Page 67 of Abducted

Cal stepped up to Tanner. “You should go get that checked out.” He gestured to the injured foot. “I suggest you tell the hospital you were mugged—unless you want me to come back and take care of the other one.”

CHAPTER 22

Lana peeled herclothes off and pulled her sweatpants from Cal’s dresser. The TV droned on in the background, but her attention was far from the screen. Cal was in the shower, and she couldn’t shake Tanner’s reaction to their confrontation. Cal wanted him to be guilty, and he had a lot of reasons to go on, but her instinct told her he wasn’t.

Her chest expanded on a deep breath. She had needed to see her mom, to actually touch someone in her family. With Cal, she felt safe. But having her mom know she was safe lifted a tremendous weight from her chest. Guilt had swirled in her stomach since she had first placed her trust in Cal.

She stretched her neck from one side to the other, but the tension didn’t ease. The water in the bathroom shut off, and she sat on the edge of the bed. The soft mattress called to her aching, tired muscles, but they had a lot to figure out before she could welcome sleep. He strode out of the bathroom a minute later, droplets of water dotting his chest and abdomen, a towel hanging loosely around his waist. His lips hitched up in a smile, as he sat down beside her and pulled her against him. Burrowed in his warmth, it was hard to believe all the shit that had happened was real. But it was.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

She let her shoulders relax and slipped her hand over his abdomen. His muscles flexed beneath the light trail of her fingers. Maybe after tonight this horror would be over and she could get back to normal life.

But what was “normal” life now? Could she go back to working with designers and creating buyers’ dream homes? It seemed so distant now, so far from who she had become now. As much as she missed home, she needed to find a way to weave the old Lana into the new one.

She and Cal needed to talk about how things would move forward. The last thing she wanted to do was put pressure on him, but she couldn’t pick up where she’d left off, either, as if nothing had happened between them.

This felt like home now.

“I’m fine.” She rested her hand against the stubble of his face. She loved him clean shaven, but the scruff was rugged and sexy, too.

“I know. I’ve needed to shave for days now.” He ran his fingertips where her hand had vacated.

“I like it.”

He grunted. “Good to know, but I don’t feel very clean with all this hair. I should shave before we go to sleep.”

A warm, fuzzy feeling spread over her skin. God, that sounded intimate… permanent. “Is that where we’re going?” Her voice was rough and husky. Her fingers trailed over his collarbone and down to his erect nipple.

He chuckled softly, catching her wandering hand in his. “Oh yeah. But first, I need to ask you some things, babe.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “My mind keeps going back to Shawn—”

She sucked her breath in and shifted so she faced him. “Do you think Shawn had something to do with this?”

Seriousness settled into the lines of his face, turning the gentle curves into hard lines. His jaw clenched. “It looks like a possibility.”

Like poison, his words sank in. Shawn. She barely knew him. What reason would he have to want her harmed? Her thoughts worked with rapid speed. “Do you still think Tanner is a suspect?”

Cal’s thumbs moved the material of her shirt to find the bare skin of her back. A shiver raced over her. It was really hard to concentrate on serious stuff when he kept touching her.

“I’m still deciding whether or not I believe him.”

Part of her wanted to cling to the hope that Tanner wasn’t involved. After all, he was family. How could she have grown up with someone so sinister? How could she not have sensed his threat? Cal scratched his head, then returned his hand to her back.

“A lot of things point to him. I don’t believe in coincidences, so I can’t let that go. But I have enough doubt, too, that I believe something else might be going on. Something that involves Shawn.”

“I can’t fathom any reason Shawn would benefit from my…death.” Her throat tightened on the word. The fact that Cal was the only reason she was alive right now restricted her airways. She couldn’t think about what could have been. It hadn’t been in the cards.

Thank God for Cal.

His jaw worked as his gaze combed over her face. His hold tightened on her.

She let her body relax in the safety of his arms. It was as if they had a constant invisible line of communication. He knew when she was hurting, when she was in need, or when she was putting up a tough front. No one in her life had ever taken that much notice, had ever been able to see her so clearly.

“Don’t worry, baby. We’re so close. Ethan and Nate will work on investigating Shawn.”

She pulled out of his arms and frowned at him. “I don’t want you going on another manhunt.”

He ran the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

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