Blinking back tears, Skye glanced away. “Why didn’t you call?”
Edge caught her chin and gently turned her to face him. “I screwed up. I wanted to call. I wanted to see you more than anything in the world. But so much has happened since I left. I had so much to tell you, so much I wanted to say. But I . . .”
The tender look in his eyes sent hope into her heart. “But you . . . what . . . ?” Uncertainty rose. What was he going to say? What if he asked her to go back with him to Fort Campbell? She loved him so much she was afraid she would say yes.
“I wanted to get everything just right,” Edge said. “I was afraid I would only get one chance to convince you. I didn’t want anything to go wrong.” He took her hand, lifted it, and kissed her fingers. “But I waited too long and screwed everything up.”
There was something in his eyes she had never seen before. Something that made her heart squeeze painfully inside her. She thought that it might be fear, but there was nothing Edge Logan was afraid of.
She had to know—one way or another. “Maybe you didn’t screw anything up. Maybe you can say what you wanted to say, and everything will be all right.”
He tipped her chin up. “I want to kiss you so bad right now, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
Skye leaned into him, pressed her mouth over his, and just tasted. The little zip of pain was worth it.
When the gentle kiss ended, Edge looked at the two men tied and gagged on the floor. “I wish we were someplace else, anyplace but here.”
Skye started to tell him it didn’t matter where they were, only that he was there and they were together, but a hard knock sounded, rattling the glass in the front door.
Edge kissed her softly one last time and went over to let the police into the office.
* * *
Along with the cops, an ambulance arrived. EMTs pronounced Mahler and Rankin well enough to be taken into custody. They checked Skye out, cleaned and treated the cut on her lip and the tape burns from the bindings on her wrists. Nothing they could do about her bruised ribs and miscellaneous aches and pains from fighting off her attackers.
Two Denver PD detectives arrived to take their statements, one of them Zach Powers, the guy who had been with Callie on her twenty-first birthday. He wasn’t happy to find out Klaus was still stalking her.
“How did the bastard get out of jail?” Edge asked.
“Mahler posted bond,” Powers said darkly. “Unfortunately, the judge set some minor amount Mahler could easily afford to pay with the money he made from Henson’s drug operation.”
“Klaus was determined to find Callie,” Edge said. “I guess he figured Skye was his best chance of doing that. He got lucky and tracked her to the office.”
“Yeah, well, Mahler’s not getting out again. Callie’s safe. I give you my word on that.”
Interesting, Edge thought, catching the protective glint in the detective’s blue eyes.
Edge said little as he walked Skye back to her apartment. He still felt guilty for not calling her. None of this would have happened if he had. Or maybe it would have. He had yet to find out where he stood.
He took her key and opened her apartment door, waited till she walked inside, then closed and locked the door.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, still pissed every time he noticed the bruises on her face.
“Other than a few aches and pains, I feel okay.”
His stomach knotted at what could have happened if he hadn’t gotten there in time.
“I know you must be hurting. We don’t have to talk tonight,” he forced himself to say. “We can talk in the morning.”
“You’re leaving?”
“No! I mean, no.” No way was he leaving after what had happened. “I’ll sleep on the sofa,” he said, instead of finding out if Skye still wanted him, if there was a chance she loved him.
“You said there were things you wanted to say.”
A thousand things. He had no idea where to begin. “It can wait until you’re feeling better.”
“Can it?”
