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More than he could count.
He really had been an ass to her in the past. He was going to make up for that.
No, she wasn’t as bubbly as Gabby, but there was no reason her agitation should have pissed him off so much when Gabby’s hadn’t, and he’d seen Gabby’s far more up close and personal.
What was it about this woman that had gotten under his skin so strongly? It had from the very first time he had met her, nearly seven years ago.
He remembered that day. She’d been in the forensics lab with Gabby and Brynna and had seemed so snotty. It had set him on edge almost immediately.
He had been a total idiot.
He should have introduced himself and just taken off with her somewhere. Kept her forever.
But he couldn’t have—Daniel had been there.
Hovering over her, like Haldyn was helpless and needy or something. The day after Jarrod had argued with his own mother for the final time when she’d shown up, wanting him to give her money for her latest problem. He’d already been raw.
And there had been a woman with that same fragile air about her, right there in front of him. He hadn’t meant to be an ass to Haldyn all the time. He was going to have to do better. He would make it up to her.
Especially since he hoped she’d eventually let him show her how fascinating he found her. First chance he had tonight, he was going to hold her close and apologize for being an idiot where she was concerned.
For now, though, Jarrod just pulled her on to his lap and cuddled her. The queen looked like she needed it now. “I will go with you to this place, and be your big hulking shadow. I will protect you, my queen. Forever.”
“Sure you will. As soon as this case ends, you will head for the hills. Or Gunnar’s cabin, with a giant sigh of relief that you don’t have to deal with me like this ever again.”
She looked at him in the dim interior light of the hired car. Her eyes were so full of uncertainty and past hurts, his breath caught.
“You probably shouldn’t be holding me, or touching me, cuddling around me either. We both know it’s not…real, or anything. I don’t want to be your way to just pass the time.”
That was the exact opposite of how it was. Jarrod knew that to his soul. He didn’t want to let her go. He just didn’t. “You aren’t that, Haldyn. You aren’t.”
But at the look in the blue eyes, he had to wonder if she believed him.
He held her close, for as long as he could.
The limo pulled into the drive of the Scott house.
There was still old crime tape across the drive. He was surprised the HOA hadn’t demanded it be ripped down yet. Heather lived in this neighborhood—she was always saying things about the HOA in Hughes Heights causing her family all sorts of problems, over things like where they sat their trashcans to the height of the lights on their porch. It had all sounded beyond petty to Jarrod when she’d told him some of the things her family had been reported for.
Scott’s place looked exactly what it was—abandoned. And all jokes about Haldyn and her friends being evil ladies of the lab—this place looked, felt evil. Like real evil.
Jarrod felt sick even looking at the place.
Haldyn shivered.
Jarrod laced his fingers through hers and pulling her closer. Until she was almost on his lap. He brushed a kiss against her temple. “Hey, Scott and his evil offshoot are both dead and rotting in the ground now. Nothing but worm food. You are safe, lady. I promise.”
“I know. It’s just…the memories. They just never go away, do they?”
She turned big, wet blue eyes up at him.
And Jarrod felt himself falling completely. Just like that.
In that instant, he became hers completely. He Jarrod Samuel Foster became Dr. Haldyn Devil Harris’s completely.
Probably for life, too. Had a man reeling, when he started thinking that way.
He just pulled her into his arms and held her. Right there in the back of the rich man’s limo. His hand cupped the back of her head and he just held her for the short seconds they had as the car pulled up the drive. Nowhere near as long as he wanted to hold her. “It’s over now. I promise.”
