Perfect Together (26 page)

Macy nodded and treated herself to another long swallow of beer. “Is he coming back?” she asked.

“Tyler?”

She nodded.

“He’ll be back,” Nicole assured her.

“How do you know? Have you spoken with him?”

“No.” But they needed to have a private talk when all this was over. One that put things between them to rest, once and for all.

Macy propped her chin on her hands. “Then how do you know for sure?”

At that, Nicole couldn’t help but grin, thoughts of Tyler’s time in Serendipity flashing through her mind. “He went shopping. He wore shorts. And he followed you around town. He’ll be back.”

Macy grinned. “Here’s to getting our men.” She raised her glass and Nicole tipped hers, clinking them together, toasting as much to Macy’s words as to her new friend and her life here in Serendipity.

They
spent another half hour talking, then made their way over to a group of people, some Nicole knew, others Macy introduced her to. As much as she enjoyed herself, she couldn’t help thinking that she would rather be with Sam. But she needed to make friends and she was Macy’s ride home, so she didn’t say anything.

“I’m beat,” Macy said at last. “Do you mind if we head home?”

Nicole shook her head, relieved it wouldn’t be a late night. “I’m ready when you are.”

They walked back to the bakery, where Nicole had parked her car. Once they were on their way, Macy pulled off her high heels and sighed. “Whoever invented these things should be shot.”

Nicole grinned. “I wear them a lot less here than I did back in New York, and trust me, I do not miss them.” On her feet now were a pair of bejeweled sandals with less than a quarter-inch heel.

“Stay straight on this road for a while,” Macy said, obviously remembering Nicole needed directions.

“Are you working early tomorrow?” Nicole asked her.

“Not until lunchtime, thank goodness.”

She glanced up at the rearview mirror to check the car behind her, annoyed by the bright lights reflecting there.

“Something wrong?” Macy asked.

“The car behind us is driving too close,” Nicole muttered, squinting and keeping her gaze on the road in front of her.

At a four-way stop sign, she came to a complete halt before continuing on. Out of nowhere, another car approached from the right and sped right through the stop sign, plowing into them before Nicole could blink. Her car spun and took
another hit from the vehicle behind her, which had obviously stayed on her tail.

Macy screamed. Nicole gritted her teeth and held on to the wheel as the back of her car skidded into a lamppost with a sickening crunch.

Sam paced through his house, moving idly from one
room to the next, unable to sit still or get comfortable. He didn’t expect Nicole to be at his beck and call, but he’d sure hoped she’d want to see him after a long week apart. He could have gone to Joe’s, but that would have been too obvious.
He
might be desperate to see her, but she didn’t need to know that.

Another glance at her dark house told him she hadn’t come home, although he’d been keeping watch and already knew as much. He was already mentally lecturing her about not leaving inside lamps and the porch lights on. It was safety 101 for anyone, but Nicole wasn’t dealing with a normal situation. Just because they thought they knew where all the players were in her situation didn’t mean she should be lax with the basics.

He glanced at his watch and blew out a long breath. Nine wasn’t that late and he needed to chill. He started upstairs when his cell rang.

Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced down, surprised to see the police station’s main number. “Marsden.”

“Hey, Sam. It’s Burnett.”

“What’s up?”

“Just doing you a solid. I thought you’d want to know your girlfriend was in a car accident at the stop sign on
Maple. No serious injuries, but the car’s in pretty bad shape. They’re lucky.”

Sam narrowed his gaze. “They?”

“She was driving Macy Donovan home. Both women walked away relatively unharmed. A damned miracle if you ask me.”

Sam was in his truck by the time he wound up the call. On the short drive over, a myriad of situations ran through his mind. Panic and the need to see her were paramount, but his cop brain also was on alert, thinking about Tyler’s old man hiring someone to scare Nicole into heading home.

Sam arrived on the scene to find one side of her car crunched, and his stomach twisted painfully. He parked and climbed out of his vehicle.

Burnett met him as he headed for the ambulance. “That was fast.”

Sam nodded. “I appreciate the call. What happened?”

“Looks like Mrs. Adler was driving too fast and ran her stop sign. She was driving without a license and wandered off without her daughter knowing.”

Sam winced, knowing that Mrs. Adler was in her mideighties.

Burnett shook his head. “Sad when they get old and lose control like that. Anyway, she slammed into Nicole’s passenger-side back door. According to Nicole, the car behind her wasn’t giving her much space to begin with and couldn’t stop in time, causing a second impact.”

Sam’s instincts went on alert. Was it that the actual accident was a coincidence, but the second occurred because Nicole was being followed?

“Who
was the second driver?” Sam waited for a Russian name.

“Drunk driver.”

Sam ground his teeth together. “Local?”

Burnett shook his head, and Sam’s instincts went haywire. “You’re booking him, right?”

“Yeah, but he refused the Breathalyzer,” Burnett said, inclining his head.

“Make sure you hold him. I want the chief to run a full check on the guy.” In case he had been sent after Nicole, with his inebriated state an intentional diversion.

“What’s going on?” Burnett asked.

“No time to explain now. Where are the women?” Sam asked, wanting to get to Nicole.

Burnett tipped his head toward the ambulance. “Being checked out just to make sure they’re fine.”

“Thanks again.” Sam shook Burnett’s hand and headed to see Nicole for himself.

Both Nicole and Macy had been released by the paramedics, and as Sam approached, they were being reminded that should they feel anything unusual, they should head to the hospital immediately.

Nicole signed the form the paramedic held out for her, then turned, and her eyes connected with his. Shaking, he caught her in his arms before she could collapse.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she murmured.

His heart squeezed tight at the admission, and he held on tight. Turning to Macy, he extended his other arm for her and helped both women to his truck, grateful tonight hadn’t turned out so much worse. And with the way his brain had
spun out alternative scenarios, he decided he wasn’t letting Nicole out of his sight for a good, long while.

An hour later, Nicole had showered and now, wrapped
in her favorite robe, she sipped a cup of tea and cuddled next to Sam on the sofa in her family room. After dropping Macy at home, Sam called Mike, at which point Nicole realized he believed the drunk driver behind her might have been sent to intimidate her into running back to Manhattan and Tyler for protection.

She had to admit that as the driver hovered on her tail, she’d thought the same thing. But she didn’t like Sam being uptight and stressed out, and he was both.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, obviously worrying about her the same way she was about him.

“Sore,” she admitted.

His arm around her tightened and she laid her head against his chest, inhaling his masculine scent that was both comforting and arousing at the same time.

“It’ll be worse tomorrow,” he said, his voice thick as his thumb rubbed comforting circles on her arm.

“I know. The paramedic warned me. I’ll take some ibuprofen and I’ll be fine.” She wasn’t looking forward to it, but she’d survive.

He groaned. “Let’s go upstairs. You’ll be more comfortable in bed.”

She narrowed her gaze and shifted so he could move out from under her. She pressed her hands against the sofa, prepared to stand, when he lifted her into his arms. “Sam,
this is becoming a habit.” One she already knew she liked and wanted to get used to.

He met her gaze, his eyes as serious as she’d ever seen them. “I need to take care of you tonight.”

She leaned her head against his chest and sighed. Earlier, when she’d turned from the paramedic only to catch sight of Sam, her knees almost buckled at the sight of him, strong and solid, there for her in her moment of need.

He was her safe haven.

And so much more.

He took care of her. He looked out for her. He understood her. He made her feel everything.

“You make it too easy to love you,” she murmured, deciding it was time to let out what was already in her heart. She’d grown up used to hiding her emotions and feelings, and she hated how she felt when doing it.

He stiffened but continued his climb up the stairs. “I don’t—”

“Shh.” She looked up and placed her finger over his firm lips, rubbing her fingertip back and forth over his mouth.

His hazel eyes dilated at her touch.

He couldn’t say it back, and it hurt. So did the fact that he didn’t want to hear it either.

“Sam, just because I needed to say it doesn’t mean you need to repeat it. And just because I feel it doesn’t mean you have to.” Although she sensed he did.

But he was running from his feelings because of his past, his fear of being hurt again. Though she had to accept that he might never let himself get beyond those fears, tonight’s accident reminded her that life was short. And so she was
willing to fight for both of them and hope she could bring him around.

Sunlight streamed through the window, waking Sam
in a painful way. He forced his eyelids open and rolled over to face Nicole, finding her watching him.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Her eyes filled with pain. “I can’t move.”

Her groan went straight to his heart, memories of the mangled car coming back to haunt him.

“My whole body feels like I was slammed by a semi.”

“Let me get you something to eat and some Motrin. It should ease the aches and pains.”

She closed her eyes. “Thank you. Then I’ll try a warm shower and see if I can get moving.”

In between sleeping and tossing and turning, he’d been fighting a mixture of emotions. Fear at the thought of what might have happened to her in that accident. Rage at the notion that someone might have been sent after her. And a healthy dose of both of those feelings over her words last night.

You make it too easy to love you
.

Damned if she didn’t do the same to him.

He wasn’t sure what threw him more. That she’d said it or that she hadn’t pushed him to say it back. Vulnerable yet strong, loyal and so damned gorgeous she took his breath away; yeah, he was probably in love with her.

But the too-rapid pounding of his heart, the sweats and shakes he’d have if he didn’t have to concentrate on keeping her safe, and the fear of being hurt again told him he couldn’t handle it.

Thanks
to her, he didn’t have to. “Be right back.” He slid out of bed and went to get the supplies to take care of her. That was something he could handle.

A while later, the Motrin worked and she was able to move around, although he saw the pain in her tight expression. While she went to shower, he called his folks to check in, then headed for the kitchen.

He opened the fridge and studied the contents, trying to decide what more he could put together for lunch.

“The shower helped a lot,” Nicole said, walking into the room. He turned to see that she wore a summer dress that was light and obviously easy for her to put on. One that was hell on his libido. The white ribbed tank top showed her breasts, perky and bouncy beneath the flimsy and relatively thin material. The light blue skirt flowed around her hips and ass, coming to rest at her shapely calves. She’d wrung out her hair, leaving it damp as it air-dried around her face. Even makeup free, she affected him on a soul-deep level.

He watched her gingerly move around the kitchen and wanted to help, to take her pain as his own. Shit. He knew he was in trouble, and the best thing to do was not to think.

He pulled out his cell and called his brother, walking out of the room as Mike answered on the first ring. “Hey, bro. Any news on the drunk who rear-ended Nicole?”

He listened to his brother and was relieved by the answer. “Got it. Thanks.” Mike asked about Nicole. “Yeah, she’s okay. Hurting but okay. How’s Cara?”

Mike told him she seemed better and thanked him for talking to her, then said good-bye. Sam noted his brother still hadn’t mentioned anything about Cara being pregnant.

He wondered if she’d taken the test. Spilled the news.
Maybe they’d decided to wait to tell everyone, Sam thought. But he already knew. Well, he assumed he knew. Not that he’d ask.

He disconnected the call and turned, finding Nicole watching him from the doorway of the family room.

“Well?” She stepped into the family room. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you ask about the drunk who rear-ended me. Was he connected to the Russians?”

“No. It was just an accident.” Sam shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m calling that wreck
just
anything.”

She walked over and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m fine.”

Reflexively he squeezed back, wanting to be as close to her as possible.

“What else is wrong?” she asked.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just a feeling.” She shrugged and pulled out of the embrace.

Immediately he felt the loss. She read him well. “It’s a secret,” he said.

She raised her eyebrows. “Well, I’m a good listener and I don’t blab. But I understand if you want to keep things to yourself.”

Oddly, he didn’t. Even more shocking, he trusted her not to spread the news. “Let’s sit,” he said, wanting her off her feet.

He lowered himself onto her couch, which he found more comfortable than the one in his house. “Cara thinks she’s pregnant,” he said, when they were settled in. “I spoke to her when we came back from Sara’s, and she was going to take the test and talk to Mike. But he hasn’t said anything, so I was wondering if she worked up the courage.”