“I went to her house. Her car is missing, and it’s too old to have a GPS to trace. I tried to talk to her father, but he wasn’t there. The only person I could talk to was her little brother, and that was pushing the line of legality since her father couldn’t give consent or serve as a chaperone. The last time he saw her, she was getting into her car to go to work since she couldn’t go to the dance.”
“I wish I’d never suspended them from all the activities now. If she dialed 911 at eleven thirty, she might still have been at the dance.”
“You can’t start worrying about what-ifs. You had no way of knowing, Lucas. She might have just disappeared while at the dance, or afterward, depending on what happened.”
“I know. But still.”
She continued, “I went everywhere I could think of. I went to Judah’s house, but he wasn’t there.”
“He’s with Ezra and the study zoo.”
“I went to her job, but she didn’t show up for work this morning. When I called you, I was at the station. Some of the officers are back in after dealing with the fire. Lieutenant Axtonis heading the search now so I could go home and get some sleep after being out all day.”
“Is there any chance she might have run away?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I hope that’s what it is. But why would she call 911 and then toss her phone in the nature preserve? She’s a smart girl. She’d know she could just pull the SIM card and smash it to keep someone from finding her. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Silence fell between them again. He didn’t know how long it was before she pulled away. There were light tracks on her face where a tear or two had trailed, but while her eyes were glassy, he couldn’t figure out if the tears were due to sadness or exhaustion.
“Come on. You need rest. Take a shower and crawl into bed. I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight.”
“I should go home.”
“No. You’re not staying there alone until everything is cleaned up, your door is fixed, and the security system is back up and running. To hell with what people think it looks like.”
It was a sign of how tired she was that she didn’t argue.
He led her upstairs to his room and guided her into the bathroom. After turning on the shower water, he kissed her forehead. “I’ll grab some towels and something for you to sleep in. Go on.”
While she showered, he grabbed several towels from the linen closet for her, pulled a T-shirt and sweatpants from his dresser, then changed the sheets on the bed. He was bent over the top of the bed, replacing the pillows, when she stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, her hair damp and loose around her shoulders.
“I need you,” she whispered. “I feel so lost right now. It’s too much. It’s probably totally selfish and inappropriate, but I need to feel like there’s something good to come out of all ofthis. I need some hope that things will work out all right. For everyone.”
He stood and closed the bedroom door, making sure to lock it. Ezra might not be there, but he wouldn’t take the chance of his son coming home early and embarrassing her.
With a single pull from over his shoulder, his T-shirt cleared his body, and he dropped it to the floor at her feet. Next, he shoved his pajama pants down past his hips. Naked, he lowered his mouth to hers, and her lips parted instantly to allow him inside. Beneath his hands, her skin was warm, flushed from the heat of the water, and her entire body felt pliant. The shower had helped her relax from the tension of searching for Kennedy in the preserve.
He pulled back from kissing her. “You sure?” he asked. “You can just crawl into bed and go to sleep, and I’ll go down the hall. Ezra won’t be back until tomorrow after school. I’ll make myself invisible so you can rest.”
“I’m sure.”
His hands shook a little as they reached for the tucked-in corner of the towel she wore. He wasn’t sure why he was nervous. He hadn’t been nervous the first time he had sex with his wife. Not even the very first time ever with his high school girlfriend all those years ago. Why now? Maybe it was because, for the first time in his life, the person meant something to him.
Slipping the material from its tucked-in position, he was left with the towel in his hands, and then he dropped it to the floor.
He refused to think beyond this moment. There were things to work through, both small and large. He wasn’t worried about Ezra—the boy had given his seal of approval by pushing his father to pursue her. But there were forces within each of them that would cause struggles at times. He worried he wasn’t available enough for her. She would have to work through the bullshit her ex had put into her head about her worth as a lover,and they still had to figure out who was working to sabotage her life. Their jobs would likely present other challenges.
Right now, though, he was going to show her just how good they could be together. He already knew it, but she was going to need reassurance. He was willing to give that to her as much and as often as she needed it. Some things were worth fighting for, no matter the price, no matter the lengths needed to go.
He guided her to the mattress. “Lie back, El.”
As she complied, he fisted his cock, stroking it slowly from root to tip as he admired her from his position at the side of the bed. One leg bent, the foot planted on the mattress, the other dangling over the side and no longer touching the floor. She had stretched her arms above her head, her torso twisting to one side, as if to remove any last bits of tension. Her pale skin and hair against the dark bedding glowed in the muted light through the translucent drapes. She looked like a sacrifice on an ancient altar. Sensuous. Sinuous.
Leaning over her, supported by his arms, he kissed her—slow, soft, and deep.
Pulling away, he took his cock in hand again, stroking it lazily. “I want you to move up so your head is on the pillow.”
She shifted to where he wanted her and looked at him, as if expecting more directions. He joined her on the bed, lying on his side next to her body. One arm slid beneath her neck as extra support. With his free hand, he palmed her thigh closest to him and trapped it between his knees. This way, she was completely open to him—trapped but not overwhelmed.
