Page 117 of A Step You Shouldn't Take

“Seriously? You got stood up for prom?”

“Yes, but I honestly couldn’t blame him. And I didn’t tell Father I was dating my ex-husband until we were engaged.” Kim pressed tighter against me, her breasts pillowing against my chest.Down, boy.“But enough about my dysfunctional family. How did you find me in the woods?”

“Pure dumb luck. We couldn’t knock on the front door of the farmhouse because of diplomatic immunity, so we thought we’d sneak in the back way, then we heard you screaming.”

“If you’d been five minutes later…”

“Like I said before, don’t think about it. We arrived right on time, and all the girls are going home. You were so fucking brave, sweetheart.”

“And so was Emma.”

“Yeah, and Emma.” She always had been. Crazy too, but nobody could question her courage. Sneaking out of a sixth-floor apartment and climbing down the balconies to the ground? No problem. Whacking a gas station robber over the head with a fire extinguisher? She’d done that too. “But you two need to promise you’ll take it easy for a while. I don’t think my heart’ll take any more drama.”

***

“We’ve put you in the honeymoon suite, ma’am. Is that okay? It’s wheelchair accessible.”

Kim grimaced, and I hoped that was because of her mobility situation and not at the thought of sharing a bed with me.

The hotel receptionist frowned. “Ma’am?”

“The honeymoon suite’s great. Thank you.”

As long as it didn’t come with a ghost in the fucking bedroom this time.

A porter grabbed the suitcase Kayla had thrown together for Kim while we finished up with the doctors, and Kim smiled up at Annie, who’d shared a cab with us from the hospital.

“At least we don’t need to eat protein bars now, huh?” Kim said.

Annie managed a tight smile. She’d still barely spoken, and I’d overheard one of the doctors muttering about therapy. Kayla had offered to stay with her in a twin room until she began to process things properly.

Right now, we were at the Hampton Park Hotel and Spa, the jewel in the crown of Katia’s father’s hotel empire. He’d cleared out an entire wing so the girls could undergo their interviews in peace and slightly more comfort than the police precinct.

“Stay as long as you want,” he’d said as he shook my hand for the twentieth time.

It sure beat the prospect of bunking down on Wyatt’s sofa, which he’d offered while we were waiting at the hospital before I agreed to move in with Kim.

In the honeymoon suite, the staff had left us a fruit basket, a fancy box of chocolates, and a chilled bottle of Veuve Clicquot, but Kim took one look at the champagne and asked the porter to take it away.

“I’m never drinking again. Not after what happened the last two times.”

“It’s probably not a good idea with your painkillers either.”

She stared out the window at the golf course beyond, lit by strategically placed spotlights.

“I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a total train wreck.”

“Kim, you’re anything but a train wreck. You’re a smart, determined, courageous woman who’s been dealt some bad cards recently.”

“I managed to sleep through my entire freaking kidnapping!”

“Okay, so that was a first. But if it hadn’t been for you, my sister and eleven other women would still be trapped underground, and we wouldn’t have gotten some kind of justice for Georgette.”

“Every day, that vile animal would undress me with his eyes, and every night, I dreamed of you tearing my clothes off.” She smiled hesitantly, the corners of her lips flickering even as tears pooled in her eyes. “But look at the state of me… I’m a mess.”

I didn’t say anything, just picked her up out of the wheelchair and kissed her shiny pink lipstick into oblivion.

“You’re my mess now. Every other man who wants you can fuck right off.”

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