“Hey, don’t apologize. I’m touched to think that you were all at The Cave together, pulling for me.”
She smiled up at him. “This may come as a surprise, but I had a thing for you even back then.”
Her words slid, warm and soothing, into the empty space behind his sternum. He held her close. “I don’t know what I’d do without you right now.”
He’d never said anything like that to a woman before, but it was the truth.
* * *
It had beena long time since Kenzie had enjoyed a three-day weekend and even longer since she’d spent three entire days alone with a man. They made love whenever they felt like it, stayed up late watching Netflix, and slept in—at least until the dogs woke them. What a luxury it was to wake up in Harrison’s arms, spend the day with him, and then slide into bed with him at night. He made the meals, helped Kenzie wash her hair when she was free to shower again, and carried in groceries, handling anything she couldn’t easily do herself.
He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. That ought to have made her happy, but it didn’t. Instead, she was terrified. Somewhere along the way, she had fallen in love with him.
Could she possibly be more of an idiot?
She’d tried to stop this from happening. She’d told her heart that he would soon get bored with her and leave her for a mountain—or a woman who loved to climb like he did. But her heart didn’t want to hear it. It didn’t care about experience or consequences.
It wanted him.
Kenzie pushed aside her worries as best she could and focused on the moment. The light in his gray eyes. His smile. The gentleness of his touch. The deep timbre of his voice. The way he felt inside her.
As special as these days were, she knew that doing the interview with Wendy had made things worse for him. He had nightmares every night. Twice, she’d woken to find him sitting up in bed, his body tense, his skin covered in cold sweat. Both times, she’d asked him if he wanted to talk, but he’d shaken his head and told her not to worry.
By Sunday, there were serious dark circles beneath his eyes. A few times when he didn’t know she was watching, she’d caught him staring into nothingness, a troubled expression on his face. If he was emotionally distant at times, he made up for it when they made love. He fucked with the intensity of a condemned man, seeming to find a measure of forgetfulness and peace with her. If sex could be an escape from grief for him, well, she was more than willing to do her part.
She was just selfless like that.
On Monday, she went back to work, and they fell into an easy routine. Every morning, he dealt with the dogs and made breakfast while she showered. While she was at work, he did his own thing, taking Gabby with him and sometimes joining her for lunch. Except for Tuesday when he had his EMT refresher course, he made dinner.
“You’d make a good househusband,” she teased.
He chuckled. “Are you proposing?”
She could tell he was joking. Still, his words made her pulse skip.
On Saturday, he came to her puppy kindergarten class, where Gabby and shy little Snickerdoodle were now best buddies. At one point, he slipped his arm around Kenzie’s waist, putting a frown on Hannah’s face.
“I think I disappointed someone,” he whispered to Kenzie.
That afternoon, the Team was toned out to help a woman who had taken one too many steps backward while snapping photos and had fallen a good twenty feet down a rocky embankment. No canine help was needed, so Kenzie sat that one out. Megs didn’t want her up there anyway out of concern she might trip and hurt her wrist. But Harrison went and helped evacuate the woman to a waiting ambulance.
They made love that night, then lay in the dark afterward, climax fading into sleep, Harrison’s fingers tracing lines over the skin of her arm. “I want you to know how much you mean to me. I don’t ever want to hurt you.”
She didn’t want that either. “You mean a lot to me, too. I’m here for you, Harrison. I’m here if you need someone to listen.”
“I don’t want to bother you with my bullshit.”
“Nothing about you or your feelings is bullshit—not to me.” She could feel the tension in him, as if he were dreading something.
And then she remembered.
Tomorrow was Sunday. The interview he’d done with Wendy last week would be on the front page of theScarlet Gazettein the morning.
Chapter 19
Conrad tookthe dogs out while Kenzie started coffee, his heart full, his mind empty. Mornings with Kenzie gave new meaning to the phrase “bed head.” He grinned at the thought, amazed by the sense of peace he found in her arms. It was better than meditation. It was better than sex with any other woman. It was even better than the high he got standing on the summits of mountains.
Are you out of your mind?
