“Love you too, dammit. Fuck, I love you.” The confession roars out of him like it hurts, and then he’s kissing me, filthy and deep, tongue stroking mine in time with his hips.
I shatter. The orgasm hits so hard my whole body locks up; my thighs shake around him, pussy clenching in waves that drag him over with me. He buries his face in my neck, groaning my name as his hips jerk as he spills hot inside me, pulse after pulse.
We're a tangled mess of convulsions and moans. Pleasure courses through me so thoroughly, I feel like I'm one with him, and even when my body begins to quiet, the spasms finally slowing, I still feel his heartbeat inside me.
"I mean it," I whisper, pressing a kiss to his stubbled cheek. "I'm in love with you, Dane Strouse, or whatever the fuck your realname is. And I don't care that you're a killer or that you eat beef and potatoes…"I hope that makes him smile, but I feel him tensing instead. I swallow hard, because it's not the reaction I was hoping for. He said he loves me, right? So, this should be a good conversation, but Dane pulls out and starts to roll off me when a loud bang interrupts the moment.
We both freeze.
It's a door slamming outside—close.
Dane is off the ground in an instant, grabbing his jeans and pulling them on. I scramble to do the same, heart hammering, hands shaking as I pull on my clothes. He grabs his shotgun from near the door and I follow him to the window where he peeks out.
"Stay behind me." His voice is hushed but rushed too, like being startled has made him winded. "And if I tell you to run, you run. Understand?" He jams his feet into his boots and starts buttoning his shirt.
"Understood," I tell him, finding my sneakers.
Then he moves back to the window, peering out into the darkness. I can see tension in every line of his body, the predator fully alert. Snow swirls outside, making visibility poor. But there—movement near the barn is a shape, dark against white.
"Someone's here." He chambers a round the instant he pulls his handgun from his belt. "Take the shotgun. Cover the back door."
I grab the shotgun with shaking hands and position myself where I can see the rear entrance. My pulse is racing, mouth dry with fear as I imagine every horrible thing that could behappening. Those SUVs meant business and I led them right to our fucking doorstep by using that snowmobile.
Dane stands ready by the front door, gun raised, waiting, and I wish I could see what he sees. I'm too far away from the window, and the light of the fire makes us more visible to anyone outside than they are to us. Dane looks over his shoulder and our eyes meet, and it sends a jolt of adrenaline to my chest.
"Stay calm," Dane murmurs. "Wait for my signal."
The knock on the door makes us both jump.
17
DANE
Ihave my gun trained on the door when I recognize the voice that shouts, "Dane…" It's muffled through the thick wood, but I can't pretend I don't know who it is. "Dane, open up. We should talk."
I lower the weapon and sigh hard, shoving it into my belt as I shake my head at Sloane, who still has the shotgun raised, pointing at the back entrance. I move to the front door and crack it open, keeping my body between Wade and the interior of the cabin because there's no way in fuck I'm letting that guy in here. He's already hounded me about Sloane once and if he questioned her too, then I know why he's here.
"Sheriff… It's late." It's got to be obvious to him we were in the middle of something. My shirt hangs open, my hair is ruffled, and what the fuck will I say to a man I've lied to about Sloane being my sister?
Wade's burly frame fills the doorway, snow dusting his shoulders. "We need to talk, Strouse. And I need to see your sister."
"She's sleeping."
"Then wake her up." He pushes forward, forcing me to either let him in or physically stop him. "I've got men in town asking questions about you. Black SUVs, expensive suits, the kind of people who don't belong in Sutter's Gap. And then there's these."
He holds up two more of those fucking packages with brown paper wrapping. Miles must have held them at the post office instead of delivering them because of the snow. The mountain passes get slippery, and sometimes, he does that because his Grumman can't get up my drive.
"Mail came for you," Wade continues. "Miles is starting to get suspicious about this and he asked me to look into it. So I'm going to ask you one more time—what the hell is going on, and who is that woman you're keeping up here?"
Wade is a smart man and that's why the people of this community elected him sheriff. I'm only fighting an uphill battle if I keep pushing back, and there's no way to escape his nosiness. Holding on to my tired lie is only going to make things worse.
"It's complicated." I step back, letting him inside. "And I don't have time to explain all of it."
"Make time." He sets the packages on the table, hand resting on his service weapon. "Because right now, I've got enough to arrest you for harboring a missing person. And if those men in town are connected to you, maybe a lot more than that." His scowl is menacing, but he's the least of my worries.
When Sloane appears from the bedroom, fully dressed now, with the shotgun still in her hands, Wade's eyes widen. "Put that down, Miss."
Sloane slowly lowers the shotgun, which I'm not sure she even knows how to use, and says, "I'm not being kept against my will." Then she clears her throat and glances up at me. "I'm here because someone drugged me, kidnapped me, and dumped me in your town. Dane found me and kept me safe. If I leave here, I'm dead."
