“I hope you’re right.” She turned and wrapped her arms around him, resting the side of her face against his chiseled muscles. “I’m just ready to be home and past all this.” His heart thumped heavily against her cheek.
“Allof it?”
“Well,” she pulled away just enough to look up at him. “I’m hopingthiscan continue on after we get back.”
The loving expression in Nate’s eyes was surprising as he leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. His tongue breached her lips as he continued to ease her worry in the sweetest way possible.
When he ended the kiss, he tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. With a low rumble said, “You’re stuck with me, baby. Better get used to it.”
* * *
Nate was torn. Part of him wanted to be home and have things back to normal. The other part—the bigger part—wanted to stay here. With Gracelynn.
He glanced up at her from over the top of his computer. She’d been a trooper throughout this whole thing, but he knew Matt’s phone call yesterday had hit her pretty hard.
After dinner, they’d ended up taking a walk along one of the trails near their cabin. Gracie shared sweet stories of when she and Sarah were younger. He entertained her with tales of his and Scott’s many youthful antics that often resulted in one or both of them being injured.
Their stroll was filled with both laughter and comfortable silence. Then, there were those moments Nate was fully aware Gracie was thinking of Craig. Not only his horrific death, but also how he’d inadvertently put a target on her back.
The night ended with them making love to the sound of the rain on the cabin’s roof. Nate had purposely gone slower that time, determined to give her as much pleasure as he possibly could while at the same time, taking her mind off her unfortunate reality.
She fell asleep almost immediately afterward, but then tossed and turned throughout the night. Nate hated not being able to invade her dreams and make them better.
He’d spent most of today working every angle he could think of to try and figure out what the hell Craig could possibly have had on Yavuz. Unfortunately, that hadn’t left much time for her.
Sitting by the cabin’s small fireplace, where she’d been most of the afternoon, he saw her shiver beneath the thin throw they’d found in one of the bedroom closets. With all the rain they’d had lately, the temperature at the lake had dropped significantly.
Pulling the blanket more tightly around her shoulders, Gracie grabbed the poker and stoked the bigger of the two logs he’d put in there a few hours ago.
“You cold?” he asked.
She swiveled her head toward him and gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “A little. It’s okay, though.”
“I’ll go get some more wood.”
“This was the last of it, remember?”
Shit. That’s right.
“We can run to the campground store and grab another bundle.”
“That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
Nate stood and stretched his back. “I need to take a break, anyway.” He walked to the door and began putting on his boots.
“You mind if I stay here?”
The question surprised him. “Uh, not a good idea.”
“Come on, Nate,” she said, giving him a look. Standing, she kept the blanket around her as she walked over to where he was. “No one other than Jake and your team knows we’re here. There haven’t been any other incidents or signs of the men who tried to take me before. I’m pretty sure I’ll survive the ten minutes it’ll take for you to drive down the road and back.”
He finished tying the second boot and went to her. Rubbing his hands up and down her upper arms, he said, “I’m sure you would, but I don’t want to risk it. I don’t want to riskyou.”
“It’s ten minutes, Nate,” she pleaded, then sighed. Unwrapping herself, she slid her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what my problem is today. I’m just in a funk and thought a few minutes alone might help.”
Hugging her back, Nate kissed the top of her head then rested his cheek there. “First, there’ll be no apologies. I said before, this is a lot to take in, and I meant it. Second, you’re probably exhausted. I know you didn’t sleep well last night.”
“No,” she raised her head and looked up at him. “I didn’t.” Her brows creased. “I hope I didn’t keep you up.”
