Page 24 of Danger In The Backcountry
Rome’s attention shifted to the woman standing up to an officer of the law on his behalf. Hell, she was perfect. Not in the always-picked-her-socks-off-the-floor way, but in the ones that mattered. How she went to bat for the people she cared about. How she drove him wild with a simple notch of her mouth and a glance in his direction. How she’d taught him so many things about himself and accepted the parts he hated.
She’d asked him if this was what he wanted. Giving their marriage a second chance, and with her pressed against him, his hands on her skin and his mouth memorizing her all over again, he hadn’t been able to think straight. He’d been the one to call it quits, and yet the idea of never being with her again—of never holding her while she fell asleep in his jersey or watch her excel at whatever goal she’d set her sights on—soured his stomach. And, right now, after watching her defend him against a murder accusation, giving them another shot sounded like the best idea he’d ever had. But she had a point. Slipping back into their old habits would only put them on the path to court.
Lettie seemed to brace as though readying for a physical fight.
“Come on, Lettie. You’ve given the police enough information to do their jobs.” Grabbing her by the hip, he maneuvered her toward the door then slightly ahead of him as he turned back. “You want to accuse me of something, Officer? Get a warrant. Superintendent Potter can tell you where to find me.”
The officer nodded, tucking that notebook and pen in the breast pocket of his uniform. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Every eye in the apartment followed their exit as he slipped his good arm around her lower back and took her weight off her ankle.
They’d made it all the way down the stairs from the second-story apartment and to the van in the parking lot before she’d pulled free from his grip and faced off with him. Just out of hearing range from the officers working the scene upstairs.“What was that officer talking about when he said he knows about a sealed juvenile record?”
Rome flexed his good hand around the keys to her van. Something to focus on rather than the scouring shame coiling through him. He could tell her. Right here, right now. He could tell the truth and end it at that. Let her decide for herself whether he was worth staying for.
Except he knew he wasn’t.
It was why his parents had left him on his uncle’s porch at less than a week old. Why he didn’t have any close friends other than the man who threw him a job every now and then. Why his marriage had died right in front of his eyes. The truth would only force him to lose her again. “It’s nothing. Just some cop’s way to try to get under my skin.”
Suspicion laced the edges of her eyes. “Okay.”
“Come on.” He rounded the front of the van and climbed behind the wheel as she slipped into the passenger seat. The engine growled to life at the turn of the ignition. “I’ll buy you the biggest burger I can find and take you somewhere for a nice long nap.”
She set her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes. “Every girl’s dream.”
Chapter Twenty-One
He’d lied to her.
She didn’t know why. Didn’t know for how long. But it’d been clear back at Shawn’s apartment in the interaction between him and that officer. Rome was keeping something from her. Something that gave Springdale PD reason to consider him for a series of murders, and she couldn’t dislodge the splinter of doubt that’d dug beneath her skin. No matter how many times she pulled the conversation apart.
Logically, she understood law enforcement had to consider every avenue. They were dealing with a serial killer who’d targeted every man she’d gone out with over the past six months. While still technically married. It made sense police would want to look at her husband. They didn’t care she and Rome had been separated in all that time, that they were only now considering patching things between them. The fact was jealousy had proven to be a powerful motivator in murder.
But what had she missed? In all the years they’d been together, what could Rome have kept from her this long?
Lettie couldn’t think about any of that right now. She didn’t have the energy or the wherewithal to do anything more than focus on washing river water and dirt from her hair and scrubbing her skin until it blistered to forget the killer’s touch. Didn’t help. The feel of leather gloves against her arm, the pressure he’d used at the backs of her legs to carry her. Going from those woods, into search and rescue’s hands then straight to the hospital and to Shawn’s apartment—had kept her mindfrom truly taking in the horror she and Rome had survived. But now, with nothing to act as a barrier between her and all that’d occurred, she couldn’t stop the sob clawing up her throat.
Or the several after that.
She didn’t remember sinking to the bottom of the hotel tub or pulling her knees into her chest. Could only mentally replay every second of running from a predatory threat she was certain would kill her if it got the chance. Months. He’d watched her for months. Noted who was in her life, possibly memorized her routines, compromised her personal space. Law enforcement rangers were downstairs right now, combing through her van with every resource at their disposal to identify this killer, but even once they were finished, Lettie wasn’t sure she could go back to living in it. Sleeping in it.
She had nowhere to go. Nowhere she could hide from a man who unilaterally had decided he owned her very being. Her stomach turned acidic, her insides too tight.
A dull thud rang from somewhere in the hotel room, but she couldn’t make herself move. Her head felt heavier than it ever had, and she let it sink to the tops of her knees. Water sluiced down her spine, aggravating the bruises and small cuts she’d acquired last night, but the pain kept her from losing it altogether. Reminded her they’d made it out. That Rome was on the other side of the bathroom door waiting for her with room service and her pick of two queen-size beds.
Cool air cut through the steam filling the tiled bathroom. Footsteps sounded, nothing resembling the ones that’d chased her down like prey. The shower curtain protested along the bar it hung from as that all-too-familiar voice surrounded her in a bubble of assurance she’d taken for granted the entirety of their marriage. She hadn’t needed it then, but she sure as hell needed it now. Needed him. “Hey.”
It took everything to swallow the next sob. Larsons didn’t show weakness. She couldn’t stop the shame coiling in her chest at the thought of Rome seeing her like this. Naked. Bruised. Broken. She turned her face toward the opposite wall.
Rough calluses scraped over her shoulder, and another uncontrolled gasp caught in her throat. Rome shifted, sitting just outside the bathtub, allowing the shower water to soak through his clothing as he traced small circles into her skin. So unlike the harsh hands that’d manhandled her last night. “It’s okay. Don’t hide from me, Lettie. Don’t keep it in. It’ll only eat you up from the inside.”
She hadn’t needed his permission, but that last bit of control shattered at the devotion in his words. The tears combined with shower water as her entire body shook with the desperate tremors she couldn’t hold back. The sounds coming from her weren’t human, but something tortured and dying, and Rome shoved to his feet.
Shutting off the shower water, he slipped his good arm around her upper back and hauled her free of the tub with a strength she hadn’t known he possessed. Wrestling with literal bears and hunting elk for a living had forged him into an immovable force before she’d known him. But last night had altered them both. Her legs threatened to give out as the last of whatever energy she had to make it through seeing Shawn’s apartment in shambles died.
Rome was there. Not just with a towel to dry her off but holding her up. Keeping her from dissolving into a puddle on the floor. “You’re okay. You’re safe. He can’t get to you here. I won’t let him hurt you again.”
How had he known what she’d needed to hear? It didn’t matter that he might be wrong, but each word pierced through that wall of heaviness weighing on her chest. Somehow made it lighter, easier to breathe. His hands were sure and quick ashe dried her off from head to toe, careful of her injuries. Not once did his gaze change from anything but determination and calculation to take care of her at the sight of her nakedness.
