Her eyes narrowed as she looked from my face to the blood crusting my knuckles. “That’s an interesting claim from a man whose hands look like they were dragged down a gravel road. Sit, Brogan.”
There were very few people alive who could issue me an order in my own house and receive anything but a stare in response. Jacqueline stood there holding bandages andantiseptic with her sweet mouth set in a determined line, though. Watching her try to boss me over injuries I barely felt was too fucking adorable to refuse. We sat and she took my right hand into both of hers.
Her fingers were warm and gentle as she soaked gauze with antiseptic and cleaned the blood from my skin.
“I know he deserved it,” she murmured, concentrating on a split across my middle knuckle while a tiny line appeared between her brows. She dabbed ointment over the torn skin, then looked up when I didn’t react. “That doesn’t mean I enjoy watching you turn your hands into battering rams.”
“I have two.”
Her gaze stayed on mine for a moment before she rolled her eyes and returned to the bandage. “That wasn’t funny.”
“I thought it was.”
“You would.”
The corner of her mouth lifted before she could force it flat again, and that brief smile hit my body harder than the antiseptic ever could.
To my aggravation, my cock stirred beneath my jeans despite the wrecked room and deputies still moving through the yard. Apparently, seeing Jacqueline in my shirt while she cared for me was enough to drag every memory of her naked beneath me straight to the surface.
Her eyes dropped when she felt my erection press against the side of her thigh, then climbed slowly back to mine as a blush spread across her cheeks. The shift in her breathing told me she was remembering the night before too.
“Seriously?” she whispered, glancing toward the ruined window as though the existence of law enforcement outside should have made my body more reasonable.
“I’ve seen you naked, and now you’re sitting beside me in my shirt with your hands all over mine.” I caught her wrist andbrought the soft inside of it to my mouth and kissed the pulse beating beneath her skin. “You breathe near me, baby, and my cock gets hard. We both need to learn to live with it.”
Her ears turned pink, but she didn’t pull away. Her gaze dropped to the white bandage while the humor faded from her expression.
“I was terrified tonight,” she admitted as she finished wrapping my knuckles. “When Trent grabbed me, I knew you’d come if the alarm reached you, but for a second I thought he might get me through that door before anyone could stop him.”
My hand slid from hers to the back of her neck, drawing her closer. “I’d never have let him hurt you.”
“I know.” Her lips trembled before she pressed them together. “I keep remembering how strong he was and how close the door looked, but none of that changed my mind.”
“About what?”
“About staying here.” Her fingers clutched the front of my shirt as she shifted closer. “About the ranch, about us. I’m not letting them run me out of Grandpa’s home or the future I want with you.”
Relief and possession settled through me with the same absolute certainty that had struck the day we met. “Good, because I’ll never let you go anyway.”
Jacqueline blinked once before a watery laugh escaped. “You make that sound very reasonable.”
“It is. You’re mine, Jacqueline. You became mine the second I saw you, and you’ve just been catching up ever since.”
Her mouth curved as she shook her head, but she tucked herself closer against my side. “You really believe that.”
“I know it.” I pressed my mouth to her forehead, letting the fact that she was warm, alive, and safe beneath my hands calm the last of the violence still moving through me.
“What happens to Wade now?” she asked, lifting her face enough to search mine.
“He’s the one leaving Sable Canyon.” I just didn’t know yet whether he would go through a prison gate or beneath a sheet. Option two was my preference.
Jacqueline studied me before giving one small nod. “You sound very sure.”
“I am.”
She accepted the answer without asking for details I couldn’t—wouldn’t—give her. There was some darkness in my world that I would never allow to touch Jacqueline. I tried to focus on the warmth of her in my arms and not the memory of Trent fighting to pull her through the door. I’d checked her myself more than once, and she’d sworn she was fine, but the possibility that adrenaline had hidden something wouldn’t let up.
“We’re going to see Reaper,” I decided.
