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“I don’t see your side of things at all right now, but I do believe you when you say you’ll protect me. You did that for your brother.”
“Not quickly enough.”
“Don’t do that to yourself,” she said.
I closed my eyes to keep my emotions at bay and felt a warmth encompass my cheek. I opened my eyes and found that Heather had placed her hand against my skin. Her eyes danced between mine before her fingertips slid up my face, massaging the worried wrinkles out of my furrowed brow.
“Once this is all over, if you want to leave, I won’t stop you. I’ll still help you with the baby. I’ll still pay for your medical expenses. I’ll still do all of it, Heather, but I can’t do any of that if you’re not safe.”
“I know,” she said. “Which is why I’m about to close up my shop.”
Relief rushed through my body like a raging summer storm.
“I’ll need to pack up some of my things to take with me from my place,” she said. “But if you want to go pick up Audrey and come back around for me, that’s fine. My place is within walking distance from here.”
“I’ll drop you off and then go get her.”
“That’s fine, too. It won’t take me long to pack. Should we file a police report for what Charlie did?”
I stepped out from behind her counter as she started closing up her shop. A report wasn’t smart, and I had no intention of doing it. I had no idea where the Mafia had their fingers stuck. For all I knew, the second I filed a police report and someone in that department saw my face, they’d know exactly where I was. Because I didn’t know what I was working with, avoiding people who could be compromised at all costs was imperative.
The only two people I could trust were Heather and Hudson.
“It’s better to keep a low profile for now like Hudson told me to. We tackle one thing at a time. Right now, all Charlie has become is an angry man who wants something he can’t have. I can deal with a toddler throwing a tantrum. I raise one some days.”
Heather’s giggle filled her bakery, and for a second, everything settled into place. The world was right, and she seemed happy and things between us were okay.
If I could still make her laugh, there was still a chance we could work this out.
CHAPTER 20
HEATHER
My hunger woke me up at one in the morning. I’d spent the past three hours dreaming of pizza, and I knew I wouldn’t get to sleep until I had some. It was crazy how my body switched from not wanting any food to wanting a very particular set of foods. I didn’t think the cravings would come until my second trimester, but every pregnancy was different. It seemed mine was determined to keep me on my toes.
Like the little one’s father.
I shook my head at the thought and continued rummaging around. When I shut the fridge, a dark shadow caught my eye. I jumped, listening as everything I gathered fell to the floor. The light came on, and Cameron stood there,
shirtless and mussed from his sleep.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
My eyes trailed down his body, down the lines of his defined muscles. I traced the rings of his abs with my stare before taking in the lines that disappeared beyond his flannel pants. Heat pooled in my toes. It trickled up the backs of my thighs and made my nipples pucker. He bent down and picked up everything off the floor, and I watched the show in front of me. His back muscles rippled with his movements, and his arms flexed. He gathered everything into them before pouring the contents onto the kitchen island.
“Hungry for pizza?” His rumbling voice ripped me from my trance.
“I kept dreaming about it,” I said.
“Then, let’s get you a pizza made. Go sit down. I can throw one together quickly that’ll be better than what you’ve got here.”
“Are you mocking my tortilla pizza?” I tried not to smile. After all, I was supposed to be angry with him, though being around him more made that more difficult by the hour.
“Maybe a little bit. Go sit. Give me thirty minutes.”
I walked out of the kitchen, but my eyes trailed back behind me. I craned my neck to keep him in view before I sat at the table. He moved around the kitchen like a professional, chopping up vegetables and slicing meat like it had been his job at one point.
It struck me then that I had no idea what his job was or had been. “Can I ask you something?”
