Page 110 of Temptation
“You seem to give those out a lot. Fresh starts, that is. One to Noble. One to Frankie. One to Joshua.”
“I’m not collecting strays.”
“I never said you were.”
“My father destroyed lives. Is it so wrong to want to try and balance fate?”
“Not wrong at all.” That would be one of the reasons I love you. She just could not stop the love thoughts with this man.
His gaze seemed to see right inside of her. “Just because I do some good, it doesn’t mean I am good.”
She crooked her index finger at him.
His brows shot up. But he leaned toward her.
Her hands curled around his shoulders. She pulled him closer to her. Put her mouth near his left ear. “Same, Preston.” Her lips brushed over his lobe. “Same.”
He pulled back. “That’s a lie, Sloane. You are good. You think I don’t see it? You think I don’t feel it? I’m the child of a serial killer. My mother—hell, you just told me about her. How can I be?—”
“My biological father had a habit of hurting me and my mother.”
He leapt back so quickly that it seemed as if she’d burned him.
“He would drink. All the time. Morning. Noon. Night. The scent of alcohol was always on his breath. It seemed to cling to his clothes. To his skin. And when he drank, he was mean. So, yeah, he was mean twenty-four, seven.” A firm nod. “I got used to lying to people by the time I was six. ‘I tripped while I was running and ran into the fence. I fell out of my treehouse. My wrist is broken because I had a wreck on my bike.’ Spoiler, I had no treehouse. I had no bike. I had a mean father who I hated and when he slipped and he fell down the stairs on my eighth birthday, I rushed to his side.” I’ve never told anyone this. “And as he died right in front of me, as I never said a word, never called out for anyone to help, never grabbed a phone to dial nine-one-one, I thought…wishes can come true.”
“Fuck.”
The tears had stopped sliding down her cheeks. “I am not an angel. Never make that mistake about me.” There. Done. Every savage and dark secret that she had—revealed. He would turn away. Or he would?—
He grabbed her. “You’re my angel, and you always will be.” His mouth crushed onto hers.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I didn’t see him.” Debra slapped her hands down on her desk. “That piece of shit came up from behind me. He slammed something into the back of my head and knocked me out.”
Voices rose and fell around them, but Preston ignored the noise. The FBI had brought a whole team into the small sheriff’s station, and the place seemed to be bursting.
“When I woke up, I was in the dark. I couldn’t get out. Th-thought I was in the ground.” Her head bobbed forward, but she wrenched it back. “Put me in cold st-storage.” A shudder worked over her body. Her hands lifted. She started to take a step away from the desk, but her body weaved.
Her hands flew right back down onto the desktop. But it wasn’t some sort of dramatic gesture for emphasis. No, Preston realized she’d made the fast movement so she could stay upright. “Debra?” Instantly, he was at her side. He went to her left, and Sloane positioned herself on Debra’s right. “Did you go to the hospital?” Preston was sure one of the Feds had told him that she’d been getting checked out. But when he’d gotten her on the phone a bit ago, she’d told him to come meet her at the sheriff’s station. To come to her office.
So he had.
Her head turned toward him. One of her pupils appeared huge, while the other was half its size. That could not be good.
“Yeah.” Her head rolled a little. “Th-they tried to keep me. I wouldn’t let them.” Her words slurred together at the end. Wouldn’tletthem. “I have a case to solve!” Casetosolve. “Ran out.”
He and Sloane exchanged a worried look.
“Let me go,” Debra fretted. She tried to pull away from him.
“If I let you go, I’m afraid you’ll fall.” He wasn’t afraid of that. He was certain of it. “You need to get back to the hospital.” A non-negotiable considering the way her pupils were reacting. “I think that hit to the back of the head hurt you more than you want to admit.”
“Won’t. Won’t fall. Let me go.” Letmego.
His grip tightened.
“Preston!” High-pitched. “That’s an order from the sheriff.” Fromthesheriff. “Let me go this minute or I arrest you!” Arrestyou.
