Page 106 of The Heart We Guard
I glance over to where I can see Grudge and Wraith dragging the suspected Rebel down an alleyway. Atom taps Catfish on the shoulder, and they follow them.
Four on one means the odds are in our favor. “Wait until we’re in the truck to tell me what happened.”
“Okay. And can we stop at Quinn’s on the way home? I suddenly have a hankering for sweet goods and a decent decaf coffee.”
The drive is fast, and a simple message makes me feel better.
Grudge:All taken care of.
Greer tells me about the meeting with the detective. If Atkins ever crosses my path, might have to teach him what it means to stress my woman out. But instead of taking Greer straight home after coffee, I take her to the secret I’ve been hiding.
“Honestly, this looks like a kill shed,” Greer says as we walk through the back of the lot and up the trail to the old grain store.
Seeing the building through her eyes, it does look grim. It looks desolate. Derelict almost.
And she’s not wrong. Several men have been killed out here. Many more have been tortured until they gave us the information we needed.
I take her hand. “The rain has made it slippery, so watch your step. And what do you know about kill sheds?”
“I know how to walk in rain, Nolan.”
I shake my head. “Your center of gravity is changing. Can’t be too careful.”
She looks down at her stomach that still doesn’t have so much as a whiff of a bump. “Yeah, I can see how it’s really altered things.”
“Shut up, Greer,” I say, but squeeze her hand to show I’m only joking.
“Oh, and I know about kill sheds because I read. Is this where you’re going to lock me up to keep me safe until I have the baby?”
I stop and grip her chin. The flare of arousal in her eyes is almost immediate. And given that sex isn’t something she normally thinks about, I wish we were back home, in bed, so I could capitalize on it with her.
Instead, I kiss her soundly. “Quit winding me up, woman.”
She places her palm over my heart. “Don’t worry, I know CPR if I cause you to have a heart attack, old man.”
“Maybe I’ll spank your ass next time it’s naked, for that comment.”
Greer grins. “Maybe I’ll like it. So, why are we here?”
“Come on,” I say. “I’ll show you.”
For the first time in many years, I’m nervous. This is a big gesture. Cost a lot of money. And I want it to be exactly what she wants. What she’s been searching for.
When we get to the building, I unlock the door and hold it open so she can step inside out of the drizzle.
And I see the straight-up shock on Greer’s face when she realizes what she’s looking at.
“This was a new project for us,” I say, as I lead her into the garage.
“Butcher! What did you do?” Her mouth is open, eyes wide, and she looks like I just handed her birthdays and Christmas and the second coming of Jesus in one refurbed vehicle.
“It’s a Ford F-450 4x4 ambulance. It’s not new or anything. Not sure if that was what you were expecting.”
Greer steps out of my grasp and runs her fingers along the white outer shell with a thick horizontal lime stripe. She stops at the rear doors, silently shaking her head like she can’t believe what she’s seeing. Her reaction says she sees so much more than the seventy-two inch headroom and ducted HVAC.
She turns back to me and shocks the heck out of me by running at me and throwing her arms around my neck and wrapping her legs around my waist. Good job she’s a tiny thing, because I might have fallen down. While my injuries are much improved, they aren’t perfect. But for now, even she seems to have forgotten about them, and I hold on to her as she buries her head against my neck. “You got me my mobile unit.”
Good to know the woman would rather have a practical vehicle than diamonds.
