Nodding, she splayed her hand over his heart, her hair catching on his beard under his chin. “Together.”
“We’re going to figure this out. We’re going to find whoever framed you. No matter what happens, I’m not giving up. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for you and the baby.” Beckett combed his hands through her long dark hair. “It’d take a tedious amount of patience and power to hide behind the hundreds of transfers it’s taken to pull a heist like this off. Every step they’ve made is recommitting to building a case against you that would require months if not years of planning. Which executives have been at the foundation the longest aside from you?”
“Calvin and I started the foundation three years ago.” Raleigh slid out of his arms, swiping at her face. “I guess the next executive would be one of our lower-level chief officers. She took over some of my duties about a year ago. Everyone else has been with the foundation for less time than that.”
His instincts prickled. “How did you and Calvin meet?”
“At another charity event. I was trying to find investors on my own, and we happened to be seated at the same table. We got to talking. I told him my idea to provide expectant mothers with resources and education to help lower birthing mortality rates, and he wanted to help.” She folded her hands into one another as she talked. “We worked together to raise the initial capital we needed to bring education and services to mothers here in Oregon, then spent the next few months writing pitches to local businesses and corporations for donations before we went national.”
“You didn’t run a background check on Calvin?” he asked. “Didn’t ask why he was so interested in helping accelerate your work? Why he approached you?”
“Approached me? I just told you we were seated at the same table at another charity event. What do you mean?” Mesmerizing green eyes narrowed on his. She took a step back, taking the heat she’d generated deep below his skin with her. Color drained from her face, and he reached out for her in case she lost her balance. She shook her head. “You can’t…you can’t possibly think Calvin had anything to do with this. He was attacked because I brought him into this. I went to him with the evidence I’d collected, and now he’s missing.”
She held on to her side, and a different theory hit him in the gut. The blood. Reed had an entire freezer full of stored bags of blood in case of emergency. For a former combat medic and a US marshal, that wasn’t entirely unusual, but what if whoever’d framed Raleigh had had the same idea?
“You’re right. He’s missing, but I don’t think you had any part in that. The Portland Police Bureau hasn’t found a body. Just a lot of DNA evidence that could’ve been easily planted with a few bags of stored blood.” Beckett gripped her arms, compelling her to look up at him. To at least face the idea it was a possibility. “You didn’t bring your business partner into this at all. It was the other way around. Raleigh, I think Calvin Dailey stole that money, framed you for embezzlement and faked his death to get away with it. You’ve been a mark from the beginning.”
* * *
IT WASN’T POSSIBLE. Calvin wouldn’t…
A high-pitched ringing filled her ears as she pulled out of Beckett’s reach. Three years of conversations, of dinner parties, of late-night pitch writing came into question in a matter of seconds. Her hands shook as she pushed one through her hair. Calvin had escaped a hired killer. Not faked his death. He couldn’t have stolen all that money. Wouldn’t have framed her. They were friends, partners in building something they could be proud of. Right? He wouldn’t…he wouldn’t do this to her.
Raleigh closed her eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over her. The timing of his disappearance, the fact he’d known how to reach her on Beckett’s phone. The easy answer would be to put his face in that dark silhouette that’d been at the front of her mind since her arrest. The pieces fit better than she wanted to admit. Calvin could have planned this from the beginning. He could’ve been the one to frame her to take the fall. Because she was an easy mark. Just like Emily Cline had accused her of being.
“Talk to me.” Beckett’s grip on her arms held her up as the entire world she’d built threatened to shatter right in front of her. “Tell me what’s going through your head.”
“I…I need some air.” She didn’t know what else to say, what to think. She couldn’t breathe without her chest tightening, and it felt as though the walls were closing in on her. She had to get out of here. Tugging out of Beckett’s hold, she pushed past him toward the sliding back door of the cabin. She moved on autopilot, and within seconds, freezing air worked deep into her lungs. The outdoor scent of pine and earth—more pronounced than Beckett’s natural aroma—filled the dark, empty spaces clawing for escape inside. Raleigh clutched on to the wood railing with everything she had. She’d barely processed the fact she was pregnant with Beckett’s baby and had unshouldered the emotionally traumatic weight she’d carried her entire life, and now she was supposed to accept her closest confidant had turned her into a criminal? The muscles in her jaw ached as she clenched her back teeth. No. Anger blotted out the beauty and expanse of wilderness stretching miles in every direction as she dug her fingernails into the railing. If Calvin was responsible for her arrest—for everything—he hadn’t just done this to her. He’d put her baby at risk, and she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
The sliding glass door protested on its track from behind. She didn’t have to turn around to know he’d followed her. Her back warmed as Beckett drew near, and right then she wanted nothing more than to pretend he wasn’t a US marshal and she wasn’t his fugitive, but hiding from the truth didn’t change anything. Hiding problems didn’t heal them. She had to face it.
“He’s alive. Calvin. He called me on your phone.” Raleigh notched her chin over her shoulder, keeping him in her peripheral vision as he settled both elbows against the railing beside her. “That’s who I was talking to right before you came downstairs. He convinced me Emily Cline had tortured him for information on the secondary account, like she’d threatened us, and I believed him. I agreed to keep his secret because I thought I was the one who’d put him in danger by coming to him with the evidence in the first place. I lied to you.” Heat climbed her neck and into her face. She’d lied to a US marshal, but it was more than that. She’d lied to him, the one person who’d willingly positioned himself between a hired gunwoman and her and promised to protect their unborn baby, and she hated herself for it. She’d have to accept the consequences, whatever they may be, and her heart hurt thinking of all the possibilities of what that meant. Of losing him again.
Because over the past few days, she’d let herself care about him again. Cleaning her wounds from the bark, giving up the last of his food and water for her, taking on a professional killer so she could escape. He’d carefully chiseled his way through the hardened exterior she’d built from being unwanted for most of her life, and now there was nothing left. Nothing but him. Whether he’d kept his word to see this investigation through to the end because of the pregnancy, his job with the Marshals or for her, it didn’t matter. He’d made her feel wanted, desired even, and she’d hang on to this feeling as long as she could.
“You were right. I was just another mark, easily manipulated because building that foundation from the ground up made me feel valuable, like I was doing something good with my life for once. Calvin must’ve seen me for exactly what I was when we’d met. Desperate. Weak.” Splintered wood bit into her palms. Emotion bubbled past her careful control. “I thought I was doing the right thing protecting Calvin, but that doesn’t excuse the fact I lied to you. So I understand if you want to rethink our agreement concerning our daughter. We can work something out to where you won’t have to see me after this is over—”
“Men like Calvin Dailey are master manipulators, Raleigh—that’s their job. They enjoy hurting people and reaping the rewards of their hard work. No matter how many lives they destroy in the pr
ocess.” He was speaking from personal experience, and her stomach revolted. He’d lost his mother because of a con man. She could only imagine the thoughts running through his head right then. Hands intertwined, he stared out over the tops of the trees, gaze distant. Stars materialized overhead and added a bit of brightness to the blue of his eyes. He straightened, facing her before closing the small space between them. The length of his body pressed into hers, and she was forced to look up at him. He swiped her hair back from her face, and in an instant, warmth lightninged through her. “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve put everyone else’s needs before your own. That’s not weakness, Raleigh. That’s courage, and it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you a long time ago. We’re going to get through this, but only if we work together. We have to trust each other. No more secrets. No more lies.”
Love? Her mouth parted, directing his attention straight to her lips, and an electrical zing lit up her insides. “You love me?”
“Out of all of that, that’s what you choose to focus on during this conversation?” His smile pulled at something deep inside her as she lifted her arms behind his neck, careful of the wound in his shoulder. His hands dipped to her waist as though he needed her to anchor him right there on the back deck, and Raleigh was more than happy to let him take advantage. His smile disappeared as he settled those bright blue eyes on her. “You’ve been taking care of everyone else your whole life. It’s time to put yourself first, Raleigh. Don’t think about what you want for other people. What do you want? Right now, right here. Tell me what you want.”
“I’ve only wanted one thing my whole life.” Her mouth dried. She’d never admitted this to anyone, never admitted it to herself. Nobody had asked her what she’d wanted before, but her answer had always been there, waiting on the tip of her tongue from the very first foster home she could remember. It’d burned each time she’d reached out to someone, only to be used and discarded all over again, as Calvin was doing now. If there was one lesson she’d learned over the years of constant disregard, it’d been the people she’d cared about the most had always had the ability to do the most damage. Including Beckett. Raleigh trailed a path down his arms with her fingertips, memorizing every valley, every ridge in his build beneath the ridiculous shirt he’d borrowed from Reed’s closet. “All I’ve ever wanted was to feel loved by someone as much as I loved them. To have that connection to another person, to be appreciated without any demands, expectations or manipulations. Not because I served a purpose at that moment in their life or because they have an obligation to me.” A heaviness lifted from her chest, making it easier to breathe as she looked up at him. “Someone to love me…for being me.”
Seconds ticked by, a full minute. Her heartbeat echoed at the base of her skull. She needed him to say something. Anything.
“There’s only one thing I’ve ever wanted from you.” Beckett raised his hand, rough calluses catching on the skin of her jaw as he scorched a path from her earlobe to her chin. Heated sensations battled the cool air slicing through the trees, but a shiver still racked her spine. Not from the temperatures. From him. Always from him. “That’s for you to be happy. No conditions, expectations or demands. After everything you’ve been through in your life, you deserve a happily-ever-after. I don’t care if you’re pregnant with my baby or someone else’s. You’re not an obligation to me, and I want to be the one to give you everything. Every second of every day, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you, if that’s what you need. Starting now.”
He reached into his back pocket, pulled a piece of folded white paper free and handed it to her.
“What is this?” Confusion flooded through her. Dry corners slipped against her fingertips as she unfolded the single piece of paper and read the first few lines. Her heart threatened to beat straight out of her chest as understanding hit. “This is a letter of resignation from the US Marshals Service. Dated the day after my escape from federal custody.”
Before he’d known she was pregnant.
“I was going to come after you one way or another, Raleigh Wilde,” he said. “Because I’m not finished with you.”
Tears burned in her eyes. Sincerity laced his words and anchored into the familiar sea of blackness she’d held on to inside for so long. From that single point something new chased back the loneliness, the isolation.
Raleigh lifted up onto her toes and brought his mouth level with hers. The slightest graze of his lips sent a rush of frantic sensation through her. His beard tickled the sensitive skin around her chin and cheeks, heightening her five senses to a whole new level. Carefully curated control—the kind she’d always needed to protect herself from becoming too attached to anyone around her—slipped through her fingers as he dug his hands into her lower back and maneuvered her back through the open sliding glass door. He loved her, and for the first time she could remember, freedom, unlike anything she’d experienced before, coursed along every nerve ending she owned, every muscle, every bone, until she felt like she might explode. “I believe you.”
A moan escaped up his throat as Beckett directed her toward the counter, then hauled her onto the island, the cold of the granite more shocking to her central nervous system than she’d expected. The pain from both the bullet wound in his shoulder and the stab wound in his thigh must’ve spiked when he’d lifted her, but her marshal never let it show. Didn’t so much as break their kiss. He was only focused on her, and a different kind of warmth penetrated through the layers she’d built over the years. “Back at the ranch, you told me this wasn’t what you wanted. So I’m going to need you to be clear right now. What do you want from me?”
She loved him, too.
“You, Beckett.” Her fingers ached as she fisted his shirt and positioned him between her knees. Pressure released from beneath her rib cage as she breathed into his mouth. “All of you.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Something had changed between them. Something significant he couldn’t explain, but the resulting awareness he’d experienced after Raleigh had admitted her deepest desire to be valued above all else didn’t press him to dig deeper. She’d trusted him, where so many others had let her down before, and he’d do whatever it took to deserve that trust.
Of all the stories his daughter would hear about her mother when she was old enough, they wouldn’t be about fear or loss or manipulation. No. She’d know how strongly, bravely and fearlessly Raleigh fought for her when the world threatened to bring her down. This baby would grow up knowing how to rely on herself through every battle, every struggle that pushed back at her, because of the example of the woman asleep beside him, and Beckett couldn’t wait to see it for himself.
Raleigh hadn’t felt important to anyone her entire life, but she was everything to him.
And he wasn’t about to lose her again.
He slowly drew his legs over the edge of the bed, soreness rocketing through him. There had to be something he was missing in those files, something not even the FBI had caught.
“If you think you’re getting out of this bed, Marshal, think again.” A smile pulled at her kiss-burned lips as she lay facedown beside him. She shifted beneath the sheets, hypnotic green eyes settling on him as she rolled onto her side. Raleigh wedged one arm under her head, all that gorgeous hair stark against the white pillowcase, and wiggled her eyebrows higher in a feigned attempt at seducing him. “I’ll share some of the chocolate I found under the mattress if you reconsider.”
A laugh reverberated through him. Damn, he loved her. The mattress dipped under his knee as Beckett planted a kiss on her forehead, afraid anything more would, in fact, stop him from getting out of the bed. He straightened. Collecting another set of clothes from Reed’s clothing rack, he shoved his feet into a pair of jeans slightly tighter in the waist than he was used to. “As much as I’d love to break into Reed’s weird, secret collection of mattress food, Calvin Dailey is still a suspect we need to look
into. Until we’re certain he’s the one behind those missing funds, you’re in danger, and if you want me to be able to pay child support for our daughter, I’ve got a job to do.”
Raleigh sat up on the bed, the sheet clasped against her chest, and he couldn’t look away. Temptation to do exactly as she asked flared as he forced himself to reach for a clean T-shirt from the rack. “That’s the first time you’ve said our daughter.”
“You’re right.” He slumped onto the bed beside her, his hand automatically reaching for the slightly firm section of her stomach where their baby grew. Beckett kissed her bare shoulder. “Guess it finally feels like we’re on the same team.”
“Always.” She lifted his chin with one finger and slipped her mouth over his, and he was lost in her all over again.
“That’s cheating.” His laugh filled the room a second time, and it took every last ounce of strength and determination he had left to pull away. “I’m going to check out the transcripts from Calvin’s interview conducted by the feds. Feel free to join me after you’re dressed.”
“Fine, but I’m keeping all of the mattress chocolate for myself,” she said.
He made his way down the stairs. On the main level, he righted the laptop he’d pushed across the kitchen island to get to Raleigh and brought it out of sleep mode. Hell, his shoulder and thigh still hurt after that one, but at the time, the pain hadn’t bothered him at all. He’d just wanted her. His blood heated at the memories of his name on her lips, the feel of her surrounding him, the echo of exhalations as they’d climbed into ecstasy together. But as long as the threat was still out there, neither Raleigh nor their baby would be safe, and he’d never live with himself if something happened to her on his watch. Not when they could give each other everything they’d ever wanted. Needed.
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