Page 118 of Arouse Me

“I’m not a victim,” I corrected softly as Dylan stood and stepped aside. “I’m a survivor.”

Joshua grinned, a true grin that lit up his face and reached his eyes. “That you are, my love. That you are.”

“Can we go home now?” I asked.

“Oh, Mellie,” Sanna moaned. “Do something for her. Fix her. I want my sister back,” she instructed the paramedics as fat tears streamed down her cheeks.

Dylan stepped around the couch, pulling her into his arms as she broke down in pitiful sobs.

“I’m right here, sis. I’m fine,” I confirmed, wondering why she was coming so unhinged. “I got a couple bumps on the head, but I’m fine.”

“You will be, little one,” Joshua assured.

Two more paramedics, several firefighters, and a couple of police officers paraded through the front door. Joshua stood as the men in white slowly helped me sit up. I closed my eyes. There was too much motion in the room. It made my stomach churn and my head spin.

“Mellie?” Joshua softly called to me. Lifting my heavy lids, I peered up at him, all tall, handsome, and strong…and all mine. “I’m right here if you need me, sweetheart.”

“I’ll always need you,” I promised with a tiny smile before closing my eyes again.

Listening to the conversations going on around me was hard, but I garnered bits and pieces of them. The fire had been contained and was purposefully set, but the lodge was no longer in danger. Someone had removed the duct tape over Carnation and Tideway’s mouths as they both responded ‘yes’ after being Mirandized.

One of the paramedics told Joshua I needed to go to the hospital, but Tideway’s and Carnation’s gunshot wounds took precedence over my concussion. A derisive string of curses erupted from my sister’s mouth. Neither Dylan nor Nick reprimanded her, but a few soft chuckles resounded in the room. Even Joshua chuckled as he cradled me in his arms. Peeking up, I watched Sanna storm across the room, going toe-to-toe with a paramedics as she demanded I be transported in one of the ambulances. A tiny smile curled on my lips. We were indeed cut from the same cloth.

Several minutes later, I lay nuzzled in Joshua’s arms, but this time in the back seat of Nick’s truck as he drove us back to Chicago, to the hospital. Dylan peered over his shoulder in the passenger’s seat, watching me with a worried expression and gazing lovingly at Sanna as she sat next to me skimming her hand up and down my leg. Ian, James, and Drake had remained behind to finish answering the sheriff’s questions and to lock up the lodge.

“Hey, Mel,” Sanna grinned with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “We’re going home now.”

Two days later, I sat in Joshua’s massive bed—loopy on pain meds and looking like I’d been in a cage match with a gorilla—as he spoon-fed me some soup Sanna had brought over earlier. Joshua had pampered me non-stop since I’d been released from the hospital the day before. My heart swelled at the adoration brimming in his eyes and the care he gave tirelessly.

It was time. Time to tell him the things I thought I’d be taking to my grave in that dank, cold cellar.

“There’s something I need to say to you,” I said nervously.

His brows furrowed slightly. “Okay. Tell me.”

Swallowing tightly, a quivering smile fluttered on my lips. “I love you.”

A look of bewilderment and amazement lined his face as the spoon slipped from his fingers and landed in the blow with a clatter.

A giggle seeped from the back of my throat as a stunned smile tugged Joshua’s lips, growing wider and brighter. He placed the soup on the nightstand, then carefully dragged me onto his lap. Gently cupping his masterful hands around my cheeks, he stared at me…studying the contours of my face along with every freckle and pore.

Leaning in, he brushed his lips to mine. “It’s about damn time, little one,” he whispered against my mouth. “I love you, too.”

Sliding toward the center of the bed, he drew the covers over us and held me in his arms. Neither of us said anything for a long time; we simply savored the strange and newly fortified connection that bound us to each other.

When nighttime came, he helped me into a long silk robe and carried me down the stairs, out of the loft and to the rose garden behind Christian’s gallery—the place where it all began. Seated on the padded bench, Joshua slung his arm around my waist as we stared up at the stars.

“When you were in England, I came here every night,” he confessed.

The thought of him coming to this special place night after night took my breath away.

“You did?”

“Yes. I’d spend hours in my studio working—”

“You still haven’t shown me your surprise,” I interrupted.

“Tomorrow, little one. I’ll let you see it tomorrow.” He grinned.

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