Page 84 of The Harborer
Jesus, I’m tired.
The door to the exam room opened, spilling light into the hallway. The two women appeared, Neve with her arm around Amy’s shoulders still covered by the blanket. On her feet, Amy wore white crew socks, probably given to her by Neve.
“Can I release our patient into your tender care, Deputy?” Neve teased.
Shane hopped to his feet. “Absolutely.” He strode to Amy and pulled her against him. To hell with keeping their relationship under wraps. She leaned into him, pressing her cheek to his chest. The blanket slipped off as she wound her arms around his waist. She let out an extended, shoulder-shuddering sigh, and his fatigue slid away.
He kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go home.”
Back in the safetyof Shane’s apartment, Amy’s body was about to give out on her. Weariness weighed down her bones, her head, every part of her body. Her legs ached where rocks had jabbed her, her feet hurt from scrabbling across those same rocks, and her wrists throbbed and oozed from the zip tie. But those were only the physical leftovers of her captivity. Her emotions sparked like surges of electricity, zipping from paralyzing fear to a fog of disbelief before finally jolting to a rageso profound it shook her entire being. And though Shane told her every single thing she felt was normal after the trauma she’d experienced, it didn’t blunt the sucking whirlpool those emotions caused inside her. She wanted to crumple into a tiny ball like a roly-poly, yet she couldn’t for the overwhelming urge to scrub herself raw. The filth crusting her skin seemed to be embedded below its surface, and she wondered if she’d ever feel clean again.
They stood just inside his front door, Shane holding her apart from him by her upper arms. “Amy, I am so, so sorry I ever doubted you.”
Shaking her head, she placed her fingers against his mouth. “Forgiven. I’m sorry too.”
“What do you have to be sorry about?”
She told him how she’d held out on him about Benny, explaining what Micky’s odd text had really meant. “He said he wanted me to keep his friendship with Benny a secret, so I went along. What I didn’t understand at the time was they really weren’t buddies. It was more of a … business association. I thought I was doing the right thing. I should have told—”
Now he placedhisfingers againsthermouth. “Forgiven. Now tell me what I can do for you.”
He was so damn sweet she wanted to cry. She wasn’t used to the kind of attention he lavished on her, and she wanted to curl herself up inside him and stay there forever.
Before she could give in to it, though, she had to get something that was gnawing at her off her chest. “I need to go see Micky.”
Shane froze.
“Not tonight, but soon. I need closure.”
“Amy, have you ever set foot in the jail?” When she shook her head, he went on. “It’s not a pleasant place. I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“I have to go through with it,” she insisted. Shane was trying to protect her, and she loved him for it, but she needed this for reasons she didn’t fully comprehend.
“All right.” The reluctance in his eyes was palpable, yet he was still willing to do this. For her. And her heart overflowed with the love she felt for him.
She looked up at him, hoping he could see that love and the gratitude reflected in her eyes. “Thank you.”
He leaned in and laid a soft kiss on her forehead.
“I want to take a shower,” she told him. He nodded. “This time, though, Idowant your help scrubbing my back.”
“Whatever you need, I’m there for it.” He smiled down with a tenderness that made her chest ache.
In the bathroom, he undressed her slowly as though she were a delicate flower that might crush under his touch. He stripped down and got under the spray with her, taking his time to wash her hair, her entire body. His movements were unhurried, gentle over her wounds. There was nothing sexual or erotic about them, even when he soaped her breasts or her ass or between her legs. Just the simple act of a loving man taking care of her basic needs, and she was in a free fall of love for him.
When they stepped out, he dried her off and dropped his sheriff’s T-shirt over her head. She pulled the fabric to her nose and inhaled.
“Are you smelling my shirt?” His lips quirked with a smile. His handsome face was dusted with days of golden stubble. He took her breath away.
Fatigue had lowered her guard, like being tipsy, and she told him the truth. “Yes. It smells so good. It smells likeyou,” she replied, her voice thick with sleep.It smells like home.
Wearing only flannel PJ pants, he opened his arms wide. “Well, your source is right here. Feel free to smell me all you want.”
A giggle she didn’t know she had inside her escaped, and with it, some of her fatigue left too.
He fed her warm milk and ibuprofen, held her hair back while she brushed her teeth, and tucked her into bed before climbing in beside her. He pulled her against him, and she melted into his strong arms as he stroked her hair.
Safe. Cherished. Utterly and completely in love.
