Page 136 of Delicate Escape

“Iwantto.”

I wasn’t going to argue with that. Just like I didn’t argue as Shep’s hands gripped my hips as he helped me into his vehicle. Or when he lingered after he’d fastened my seat belt.

As Shep pointed his truck in the direction of home, I studied his scruff-covered jaw and the slope of his nose. “You’re a catch, you know that?”

His gaze flicked to me, amusement threaded through it. “That so?”

“It is,” I told him. “I like doing life with you.”

More than was safe, but I didn’t care. For once, I would be reckless and let the chips fall where they may.

Shep’s fingers threaded through mine. “You make that life a hell of a lot more fun.”

I grinned at him. “You’re not too bad at that yourself. Even if I do still have hay stuck in my hair.”

Shep barked out a laugh. But he didn’t let go of my hand the whole way home. It felt like a promise, a vow. And I held on to the feeling of that even as Shep let go of me to get out of the truck.

He opened my door and helped me out. “Inside for dinner first or out to the greenhouse?”

“Greenhouse. If I sit, I’m not getting back up.”

Shep chuckled. “Fair enough. I’ll run you a bath after dinner.”

That simple, tender offer swirled through me in the best way as we headed for the gardens. But the warmth died, only to be replaced by icy dread as my steps faltered. What I was seeing didn’t compute right away.

The image came together in pieces. Smashed-out panes on the greenhouse. Gardens torn to bits. And on the one intact side of the structure, there was spray paint. A single word.

WHORE.

52

SHEP

I pulledThea tighter against me as we watched law enforcement personnel crawl all over her backyard. She shivered against me, even though it was in the mid-eighties. Those tiny tremors had me wanting to burn the whole damn world down.

Instead, I tapped the side of Thea’s mug with my finger. “More tea?”

She shook her head, watching as a camera flashed in the fading light. The crime scene techs had been taking photos of everything. Each flash made Thea wince and killed another part of me.

“It was my favorite place,” she whispered.

The words sliced at my chest, like razor blades coated in acid.

Thea’s grip on the mug tightened, her knuckles leached of all color. “It was where I started to find myself again. Hear my own voice. Remember who I was after all his lies beat me down.”

Fuck.

I was going to kill Brendan Boseman. And I wanted to take my time doing it.

I swallowed all the anger swirling inside me and forced my hold on Thea to remain as gentle as possible. “We’ll fix it. We’ll rebuild. Even better than before.”

Thea simply stared at the greenhouse and the ruined garden. At the way the techs were only ruining it more with all their stomping around. “It’ll never be the same.”

My hand slid along her jaw, carefully turning her head so she was looking at me. “No, it won’t. But it only proves how strong you are. Everything you’ve made it through.”

Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “Sometimes, I don’t want to be strong. I’m tired, Shep.”

My throat worked as I tried to swallow, the burn there so intense. “Then let me take the load for a while.”

---