“You don’t leave me alone, Sax,” she said softly. “You’re always close, touching me, embracing me, needing me. How can anyone have a chance to hurt me when you love me so well?”
A heavy frown darkened his brow. “That is not getting you out of trouble,” he assured her through gritted teeth as he stomped around the hot tub, jerking her in his arms and holding her rapidly chilling body close to his warmth. “But God help me, Marey, the next time you do anything so stupid, I’m going to paddle your ass.”
A tearful smile crossed her lips as she tilted her head, her hand reaching up to touch the dark features of his face, the sensual curve of his lip.
“I love you, Sax,” she whispered. “I was going to tell you that tonight, while you held me, while you loved me. I’ve always loved you.”
A hard breath shuddered through his chest as he buried his head in her hair, his arms tightening around her.
“I’m definitely spanking you,” he groaned. “God baby, I love you. So much you terrified the hell out of me sitting there talking to that bastard so calmly, knowing how easily he could hurt you.”
“Knowing you would be there,” she said against his chest as he lifted her into his arms while Daniel called the sheriff.
“You’re cold,” he growled. “You didn’t even bring a robe out.”
“So warm me.” She burrowed against his chest, her arms wrapping around his neck, her head resting naturally on his shoulder. “Warm me, Sax…”
Chapter Fourteen
“Somehow, Vince managed to hire an ex-employee of the security firm to hack into their computers for the code to Marey’s house,” Daniel reported the next morning after the sheriff and his deputies had arrested Vince, taken their statements and then left them in peace.
Marey was sitting tiredly on the couch, bleary-eyed, certain she had never been so exhausted in her life as she listened to what Daniel had come to the house the night before to tell them.
Neither she nor Vince had heard the car pull up at the front of the house, but Sax had. Just as he had heard Vince through the opened bedroom window seconds before. Moving carefully, he had let Daniel in, then together they had contained Vince. A few broken bones were the least of her ex-husband’s problems now.
“What will they do with the hacker?” Marey asked, fearing the moment when Daniel would leave and she would have to face Sax alone. She was suddenly terrified. Not of him, but of herself.
When he had jumped across the hot tub, the rage that had filled him had been palpable. He would have killed Vince if Daniel hadn’t stopped him.
Son of a bitch, I’ll f**king kill you for touching her. Vince’s eyes had been bugging from his head, his face turning purple. Do you understand me? My f**king woman, you low-life motherfucker!
His woman. Conviction, determination, commitment had filled every hoarse word, every finger that tightened on Vince’s throat before Daniel managed to pull him away.
“They’ll arrest him.” Daniel watched her closely, but not near as close as Sax was watching her.
She nodded, lowering her head again as she stared at the floor, her arms wrapped around her chest.
“I’m going to head out of here, Sax,” Daniel announced then. “I still have to stop at the sheriff’s office and take care of some more paperwork. I’ll call you later.”
“Thanks again, Daniel.” Sax moved across her line of vision, his powerful legs moving slowly across the floor.
“I can see myself out,” Daniel said. “Take care of your woman. The night has been hard on her.”
Marey shuddered.
Seconds later, the front door closed, leaving her alone with Sax.
Silence filled the house.
Emotions rose within her with a force that had her shaking in their grip.
“Marey.” Sax knelt before her, his broad hand lifting her chin as he stared back at her somberly.
Oh God. He shouldn’t look at her like that, she thought. His expression so tender, loving. She had fought so hard not to believe in happily-every-afters, in warmth and love. How was she supposed to protect her heart?
But she knew, had known for days that such protection was a long time past.
She felt a tear slip down her cheek.