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She stood in front of him and nodded. “I agree. I’m hoping it will keep anyone from seeing us in the immediate future.”
He’d been bleeding out on a beach in California barely two hours ago. He’d almost died en route and most certainly he’d died in the ER. Now he was here. With Natalie. He’d been given a second chance and he wasn’t about to blow it.
“You look so serious,” she said. “What are you thinking?”
“I want to apologize for the way I behaved after we made love. I was acting as though nothing had changed, as though now that I had defeated Kryder, I could pick right back up where I’d left off. I dismissed you without a single thought. I didn’t even bother to see you to safety myself. I’m so sorry, Natalie.”
She took a step toward him. “And I apologize for not saying something to you then and there. I could have, but I didn’t. I wanted an excuse to disappear and you gave it to me. I think we were both pretending we could walk away, no problem.
“But Grant, I have never felt so desolate in Five Bridges as I was during the time I spent apart from you. I even went to the chapel to think things through.” She chuckled softly. “I confess I offered up a few prayers, because it didn’t feel right being separated from you.”
She sighed, then continued, “I’ve built up a considerable shield against my life here. I’ve kept everyone at bay and fell right back into the old pattern the minute you walked out. “It didn’t even occur to me, until much later, that I was making a mistake by not challenging you.”
He shook his head. “Even if you had, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was too focused on pack business and refused to acknowledge how important you’d become to me. The truth was that I feared losing you, feeling that grief again.”
“We were similar in that way,” she said. “Renee even asked me to take a look at my deepest fears and it was the same. I didn’t want to love you because if I did then my heart could get broken all over again. But what I didn’t understand was how much being with you had already changed me. I began to see life in Five Bridges differently, as a daily challenge I needed to pick up and accept rather than this horrendous burden to bear.
“I know that in our world, and because of the role you play in Savage, I could lose you in the next five minutes. But the uncertainty of it no longer matters to me. I guess you could say I’ve come to accept the reality of this life. No, not just to accept but to embrace how hard this life is. How impossible.” She stepped closer and put her hands on his chest. “I love you and I’ll keep loving you for as long as we have together.”
“We’re in the same place then.” He felt his lips curve. “So, here’s my next question. Will you bond with me?”
“Hell, yeah I will. The sooner the better.”
He glanced around. “Does this place have a bed?”
She grinned. “Sorry, it’s a queen. We’ll have to snuggle.”
He chuckled then swept her up to cradle her, one arm slung behind her knees. She slid her hand behind his neck then planted her lips against his.
She’d been doing this from the start, kissing him straight out, and he loved it.
However, he didn’t do much to encourage her in the middle of the living room. He wanted to get on with things.
He returned the way he’d come and walked down a short hallway. The glow held which meant they were still behind their invisibility shield. The partially-opened door to what had to be the bedroom was just past a dining area adjacent to the kitchen.
He shoved the door with his bare foot until it swung wide.
The room was oddly charming with the queen-sized bed opposite and a fireplace to the right. He lowered her to her feet. He was still caked with blood here and then so like hell he was taking her to bed in this state.
“I need a shower.”
She smiled again. “Me, too, though it’ll be tight. Just warning you.”
“I like it tight.”
She gasped then slipped beneath his arm and ran to the bathroom door. Her long, tunic shirt and bra had disappeared before she crossed the threshold. Once inside, she turned and threw her shoes at him, then began stripping off her leggings. These, too, landed on his arms.
He dropped the lot then headed in her direction. Once at the threshold, he looked inside. “This might be the smallest bathroom I’ve ever seen.”
Her back was to him and she was bent over slightly setting the water running in an equally small shower.
She glanced at him over her shoulder as she tested the temperature. “You just going to stand there?”
He realized he’d become fixated on her bare bottom.
She added, “Lose your pants or maybe I should call them shorts.”
He glanced down at the shredded leather and unbuttoned. There was a slit down the right side as well as gashes on the upper parts of the pants. Nothing was left below the knees. Kryder had worked hard to make him hurt.
