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“Right.” I clasped her hand, bringing it to my lips for a brief kiss. “Sorry, I just... when it comes to you, I can’t stand the thought of someone scaring you.”
“Trust me, Sawyer, it takes more than a busted lock to scare me.” A smile tugged at her lips, and I couldn’t help but mirror it. “Especially with you around.”
“Good, ‘cause I plan on sticking like a goddamn barnacle,” I said, the anger ebbing away, leaving behind the solid ground of my resolve. “No one messes with my girl.”
“Your girl, huh?” Her eyebrow arched playfully, and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close.
“Damn straight,” I whispered before capturing her mouth in a kiss that tasted of salt and promise. The world narrowed down to the feel of her lips on mine, the warmth of her body pressed against me, and the knowledge that come hell or high water, I’d always be her safe harbor.
* * *
The tension in the air was like static, crackling around us as we sat at the kitchen table, a barrier of resolve between whatever chaos lurked outside and the sanctuary of our joined hands. Hannah’s palm was soft but her grip was steel – strong, determined.
“Okay, think,” she said, tapping a finger against her lips, “who has access to the clinic after hours?”
I leaned back, my chair groaning under the shift of weight, muscles coiled tight as if I could pounce on the culprit if they so much as breezed past the window. “We need a list. Employees, volunteers, anyone who’s ever shown a weird amount of interest.”
“That list is small. I’ve only recently accepted volunteers and none of them have keys. Plus, let’s not go accusing the innocents,” she cautioned, her green eyes scanning mine, always the voice of reason to my stormy impulses.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I lied through my teeth. Every cell in my body screamed for retribution, for the threat to be neutralized. But she was right. It had to be done smart, not just hard.
“Let’s set up some cameras,” I suggested, the idea surfacing like a lifeboat in rough sea. “Catch them red-handed.”
“Perfect.” Hannah scribbled down the idea with a nod. “And I’ll change the locks, again. Better ones this time.”
“Damn right you will.” I reached across the table, brushing a stray blonde lock behind her ear, my touch lingering. “And I’ll be there tonight, keep an eye out.”
“Because you don’t trust the cameras?” She teased, but the undercurrent of appreciation didn’t go unnoticed.
“Because I don’t trust anyone when it comes to your safety,” I admitted, my voice gruff, raw.
Her hand came to rest on my cheek, thumb caressing the stubble there. “My knight in shining leather,” she murmured, a chuckle laced with gratitude escaping her.
“More like armor made of tattoos and determination,” I corrected, a half-smile tugging at my lips despite the situation. “But for you, I’d fight dragons.”
“Good to know,” Hannah said, a playful glint in her gaze. “But for now, let’s stick to security systems and solid locks.”
“Right.” I stood up, pulling her to her feet. “Now come here.”
She stepped into my embrace without hesitation, her body molding to mine as if it were crafted from the same sand and saltwater that made up the shorelines we both loved. My arms tightened around her, feeling her heart beat against my chest, a rhythm that matched the pounding waves in my ears.
“Promise me something,” she whispered, looking up at me with eyes as deep as the ocean.
“Anything.”
“Promise me you won’t do anything reckless. We’re in this together, okay?”
“Okay,” I vowed, knowing full well I’d break a thousand promises before I’d let a single hair on her head be harmed.
“Good,” she said, pressing her lips to mine in a kiss that tasted of hope and the sweet tang of the sea breeze. The kiss wasn’t just a kiss; it was an anchor, grounding us amidst the whirlpool of fear and uncertainty.
“Always together,” I murmured against her lips, the words sealing the pledge between us as surely as the tide binds the shore.
thirty
HANNAH
In an anticlimactic but welcome development,Theo had made an arrest and the scandal that had shaken our quiet little world had finally been laid to rest. Jim Turner, a grizzly old man from the outskirts of town was found to have been hoarding dogs. Over a dozen malnourished mutts were found on his property, some of them with injuries consistent to what I’d found on the bones.
