Chapter Nineteen
THE NEXT TWO days Sarah felt like she was being chased by a ghost. It was Wednesday afternoon, and she was at the shelter, cutting Ebony’s hair and thinking about her conversation with Bones. She’d managed not to think about Lewis coming back into her life by refusing to let her mind visit that awful darkness. But ever since Bones brought up the idea of getting him to terminate his parental rights, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She’d asked Scott his opinion, and apparently he’d been harboring worries about the same thing. Like Bones, Scott thought Lewis was a ticking time bomb. But since she’d told Scott early on that she didn’t want to talk about Lewis, Scott hadn’t pushed.
But Bones had.
Because he’s falling in love with me.
Warmth flooded her. She’d never been in love. She’d only ever been in a state of hopeful, deep like with Lewis. And over time, instead of falling deeper into him, as she had with Bones, she’d become removed. She’d gone from hopeful, to being happy there was a roof over her head, to being terrified.
“You’re not going to give me one of those boy haircuts like Tracey, are you?” Ebony asked with a wink. When they’d first met, she was all hard edges and rough talk. By the time Sarah had left on Saturday, Ebony had softened up, and today she was even less guarded.
Sarah pushed her thoughts aside and snipped another lock of Ebony’s hair.
“Only if you’re lucky.” Tracey looked up from her perch on the arm of the couch, where she was reading a book Sarah had loaned her about starting over after domestic abuse. Her bruises had faded to a yellowish green.
“I love Tracey’s cut, but don’t worry,” Sarah reassured her. “You said I could cut it to just below your ears, and that’s as far as I’ll go.”
“That’s what he said.” Ebony smirked. “Then he’s all hello, back door!”
That brought a litany of jokes and comments. Thank goodness Camille’s children were playing across the room out of earshot. Sarah’s mind traveled back to Monday night, only this time she revisited the deliciousness she and Bones had shared in her bedroom. After growing up with parents who made her feel shameful for even being female, and being manhandled by her ex, she’d wondered if she had a chance at ever having a normal sex life. Now she wondered what normal was, if there was any such thing. Because while the girls talked about putting that particular area under lock and key, she didn’t think there was any part of her body she’d want to make off-limits to Bones.
Did that mean she was healing?
Did it make her normal?
A whisper of worry tiptoed through her. Or does it make me trampy?
Her answer came in the form of Bones’s loving voice whispering through her mind. I want to make love to you until I feel every beat of your heart and until every breath you take joins with mine. No, she wasn’t a tramp. She was a woman who was falling for a good, trustworthy man.
She finished cutting Ebony’s hair and said, “Can I blow it dry?”
“I never blow-dry my hair. It just gets frizzier.” Ebony ran her fingers through her newly shorn locks. “It feels so light.”
“I thinned it out a little. I brought a diffuser and some product that will help reduce the frizz and enhance your natural curls. I can show you how to use them.”
“Do it,” Camille encouraged. “My sister uses a diffuser, and her hair always looks great.” She pointed to her own beautiful, straight blond hair and said, “Nothing can make my hair hold a curl, but her hair is like Sarah’s, thick and wavy.”
“Okay, I’ll be your Barbie doll,” Ebony agreed. “But you’re not dressing me up in any of that girlie shit.” She tugged her T-shirt over her belly rolls. “I don’t need to be like Meghan Trainor, strutting my stuff in tight jeans and short skirts. No siree. That just brings man trouble.”
“Just because we had bad men doesn’t mean they’re all bad,” Camille said. “Look at Dr. Hottie.”
Tracey nudged Sarah. “That’s your Whiskey man. We’ve renamed him, and we’re all a little jealous.”
“Oh my gosh. I’ve never been the target of jealousy before. It feels weird,” Sarah admitted as she plugged in her hair dryer and attached the diffuser. “I never imagined being with a man like him.”
“Hot?” Camille asked.
“Yes, but no,” Sarah said. “Thoughtful and kind. A guy who thinks about me and my children before anything else. How about if you call him Dr. Dreamy? Because when I think of him, it’s not his looks that come to mind first. He makes me feel all melty, and I swear when he’s with my kids, there are no words to describe that feeling.”
Camille gazed across the room at her children. “I’d give anything for a man who put my children first. My husband treated them like they didn’t matter. He only cared that I was his to own, humiliate, and belittle.”
Sarah and the others exchanged a wary glance. While Camille had told them she’d been hurt by her husband, she had been tight-lipped about just what kind of abuse she’d suffered. Now that she was opening up, Sarah could see that the other girls were just as worried as she was about how far he’d gone.
“Did he ever hurt you physically?” Sarah asked carefully as she applied product to Ebony’s hair.
“Sometimes…”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said. When Camille didn’t say more, Sarah grasped for a change in subject, but Camille spoke before she could get a word out.
“But not like Tracey, where he left bruises I couldn’t cover up.” Camille worried her hands in her lap, her blond hair curtaining her face. “He’d force me against a wall, squeezing my ribs so hard they’d bruise, or grab my wrist and hold it up behind my back so far I thought my arm would pop out of its socket. But mostly he controlled me with threats of violence.” She lifted her face with shame in her eyes and said, “When he threatened to hurt David, my oldest, is when I finally got up the courage to leave.”
Sarah wiped her hands and then hugged Camille. “I’m so sorry you went through that. It’s crazy the power abusers have over us. But you got out, and your kids are safe. That’s a start in the right direction.”
“The power they had over us,” Camille said. “Never again.”
They all agreed.
While they talked about safer subjects, like where they were looking for jobs and what they did in their past lives—meaning before they fell into the hands of their abusers—Sarah dried and styled Ebony’s hair: she parted it, pulling a few locks of bangs straight, then sweeping them over her left eye, and using the diffuser to curl the rest.
“Wow, Ebony!” Camille’s blue eyes widened. “You look gorgeous.”
Ebony reached up and touched her hair. She was sitting on the couch. “Really? You sure I don’t look like a guy?”
“You couldn’t look like a guy if you tried,” Sarah said, and they all followed Ebony into the bathroom.
Ebony assessed herself in the mirror, leaning closer to get a better look, touching the straight bangs, then the curly sides, her eyes lighting up, and a smile followed. “Can you teach me to do this?”
“Absolutely. It’s not difficult.” Sarah retrieved the blow dryer and diffuser and showed her how to hold it to create curls and how to use the brush to straighten her bangs.
“I can’t get over this. I have great hair,” Ebony said with awe, making them all laugh.
“You have great everything,” Sarah said. “You have the cutest dimple in your chin, and your eyes really pop now that you’re not hiding behind your hair.”
Ebony blushed and continued admiring herself in the mirror, but the longer she looked, the less she smiled. “I started dating my ex-boyfriend when I was twenty, and I have always been overweight. As things got worse between us, he called me thunder thighs and fat face. I took it because…look at me.”
“Your ex was a shit,” Tracey said harshly. “He’s the reason you’re here, so there’s your silver lining. Now you’ve met us, and we won’t let you hook up with shitty men ever again.”
“You’re beautiful, Ebony,” Sarah said, her heart breaking. She remembered when Bones had said I see you, Sarah, and your beautiful children. Whatever it took for you to be right here, right now, whatever made this moment possible didn’t ruin you. He had made her feel whole and normal, and because it was Bones and he had a way of making her feel things she’d never thought possible, he’d also made her feel beautiful. She wanted that for these friends, so she said, “I see you, Ebony, and when people see you, when they see Camille and Tracey, they won’t see any of you through the eyes of an abuser. They’ll see the beautiful, kind women you are. What we went through didn’t ruin us.”
Ebony wiped damp eyes, and Sarah put her arms around her, and then Camille and Tracey joined in for a group hug.
“We’re done with assholes,” Camille said. “All of us.”
“I can’t breathe,” Ebony squeaked out, and they all took a step back. “Y’all are the best friends I’ve ever had, and I barely know you.”
Thinking of Bones and his family, Sarah said, “Sometimes it’s not the length of time you’ve known someone that matters. It’s what they see and appreciate in you that others never have.”
“Spoken like a woman with love in her eyes,” Sunny said from outside the bathroom, startling them. She was carrying Joshua, Camille’s youngest. “Bones called the front desk because you weren’t answering your phone. He said to tell you he’s not checking up on you and he knows you can handle picking up the kids, but he’s at his mother’s and he’ll bring them to your place if you want him to.”
Babs had canceled watching the kids at the last minute because of an appointment she’d forgotten about, but she’d asked Red to fill in for her. Red had been thrilled to care for, as she’d called them, her surrogate grandbabies. That had done inexplicable things to Sarah’s emotions. She’d never imagined her children having grandparents, and now they were loved by Chicki, Babs, and Red, and the way Biggs had danced with Lila at the wedding told her they had touched him, too.
Ebony arched a brow. “His name is Bones? Dr. Dreamy just got even more interesting.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Tracey chimed in. “The hardest thing in the body is bone.”
Sarah blushed, and Sunny said, “His biker name is Bones, not Boner.”
“I like how he said he knows Sarah can handle picking up the kids,” Camille said, taking Joshua from Sunny. As Sunny walked away, Camille said, “It’s like he understands women like us need every bit of empowerment we can get.”
“It’s not that.” Sarah told them about Bones asking his father to help her with the kids in the storm. “Like I haven’t spent the last year mastering the ability to carry two babies, an umbrella, and everything else under the sun?”
“I still think it’s amazing that he listened and understood,” Camille said. “That’s really important.” She kissed her little boy’s cheek. “I’m going to take him to the playroom.”
Sarah thought about Bones as she put away her hair supplies. He was a great listener, and he was patient and understanding. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this type of happiness, but the closer they became, the more she thought it had less to do with deserving or earning and more to do with something less tangible. Their connection was so strong, so deep, she had begun to believe they might have eventually found each other under any circumstances.
She gathered her things to leave and said, “I’m leaving the hair products for you.”
“They should put you in the blessing bags,” Ebony said.
“Blessing bags?” Sarah asked.
“When you come to the shelter, they give you a blessing bag. It’s full of all the necessities—toiletries, socks, water, first aid kit, gloves, washcloths. All sorts of things,” Tracey explained.
“Well, I won’t fit in a blessing bag, but I can volunteer to do hair,” Sarah offered. She liked the idea of helping women see themselves differently from the way they had before coming to the shelter. A fresh start.
“Good idea. Will you come back next week? Not to do hair, but just to hang out with us?” Tracey asked.
“Yes. Our own girls’ club. I like it,” Sarah said. “Ebony, if you have any styling trouble, call me. I’ll try to walk you through it, but you should be fine.”
“I’m never going to wash my hair,” Ebony said as they walked Sarah out. “I’ll sleep sitting up like a statue.”
“You do that and your hair will look like a grease ball after a week,” Tracey teased. “Hey, that’s a good way to deflect men.”
Sarah spotted Camille on the couch in the playroom watching her boys and thought again about what Bones had asked her to do about Lewis. “I’ll be right back. I want to say goodbye to Camille.” She went into the playroom and sat beside Camille, placing her bag on the floor by her feet. “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”
“I’m glad. I love what you did with Ebony’s hair.”
“Thanks. Me too.” There was no easy way to ask what she wanted to, so she just went for it. “I wanted to ask you something about your husband. You don’t have to answer if it’s too personal.”
“You already know all my bad stuff,” Camille said.
“I know, but…I’m just wondering if you’re doing anything to keep him away from the boys. Legally, I mean.”
Camille’s eyes remained trained on her children. “I have a restraining order, but I want something more permanent. I don’t have the money for an attorney, but when I do, keeping him away from them forever will be my first priority. Why? Are you afraid your kids’ father is looking for you?”
“No.” She put her hand on her belly and said, “I’m just trying to decide if I should do something so he never has that option.”
“That depends on what you think is best for your kids. For me, that’s keeping him as far away from them as possible.”
Sarah thought about that as she picked up her bag. Was she being shortsighted by refusing to try to get Lewis to sign papers relinquishing his parental rights? Bones hadn’t mentioned anything about the cost of doing it. She needed to find out about that, but she still wasn’t ready to chance it backfiring.
She hugged Camille, promised to come by next week, and then she gave each of the boys a kiss on the top of the head. Ebony and Tracey flanked her in the hall, deep in conversation about Thanksgiving dinner, reminding Sarah she’d agreed to bring dessert to the Whiskeys’ Thanksgiving dinner.
Sunny buzzed someone in as she said, “See you next week, Sarah?”
Sarah looked up and lost her breath at the sight of her sister coming through the door, looking gaunt holding the hand of a lanky little boy with longish, thick brown hair.
“Josie” fell from Sarah’s lips.
Before Sarah knew what was happening, Josie dragged her little boy out the door and ran down the steps.
“Josie!” Sarah dropped her bag and ran after them. Her friends called after her, but she wasn’t about to stop. Not when her sister was blowing through the doors to the building and running across the lawn.
Sarah held her belly up from underneath as she chased them. “Wait! Josie! Please!”
Josie’s little boy looked over his shoulder, slowing her down. “Mommy, who is that?”
“Nobody. Keep going,” Josie snapped.
The little boy stumbled, and Josie stopped to help him, giving Sarah time to gain on her. Josie moved in front of the boy, forming a barrier between Sarah and her son. “Stop right there, Sarah.”
Sarah stopped a few feet away. “Why are you running from me?”
“Mommy!” The little boy peered around her legs with terror in his eyes.
“Stay there, Hail.” Josie set a warning glare on Sarah.
Sarah held her hand up, using the other to lean on her thigh for support as she tried to catch her breath. “I just want to talk. I don’t understand why you won’t see me.”
“I don’t understand why you won’t leave me alone.” Josie set her jaw, like she had as a little girl when she was mad.
Sarah tried to piece together the angry young woman before her with the best friend she’d grown up with. The girl who had never suffered at the hands of her parents the way Sarah and Scott had but had endured their wrath the way secondhand smoke caused cancer.
“Because I love you,” Sarah pleaded. “You’re my family. Scott and I can help you. We have a house in a safe neighborhood, near good schools, and—”
“Hail is the only family I need.” Her chin trembled, and Sarah took a step forward, needing to bridge the gap between them. Josie took a step backward, forcing her little boy to do the same. “I can’t do this. Not now. Go back to your perfect life and leave us alone.”
“Josie…?” Tears spilled from Sarah’s eyes as Josie took her son’s hand and walked away. “Wait!” Sarah pleaded. “Go back to the shelter. It’s safe there. I’ll get my stuff and then I’ll leave you alone.”
Josie stilled, her back to Sarah, and Sarah knew she was at least listening.
“Please go back, Josie. They’re good people. Your son will be safe there. I promise to stay away.” The pain that promise brought was excruciating.
Josie drew her shoulders back, and Sarah prayed she’d listen. But Josie didn’t walk toward the shelter. She stormed away in the opposite direction.
“Josie, please!” Sarah called after as she disappeared around the corner.
BONES CARRIED LILA up the porch steps as Bradley relayed stories about their afternoon with Red. “She said I can call her Nana Red. I like that.”
“I like that too, buddy.” A whole hell of a lot, he thought as he knocked on the door.
Scott answered with a troubled expression. “Hey, guys. Come on in.”
Bones looked over Scott’s shoulder at Sarah, who ducked into the kitchen, but not before he noticed her pink nose and watery eyes. His nerves went on high alert as he stepped inside. “What happened?”
“Ca!” Lila reached for Scott.
Focused on Sarah, Bones handed her over. Sarah had texted him an hour ago thanking him for offering to pick the kids up. He’d stuck around talking with his parents and had left their house later than he’d anticipated. He hoped that wasn’t why she was upset.
“She saw Josie,” Scott answered. “It didn’t go well.”
Christ. She never gets a break. Bones tousled Bradley’s hair and said, “Hey, B-boy, why don’t you play with Uncle Scott for a minute while I help Mom with dinner?”
“Okay.” He headed for the toys, and Bones went to Sarah.
She stood at the counter putting rotini pasta and bite-sized pieces of meatballs into bowls. Her hair curtained her face, but her sadness filled the room.
“Hey, darlin’.” He put his arm around her waist and said, “I heard you had a tough afternoon.”
“I’m okay,” she said in a strained voice.
He brushed her hair over her shoulder so he could see her face, aching at the grief gazing back at him. He embraced her. “Scott said you ran into Josie. I’m so sorry it didn’t go well.”
She nodded against his chest.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She shrugged.
“Why don’t you take a minute to relax. I’ll feed the kids, and then we can talk,” he offered.
She pushed away. “No. I can feed them. I need to. Life doesn’t stop because I’m sad.”
Bradley bounded into the kitchen. “Mommy, look what—” His giddy voice silenced, and he frowned. “Why are you sad?”
Scott appeared behind him with Lila in his arms and mouthed, Sorry.
Sarah forced a smile. “I’m not sad. I just had something in my eye. Come sit down and eat.”
Scott put Lila in her high chair as Bradley climbed into his chair.
“An eyelash like I had that time?” Bradley placed his toy pig beside his plate and said, “That’s ouchie.”
“Yes, an eyelash.” Sarah set a bowl in front of him.
Bones grabbed a bib from the drawer and put it on Lila as she babbled, “Bababa.”
“Who’s Josie?” Bradley asked.
Sarah looked like she’d been gutted. “She’s…”
“Josie and the Pussycats,” Scott said. “It’s a show your mom and I watched as kids.” He turned his attention to Sarah and said, “How about if you guys go for a walk while I hang out with my niece and nephew.” Making a game of it, he leaned closer to Bradley and said, “We can do secret stuff while Mom’s gone.”
“Secrets are bad,” Bradley said around a mouthful of pasta.
“Okay, well, then I’ll teach you how to make a train out of your pasta.”
Bradley nodded, eyes wide with glee.
“What do you say, darlin’?” Bones asked Sarah quietly, hoping like hell she’d take her brother up on his offer. “Are you up for a walk?”
She nodded.
Sarah bundled up against the brisk evening air, and Bones kept her tucked against his side as they walked silently to the end of the street.
“Josie was coming into the shelter as I was leaving,” she said as they turned the corner. “She ran from me, Bones. She sprinted away with her son, like I was an enemy. I didn’t even know she had a child. But she does. A beautiful boy named Hail. Hail,” she said with a soft laugh. “When we were young we said if we ever had children we’d name them after nature. To us that signified strength and freedom. Hail, Rain… We had all sorts of ideas. Nothing can stop hail from pummeling or rain from falling.”
“Why did you go with Bradley and Lila?”
“Because I didn’t want any reminders of my past. I didn’t want them to need those names. I wanted them to have normal lives.” She remembered the moment she’d made that decision and the power that had come with it. “Why does she hate me and Scott so much? It kills me that she’s so angry, and she’s in trouble. She has to be. Why else would she have gone to the shelter?”
“I don’t know, but why don’t I call Sunny and see if she’s been there before? Now that she knows what Josie looks like, she might recognize her.”
“Would you? I promised her I wouldn’t go back to the shelter so she would have a safe place to go. I told Tracey and the girls, and they understood. They were so supportive. They promised to help Josie if she showed up. I can’t take the thought of Josie and her son on the streets…”
Tears tumbled down her cheeks, and Bones drew her into an embrace. “It’s going to be okay, Sarah. She just needs time.”
“She said I have a perfect life. She has no idea what I’ve been through.”
“Then we’ll tell her when the time is right.” She drew back, and he kissed away her tears. “When she’s ready to hear it.”
“What if she never is?”
“We won’t let that happen. She’s your family. We’ll do whatever it takes so she knows she’s not alone.”
“Can you call Sunny now? Please? I’ve been so worried. I just want to know she and her son are safe.”
Bones made the call and then relayed what he’d learned. “Sunny said they didn’t come back, but she’d call if they showed up. She also said she thinks Josie’s might have been there before, but she didn’t stay. She just came in to check it out and left.”
Sarah crumbled against him. “Why did this happen? Why couldn’t she have found happiness? It’s like we’re cursed. I knew when she came to the hospital she wasn’t in a good place, but I hoped and prayed I’d overreacted.”
“We don’t know what she’s been through, but I promise you, Sarah, she’s not alone in this, and neither are you. We will do everything we can to find and help her.”
“Part of me wants to tell you to go fall in love with Josie, to make her feel safe like you make me feel. But I’m too selfish for that.”
“The fact that you’d even think that way tells me how truly unselfish you are.” He pressed his lips to her and said, “I’ll do everything I can to make Josie feel safe and loved, but my heart is already spoken for.”
A half smile lifted her lips. “Will you stay with me tonight? Hold me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” He pressed his lips to hers, tasting her salty tears. “I’m going to put out a call for the Knights to look for Josie.”
“They’ll scare her if they roll up on their motorcycles.”
He kissed her again, slow and sweet, and when she melted against him, he kissed her longer. When their lips finally parted, he said, “Did that scare you?”
“Not at all.”
“See? Not all bikers are scary. Trust me, darlin’. I wouldn’t chance scaring your sister or her child.”
On their way back to the house Bones called Bullet and explained the situation. “You know the drill,” he said. “She’s got a little one underfoot, so tell the guys to take it easy. No fear, B. She’s a runner. I’d go myself, but I want to be with Sarah. She’s had a rough time of it.”
“You got it, bro,” Bullet said. “I’ll call as soon as we have news. Until then, tell your girl we’ve got her back.”
AFTER AN EVENING of playtime, bubble baths, and bedtime stories, Sarah took a warm shower to try to relax, and Bones talked with Scott. “Any idea what’s going on with Josie?”
Scott looked like he’d aged five years in the past few hours. “No. I wish I did. She was never harmed by our parents, as far as I know. I can’t think of a single reason for her to be this way toward us.”
“Guilt, maybe? For not being one of the children your parents went after?”
Scott shrugged. “Like I said, I wish I knew. All I know is I’ve got enough guilt on my back for all of us. I never should have left them. I should have killed that bastard and taken whatever punishment they doled out. Then both my sisters could have lived better lives.”
“Dude, that’s a lot of responsibility to put on a kid. You know about Quincy and Tru’s background, don’t you?”
He shook his head. “Just that Tru found Kennedy and Lincoln in a crack house when their mother OD’d.”
“Their mother was a drug addict of the worst kind. When Quincy was thirteen, a dealer raped her, and he killed the guy. Tru showed up and took the fall for the murder. He spent years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He’d thought he was saving Quincy, but then Quincy became an addict. He’s clean now, but it was a mess.”
“Damn, I had no idea.” Scott shook his head.
“There are no perfect ways out of bad situations. You did the right thing. You got out, and you sent money to help your sisters. You can’t let guilt eat away at you. If you’d killed your old man, your mother would have had you arrested. And it doesn’t sound like she was any better than your father. When you dump anger on top of whatever was driving your mother to treat you guys that way, your sisters would have been stuck in an even worse situation. Thank God you did the smart thing.”
“Thanks, man,” Scott said. “Let’s hope we get lucky and find Josie before she and her son end up in even worse circumstances. It’s a weird thing to be separated from someone for so many years and then suddenly you’re all adults and your little sisters have children and you realize how strong the little girls you knew grew up to be.”
“You’re all strong, Scott.”
He pushed to his feet. “I can’t just sit here. I need to go look for Josie. I appreciate the Knights looking for her, too. I don’t know what we did to deserve you guys coming into our lives, but I appreciate everything you’ve done.”
“No worries. You mind if I stick around tonight?”
“Not in the least. Until you came into Sarah’s life, I’d never seen her happy for more than a few minutes here and there with the kids. She’s lived through hell. She deserves a taste of heaven.” He grabbed his cane from the corner of the room and said, “Hit me up if you hear anything.”
“Will do. Be careful.”
Hours later, Scott still wasn’t back. Bones sat on the couch reading with Sarah’s head in his lap, running his fingers through her hair as she drifted in and out of sleep. His cell phone vibrated, and as he reached for it Sarah jolted upright.
“Is it about Josie?”
He read the text from Bullet. Found her in a shithole. Finlay convinced her to go to the shelter. She’s safe. We tried to get her to come to our place, but Fin says I look too scary. WTF? As he was reading, a text popped up from Sunny and another from Bear. He read Sunny’s message. She’s here with her son. I’ll take good care of them, but she told me not to let Sarah in to see her. Sorry. He quickly scanned Bear’s message, which relayed the same information, and said, “She’s safe. She’s at the shelter.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Happy tears slipped down her cheeks. “Sorry. Pregnancy hormones make me cry over everything.”
He put his arms around her and said, “Those aren’t pregnancy-hormone tears. They’re happy-that-your-sister-is-safe tears. They’re emotionally-and-physically-spent tears.” He kissed the tip of her nose and said, “Finlay convinced her to go to the shelter. She tried to get her to go home with her and Bullet, but I guess that was asking for a little too much trust for a single mother.”
“Finlay and Bullet found them? Maybe that’s a good sign since Bullet is the one who saved me and my family. Look where we ended up.”
He didn’t need to break her heart by telling her what Josie had asked of Sunny. Instead he said, “I think she needs space, babe. Let her settle in at the shelter so she doesn’t run scared again. Once she realizes she can trust you and Scott, hopefully she’ll come around.”
“Like I had to learn to trust you,” Sarah said.
“Something like that.” He pressed his lips to hers and then helped her to her feet. “Come on, beautiful girl, let’s get you out of those clothes and into bed.”
She let out a sleepy laugh as they walked to the bedroom. “Dr. Whiskey, are you going to try to take advantage of my precarious emotional state?”
He closed the bedroom door and went to her. “I’d never take advantage of you.” He lifted her sweater over her head and said, “But I am going to rub your back.” He trailed kisses along her shoulders and down her spine. “And your legs and feet.”
He carefully removed the rest of her clothes, kissing each bit of skin as it was revealed. Then he took her hand and led her to the bed. He pulled down the blankets and helped her lie down. He stood at the edge of the bed, began kneading the arch of her foot, and said, “And any other parts of your body that need special attention.”
She sighed, relaxing into the mattress as he rubbed each foot. Then he worked his way up her legs, massaging and kissing in equal measure. He helped her onto her side and began massaging her shoulders, taking his time as he eased every muscle from there to the tips of her hamstrings and every beautiful inch in between.
“You know what would make this exquisite massage even better?” she asked in a husky voice.
“I can think of a few things.”
He kissed her shoulder and she turned dark, seductive eyes toward him and whispered, “If the masseuse were naked.”
“Your wish is my command.” He stepped from the bed and stripped off his clothes. Her heated stare and the way she licked her lips as he took off his briefs made him hard as steel. But it was more than lust filling his chest. He wondered if it was possible to love her more than he did right at that second.
“Show me where you hurt and I’ll rub the ache away.”
She reached for him, her beautiful eyes full of emotion, and said, “My outside parts feel better, and knowing Josie and her son are safe makes my heart happy. But I have other inside parts that need a little attention.”