He spun her around. “Did he hurt you?” he demanded.
“No,” she murmured, “no.” She buried her face in his neck and, inhaling, took her fill of his comforting scent, still unable to believe he was here.
“Because if he did, I’ll—”
“No. Just … hold me.”
He did, and for a few seconds, nothing and no one else mattered.
Only Nick.
Her body hummed with the heady feeling only he could evoke, and Jannie closed her eyes, allowing herself just to be in his arms.
At their feet, Blake slowly sat up, his hand going to his jaw as he gingerly moved it from side to side. “Fuck, man! That’s mywife!”
“Wrong, asshole.” Nick moved Jannie into a tight one-armed hold. “She’s mine.”
Warmth spread through Jannie’s chest, and her heart took flight. Yes, she belonged to Nick. She knew it with her entire being. She looked down on her pathetic ex-husband, whose lip was rapidly swelling, trickling blood, and wondered what she had ever seen in him. Right now, all she had for him was pity. That, and a touch of gratitude for his decision to file for divorce.
Through narrowed eyes, Nick watched Blake struggle to get up and moved his shoe to trap Blake’s fingers.
Grimacing, Blake looked up.
Nick’s furious glare locked on him. “I guess what I said last timedidn’t get through your thick skull. I’m feeling magnanimous toward a fellow pilot, so I won’t break your fingers today. Just in case you get your head out of your ass and decide to fly a plane again.” His jaw flexed. “Go home and get yourself together, man. Or don’t. But never, ever come within a thousand feet of her, or you’ll regret it. Guaranteed.”
•
“You clocked him pretty good,” Jannie said, smoothing her hands over Nick’s shirt front. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him. But she wanted to keep an eye on Rolf, so they were sitting on the sofa with the TV muted.
“Shit,” Nick muttered. “Just wearing that Speedo justified punching him in the face.”
She laughed, running her fingertips along his chiseled jaw. “Yeah, that was …” She shook her head.
“In case you were wondering, I didn’t let him drive that piece of crap.”
“What piece of crap?”
“That old Subaru.”
She remembered the rusty white car in front of the neighbor’s house. “That heap is his?”
“He said it was. I called an Uber. I didn’t think he was fit to drive on whatever the hell he was using.”
After tossing Blake’s clothes at him, Nick had marched him out of her backyard to make sure he left the property.
“What was he on?” Nick asked.
“Xanax. And that was nice of you. Not to mention it’s illegal to drive with it in your system.”
Nick shook his head. “Jesus. All that work to get to captain, and he throws it all away. If he wants to keep his job at JetBlue, he needs to get off that stuff ASAP.”
“He knows.”
Nick eyed Rolf, who was sleeping on his dog bed, belly and paws up. “I can’t believe he gave it to the dog. Did he say why?”
Jannie grimaced. “He didn’t feel like throwing the ball for him.”
“Are you serious?” Nick cursed under his breath.
