Page 13 of Lone Star Witness

“Mine,” he insisted. “We can go to my lake house. It’s only about twenty minutes from here, and I’ve got all the equipment needed there to start figuring out what the hell is going on.”

“And it has excellent security,” she tacked onto that.

“It does.” He gathered his breath and stepped into her office with her. “I need to make sure you’re safe. That’s why I wanted you to stay with me. It’s possible Sonny will come after Rosa and you.”

Yes, she’d already gone there. “Considering how he loves to lurk around the parking lot, I agree. And while I could still bash him with this…” She picked up the paperweight from her desk. “…I’d rather not have to go one on one with him.”

“I’d also rather you not do that.” He sighed. Then groaned. Then cursed.

Marise did some sighing of her own and went to him, and because he looked as if he needed it, she pulled him in a hug. A gentle one since he was probably aching head to toe with his injuries.

He went stiff, maybe because this sort of contact wasn’t their norm. Yes, they sometimes hugged when they hadn’t seen each other for a long time, but there was nothing happy about this moment. Slade’s world had just been shaken to the core, which meant there was a lot of dangerous, edgy energy coming off him. With her need to care for and comfort, that wasn’t a good combination.

She kept her arms around him but eased back so she could meet his gaze. And she did that all right. Met in a head-on collision sort of way, and the eye contact held, too. They stood there, bodies pressed against each other and so close that she could…

Marise kissed him.

And then jumped back as if he’d scalded her. Which was close to the truth. There’d been a flashfire of heat from that mere touch of their mouths.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she was quick to admit.

He smiled a smidge. “I was thinking about doing it. You beat me to it. But my thoughts about you were of the impure sort. Yours was a pity kiss.”

She did a smidge smile as well. “Pity with a side dish of impurity. I’ve stitched your ass, Slade. Trust me when I say that it’s hard not to have dirty thoughts about you after seeing that particular part of your rather fine anatomy.”

“Now, you’re doing pity jokes to flatter and distract me,” he concluded.

“Flatter and distract with more of the dirty side dish. Let’s face it, the dirty is always going to play into what we feel for each other. As long as we resist, we’ll be okay,” she tacked onto that.

However, at that moment resisting felt even harder than it usually was. To fix that, Marise focused on his injuries and what had to be a god-awful state of mind. Slade didn’t need her to test his willpower. He needed a friend.

And first and foremost, that’s what she was.

She stepped back and caught his little finger with hers. A pinkie swear gesture that they’d adopted over the years when things had gotten bad. Their current situation was the very definition of bad, and since this could trigger her own PTSD, she needed Slade as much as he needed her.

Finding a lover was easy.

Finding someone like Slade was a once in a lifetime deal.

Marise grabbed her laptop bag, purse, and the small overnighter she kept stashed in her closet for those occasions when she ended up spending the night here at the facility. It had not only some clean civilian clothes but an extra set of scrubs.

She texted Stu, the night nurse, to let him know she was heading out. She also used her phone app to turn on full security for the building. That way, if Sonny came looking for Rosa, he wouldn’t be able to just waltz into the place.

After more consideration, she sent another text to Stu to warn him about Sonny and for him to pass along the warning to the day shift workers when they arrived.

Slade moved in front of her as they walked out the door, and he fired some glances around the parking lot. No doubt looking for his father. If Sonny was there, he was staying well out of sight. Then again, it was nighttime so there were plenty of shadows for hiding.

Slade and she got into his vehicle, and while still glancing around, he drove away. He didn’t say anything until they were out of the parking lot and onto the street.

“Shit,” he growled.

For one heart-stopping moment, she thought he’d seen Sonny, but then she realized he was cursing about the situation and not a sighting.

“I let Jericho and Nash know when Rosa was being taken to the ambulance,” Slade said a moment later. “Or rather I left messages for them. Both are on assignment right now.”

Getting that news would definitely be a blow to both of them. Marise didn’t know the whole story about their father, but she knew the high point. That he’d murdered his wife and then disappeared. His return was going to be like pouring salt in old wounds for his sons.

Slade got on the interstate and headed north toward the Texas Hill Country. She’d been to his townhouse on the Riverwalk plenty of times, but the lake house would be a first for her. Still, she knew the area they were heading to. High-priced luxury vacation homes tucked away on a private lake but still only minutes from the city.

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