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Christy clutchedthe bloody jeans and wicked-looking knife reflexively. Sharon had known from the first there was something off about Logan’s friend. But she’d never dreamed anyone could be this off.
“Sharon, sweetie,” she said in a firm, calm voice as if there was nothing going on that she couldn’t handle. “Come stand behind me, darling. Come on.” She wanted to reach out and yank her to safety, but she wasn’t about to take either hand off the weapon.
Sharon didn’t budge. The woman was just as protective of Christy as she was of her, but Christy was the one with the knife, so Sharon was going to have to give way this time.
“Sharon, come on now. Line up.”
The call to dance had the desired effect. Sharon had been in toe shoes since the age of four and a professional dancer almost as long. As ingrained as a soldier, Sharon could set aside any emotional turmoil and get the job done when it was time to line up. Strong, dark shoulders snapped straight atop a spine forged of steel. Sleek, sinewy muscle rippled underneath her glowing skin, and there was lethal grace in every gliding step she took to Christy’s side.
Suddenly, the fear was gone. They were dancers, for Pete’s sake. Their bodies were honed to perfection, and they pushed themselves to the physical limits daily. For the fun of it. Pain was a byproduct easily ignored, and if this pansy-assed, ignorant farmhand thought because he was a man that two grown women armed with a fucking knife were going to be afraid, well he had a whole world of hurt in store for him.
* * *
“FBI! Freeze!”
Jax barely registered the words before he was tackled from behind.
“What the fuck?” he shouted, confused. One second ago, he’d been wrapped around Kiki, a living flame in his arms. She never stilled; she fluttered and gyrated, squirmed and moaned, and he hadn’t even taken any of her clothes off yet. Kiki was wonton abandon and lush, sultry heat, and Jax had been reveling in her. Luxuriating in every sound he coaxed from her gasping lips and every tremble he teased from her perfect body.
Then, chaos of a different kind. He was hit from behind by a hundred and ninety pounds of angry agent, and he saw red. The passion ignited by desire converted in a flash to the boiling hot rage he always carried but never gave lead to.
Until now.
* * *
“I love you.”Andie had to say it. Here and now, in this quiet moment in their daughter’s nursery. “I’m sorry I bailed out on you these last couple months. No, hear me out. I wish I had grieved with you. That I would have let you in. I know I wasn’t the only one to lose her. I can’t tell you what it means to me that you came every day even when I refused to see you.”
“You saw me,” he told her gently. “I made sure to walk by the porch every chance I got, even when what I needed wasn’t anywhere near the porch.”
Charmed by him, she nuzzled closer. “You know what I mean. I should have let you cry with me. Sit with me and share in our loss together. I don’t know, it would have been… well, not easier, but more endurable maybe?” He cupped his hand on her nape and kissed the top of her head.
“It happened the way it happened. Now, we go forward. Right? You got through it, and you’re going to keep getting through. And I’m going to be right here as you do. Screwing everything up every time I open my damn mouth, probably. But I’m going to be loving you every minute for the rest of my life while I do.”
Andie cupped his cheek. “Sounds good to me.” And as his arms tightened around her, the sun broke through the clouds and bathed them in a golden, warm glow.
All was right with the world.
* * *
Christy knewshe should drop the bloody jeans and hold the knife more securely, but she was afraid of smudging the fingerprints already on it. Abram was stalking closer; his dead shark eyes gave nothing away, and the tension built as she waited for him to lunge.
* * *
“Rachel,”Derek barked into his radio as he pushed ninety on his way to Wally’s spread. “Get a hold of Craig. Tell him to call in one of the volunteers, don’t care who, and head over to the Miller spread. I want them to find Abram and bring him in.”
“Oh, he won’t be at home, Sheriff,” Rachel said in a matter-of-fact tone. “He’s still gonna be helping out at Andie’s this time of day.”
“That’s what I’m banking on, but you send Craig to his folks’ place just in case. And make sure he takes someone with, you hear?” It was a long shot that Craig would be in any danger, even if he did happen to find Abram before Derek did, but he wasn’t about to take any chances.
* * *
“Oh please, don’t stop,”Andie gasped. As gently as a summer breeze, Luke had stood from the chair with her in his arms and walked from the nursery into her room. Now, she was on the bed, under him, and naked. Every inch of her body was exposed. She wanted to scurry under the covers, but Luke wouldn’t have it. He worshiped her body. Caressed it, cherished every inch of her with his hands, his mouth, and that clever, clever tongue.
“Oh my God!” She came with a shout.
* * *
“Oh my God!”
