Page 104 of Keep Me Safe
“He’d drugged me with ecstasy,” she said, “and because we were both covered in mud from the forest,” her voice wavered, “he took off my clothes, and his clothes, and forced me into the shower.”
Her breathing increased from the stress, and I was a breath away from telling her to stop. That she didn’t need to think about this so soon, not until she was ready. But she seemed to want to get through it.
“To go from so much pain and cold, to suddenly feeling okay and warm... He kissed me.” Her voice was like a ghost. “I closed my eyes, wanting to be somewhere else, and when I said your name, that’s what got him to stop.”
An invisible fist slipped inside my body, curling its sharp finger around my heart and squeezed until an ache filled my entire chest.Scheiße, at one of the worst moments of her life, when she’d sought comfort, she’d thought of me.
She’dchosenme.
If there was any doubt left about my feelings for her, this annihilated it.
She’d fought back against Juric, which accounted for most of her bruises. Her worst was the one on her stomach where Juric had punched her so hard I could make out the perfect impression of a fist. It made me recall the damage my brother’s bullet had done, how Juric’s eye had been replaced with a black hole.
The rest of what went with the memory I didn’t like thinking about, her collapse and the worry she was dying. I shoved it aside so I could revel in the revenge for a moment longer. Still, the bastard got off far too easy.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
The dark thoughts evaporated at her voice. “That he can’t hurt you anymore.” The words tumbled from my lips easily. “That I love you.”
She took in a startled breath, her mouth falling open. “I...”
When the response I’d hoped for wasn’t instantaneous, I claimed her in a kiss that was about love and not sex. It pulled the connection between us taut, strengthening it to what I hopedwould be unbreakable, and she softened beneath me, answering me.
The hum of the jet engines was steady and powerful, and it wasn’t five minutes before we were asleep.
41
KARA
It waswarm in New York when we landed, and the second the cabin door opened, the pleasant air permeated every inch of the airplane. A man in black pants and a royal blue uniform shirt boarded the plane, an ID badge clipped to his shirt that announced he was US Immigration.
Shawn produced two US Passports and handed them over.
The official swiped each one through his tablet before examining them and glancing us over. Satisfied, he typed something on the screen. “Is this your final destination?”
“No,” Shawn answered.
We weren’t staying in New York?
The man entered that into his tablet and returned the passports with a nod. When he moved to the cockpit to check in the crew, Shawn tucked them back into his suit jacket. It was ridiculous, but the idea of him keeping our passports together and close to his heart...
He loved me. I never thought it’d be possible. Not just for me, but for him.
“We’re not staying here?” I asked. All he did was smile. “Where are we going?”
“I told you, one of the seven breweries in North America.”
I was weary from traveling, ready to be off the plane, and long before I’d made out the New York skyline, I’d assumed thiswas our destination. “Could you be less specific? How long is the flight?”
“Two and a half hours.”
When I sighed, his expression shifted and his eyes clouded with doubt. “You want to stay here? Because we can.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I’m still tired and being ungrateful.”
The longer I thought about it, the more I like the idea of not staying. It would feel more like a getaway somewhere else. Not just a getaway from my previous life in the States, but a getaway... with Shawn.
The appeal grew every second.
