Page 40 of Save Me

“Can I fight this?” Justin asked.

“You have no grounds to fight with,” Richard said. “Whatever happens, you’re going to prison. It’s the sentencing that will determine the time you will serve.”

Justin shrugged. “Win some. Lose some.”

SOMEONE LAUGHED IN the hall outside Lainie’s room.

The sound woke Hunt abruptly from a dreamless sleep, and the first thing he saw was her face. She was sound asleep with lashes fluttering, and a tear on her cheek. She was dreaming. This is real. This is happening. Bruised and battered, and she’d never been more beautiful to him. Thank you, God.

He eased over onto his back to lower the bed rail and stood up, then slid his hands beneath Lainie and slowly eased her back to the middle of the bed. She moaned, then sighed as Hunt pulled the covers up over her shoulders, brushed a kiss across her cheek, then pulled up the bed rail and headed for her bathroom with his backpack.

LAINIE HAD A brief moment of fright when she woke up alone, then she heard water running in the adjoining bathroom and relaxed. Hunt was in the shower. All was right with her world.

She listened, taking comfort in the sound of his presence until the water stopped, then she heard him moving around and thought of all the mornings of their life ahead. Going to bed together. Waking up the same way. And the sound of a shower. She’d never had the pleasure of his company in this way, and was anticipating the simple acts of life that came with love.

And then he emerged, dressed all but for the clean T-shirt he was holding, and she forgot to breathe. The stubble was gone, and the man he’d become was standing before her. Zero body fat. Chiseled abs. A jawline to die for. Blue eyes flashing. The same sensual mouth and thick black hair. And the remnants of war on his body and in his gaze.

She sighed. “So. You have grown into a magnificent man.”

The corner of his mouth tilted, just enough to pass for a smile as he approached the bed. “I guess we can chalk it up to Uncle Sam’s good cooking,” he drawled.

“Nope. I knew you when, remember? This was always you, just waiting to turn into this.”

“If you say so,” he said, and smoothed the flyaway strands of hair from her face.

“Show me,” she said.

He frowned. “Show you what?”

“Where the bullet went in your back.”

He turned, then raised his arm a little. “It went in there and came out here.” Then he pulled the T-shirt over his head and ended the search as he glanced out the window. The sky was changing. Evening, and they were no longer on the mountain.

The door opened behind him, bringing the scents of food with it. Meal carts were in the hall, and nurses came into her room with two trays. One for Lainie. One for Hunt.

“Maggie Rae ordered two trays for this room,” the nurse said.

Hunt glanced back at Lainie. “Who’s Maggie Rae?”

“The nurse who caught you sleeping in my bed.”

He grinned. “So, I’m not going to be shot at sunrise, after all?”

“I told you I had friends here,” Lainie said.

They put Lainie’s tray on her tray table and the second one on the window ledge for Hunt.

He lifted the food covers. “Thank you, ladies. This looks and smells way better than the MREs we were eating, doesn’t it, darlin’?”

Lainie frowned. “I don’t know about that. That first packet of spaghetti with meat sauce tasted like heaven after three days with nothing but water.” Then she gave Hunt a look. “Or maybe it was just the chef that made it so good.”

“Yeah... I fed you, then poured alcohol on your feet and made you faint. I’ll never get over that,” he muttered.

The nurses left, and as soon as Lainie raised the head of her bed and moved her tray table toward her, he pulled up the big recliner and sat down beside her with his tray.

“I don’t always pack MREs,” he said. “When I have to, I’m a fair cook.”

“No worries, sweetheart. I love to cook, and I’m better than good.” Then she took her first bite. “Um, almost Salisbury steak.”

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