Take Me Under (20 page)

Reese stiffened with outrage. “You think I made it up?” she said chokingly. “That it was
me
? That I mutilated a cat to get your damn attention?”

Leighton worked his jaw. “I think you were confused and wanted to come back home.” He flicked a contemptuous look at Ben. “Then something changed your mind and you ran.”

“I didn’t run, Drew. I came here to start a new life. And I think it’s time that you left.”

“You heard the lady,” Ben muttered, jerking his chin toward the double doors at the end of the corridor. “Time to get the fuck out.”

Leighton studied them for a moment from beneath a heavy scowl, then smirked. An ugly laugh rumbled up from his chest. “I don’t believe this shit. Are you actually letting this asshole fuck you?”

Ben made a low, guttural sound, ready to toss the son of a bitch out himself, but Reese simply said, “I don’t owe you any answers, Drew. My personal life no longer has anything to do with you.”

Those soft words made the jackass flinch, as if she’d physically struck him. “Like hell it doesn’t,” Leighton shouted, suddenly lurching forward and grabbing her arm. She cried out, his fingers digging into her bruised flesh, and Ben reacted with a swift surge of rage. With a visceral snarl, he drew back his arm and slammed his fist into Leighton’s mouth. The violent force of the blow knocked the bastard off his feet, the lawyer’s body making a dull thud as it crashed into the wall behind him.

“You don’t lay a fucking hand on her!” Ben growled, trying to gently pry Reese’s hands off his arm as she held on, doing her best to hold him back. Leighton’s lip had been split open, blood spilling over his chin and throat, soaking into the snowy white collar of his shirt. The noise had caught the attention of the hospital staff, who were trying to intervene, but Mike was holding them back, telling them the situation was under control.

“Ohmygod! Drew!” Lizzie glared daggers at Ben as she rushed to Leighton and crouched beside him. “I told you this was a waste of time!” she hissed near his ear.

He threw her arms off, using the sleeve of his tailored suit jacket to wipe the blood from his face as he staggered back to his feet. “And I told you I wanted to see my wife. Stay out of it, Lizzie.”

She crossed her arms as she stepped back, her face composed into a smooth, expressionless mask that looked fake as hell. “You’ve seen her, Drew. And her new boyfriend, too. Don’t you think it’s time we got out of here?”

“Fine,”
he forced through his gritted teeth. “We’ll go.”

Realizing Reese was now shivering at his side, Ben stopped trying to extricate himself from her grip. Instead, he pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. It was a caring, protective embrace, and he hoped Leighton got a good, long look, because if he ever tried to hurt her again, Ben would go after him until there was nothing left on the ground but a stain. Staring over her head, he locked his steely gaze on the bastard and said, “Before you slink off, I want to know where you were this afternoon.”

Voice tight, Leighton asked, “What are you getting at?”

“You know exactly what I’m getting at.” Reese went tense in his arms, no doubt bracing herself for the question she’d guessed was coming next. “How did you know to come looking for Reese at this hospital?”

“The clerk at the hotel recognized Drew when we were trying to check in,” Lizzie snapped, rushing to Leighton’s defense before he could respond. “We only just landed an hour ago and took a taxi instead of renting a car. So it couldn’t have been Drew who hit that stupid woman.”

“Which hotel?”

“The Davis.”

Ben wasn’t surprised. The Davis was a privately owned resort right on the beach, catering to those who could afford its outrageous prices.

Lizzie continued her explanation in a belligerent tone. “The clerk’s girlfriend was in town when the accident happened, and she called him to gossip about it.”

“I’ve stayed there before, with Reese, when we were here visiting. That’s why he thought to tell me about the accident,” Leighton added in a raw voice. He looked at Ben with sullen eyes. “I don’t give a shit what you think is going on, I would never do anything to hurt her. She’s . . . just know that I don’t plan on letting this go.”

“I don’t know why,” the petulant blonde muttered. “She’s nothing special. Just look at her.”

Ben had had enough. “Get this trash out of the fucking hospital, Leighton. Now, before I have you both thrown out. And you can expect a visit from one of my deputies at your hotel.”

“I’ll escort them out of here,” Mike offered. “You just take care of Reese.”

“Thanks, Mike.” Picking her up as carefully as he could, Ben cradled her in his arms as he carried her back to her room, the scent of the antiseptic they’d used on her scrapes still lingering on her skin. There were a few muttered curses behind him, but he knew Mike could handle Leighton and his mistress. Connie, who’d been watching the whole thing from the doorway, held the door open for him, and he carried Reese to the bed, keeping his face close to hers after he’d laid her down. Then, using his most intimidating tone, he said, “You move again and I’ll damn well tie you down.”

Despite the shitty scene she’d just been through, her blue eyes were shining with humor. “Promises, promises,” she whispered, somehow managing to sound both sexy and adorable at the same time.

It took everything Ben had to choke back a gritty laugh. “Don’t sass me right now, you little hellion. I’m not happy with you.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not all that thrilled with you, either.”

Well, hell. “Are you upset that I hit him?” he asked, straightening to his full height.

“No. Of course not. He had it coming. But I wanted to be the one who busted his lip,” she grumbled.

His own lips twitched with a grin. “I’ll let you hit him next time.”

She smirked. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Pushing a gleaming lock of hair back from her face, Ben asked, “Did you know he was coming here? To Florida?” The last he’d heard, Leighton wasn’t scheduled to fly home from that legal conference in California until Sunday.

Her eyes went wide. “What? No! He’s been trying to reach me since you gave me my phone back, but I’ve been ignoring his calls.”

Before Ben could respond, Connie joined them, standing on the other side of the bed. “Well, this has certainly been an eventful day.”

“Tell me about it,” Reese murmured, noticing that her sister still had that pinched look she got when there was something she wanted to rant about, and she knew she’d be getting an earful the next time they were alone. She’d already suspected that Ben had blabbed about her stalker problem when he and Connie had been talking, just before Drew’s arrival. But even if he hadn’t, her sister would have heard enough from what was said in the hallway to get the gist of the situation.

“Since Ben seems to have you covered here, I’ll get out of your hair for a while. But I’ll be back first thing in the morning with some decent food for you guys. God knows you can’t live off the stuff they serve here.”

Reese smiled. “Thanks, Con.”

“Hey, we sisters have to look out for each other, right? And speaking of sisters, I’ll call Cami and let her know you’re okay.” A wry grin crossed Connie’s lips. “If Mom gets to her first, she’ll probably have poor Cam thinking you’re already dead and buried.”

Reese wasn’t as close to Cami as she was to Connie, but she hoped to change that. Cami had hated Drew’s guts, which had made it difficult for them to spend time together. But Reese had a feeling her older sister was going to get on great with Ben. “I haven’t seen Cami in so long,” she murmured. “Tell her I miss her.”

“Will do, sweetie.” Looking at Ben, Connie added, “Take good care of her.”

He nodded, gripping Reese’s hand so tightly it almost hurt worse than her other one, which was pretty sore. But she bit her tongue, touched that he was still so upset. It had to mean that he cared at least a little, right? God, she hoped so, because as hard as she was trying to control it, she was falling more for the sexy, complicated lawman with every second that went by.

As Connie opened the door to leave, Reese caught sight of a tall woman in a sheriff’s department uniform standing outside her door in the hallway. Looking at Ben, she asked, “Why is there a guard posted outside the door?”

“That’s Robin. She’s here for your protection.”

Her brows lifted. “From Drew?”

Ben shook his head. “I don’t think he’ll come back. But I don’t want anyone getting inside this room without being cleared first. That includes the hospital staff.”

She could feel her blood go cold. “You think it was intentional, don’t you?”

The look in his eyes was as fierce as his tone. “I think that whoever was driving the truck that caused the accident was up to no good. And whoever it is, I think they have some kind of dangerous obsession with you.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” she said, finding the lethal rage in his voice somehow comforting. “I’m not the kind of woman a man would obsess over, Ben. Even one who’s bat-shit crazy.”

“Like hell you aren’t.”

Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Do you still think it’s Drew?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “But the bastard wants you back, Reese.”

She chewed on her lip. “If that’s true, then why try to hurt me?”

His voice got rougher, a hard glint in his eyes as he held her gaze. “Because he knows that he’s lost you. If he’s messed up enough in the head, he might start to think the only solution is to make sure no one else can have you, either.”

She shuddered, then winced when the movement sent a fresh surge of pain rushing through her battered body. “Ouch,” she whispered.

“Don’t do that again,” he grunted, his deep voice gruff with worry. “Just lie still.”

“Okay.” She watched him snag one of the chairs and pull it close to her bedside. As he sat down, she turned her head on the pillow and asked, “What about Drew’s alibi with the hotel?”

Rubbing his hand against the hard set of his jaw, he said, “Even if his story about the hotel checks out, I’ve been saying all along that he could be paying someone to do his dirty work for him. Ryder’s been trying to find a money trail, but it might take some time.”

Reese wanted to ask him more, but her mom and step-dad, Joe, chose that moment to burst in, full of tears and demands to know what had happened. Thankfully, Ben quickly calmed them down, and it didn’t take long for understanding to dawn in her mother’s big blue eyes. Reese had been avoiding her mom for days, not wanting to have to answer questions about Ben. Questions she knew would be awkward and intrusive. But the way he stayed glued to her side, his sharp gaze brimming worry and heat whenever he looked at her, had to have made it obvious to her mom that they were involved.

Sometime later that evening, when she and Ben were alone and her eyelids started to get heavy, he leaned over the side of the bed and gave her a brief, tender kiss. “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”

“Aren’t you going home?” she asked drowsily.

“No,” he murmured, sinking back into his chair. “I’m not leaving your side.”

A rueful smile touched her lips. “You won’t be comfortable here. That chair is about five sizes too small for you.”

“I’ll be a hell of a lot more comfortable than I would be at home, worrying myself sick over you,” he argued in a husky rasp. “And Reese?”

She stared at his deliciously rugged, impossibly gorgeous face from beneath her lashes, and had to swallow to clear the lust from her throat. “Yeah?”

His dark eyes burned with resolve. “From now on, we sleep together. Every night. End of story.”

14

T
HOUGH HER MOTHER AND
C
ONNIE HAD BOTH OFFERED TO TAKE
R
EESE
home with them, Ben had made it clear that the best place for her at this time was with
him
. And it was exactly where he planned to keep her.

He pulled into his driveway and turned off the truck’s engine, feeling a swift surge of relief at the fact that she was sitting there beside him. For a moment, he closed his eyes, briefly reliving the frantic minutes he’d spent racing to the hospital yesterday, when he hadn’t known if she was going to live or die. The closest he’d ever come to feeling that kind of panic had been when he’d found Alex passed out in the middle of his living room floor, barely breathing, nearly poisoned to death by alcohol. Ben had been sick with fear, and yet, at the same time he’d been filled with rage at Alex for acting like such a selfish bastard.

But none of this was Reese’s fault. He didn’t feel any anger toward her for the hell he’d been through. There was just this cold, burning fear still eating at him from the inside out. It’d been nearly twenty-four hours since her accident, and he still got shaky when he thought about how easily she could have been killed.

By some miracle of fate, her MRI had shown no internal damage. Not even a single broken bone. But two significant things had happened since her accident. The first was another text message that had come through on her phone in the middle of the night. The message had been simple, but unnerving. Six little words that were proof whoever had been in that truck had known who she was.

i didn’t mean to hurt you

The second was an attack on Reese’s car, which had still been parked on O’Neill Street. Connie had driven past the parked Toyota on her way to the hospital that morning, and had told them the bad news. Ben had arranged to have the car towed to a local garage, and it sounded as if the damage was fairly extensive. Slashed tires, smashed windows, and significant dents in the bodywork, as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. He wished to God the city had security cameras posted in that area, but that was something he was still working to get the funding for.

It made him fucking ill to think of some wack job out there being this fixated on her. While he still wasn’t ready to put Leighton in the clear, even though the bastard’s alibi had checked out, Ben hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that dark-haired male he had Alex looking for. Earlier that morning, he’d worked with a department artist to sketch up an image that Alex could use while canvassing the town. Ben didn’t know if there was any connection between the unknown man and the shit happening to Reese, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. Not when the guy kept showing up. If it turned out to be nothing, then fine. He’d be glad he looked like an idiot for wasting Alex’s time. But after yesterday, he wasn’t willing to write it off as nothing until he knew exactly who the stranger was.

“Hey, you in there?” she asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Sorry,” he murmured, taking his keys out of the ignition. “I was just thinking.”

“Me, too. And I . . . I’m still not sure that this is the right move, Ben.”

He clenched his jaw. “Why not?”

Drinking in the sight of his rugged profile, Reese took a deep breath and tried to explain. “Moving in together, even in the short term, is only going to complicate things between us. And we’ve probably already complicated them enough. I don’t want either of us to feel trapped,” she said, when what she really meant was that she didn’t want
him
to feel trapped.

Lying in her hospital room last night, Reese had watched as he’d dozed in the chair he’d pulled up beside her bed, and finally faced the terrifying truth of how she felt about him. Despite her fears and knowing there was a strong chance she was going to end up hurt—hurt in a way that was a thousand times worse than her divorce—she was, without any doubt, already in this thing up to her eyebrows, her feelings for Ben deeper than any emotion she’d ever known. Deeper than she’d thought she was even capable of.

And now the gorgeous, complicated man wanted her to stay with him. Part of her wanted to jump for joy, while the other was still waiting for his response to her very logical worry about it being a bad idea.

Quietly, he said, “I don’t feel trapped. And I hope you don’t, either.”

“You’ll tell me if it . . . if you change your mind?”

The look in his eyes when he turned his head toward her made her breath catch. It was dark, mesmerizing . . . full of lust and need and heat. “I’m not going to change my mind,” he told her, his voice husky and low. Then he climbed out of the truck and came around the front, opening her door for her. “And one of the perks of staying with me is that you get truck-to-bed service,” he added with a grin, picking her up and clutching her against his chest.

“You don’t need to carry me,” she protested, even though she loved the feeling of being in his strong arms. “I might still look a little banged up, but I feel perfectly fine.”

“Let’s give it a little more time and then see how you feel.”

“Hmm. You’re not listening to a word I say, are you?”

“I just want to take care of you, Reese.” When he looked down at her, there was a devilish light in his eyes as he said, “In bed
and
out of it.”

With a smile on her lips, she gave up trying to convince him and simply enjoyed being in his arms. She caught flashes of his house as he carried her through the quiet rooms, and it was even more beautiful than she’d imagined it would be. Dark hardwood floors were covered in off-white rugs, the walls that same shade of white, furniture a mix of coffee-colored leather and rustic wood.

“Any news about my car?” she asked, after he’d laid her on a massive king-size bed. His room was decorated in the same color scheme, with rugged pieces of furniture, and she loved it. Loved the warmth and the masculinity of it, since it reminded her so much of Ben.

Stretching out beside her, he braced himself on an elbow and said, “As much as I wanted it to be Leighton, so that I could go ahead and arrest his ass for vandalism, he’s been cleared. It wasn’t him.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he can’t be in two places at the same time. And I’ve been having him watched since he showed up at the hospital yesterday.”

Her eyes went wide. “I had no idea.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want you worrying about it.”

“So you know it wasn’t him because he was . . .” Her voice trailed off, waiting for him to provide the explanation.

“It’s still a possibility that he has someone working for him, but he didn’t do it with his own hands. He was at his hotel all night, getting shit-faced in the bar.”

“I don’t know what his problem is,” she said with a frown. “He never used to be a big drinker.”

Ben snorted. “Yeah, well, we all have our coping mechanisms.”

“Have you ever . . . ?”

He gave a curt shake of his head. “No. But Alex took things hard after his divorce.”

“Oh no.”

“It was pretty ugly there for a while, but Mike and I finally managed to get him back on his feet.”

“I’ve only been around him a few times over the years, but he always seems so . . .”

“Disciplined? Cold?” When she nodded, he said, “It’s how he copes now. But he wasn’t always like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” he rasped, brushing her hair back from her face. “Me, too.”

Thinking it was a good time to change the subject, she asked, “What about Ryder?”

The instant she said the deputy’s name, his brows pulled together in a scowl. “What about him?”

She had to choke back a laugh at his guttural tone. “I was just wondering if he’s learned anything new about Drew?”

“No. Nothing yet,” he muttered, resting his hand on her stomach, his thumb stroking the soft cotton of her tank top. “But he’s been doing some background checks for me on Lizzie Jennings.”

“Why Lizzie?” she asked, lifting her brows, and then immediately wishing that she hadn’t. The scrapes on her forehead stung like hell every time she did that.

He shrugged his shoulder again. “I thought she gave off a really strange vibe yesterday.”

“Has he found anything?”

“Not much. She’s moved around a lot, and doesn’t have any family. There was a younger brother that she was apparently close to, but he died in a fire at an institution a few years back.”

“Oh, God. How awful.”

“Yeah, well, that was the last of her family. She’s been on her own since she was sixteen, going to school in various places, and then working. There are some significant periods of time where she’s fallen off the grid that Ryder hasn’t pieced together yet. But he’ll get there.”

“It sounds like she had a pretty rough start in life. That’s probably why she latched on to Drew,” she murmured, placing her hand on top of his. “Poor girl.”

He gave a stunned, gritty laugh. “Poor girl? Are you shitting me? She’s a total bitch, Reese.”

Running her fingertips over the back of his large, masculine hand, she said, “But I understand her a little better now. I mean, I can see why she would fall for Drew’s ‘come with me little girl and let me take care of you,’ spiel.”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “Was that the spiel he used on you?”

With a soft snort, she said, “No. He knew better than to try that crap on me.”

“Exactly how
did
the two of you end up together?”

“You really want to know?” she asked, giving him a puzzled look.

“Yeah,” he murmured, lowering his gaze to watch her touching his hand. She was tracing one of the heavy veins that ran under his skin, the featherlight touch of her finger for some reason striking him as incredibly erotic. But he wasn’t going to let it distract him from the topic. Clearing his throat, he said, “I really want to know.”

Reese could tell that he wasn’t quite comfortable being this curious about a woman’s past, and it put a warm feeling in the center of her chest to know that Ben’s interest in her was new for him. That it set her apart, in at least some small way, from all the other women who had wanted to be a part of his life. “Does this answering questions about our pasts work both ways?” she murmured.

The look in his eyes became guarded. “Let’s start with you.”

Hmm. Not exactly the answer she’d been hoping for, but at least it wasn’t an outright no. It wasn’t easy to talk about something so painful, but she made herself do it, hoping it would help him open up with her, as well. “I met Drew my second year in college.” A wry smile twisted the corner of her mouth, and she said, “It’s embarrassing, but I made the same stupid mistake that a lot of young women make. I was afraid I would never find someone who loved me and wanted to spend their life with me, so I believed the first guy who told me that he did.”

Ben hadn’t expected her to respond with so much honesty, but if he’d learned anything in the past week, it was that Reese wasn’t what he was used to. She didn’t play coy or try to make herself out to be anything other than what she was.

He didn’t know why her honesty made him feel tense, but it did. Hell, it was probably because he wasn’t willing to give her the same, holding close to his secrets like they were going to make a fucking difference. But it was too late for that. He was already so deep into this woman, he didn’t even want to try to find his way back out.

“So he told you that he loved you and wanted to marry you?” he forced from his tight throat, surprised by how bitter the words tasted in his mouth.

Her response was a soft “Yes.”

“How long had you been together?”

She cocked her head a bit to the side, eyes curious and dark. “Before we got married, or before he asked?”

“Both.”

“We’d been dating for about five months. We were married three months later.”

His next question surprised them both. “Do you think you’ll want to get married again someday?”

She gave a quiet laugh. “I might. But only if I met the right guy.” She studied him for a moment, then said, “You look surprised.”

“I guess I am. After what you went through with Leighton, I would have thought you’d be soured on the idea.”

She shook her head. “That would mean letting Drew have an effect on the rest of my life, and I refuse to do that. But I’m in no hurry. Right now, I’m just taking each day as it comes.” She gave another quiet laugh, her tone dry. “But don’t worry. I won’t be sending you an awkward invitation to any future wedding. I imagine you hate those kinds of things.”

Ben shot off the bed so quickly it startled her. Shoving a rough hand through his hair, he looked down at her and snapped, “Don’t say shit like that. Not when you know it’s going to mess with my head.”

She blinked up at him, heat rushing into her face with a pink flush. “I’m sorry, Ben. I was just . . . teasing, I guess.”

“Don’t,” he ground out, the word rough in his throat. “Not about that.”

As Reese watched him turn and leave the room, she bit her lip, wondering why she’d said what she had. She was worried she’d ruined the day, wrecking the easy vibe they’d had going, until he came back in a few minutes later with a glass of iced tea for her, his expression no longer tight with strain. He was obviously making an effort to get things back on the right track between them, and she breathed a small sigh of relief. After he asked if she’d like to take a bath, he went over to her house to get some of her things. She’d thought he’d come back with some soap and maybe her makeup bag, but he practically loaded up her entire bathroom. While she soaked in his oversize tub, he put her things away, clearing a drawer for her in the wooden chest that stood by the sink. For some reason, that simple gesture made her ridiculously happy, as if he was planning on her being there with him for some time, when she knew that had to be all kinds of dangerous for her emotions.