erections. The conversation was confusing, and Rhett looked a little pale about the erection part, so Kinsley left it alone, figuring Remy had threatened him somehow. “We went to Merlots,” she explained to Benji, folding up the box. “They all drank. I ate ice cream.”
Benji laughed. “Not as good as the chocolate martinis you love so much, but a close second, right?”
“It made me happy,” Kinsley agreed. She shoved the box in the recycling bin before addressing him again. “Last night looked busy.” When she’d come in this morning and took a look at the sales report Benji had left for her on her desk, she’d nearly jumped up and down. Whiskey Blues was having its best year yet. “You should have called me in.”
“Yeah, it was nonstop,” Benji said with a shrug. “I called Lola in. She didn’t mind, and really, we got this place handled.”
Benji was a godsend employee. “I hope the tips made up for the rush.”
A bright grin filled his face. “Lola said she made enough to buy a purse she’d been looking at. She left a happy girl. And I basically made my car payment. We’re good, so stop worrying.”
“Okay, fine, I won’t worry then.” Kinsley had worked so hard after college getting the bar up and running. To step back felt completely unnatural.
“Anything from the insurance adjuster?” Benji asked.
“Nope. I called him this morning for an update, but he said these things take time, and it’ll be another few days or so before anything happens.”
Benji leaned his hip against the ice bin, crossing his arms. “How long do you think we’ll have to close to get in all the new stuff?”
“I’m hoping just a couple days,” she answered. “We’ll shut down on a Monday and Tuesday when things are dead.”
“Cool,” Benji said. “My parents have been nagging at me to come see them. Maybe I’ll go head out there.” Benji’s mom and dad were snowbirds and spent the winter in Florida.
“The beach sounds very nice right about now,” Kinsley said, glancing out the window. The current storm was dumping heavy snow on the town. Usually that meant fewer customers.
Benji followed her gaze and snorted. “Yeah, no kidding. They’ve got a killer condo down there right on the water. You’ll have to come sometime.”
The thought of bright sun and warm days nearly had her saying yes, but…she placed her hand on her belly. “I doubt I’ll be going anywhere for a while. I kinda got my hands full.”
“Right,” Benji said with a wink. “I guess the baby will make traveling a bit hard now.”
Everything was changing now. Good changes. And scary changes, too. The unknown never made her feel great. Ready to end her workday and curl up on the couch with a bag of chips and Netflix, she reached for the garbage bag, determined to help Benji before she headed out for the night.
As soon as her fingers brushed against the bag, Benji nudged her hand away. “I’ll take it,” he said.
“Touch that garbage bag and die,” Kinsley stated very slowly.
Benji barked out a laugh and held his hands up in surrender. “Damn. I almost forgot the bite you have.”
“I’m pregnant, not fragile,” she reminded him. “Please don’t baby me. You know I’ll hate every second of that.”
“I do know that.” His smile beamed as he shook his head. “I’ll never understand you. Most women want a gentleman.”
“Yeah, but those women probably didn’t grow up surrounded by a bunch of big tough guys.” She’d always liked standing on her own two feet. “Trust me, if I need help, I’ll ask, okay?”
“Deal,” Benji said, turning away to do more bar prep.
Kinsley finished tying up the garbage bag then carried it into the back. Justin stood with his back to her, his headphones stuck in his ears. He was bobbing his head to the beat of his music while he organized his kitchen for the night ahead.
“Hey,” she called.
Nothing. No response.
She laughed, honestly wondering how Justin didn’t have hearing problems. Until the night got busy, he shut out the world with whatever music he was listening to. She lifted the garbage bag a little higher, noticing there was a hole in the bottom dripping whatever grossness onto the floor. As if on cue, her stomach roiled at the retched stench coming from the dark liquid. She hurried to get outside and breathed deep past the somersaulting of her stomach, keeping her lips shut tight. The snow fell from the sky in huge flakes. Kinsley loved nights like this. As a kid, she used to stand out in the snow and eat the snowflakes as they came down. She shivered now, thinking kids had to have inner furnaces or something. She used to spend hours outside. Now she’d much rather sit by a cozy fire, curled up with Rhett, if she was being honest with herself.
By the time she’d tossed the garbage bag into the larger bin outside, and took in two deep gulps of cold, fresh air, the n
ausea settled. That was a step forward in the right direction. Maybe this morning sickness was finally over. She hoped so.
She relatched the metal clamps on the side of the garbage bin to keep the raccoons and bears out. Not that there were a lot of bears that came into town, but there had been at least two since she’d owned the bar. Both were shot with darts and relocated before anyone got hurt. With a final wipe of her hands on her leggings, she turned around, walking right into a wall of hard chest.
“Shit,” she exclaimed, taking a step back.
One look at the ski mask covering the man’s face, and cold fear bit into her. Everything happened so fast after that. She glimpsed dangerous blue eyes narrowed on her. But then those eyes were gone as fingers caught her by her throat and she was spun around and pressed against the wall. His fingers squeezed and squeezed, her cheek burning against the brick cutting into her flesh.
“You do not take warnings well,” he said, his voice deep…dark. But that’s not the only thing she noticed. His free hand pressed against the wall in front of her face, and there peeking out from the arm of his jacket was the tattoo on his wrist. The man currently immobilizing her was the same man that Rhett had told her to run from.
But she couldn’t run.
He squeezed her neck tighter. “Apparently, you can’t fucking listen,” he growled in her ear. “This is the last warning you’ll get. Close down and stay the fuck closed.” He leaned in and his hot breath, smelling of cigarettes and alcohol, brushed across the side of her face. “It’s not in your baby’s best interest to ignore what I’ve told you. Do you understand fully this time?”
He released her neck enough to let her wheeze, “Yes.”
Then she learned the he’d come there to make a point. One that he made clearly as he sent her flying to the left. Her head smashed into the brick wall next to her, blinding pain slamming into her. Darkness crept into her vision, and tiredness sank in deep as the icy wetness beneath her suddenly began to feel cold. A fear she’d never known froze her. She fought to keep her eyes open, narrowing her focus on his black boots right in front of her. The baby…the baby…the baby…She blinked, her eyelids heavy and slow, and then the boots moved away from her, leaving footprints in the snow as he left her on the ground.
Get up.
Move.
She tried to push up, but her limbs felt impossibly heavy. Rhett…
* * *
The hard thumping of Rhett’s heartbeat thundered in his ears. He breathed in and out, relying on his training to control his emotions, and yet nothing eased the tightness in his chest. Fear, he realized when he pulled up to the hospital. But he didn’t know this emotion. Fear usually made him sharper, quicker, and enabled him to act until that fear drifted away. Now desperation cut through him like a sharp blade, leaving him more wounded than the bullet that had ended his military career.
At the emergency entrance, he slammed on the brakes of his truck. He darted out a second later, leaving the door open and the keys in the ignition, thinking only of Kinsley and the baby, the worst thoughts filling his mind. He charged through the hospital doors, running down the hallway. He’d been in Whitby Falls when Boone told him that Kinsley had been found outside her bar knocked out cold. A clear attack, Boone had said, and Rhett had never known the type of fury that came over him. Her body temperature had dropped to a dangerous degree, and that’s what the doctors were most concerned about. The last update Rhett got was that Kinsley was under heating blankets and was awake and alert.
The sweat felt cold on his flesh, his T-shirt slicked to him beneath his leather jacket. He skidded to a halt at the nurses’ station and slapped a hand on the desk. “Kinsley Knight.”
The nurse on duty slowly rose, giving Rhett a hard stare. “Are you family?”
“I’m her boyfriend.” The words left his mouth in such a rush that his brain didn’t get a chance to catch up to what he’d said.
The nurse frowned. “Identification, please.”
On any other day, Rhett would applaud this nurse’s firmness. Not today. “It’s Rhett West.” He slapped his badge on the counter. “The room number. Now.”
Another nurse poked her head out from the doorway to the right. “It’s fine, Joy, he’s the father of her baby,” the brunette said. “She’s in room one hundred and seventy.”
“Thank you,” Rhett breathed to his one-time lover from after his first tour in Afghanistan. He didn’t wait for Shannon’s response, just took off running down the hallway, passing doctors and a couple of cops on his way. 140…154…He turned right and slowed when he saw the rookie, Cameron, stationed outside a door.
“She’s in there,” Cameron said, gesturing to the door on his left.
Rhett bolted through the door, stopping short when he spotted Kinsley lying in the bed. “Jesus fucking Christ,” spilled from his mouth. He was well aware their inner circle was in the room, as was Hank, but Rhett’s attention stayed fixated on the deep scratches on her cheek. A dark purple color shadowed her cheekbone, the early signs of a bruise. Monitors surrounded the hospital bed, and the lumps on her belly beneath her hospital gown indicated some of those monitors were keeping an eye on their baby.
He slowly looked up at her face, staring into those gorgeous eyes. He’d known anger and rage and everything in between. This, he’d never known. He wanted to peel back the skin off whoever had touched her in a way that went against everything he believed in.
Whatever she saw on his face only made hers tighten. “I’m okay.”
His nostrils flared, the rage burning white-hot in the blood in his veins. He stood there, feeling the tremble of his body, the clench of his fists.
“Rhett,” she said softly, but not weakly, as she reached out a hand to him. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
Unaware of anything but her, he moved to her, tangling his fingers with hers. He sat next to her and raised her hand to his mouth. Jesus Christ. He had never felt this kind of fear, one that crippled him. Didn’t understand it. When he finally felt a smidgen of control, he looked at her again, and she had tears in her eyes. “How hurt are you?” he asked.
“My cheek, but it’s not that bad.” She touched her neck and winced. “Here’s a bit tender.”
Rhett stared at that spot on her neck. A spot he’d kissed. A spot that another man had no right touching, especially to hurt her. He released a breath, gaining back more of the control that had been slipping away. Slowly, so he didn’t scare her, he cupped her face. Something broke and warmed simultaneously as she leaned into his touch. “What did he do to you?” he asked her. “Every word. Every hurt caused. Tell me all of it.” And then he’d make the person pay.
“I went outside to put the garbage out,” she said. Her chin quivered, tears filling her eyes. “He was just there. Out of nowhere. He grabbed my neck and had me up against the wall.”
Rhett stared at those marks on her cheek. “He pressed your cheek to the wall?”
She nodded, another tear sliding down that injured cheek. “That’s when I saw the tattoo.”
Rhett wiped the tear away, careful not to touch her scrapes, and she drew in a shuddering breath. “The same tattoo I showed you?”
“Yeah,” she said with a nod, her dark hair blanketing the pillow. “He said I was stupid to ignore that first warning and keep the bar open. That the next warning wasn’t in the best interests of my baby.”
Rhett’s chest hollowed. He placed his hand on her belly, just beneath the strap and monitors there. “He threatened our child’s life?”
Her voice broke. “Considering he said it with his hand cutting off all my air supply, I got the feeling he meant me too.”
Rhett shut his eyes and breathed deep, struggling not to explode. He called in every ounce of training the military had instilled in him.
He let a beat pass.
Then Hank said behind him, “I’ve got every unit on the streets looking for someone who matches this sonovabitch’s description. But I’ve got no doubt he kn
ew how to get in and out of town quickly.”
“He most definitely had a plan,” Boone added. “The move was ballsy. He attacked in broad daylight.”
Rhett slowly opened his eyes, feeling near breathless at the tightness in his chest. They would catch this fucker; Rhett wouldn’t stop until he did. Right now, he thought of Kinsley and their child. “Are you warm now?” he asked her, stroking her cheek again with his thumb.
“Yeah.”
He examined the monitor, not knowing what he was looking at. “The baby?”
“Strong,” she said.
He glanced back at Kinsley, squeezing her hand tight. “You must have been very scared.”
Her breath hitched, voice wavered. “Really scared.”
Not caring about anything or anyone but her, he gathered her in his arms. She held him tight, and he felt the tension rolling through her. Until suddenly she went limp and her soft sobs filled the room. Rhett didn’t move. Not a goddamn inch.
He vaguely heard Hank kick everyone out of the room and shut the door behind them. And still, Rhett didn’t let go. He held her through every single one of her tears, feeling her pain rip into him the same. He’d fought wars. He’d protected lives. But these two lives in his arms right now, Kinsley’s and his unborn child’s, were beginning to mean more to him than anything he thought once mattered. Including himself.
When she drew quiet and the tears were gone, she leaned back, and he cupped her face again. She didn’t need him to say a word; he saw everything on her face. He gave her what she needed, and for once in his life, he felt like he was getting things right. Finally. He dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her with all the warmth she brought to his life.
“Thank you,” she said when he broke the kiss. She released a deep sigh, her eyes red-rimmed. “I think I needed a good cry.”
“Of course you did,” he said, taking her hand again, stroking her uninjured cheek with his knuckles. “What else do you need from me?”
The pain and the fear no longer lived in her gaze; something else burned there. “Find that fucker and get him behind bars.”
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