It was hours later. Everyone had gone home and we were in bed. I was snuggled to Brady’s side, his hand was on my hip, and I was worried.
“Are you and my dad okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. The two of you were giving each other a wide berth.”
Brady’s hand covered mine resting on his chest and he sighed.
“Your dad and I had words. He wasn’t happy with me that I was stepping back and letting the police and the court system take care of what happened. And, baby, I understand why he was angry. Men like us don’t like to stand down. I think whatever you said to him made him come around. Everything’s gonna be fine.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you’re lying here next to me and I didn’t have to fight your dad for the privilege.”
“The privilege?”
God, could I love him any more?
“Yeah, baby. It’s a privilege to sleep next to you. To know you trust me. To have you love me the way you do.”
Yep. I could.
I could love him more and more and I hoped I never stopped finding new reasons to love him.
“Are you sleeping here?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Will you be able to sleep?”
“Not sure. But you will. And you’ll do it with me holding you close.”
“I love you more than I did yesterday.”
“Good.”
“Thank you for coming for me.”
“You never have to thank me for that.”
I smiled against his chest and asked, “Who shot Bishop?”
“Luke.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Just because he lost most of his vision in his dominant eye doesn’t mean he’s not one hell of a good shot. He was nervous, I heard his voice trembling. But he took it, and his aim was true.”
“I wasn’t thinking about his ability. I was surprised you told me.”
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
That was news to me.
“You didn’t tell me about the case you were working on with Liberty.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Oh, well, he had a point. I hadn’t asked. Not because I didn’t care, I just figured he wouldn’t tell me.
“Why was Luke nervous?”
“Because he’s still not confident shooting right-handed and there were women and children around Bishop. If he missed, there was a strong possibility he would’ve hit one of them.”
“But he did it. For me.”
“Yeah, baby, he did.”
“I hate I put him—”
“Stop.” Brady gently shook me. “Stop calling yourself stupid. Stop saying you’re sorry. You let your emotions get the best of you. Something we’re all guilty of doing. You were angry, you acted on that anger, but you did it thinking you were safe, and unfortunately, you were not. I don’t think I need to explain all the reasons why you’re not ever gonna do that again because I know you learned something.”
Oh, yeah, I learned something all right. But I was annoyed he was talking to me like I was a petulant five-year-old and he had the authority to scold me.
“I did learn something. But just to point out, I’m not real hip on you being patronizing.”
“It’s not patronizing if I’m pointing out the truth.”
So he had a point. But I wasn’t ready to concede. So instead I suggested, “Maybe we should stop talking about it and go to sleep.”
“Sounds good to me.”
I closed my eyes and his body started shaking under me.
“Are you laughing?”
“Nope.”
“It sure feels like you’re laughing, Brady.”
“Thought you wanted to go to sleep.”
Annoying.
“I do, and I would if you’d stop laughing.”
That made his body shake harder and the hand over mine pressed my palm deeper.
“Love you more than life, Hadley.”
Okay, he could laugh at me all he wanted.
But I didn’t tell him that.
Instead, I closed my eyes knowing I’d sleep safely in my man’s arms.
38
“Finally.” That was the first thing I heard when my eyes opened. Then a whispered, “Are you awake?”
“Yeah, baby, I’m awake. What do you mean, finally?”
“I’ve been waiting hours to do this.”
I didn’t have to ask what “this” was because she was up and straddling my hips before I could blink.
“You needed your sleep, so I didn’t want to wake you,” she lied.
I knew that wasn’t why she hadn’t attempted to wake me up but I smiled anyway.
“Sleep well?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
“Like a rock.”
And she had. I was awake most of the night and only closed my eyes when the sun had come up.