Page 63 of Canvas of Lies
With my arm wrapped around her waist and her head resting against my shoulder, I pressed a kiss to her temple. I couldn’t think of a single thing I wanted more than to just hold her, and if the way her fingers curled tightly in the fabric of my shirt was any indication, Kat felt the same.
We didn’t move from that spot until a smiling pair of nurses came to usher us out of the hospital.
Twilight was just falling by the time we set out toward the cabin. I’d gotten us a rideshare over to the airport’s twenty-four hour car rental desk, so we were now equipped with an adorably tiny hatchback that made me groan and Kat coo like it was some kind of baby animal.
We stopped at a grocery store outside of the city, loaded the minuscule trunk with shopping bags, and took a long, roundabout path out to my cabin.
If I could erase the tension radiating from Kat’s frame every time headlights appeared behind us, I would’ve given anythingin my power to do so. The radio stayed off, our phones were kept close at hand, and both of us remained vigilant even as I guided the little car onto the forest lane leading to the cabin.
It seemed like a lifetime had passed since the last time we’d been there. Along that final half mile of the drive, Kat finally allowed herself to relax enough to drop her head back against the seat.
“We’ll be safe here,” I said quietly. I needed to hear the words aloud as much as she did.
“You’re always so steady,”Kat said, apparently content to let my soft reassurance seep into her. “That night we hid under the desk, if I wasn’t already in love with you before that, I sure as hell was after.”
I slanted a smiling glance her way. “Oh really?”
Kat hummed and let her eyes fall shut. “I didn’t know what they were doing, not exactly, but you covered my ears and pressed your head to mine to shut it all out. You were my knight in shining armor. Later on, when I figured it out, I was glad I hadn’t understood at the time. I used to think back on it—if I’d known what was happening, with the crush I had on you, Christ. I probably would’ve started giggling like a maniac.”
“You might not have understood, but I definitely did. For months, I worried you’d ask me to explain what was going on. I couldn’t look your father in the face for a long time.” I grinned at the memory.
“Oh, I found out soon enough. I hid from my father for an entire weekend after my mother left, tucked away in a closet inone of the guest rooms with a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. I slipped out to use the bathroom but kept myself shut in there the rest of the time. I heard the maids talking about it while they cleaned the room. Hell of a way to learn about the birds and the bees,” she said lightly.
As I parked behind the cabin, I captured her hand in mine and brought her knuckles to my lips. “I never told you how sorry I was.”
Her eyes widened. “It was my idea to hide there, wasn’t it?”
“I mean about your mother leaving you alone with him. I never understood how she could do that to you.”
Kat sucked in a breath. “That makes two of us.”
I squeezed her hand and we got out of the car. It took a few trips to bring in the groceries, but I teasingly told Kat I was capable of carrying twice as much with my uninjured arm, so we had everything unpacked and put away in short order.
After closing the freezer door, Kat stared blankly at the refrigerator for a minute until I wrapped my arm around her waist.
“Hey, you okay?”
She leaned back against me, like she was too weary to stay upright, then spun around with a scowl dark enough to unsettle me. “We didn’t bring any clothes. I’m going to be back in my kidnap wardrobe, dammit.”
I let out a booming laugh and tightened my good arm around her waist to twirl her across the small kitchen.
“Dare I suggest you spend the week naked in bed with me?” I teased. The blush in her cheeks made up for those narrowed blue eyes, so I kissed her and added, “Gumby is going to pick up some stuff from my place in the morning. If there’s anything you need, I can have him get it for you.”
“Pokey snooping around my underwear drawer? No thanks. When is he coming out here? Since Erin has a key to my apartment, I’ll ask her to pack up some clothes and my laptop. She said she’d go over to the Keeper tomorrow to make sure everything is situated for the week, so she’ll be in the area.”
“Tomorrow is his day off, so why don’t you set it up with Erin and I’ll ask him to stop by your place to meet her when she’s ready?”
Having something to occupy her mind, even for the five minutes it took for her to text Erin back and forth a few times, seemed to settle her nerves. Though she said she didn’t give Erin much detail about what was going on, her assistant seemed extremely bright, so I was sure she’d put some of the pieces together.
Given that I’d been right in my predictions so far, including the fact that her father was apparently willing to put her in danger before admitting he lied, my assurance that I didn’t believe Erin was at risk eased some of the tension from Kat’s shoulders.
We slipped into bed early and Kat fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. I held her, careful to keep from brushing against any of her bruises. After the events of the evening,my brain simply wouldn’t shut off enough to follow her into slumber.
I’d need to make a counter move, and soon.
Willoughby had to know, in no uncertain terms, that I wouldn’t tolerate another attack that threatened Kat’s safety. I’d resigned myself to playing nice for her sake, but since that clearly wasn’t going to work, I’d have to make the point that I had plenty of other weapons at my disposal.
I grinned a little in the darkness, remembering when Kat asked if I’d been doing “computer stuff” all these years. At the time, it had seemed prudent to let her make her own assumptions about my skills. It was difficult to explain all the things I’d learned in the last decade, but those things had served me well over the years.
