He showered after food and dressed in Nash’s jeans and sweater he’d left behind. Fin then sat and pulled her onto his lap. She rested her head on his chest with a sigh.
“I panicked when they first put me in that trunk, Fin.”
“They put you in a trunk!” His anger flared to life. “I should have shot the bastard.”
“I couldn’t breathe and felt the terror start to take control of me, but it didn’t, Fin.”
“Because you’re brave,” he said, brushing his lips over her hair. She smelled of something floral.
“No, because you made me brave. You made me think about what we could have, what I had to live for. Family, yes, I had that, but I wanted to see where our love took us, and they were taking that from me.”
“It’s taking us to a life together,” he said. “I love you, Maggie Winter, and if tonight proved one thing to me, it was that I can’t live without you and don’t plan on it. You’re stuck with me.”
“I want to be stuck with you. You understand me. The crazy, the art, and the passionate loathing of exercise.”
He snorted. “We can work on that.”
“We were friends first, Fin. And that’s what makes this stronger.”
“I’ve always felt different about you, Maggie. I just never acted on it.”
“Take me to bed, Fin. I want to sleep in your arms where I’m safe.”
“I’ll always keep you safe, baby.”
“And I’ll always keep you safe.”
Getting to his feet, he lifted her into his arms and wondered if the fear of what they’d just endured would ever really leave him or her. Maybe over time, say fifty years, he may be able to think about it and not feel the desperation and panic. But right now he wanted sleep with the woman he loved, like he would every night from this day forward.
Chapter39
Love, Fin soon realized, was a pretty special thing. Like waking under a Maggie blanket every morning, he thought, dodging a fallen Santa. He’d tire of that in say… sixty years.
“Oh, for pity’s sake, Fin, go faster!”
“Trying, sweetheart, but as I’m doing all the work, I’m the one getting tired.”
“You’re not tired, and I’m not having Ted and Mandy beating us! Oooh”—she jiggled, making him stagger to stay upright—“that horrible Marsha Watson and Carl Harding are just in front of us. We need to catch them.”
“Doing my best,” he grunted.
He put in a surge, passed Carl Harding, and managed to send him sprawling with a discreet leg trip.
“Damn!” Maggie said as they were beaten on the line by Jack and Rory.
Collapsing on the snow, Fin moaned.
“That’s a very undignified position for the boss dog ranger of Ryker Falls.” Maggie nudged him with her toe. He grabbed her ankle, and she fell on top of him, giggling.
“Shut up, wench,” he rasped, locking his arm around her lovely body. He then kissed her.
“Will you guys get a room! Seriously, it’s getting old,” Luke said, passing them.
Five days after the kidnapping and Maggie was doing great. She still had her moments and wasn’t keen on being alone in the dark, but for all she’d been through, Fin found her resilience amazing.
Every day she showed him a side to her he’d never seen before. He’d thought he knew her, had done so for years, but you never really knew someone until you loved them.
“You did great.” She patted his chest. “My hero,” she said when he let her up for air.
