“It’s not proper that I live with you before the wedding.”
“Are you kidding? We were sleeping together in my penthouse and you were staying with me.”
She blushed but stood her ground. “Need I remind you that this is a small town. I will not do that Lance.”
“God dammit Tammy—“
“Don’t you curse at me,” she scolded back.
He started the engine. “You are coming home with me, or you can bloody well live by yourself for the rest of your life.”
Her jaw slacked.
He pulled out of the parking lot.
“Lance?”
“I mean it Tammy. I won’t have your life put in danger anymore. I can’t go through that again. Don’t you realize that someone tried to kill you?”
“Yes,” she answered quietly.
“How the hell do you think that makes me feel?”
Gosh she didn’t even think of that. He felt so powerless when Riley was murdered, she couldn’t imagine how he felt when it came to her especially if he loved her as much as he said he did. “You’d leave me?”
He flicked her a glance before concentrating on the road. “I know I hurt you by saying that, but I can’t think of any other way to get you to listen. You’re too damn stubborn, and I’m really serious about having you with me. I couldn’t live with myself if I lost you. I swear on my mother’s grave, I couldn’t handle that.”
She reached over and touched his arm. “I’ll go to the ranch.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything else.
She knew he was tortured with guilt over his friend and never put any thought into what he’d gone through near losing her. It brought up emotions that he tried to leave in New York. “I’m sorry.”
“You honestly don’t have to be,” he said after a long stretch of silence. “Remember, alpha male.”
She laughed. “That’s hard to forget.” He glanced at her again and she could see that the anger was gone.
“Some good news for you. The wedding invitations are here.”
Oh lord, there was a reality check. She was so deeply in love with this man and he seriously was going to marry her. She kept playing things over and over in her head. She felt that she didn’t deserve him.
“I love you Tam.”
She popped her head up not realizing she was wringing her hands. She smiled wide and he returned it. It was a long wait, but her dreams were finally coming true. Then everything erupted into chaos. The last thing she remembered was the horrible sound of crushing metal and shattering glass—then an impact. All went black.
She smelled gas. Then she could detect the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. She opened her eyes. Her chest was in agony, her ears were ringing and everything was hazy. After a moment of looking around she realized that she was hanging upside down.
Lance!
She looked over at the driver’s seat and he was there upside down and bleeding. There was blood pouring down his face and dripping off his hair. She reached over. “Lance!” and squeezed his arm. God her chest hurt!
No response.
She sobbed. “Lance please wake up. Please be alive.” She fumbled for her seatbelt. Surprisingly it popped out despite the tension on it. She hit her head when it released and yelped in pain. It really hurt when she folded up on the ceiling of the truck. It was caved in. She did her best to straighten out and started to shake Lance. She knew it was something you should never do in case of a neck injury, but she could still smell gas. “Lance, wake up!”
He groaned.
Oh thank God!
