Page 103 of Breathe Me In

“You’re such a fucking liar.” She elbowed me playfully, and I laughed to add a bit of fuel to the shit giving.

I mimed being shocked by her language. “Breanna Nina Jaminson, such a foul word you just used.” I tossed an impressed look her way.

She opened the car door before I could get to it and waited until I opened mine. “Don’t even get me started on how you settle for dealership coffee.”

I stumbled. “They’re not very good, but sometimes I just need a kick.”

She buckled herself in. “Do you think that lawyer knew what was in the pen she gave to Ford?” Bree’s voice was suddenly serious. “I bet she didn’t. I mean, he grabbed her neck and pulled her in before he set it off.”

“I dunno, but from what Hank said, it sounds like he was working for someone else, part of something bigger. We can only guess, but maybe that person ordered her to give it to him. She lost her life for it, right alongside Hank. Makes you wonder, though, doesn’t it, if there’s someone else calling the shots, why isn’t he doing the dirty work himself?”

“True.” She sighed. “The world’s better off without Hank or Ford, that’s for sure.”

“Well, I know one thing.” I looked at her. “If I see even one little puff of powder anywhere, I’m hightailing it out of there.”

She laughed.

We laughed the entire way out of town as we came up with more and more funny lines to describe getting the hell out of a situation. That was what Bree was for me, someone who could take the bad and find a way to live with it. Humor was our way to cope, and it worked for both of us. At least for most things.

When we arrived at her cabin, she gathered her things but stopped when she reached for the handle. “I meant what I said today. Thank you for saving me, twice.”

“I will always protect you.”

“I’m still pissed,” she added.

“I know.”

She pushed a smile onto her lips as she reached for the door, then pulled her hand back. “Brad?”

“Yeah?”

She leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek, her soft lips sending a wave of warm goose bumps across my skin. The delicate trace of her perfume lingered in the air, sweet and intoxicating. It made my head feel blissfully light. As she slowly pulled back, her eyes caught the soft glow from the cabin lantern, and they sparkled like stars in the night. “Thank you for the ride.”

I licked around my dry mouth and somehow formed a sentence. “I’ll see you in a few days.” I waved at her as she walked away. I took my time to relive the moment before I drove away.

Once I hit the city limits, I heard a text come through. I pulled over and dug my phone out of my bag.

Captain: Change of plans. You’re not needed for the case. The guy took a deal. Take the day tomorrow and we’ll see you next shift.

Brad: Copy that.

I let out a happy sigh and leaned my head back against the headrest. Thank God. I hadn’t been looking forward to the trip. Glad I hadn’t gotten far, I was about to pull a U-turn when movement caught my eye, and I noticed a woman who looked mighty familiar run up to a man and wrap her arms around him, then they started to kiss. He grabbed her ass and whirled her around. I pulled in my chin and laughed.

“Well, shit, look at you, Sherry.” To think she’d been putting me through the ringer with Bree, and there she was with another man. A newfound lightness came over me then, followed by a wave of clarity as I rewound the last few weeks of encounters with Bree. I had to let the past go and make a new life for myself. For years, my heart had whispered the truth I was too afraid to hear. But now, I was ready to listen.

I turned the car around and headed back the way I had come.

The lights were on in the cabin, and smoke piped out of the chimney. She was still up. I climbed the steps to her porch and knocked.

The door opened a crack, and she peeked out, and when she saw it was me, she opened it all the way.

“Brad? What are you doing here? Is everything all right?” She looked gorgeous in her silk pajamas. I loved those pajamas. I didn’t answer her.

“Bree.” I took a deep breath and went with the truth. “I was lost after what we witnessed that day as teens. I panicked and used Sherry as a crutch. Then I ran our marriage into the ground because I never really got proper help for what happened. I still shut down and go dark, totally unsure how to dig my way out of it.” I took a breath as she stood there. “But the difference is, now that you’re back, you’ve woken something inside me that I’d run from since the day we met.”

She blinked. “Brad.”

“Let me get this out.” I shifted my weight to buy myself a moment. “You’ve been trying to tell me that you have a life back in New York City, and at first I didn’t listen. You were home, and that’s where I wanted you to be, but that’s not fair. You left because you had to, and I stayed here because I thought I had to.