by Susan Stoker
But he’d taken her arm and kept her from sprawling on her face and called her his property, and Bryn knew exactly what was going on. She’d listened to the way Joseph talked to the other woman. Understood that he thought women were beneath him, so the second Dane called her his property, she knew what her role was. Stay quiet and let him lead. Just like she had when they’d gone to visit the other prepper.
The words he’d said to her before they’d left were supposed to sound threatening, but when she’d looked up into his eyes, she’d only seen tenderness for her shining out. She’d agreed to everything he’d said and hadn’t felt one second of desire to question him or say anything.
She didn’t want to drive, was shaking so hard she wasn’t sure she could drive, but she knew as well as Dane that they didn’t have a choice, she had to play her part. So she’d taken a deep breath, and followed as close to Dane’s truck as she dared.
And now she was in his arms.
Nothing had felt so good in all her life.
Nothing.
Dane went to pull back but she clung harder, not wanting to let him go. There was so much she wanted to say, but she couldn’t get any words out. Thankfully he tightened his grip on her instead of making her let go. He’d been bending over, holding her to him, but suddenly he stood fully upright. Because he was so much taller than her, her feet came right off the ground. Bryn didn’t say a word, merely clung harder to the man she loved as he carried her to one of the many police cars blocking the road in front of them.
She loved him. Probably since she’d taken care of him when he’d been drunk. But he’d shown her so many times over the last couple months that he liked her for who she was, random fact-spewing and all. He’d come after her when she’d been in trouble. She had no idea how he felt about her, but she wasn’t going to let him go without a fight.
Bryn heard Dane talking to someone, but didn’t care who it was or what he was saying. She felt him sitting and brought her legs up so she was straddling his waist, sighing in contentment when she could snuggle into him further. His arms tightened around her, keeping her close.
“Thanks. Appreciate it.”
Bryn startled when a blanket was wrapped around her back.
“Easy, Smalls. It’s just a blanket. You’re shivering.”
She was. She couldn’t stop shaking. “I d-don’t know w-why. I’m n-not that c-cold.”
“Shock, sweetheart.”
“She good?”
Bryn didn’t recognize the voice, but felt Dane remove his right hand from her back to hold it out to whomever was speaking.
“She will be. Dane Munroe.”
“Jason Briggs, FBI.”
“You know what’s going on down there?” Dane asked.
“I’m aware,” came the response. “Just waiting on the all clear to head down.”
The agent lifted a hand to the mic in his ear. After a moment, he nodded and told Dane and Bryn, “Looks like Knox and his wife have been secured.”
“According to my sources, this area’s a powder keg. I’m not sure the Rathdrum PD should be handling this on their own,” Dane said quietly to Briggs.
“I agree. And I’m pretty sure after this, so will the Rathdrum chief. This area has been on our watch list for a while now.”
“I’d say there needs to be less watching and more action,” Dane replied impatiently.
Bryn lifted her head for the first time and turned to see the agent Dane had been talking to. “He’s got f-fertilizer. Lots of it. He wants to b-bring it down to the city and blow stuff up. I d-don’t know what or w-where, but he told me that much when he was t-trying to figure out what I was doing there.”
“Damn.” The extremely good-looking blond agent looked frustrated at her words. “Appreciate the heads up, ma’am. Glad you’re all right, Ms. Hartwell.”
“Me too,” she responded, and laid her head back on Dane’s shoulder, closing her eyes. She was confused about why the agent didn’t look more concerned about Knox’s plans, but at the moment, didn’t care. She’d ask Dane about it later.
“You need to go to the hospital, Smalls?” Dane asked in a gentle voice.
Bryn shook her head.
Dane lifted one of her arms from around his neck and examined her wrist. It was red and chaffed, and would definitely bruise, but the skin wasn’t broken.
“I’m okay. I just w-want to go h-home.”
Dane put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her into him again, hating having his prosthetic between them, but not wanting to let go of Bryn long enough to remove it.
“Want a ride?” the agent asked.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” Dane replied.
“It’s not. I’ll get a couple officers to drop your vehicles off.”
“Thank you. Keys are in my ignition, and assuming hers are too.”
Bryn nodded against his shoulder, agreeing, but didn’t say anything.
“I’ll take care of it. Once again, glad you’re both all right.”
Bryn felt Dane moving under her and refused to let go of him. But he was only shifting until his legs were inside the car. Someone shut the door behind him, enclosing them in the silence and warmth of the police car.
She knew she should probably care that she was sitting in the back of a cop car and getting Dane wet from her clothes in the process, but she couldn’t. If it was any other day or time, she’d be exploring and asking a million questions, as it was a new experience, one she hoped she’d never get again, but all she could think of was the danger she’d put Dane in. He’d had to come after her because she hadn’t used her brain.
She scoffed under her breath. She might be a genius, but she was so stupid. So, so stupid.
Dane shifted again and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He frowned at it for a moment, then balanced it on the seat next to them and unlocked it. He pushed a few buttons and put it on speaker.
“She good?” the voice on the other end of the phone barked impatiently.
“She’s good.”
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank fuck,” Truck breathed out, obviously relieved. “You have any problems?”
“No. Although I have a feeling I’m not going to get that box of M295s back, so I’m gonna need another for Mr. Jasper.”
Truck chuckled. “You’ll have them in a few days, already got it arranged. I hate to do it, but I gotta go.”
“You still workin’ on that issue you had?” Dane asked in concern.
“It’s turning out to be more stubborn than I thought,” Truck said. “But don’t worry. I got this.”
“Truck?” Bryn interrupted before Dane could hang up.
“That’s me.”
“Thank you for having Dane’s b-back. I’m s-sorry I did something so s-stupid.”
“You’re welcome. But it wasn’t only me. All the guys are there. You really all right?”
“I’m f-fine.”
“You gonna go on any more walkabouts anytime soon?”
“No.”
“Good girl. You scared your man.”
“I scared myself.”
“Take care of yourself…and Dane, would ya?”
“I will.”
“Dane?”
“Yeah, Truck?”
“Remember what I told you before about women.”
“I remember.” Dane knew exactly what his friend was talking about. Bryn had told Truck she was fine, but he had a feeling she had a long way to go before she really was.
“Take care of that, okay?”
“I will. Talk to you soon.”
“Later.”
Dane clicked off the phone and wrapped his arm around Bryn again.
“The guys are all here? Like…Ghost, Hollywood, and everyone?”
“Yup.”
“God. I didn’t—”
“Don’t,” Dane warned.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t say whatever it was that you were
going to say. It’s over. Knox will be going to jail. Nothing’s getting blown up, including you. The team has it under control. They’ll hand both Knox and his wife over to the FBI and they’ll do their investigation.”
“Will we see the guys later?”
“No.” Dane lifted her chin so she had to look at him. “And they weren’t here. As far as you know, we drove out of there and that’s that. Got me?”
At the serious look in Dane’s eyes, Bryn nodded immediately.
“I know you have a million questions, and later I’ll answer what I—”
“No,” Bryn interrupted.
“No what?”
“I don’t have any questions. For once in my life, I don’t want to know. No, it’s not even that. I just don’t care. All I care about is that I’m safe. And that I didn’t get you killed. I’m so glad they were there to have your back, and I don’t care why, how, or anything about why they were there. I’m s-sorry, Dane. I didn’t come out here to talk to him. I just—”
“Shhhhhh, sweetheart. We can talk later. For now, just let me hold you.”
Bryn nodded and relaxed fully into Dane again. She fit against him perfectly, as if she was made just for him. She knew they had a lot to talk about, but all she could do at the moment was breathe him in and thank God he’d come to find her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The police officer pulled up to Dane’s house and told them, “I’ll wait until I know you’re safe.”
“Thank you,” Dane responded. “Bryn, scoot over and let me get out. Then I’ll carry you inside.”
She stirred at that. The officer hadn’t said one word about them sitting together and not wearing their seat belts, not that it would’ve made her move from her spot. She’d finally stopped shivering, a combination of Dane’s body heat and the blanket still wrapped around her back. But she felt weird, still shaky, as if she’d had way too much sugar. The thought went through her that she wanted to go online and try to find out why, but she pushed it away.
“I can walk. I just want to get inside.”
Dane didn’t respond, but climbed out of the backseat and held out his hand. Bryn grabbed it and let him help her from the car. His left arm immediately wrapped around her waist and Bryn gave him some of her weight as they moved toward his front door.
“I like your arm better.”
“What?”
“Your arm. I like it better than this prosthetic. It’s…pokey.”
Dane didn’t say anything, but leaned down and kissed the top of her still-wet head. He unlocked his door and turned and waved at the officer idling in the driveway. Bryn could hear him driving away as Dane shut the door.
“Let’s get you in the shower.”
Bryn nodded. A shower sounded heavenly right about now.
They walked together down the hall to Dane’s bedroom. He guided them straight to the bathroom. He dropped his arm and immediately went to work on the buttons of his green camouflage shirt. Bryn stood there uncertainly as he shrugged out of it and began to unfasten the straps holding the hook prosthetic to his arm.
As much as she wanted to examine it and see how it worked, she hesitated. Finally, when it fell to the ground with a loud clang, she tentatively asked, “Dane? What are you doing?”
“Getting you in the shower.”
“I can do it.”
He stepped to her then. He put his good hand on the side of her head and leaned into her. “I know, Smalls. I just can’t bear to let you out of my sight just yet.”
“Oh, okay.” Goosebumps rippled down her arms at his quiet yet firm tone.
He leaned over to the shower and turned on the water. “Get undressed, sweetheart.”
Without thinking any more about it, Bryn did as he ordered. She grabbed her T-shirt at the hem and drew it up and over her head, letting it fall on the floor with a wet splat. She undid her jeans and peeled them down her legs. She turned to glance at Dane, but he was standing with his back to her, his hand under the stream of water, testing the temperature.
In the short time it’d taken her to remove her clothes, he’d shed his pants and boxers. His back and ass rippled with muscles. It was sexy as hell.
Without thought to her modesty, simply wanting to be skin to skin with Dane, Bryn stripped off her bra and panties and stepped toward the shower just as Dane turned to her.
His eyes roamed her body once, as if checking her for injuries, then he held out his hand. Bryn grabbed on and he helped her step into the shower. The hot water almost hurt her chilled skin, but before she could feel uncomfortable, Dane tugged her against his chest and turned so the spray was hitting his back instead of hers.
He held her so closely, Bryn could feel his heart beating against her chest. The thump-thump-thump was reassuring and comforting at the same time. She thought she would feel self-conscious about being completely naked with Dane for the first time, but all it felt was right. Their embrace wasn’t sexual, it was loving and even a bit desperate.
The tears started before Bryn even knew they were coming. They leaked out of her eyes silently. She’d thought she’d been doing the right thing, but it had almost cost Dane his life. She could handle it if she’d been hurt, she was the one who’d made the dumbass decision to be Nancy Drew, but if something had happened to Dane, after all he’d already been though in his life, she never would’ve forgiven herself.
He drew back and frowned at her tears, but didn’t say a word. He simply turned her into the spray and got her hair wet. He then proceeded to shampoo and condition her hair, all without speaking. His hand was gentle and tender as he lathered the soap into her hair, and then as he gently rinsed it. He put a shower pouf into the crook of his elbow and poured a dollop of his masculine soap on it. Then he washed every inch of her body, from her head to her toes.
As the lather washed away, he kissed every bruise she’d gotten that day. Her wrists, ankles, and biceps where Knox had held her so roughly. Through it all, Bryn’s tears steadily fell. He let go of her long enough to roughly run the soapy shower pouf over himself and rinse off, but as soon as he was done, he turned back to her.
He shut the water off and reached for a big fluffy towel hanging on a hook next to the shower.
“I can do that,” Bryn told him quietly.
“Shhh, I got it.”
So she stood in the shower and let the man she loved take care of her. Dane dried her arms, then her torso and back. Then he turned her and ran the towel up and down each leg. Finally, he ran it over her hair, squeezing out as much water as he could before helping her step out into the steamy room.
He quickly ran the now-damp towel over his own body, then threw it over a rack without a second thought. Leaning down and kissing her forehead, he murmured, “I have an extra toothbrush in the drawer. Do your thing and come to bed, Smalls.”
She nodded and watched, wide-eyed, as Dane opened the door and quickly shut it behind him, making sure to keep the warm air inside the small room.
Bryn took a deep breath. She couldn’t stop crying. She supposed it was adrenaline and relief, but it was beginning to get annoying. She quickly brushed her teeth and used the restroom then looked around for something to put on.
Vetoing the still-wet clothes she’d just taken off, as well as the damp towel, she finally cracked the door open.
Dane was lying on his queen-size bed waiting for her. Seeing her peek out the door, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Do you have something I can wear?’
Holding out his hand, he shook his head. “No. Come here, sweetheart.”
Bryn’s eyes got wide, but she slipped out of the bathroom into the bedroom. Dane had turned on a dim light next to his bed that gave the room a soft glow. It was enough to see where she was going, but not bright enough to completely illuminate the room.
Self-conscious at being naked, now that they were out of the shower, Bryn shuffled over to the bed and took Dane’s hand. He scooted over and lifted the covers for her. Thankful
she’d get to cover up, Bryn climbed in and lay back, sighing in contentment when Dane drew the comforter up and over her quickly chilling body.
He reached out and pulled her arm toward him gently, and Bryn followed his lead, snuggling up against Dane’s warm frame. She felt his arm go around her and his large hand rest on her lower back, his fingertips caressing the top of her ass, pushing her hips toward him. His stump brushed her forearm, which had come to rest against his chest. They stayed like that for several minutes, simply breathing each other in.
When she couldn’t stand the silence anymore, Bryn said once again, “I’m sorry, Dane.”
“I know you are.”
“I only wanted to find out more information about the address. I wasn’t planning on talking to anyone.”
“I know, Bryn.”
She bit her lip, but didn’t raise her head. He was being very understanding and it was disconcerting. “Why aren’t you yelling at me?”
“Would it do any good?”
“What do you mean?”
“Bryn, you know you made a mistake. Me yelling at you about it and telling you something you already know isn’t going to change anything that happened.”
“Maybe not. But I think it’d make me feel better.”
Dane moved at her words. He brought his stump up to her chin and gently put pressure on it until she was looking into his eyes. “You scared me, Smalls. When I heard your phone message and realized what you’d done, I was upset. We’d talked about how some people in this area are dangerous. And unfortunately for us, this guy was the epitome of dangerous. He was a terrorist, Bryn. He’d spent time training over in Iraq with the Taliban. He hates the United States and would like nothing more than to see it crash and burn.”
“I know, I know. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Actually, you were thinking too much. Bryn, ever since I was wounded, I’ve felt like I was somehow less of a man. I worried all the time about what other people thought about me. If they thought I was useless with only half an arm, if they were looking at me funny when I was out and about. But you changed all of that. Never, since I was a kid, has anyone taken care of me. I didn’t need or want that. But you took one look at me in the grocery store, all jittery and jumpy, and wanted to make my life better…easier. And you acted on that. You didn’t let my stupid words chase you off either. I need you, Smalls. I need you in my life, blurting out random facts. I need you to keep me grounded. When you get so into what you’re researching you forget all about me, it makes me smile, not piss me off.”