Page 96 of Fast Vengeance

Footsteps. Coming from near the cabin.

He jumped up and started down the dock, cursing himself for not bringing his pistol out here with him. The likelihood of anyone coming after him here was almost zero, but he still felt half-naked without his weapon.

“Brock?”

He stopped dead at the sound of that voice calling for him. For a moment he was convinced he was hearing things. Or maybe dreaming.

Then a silhouette with slender curves appeared around the side of the cabin and stepped into the moonlight.

His heart seized.

Tori.

She stopped when she saw him, a joyous smile breaking over her face. “Oh, you’re here,” she breathed and hurried toward him, her dark brown hair flowing behind her. “I thought I had the wrong place.”

Brock wasn’t even aware of his feet moving. One second he was staring at her like she was a ghost. The next he was running at her, his feet thudding on the wooden dock, his heart racing like it was about to explode.

She met him partway, a laugh spilling out of her as she flung herself into his waiting arms, the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.

Brock groaned and locked her to him, lifting her off the ground. His throat thickened as he buried his face in her hair. His shoulder protested her weight but he didn’t care if it hurt. He didn’t ever want to let go of her.

“God, what are you doing here?” he rasped out, so grateful to see her that he nearly sank to his knees.

Her arms tightened around him fiercely. “I’m out of WITSEC.”

“What?” He pulled back to stare down at her, keeping her dangling off the ground, hardly able to believe this was really happening. That she was here. That he was actually able to touch her again.

Her teeth flashed white in the moonlight as she smiled up at him. “I heard about Ruiz and Montoya. And that el Escorpion is still out there. It took a while, but the Marshals service finally decided there was no longer any credible threat against me, so I made the call and I’m officially out of the program. I tried contacting you but I didn’t have a new number for you. I was in Bellingham, Washington, so as soon as I got the all clear and found out you were this close, I hopped in the car and drove straight here.”

God, he couldn’t stop drinking in the sight of her. “How did you find me?”

“They put me in touch with Taggart when I left the program. He had Lockhart call me and give me the address.” She tilted her head to the side. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Are you kidding me?” he said on a laugh and crushed her to him once more. “Oh, God, I missed you.” It meant so much to him that she would come here to be with him. Because he loved her, but also because she was a fellow survivor and understood what he’d been through. Understood what it was like for him now, trying to deal with the aftermath.

“I missed you more.” When he set her down she took his face in her hands and peered up into his eyes. “Your stitches are out.”

He couldn’t let go of her. Felt like he should pinch himself. “Yeah. I look like I went through a windshield or something.”

“No. You were too perfect before. And you’ll always be gorgeous to me, no matter what.” She lifted up on tiptoe and kissed him. Smiled. Then it faded. She traced a finger beneath one of his eyes. “You haven’t been sleeping.”

“No. I…can’t. Not most nights.”

She nodded. “It’s hard. But it will get better once your subconscious starts to believe you’re safe. Baby steps.” She flashed another smile that had his heart knocking against his ribs. “And maybe you’ll sleep better with me beside you.”

Brock plunged his hand into her hair and kissed her until she moaned and grabbed hold of his shoulders for support. The hunger roaring through him was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

Deeper. More primal. Because there was a darkness inside him now that hadn’t existed before. A constant battle to fight off the sense of helplessness he had been forced to feel during his captivity. The fight to regain his power as a man.

He tried to rein it in, not wanting to frighten her or stir any bad memories but it was so damn hard to think straight with the taste and scent of her making his head spin.

He couldn’t stop. Needed to imprint himself on her in every way. He never should have let her go in the first place. Should have sacrificed whatever it took to be with her.

“I can’t let you go,” he rasped out against the side of her neck, one hand buried in her hair, the other gripping her hip tight. Tighter than he should.

“Shh,” she soothed, kissing his temple as she stroked his hair. “I know. It’s okay.”

But she didn’t know. Couldn’t know or understand the dark need spiraling out of control inside him. The one that made him want to strip her right here and now and take her the way he’d imagined for so many months.

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