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I can’t stop the pathetic noises coming from me. I clutch his back, digging my nails into the skin, knowing I’m leaving marks, but uncaring at the moment. Suddenly, I’m lifted off my feet and carried out of the basement. The whole time my face stays buried in his neck, breathing in his sandalwood scent.
He settles down on the couch and forces my face out of his neck. My cheeks are caught in his big palms and his thumbs under my jaw lift my head up so I’m looking at him.
“Cat, you’re breaking my heart,” he says hoarsely. “I’m okay.”
I stare at him helplessly. “When you disappeared from the screen, I wasn’t sure what happened to you.”
“Nothing happened. I heard a noise and ran after it.”
That does not help my frightful mood, and from the tightening of his jaw, he knows it.
“It was just the neighbor. Their dog got loose and ran through our backyard. The shadow you saw was Jordan looking for him.”
“Oh.”
His lips quirk up. “You scared the shit out of Jordan when he heard you scream.”
Mortification stings my cheeks. Jordan is a thirteen-year-old boy who lives with his parents and younger sister across the street from us. Both he and his sister are sweet kids. Jordan has mowed our lawn a few times to earn extra money.
“I’m such an idiot for overreacting.”
The smirk on Hunter’s face straightens and his hands still around my cheeks brings my face closer. “Don’t ever think you overreact. I’d much rather you overreact when you shouldn’t than not react the way you should when you need to.”
“I feel horrible. His parents must hate me.”
“I’ve already spoken with them, and they’re fine. Judy knew you would feel this way and she said you shouldn’t. Jordan should have knocked on the door instead of wandering into the backyard.”
I nod, but I still feel horrible for scaring him. The issues I have are my own. They shouldn’t affect the people around me.
He wipes away the wetness on my cheeks with his thumbs. “Do you still want to go out for dinner?”
“Do you mind if we stay in instead? We can go out tomorrow.”
“Whatever you want, baby.” Leaning forward, he gives me a tender kiss. “We’ll order takeout and have a nice quiet night in.”
“That sounds perfect.”
ChapterFifteen
Hunter
“Why didn’t you call me as soon as the judge announced the order?” I snap into my phone, my blood running hot and my vision blurred from the red seeping through it. “You should have called me yourself.”
“I was intending to, but I got called away before I could. I told one of my officers to do it. I’m not sure why he didn’t. My guess is there was miscommunication somehow.”
“That’s not an acceptable excuse, Trevor, and you damn well know it. It’s my wife’s life at stake here,” I growl through gritted teeth. “The incompetence of the police department has put her in danger.”
Trevor is the chief of police and is considered a good friend. At least he was until this massive fuck up.
Trevor sighs heavily over the line. “There’s no reason to believe Henry will go after Cat, Hunter. He left town immediately after being released two days ago. According to my sources, he has no plans to come back.” He pauses for a moment. “If it helps, I’ll have a couple of officers patrol the neighborhood for the next few weeks.”
“Fuck you, Trevor. I’ll hire my own people. I’ll be damned if I let the idiots at the department watch over my wife. They can’t even follow orders and pick up the phone to inform me that one of the men who almost murdered Cat and succeeded in murdering my children is out on the streets. What makes you think they’d be any better at protection?”
“It was a mistake that won’t happen again. I give you my word.”
The comment only irritates me more. This shit should not have happened in the first place. Not to mention, the fucking bastard should never have been released. “Your word doesn’t mean shit if you can’t control the assholes who work under you.”
Silas walks into my office with his eyebrows raised, no doubt wondering what all the shouting is about. He folds his large frame into the chair in front of my desk.
