He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. Finally he nodded and she figured that was all she was going to get out of him.
“I was amazed Duncan moved back to his place.” She just stared at him, and didn’t say a word. He chuckled. “Going to keep quiet, huh?”
She widened her eyes trying to look as innocent as possible. “Why, Chase, I have no idea what you are talking about. It was nothing more than a fling. I told Jed to tell him not to worry.”
He laughed out loud. “You’re about to reel him in, aren’t you? He’s probably going to fall for it, knowing my brother.”
“You shouldn’t be laughing. I don’t think it’s going to be much longer before you have your own date with destiny. Or maybe you’ve already had it.”
He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “What did that mean?”
“Oh, nothing. Just that I have a feeling about you and a certain secretary.”
He was back to scowling again. “Don’t call her that. She throws a fit if you don’t call her an administrative assistant.”
“Well, I still think—”
The sound of a car pulling into her drive cut her off and she stood to look out the window. When she saw Duncan and his angry expression, she was sure Jed had stopped by to talk to him.
“What?” Chase asked. He joined her at the window and whistled. “Man, he looks pissed.”
Duncan jumped out of his truck and walked determinedly to her porch. He threw his brother’s car a dirty look before pounding up the steps. Without knocking, he opened the door and stepped into her living room.
Before she could say a word, Chase eased his arm around her shoulders. She looked at him as if he were insane but he just winked.
“Hey, Duncan. How’s everything going?”
She studied him, her gaze eating him up. It’d been less than two days, but it felt like a lifetime since she’d last seen him, held him. He was dressed in his uniform, the tan cotton material emphasized his physique. God, he’s gorgeous. Even now, when she was pissed at him, she felt the sexual tug, the yearning.
His color was heightened because of his anger, but she could tell the past couple of days had been hard on him. He just looked tired, from the bags beneath his eyes, to his posture.
“What the hell are you doing here, Chase?”
“Mom asked me to stop by and then Thea begged me to eat lunch with her.” He squeezed her shoulders when he told that lie. His smile broadened.
“Leave.”
“Excuse me?” Chase asked.
“Get out of this freaking house before I beat the shit out of you.”
Chase laughed. “Okay.” He turned to Thea. “Now, if he gives you any problems, you let me know.”
When they were alone, she shifted nervously from foot to foot. Now that she had him here, she didn’t know what to do, what to say.
“You want to explain to me what that was all about?” His voice was deadly soft.
She crossed her arms, trying to hide her shaking hands. “No.”
“No?”
“Yeah, no.”
“What do you mean no?”
“I think it’s a pretty simple word, Duncan. Even a dumbass, small-town cop can figure it out.”
A vein throbbed at his temple and a stain of red spread from his neck to his face. She had to fight the smile threatening to emerge.
“Really. So less than a week after you’re attacked, you’re entertaining men in your home?”
“Entertaining men?” She chuckled. “You make it sound like I opened a brothel.”
“Stop kidding around. Tell me now what the hell my brother was doing here.”
“Exactly what he said. Having lunch.”
She gathered the dishes and took them to the sink. Silently, he seethed behind her. She knew she confused him and she was glad, the butthead. He actually thought he could walk away from her.
“What did you mean by that little message you sent through your brother?”
Slowly, she turned and leaned against the counter. “You’ve seen him? I haven’t talked to him for over twenty-four hours. Said he had left something at Gwen’s and then called and said he was busy.”
His eyes narrowed. “What did you mean by that message?”
“Just what I said.”
“Do you care to explain yourself to me? I figured you’d be heading out of town as soon as you could.” Bitterness dripped from his words.
Surprise held her tongue still. Surely he knew she was staying here. She searched her memory and realized she hadn’t told him her plans. Of course, if the idiot thought she’d leave him after what they shared, he deserved to worry.
“Well, gonna be kind of hard to run my business from somewhere else.”
“Business?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking about opening a shop, maybe just catering…haven’t decided yet.”
“You can’t stay here.”
“Excuse me?”
“I cannot live my life in this town if you are here. I can’t stand by while you date other men.” The anguish in his voice tore at her. It was the first emotion, outside of anger, he had shown her since Chris’ suicide. It hurt, ached, to see him in pain, but it gave her hope.
“And why would that bother you?” She had to know; he had to say it.
He abruptly turned and gave her his back. He placed both of his hands on his hips and sighed.
“You have to ask?” His voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear the question.
“I have to hear it, Duncan.”
He spun around, pain deepened the lines around his mouth. The big hulk of a man looked so vulnerable. She wanted to reach out and pull him into her arms. But if she did, they’d never get past this. They’d never be able to move on.
“I love you. You know I do. I just can’t…”
“You can’t what?”
“How can you live your life with a man who is related to the one who killed your parents? Aren’t you afraid of what is in our blood?”
Understanding and love filled her heart. She should have known the man thought he was doing this for her own good.
“Duncan. That’s just silly. There is no link and no one in your family has had this tendency before, have they?” A tiny bit of hope flared in his eyes as he shook his head. “Maybe this was a result of something that happened to him. Or maybe it really was love at one time, but his obsession twisted it.”
“But…” He swallowed visibly. “You would—”
“Of course I would. I plan on staying in Crocker for the rest of my life. Something had always been missing in my life since I left here. I love to cook. But I am not a big city kind of girl. I hate the traffic and I like to know all the gossip.” She smiled as tears gathered in her eyes. “I want to stay here with you.”
He didn’t say a word. Just stepped forward and grabbed her. He pulled her into his arms, his warmth seeping through her clothes. His scent surrounded her, all masculine, wind-blown man. Joy filled her heart, warming her from within. Her whole body tingled with anticipation.
“And you have to marry me, Duncan. My brother will throw a fit if we just live together.”
He eased back, a cocky grin on his face that sent a rush of heat through her body. God, she loved this man.
“Well, of course.” He lifted her into his arms. “And, then I’ll have a talk with Chase about showing up here uninvited. I’m really getting sick of that.”
As he laid her on the bed, love and joy filled his heart knowing she was truly his. “You can’t go back on your word now, Thea.”
“No.” She ignored the tears of happiness that spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. “No way. You’re mine.”
“I like the idea of being owned, especially by you.”
She laughed, then pulled him onto the bed. It was the last coherent thought either of them had for hours.
Epilogue
Thea waddled to the front door of her shop. In the last week, she’d really ballooned. Sh
e looked down at her tummy smiling, then she locked the door.
It had been a year since she had opened her shop, eighteen months since she moved back to Crocker. Turning she smiled at her little shop. She only opened for lunch during the week, then had dinner and lunch on Saturdays. Business has been booming since the moment she opened the doors. She hired on a new cook, mainly because she was so busy and Duncan had been making comments about working too hard through the pregnancy.
They were married six months ago, and they didn’t know it at the time, but she was pregnant during the ceremony. She smiled thinking about getting nauseous at the thought of champagne at their reception. She felt a little nudge in her belly and she rubbed her hand over the spot.
“Settle down,” she murmured as she walked to the back of the shop. Francine, her manager, had already totaled out the register and taken care of the deposit. The place was clean and she was done for her day. Mondays were their slow day, but that didn’t mean they weren’t busy.
When she opened the cafe, she’d worried people were coming in to gawk at her. Maybe they had, but for the most part, they had been returning over and over since then. She was already running in the black which is almost unheard of in the business. She even had plans to start offering catering services after she returned from maternity leave. She wanted more than anything to start right now, but she knew not to put too much on her plate.
There was a knock at the door and she smiled when she saw her husband.
The man still made her legs go weak just at the sight of his smile. Thea unlocked the door. The second he was inside, he wrapped his arms around her. The kiss he gave her sent her head spinning. Then she felt a kick in her belly and he laughed. She knew he felt it too.
He pulled back. “I take it our little girl is making herself known today?”
She nodded. “More so now that she can hear your voice.”
“I think you need to get home and put your feet up.”
She rolled her eyes, slipping past him to lock the front door again. “I plan to.”
She started having issues with her feet swelling when she stood on them too long. To combat that, she had started a daily routine of sitting with her feet up every afternoon. He followed her to the back of the store.
“What are you doing here?” Thea asked as she grabbed her purse.
“Just thought I would take you out to an early dinner since I have to be on call tonight.”
Another little kick. Her baby was hungry. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Something that involves beef. You need iron.”
Again, she rolled her eyes. Duncan had heard Thea’s doctor warn her that she was edging toward anemia—which she took care of with some leafy greens—and he had started harping about eating beef.
She stepped outside as Duncan set the alarm and then followed her. After locking the door, they walked hand and hand to her SUV.
“Thank you for taking me to dinner.”
He smiled as he opened the driver’s side door for her. He helped her into the SUV, gave her another quick kiss, and then shut her door. She watched him walk around the front of the car where he joined her in the passenger seat next to her.
“Let’s go, woman,” he said. “I’m a hungry man.”
With a laugh, she turned on the vehicle, a smile remaining on her lips. She never thought life would be this good, but with her dream of owning her own cafe fulfilled and the man she loved with her, and a baby on the way, life couldn’t get better than this.
Also by Melissa Schroeder
HARMLESS:
A Little Harmless Sex
A Little Harmless Pleasure
A Little Harmless Obsession
A Little Harmless Lie
A Little Harmless Addiction
A Little Harmless Submission
A Little Harmless Fascination
A Little Harmless Fantasy
A Little Harmless Ride
A Little Harmless Secret
A Little Harmless Revenge
A Little Harmless Scandal
A Little Harmless Faith
A LITTLE HARMLESS MILITARY ROMANCE
Infatuation
Possession
Surrender
THE SANTINIS
Leonardo
Marco
Gianni
Vicente
A Santini Christmas
A Santini in Love
Falling for a Santini
One Night with a Santini
A Santini Takes the Fall
A Santini’s Heart
Loving a Santini
CAMOS AND CUPCAKES
Delicious Luscious
SEMPER FI MARINES
Tease Me
Tempt Me
Touch Me
The Semper Fi Marines Collection
THE FITZPATRICKS
At Last
TASK FORCE HAWAII
Seductive Reasoning
Hostile Desires
Constant Craving
Tangled Passions
Wicked Temptations
Task Force Hawaii Vol 1
TEXAS TEMPTATIONS
Conquering India
Delilah’s Downfall
HAWAIIAN HOLIDAYS
Mele Kalikimaka, Baby
Sex on the Beach
Getting Lei’d
TEXAS HEAT
Scorched
SPIES, LIES, and ALIBIS
The Boss
ONCE UPON AN ACCIDENT
An Accidental Countess
Lessons in Seduction
The Spy Who Loved Her
Once Upon an Accident Bundle
THE CURSED CLAN
Callum
Angus
Logan
Fletcher
Anice
BY BLOOD
Desire by Blood
Seduction by Blood
BOUNTY HUNTER’S, INC
For Love or Honor
Sinner’s Delight
TELEPATHIC CRAVINGS
Voices Carry
Lost in Emotion
Hard Habit to Break
Bundle
CONNECTED BOOKS
The Hired Hand
Hands on Training
A Calculated Seduction
Going for Eight
SINGLE TITLES
Grace Under Pressure
Her Mother’s Killer
The Last Detail
Operation Love
Chasing Luck
The Seduction of Widow McEwan
Snowbound Seduction
Hawaiian Holidays
Sweet Patience
COMING SOON
Scrumptious
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If you liked Saving Thea, check out Mel’s series Task Force Hawaii.
Even paradise has a dark side…Working with local, state, and federal agencies, the men and women of TASK FORCE HAWAII work on cases ranging from bank heists to terrorism. A diverse team filled with ex-military, law enforcement, medical, and technical support, they are Hawaii’s last defense against the worst criminals. The series will include seven books total. All books are available with Kindle Unlimited.
Seductive Reasoning
Hostile Desires
Constant Craving
Tangled Passions
Wicked Temptations
About the Author
From an early age, USA Today Bestselling author Melissa loved to read. When she discovered the romance genre, she started to listen to the voices in her head. After years of following her AF Major husband around, she is happy to be settled in Northern Virginia surrounded by horses, wineries, and many, many Wegmans.
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