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Puzzled by my strange reaction, Sadie sits beside me on the bed. “So, you two really…?”
“Yes. I love him.”
“I’m happy for you. I’m happy for you both.” She gets up and moves to open the door. “Laurent, get her out of here.”
Sadie steps aside, allowing Bastien to enter while blocking anyone else from coming in. Bastien kneels when he reaches the bed and cups my cheek. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. You were gone, and I couldn’t find you. We all—”
“I love you,” I interrupt.
Bastien leans back and stares into my eyes, speechless.
“I thought I was going to die, having never gotten the chance to tell you, so I’m telling you now.”
Taking my face in both hands, Bastien touches his forehead to mine. “I don’t deserve the chance to love, but I’ll love you till the day I die. If I am a monster, I’ll be your monster.”
“Then take me home, monster. I’m sick of this place.”
Bastien smiles, a rare, magnificent sight. He helps me put on socks and shoes and collects the rest of my stuff.
The hallway crowd has grown by a couple of people when we exit the women’s dorm. Aaron tips his chin, and Knot squeezes my hand, saying, “I’m glad you’re still with us.”
Bastien removes his keys from his pocket and tosses them to Jackson. What is he doing here? “You drive.”
Jackson tips his chin to me. “Glad you made it back.”
An hour later, we’re both freshly showered and reclined on Bastien’s sofa. I have the added comfort of lying on a large cooling pad while Bastien clears away the remnants of our take-out dinner. Jackson left after getting my stuff inside, his truck having been sitting in Bastien’s driveway.
I tug the blanket higher to combat the chill of the cooling pad, and Bastien soon returns with two beers and a dose of ibuprofen. “Here. This ought to help.”
He settles on the sofa beside me, and I swallow the pills with a sip of beer. “What about you?” I ask as I carefully touch his side.
“I’m fine. Come here.”
Bastien pulls me against him, straightening the blanket and stroking my hair. I soak in his warmth, basking in the safety of being watched over so fiercely. When the pain medicine dulls the stinging, I clear my throat painfully and whisper, “How is it that you found me? No offense, but I figured if I couldn’t find this guy, no one could.”
“You were right. Knot brought in Cle’s team, but they kept coming up with dead ends. I was no help, so I decided to check out your house. Frank went with me, and Cooper met us there. While they looked around, I checked your system and found some recent, disturbing messages from a potential target you dismissed. Cooper went to look for the guy and found that he’d disappeared. That made him our prime suspect, but something about him didn’t feel right.”
He lifts my arm to inspect one of the marks left by Dolion’s belt. “Then, this morning, Jackson came over and gave voice to my doubts. That’s how we came to check the doctor’s car wreck yesterday. Turns out, the florist’s van is what hit him. That led us ultimately to Savile.”
“What came of the other guy?”
“He was found dead in his blue sedan with your clothes. Savile set him up to be the fall guy for your abduction.”
“He didn’t plan on leaving my body to find then.”
Bastien hesitates, not looking forward to sharing his suspicions. “Given his obsession, my fear was that he didn’t plan to kill you at all.”
I believe Bastien’s right, and the thought makes me shiver. It also makes me glad the former SEAL showed up the night he had to scare Predator Tom away. “So, you’re the one who figured it out.”
Bastien shakes his head. “I only trusted your system and asked the right questions.”
“Questions no one else thought of.” I place my hand over Bastien’s heart. “Thank you.”
Lifting slightly, I touch my lips to his cheek and then skim my fingers over his middle to rest over the bulge in his sweats. I shift to reach his lips and wince as the skin on my shoulder pulls. Bastien gently pulls me onto his lap, and I expect to get scolded for my efforts. Neither one of us is in any condition for sex.
Bastien doesn’t lecture me as I expect. He stands, wrapping my legs around his waist, and walks toward his bedroom. “Let me help you.”
I’m genuinely surprised, and my face shows it, but Bastien only shrugs. He holds my gaze and gently places me on his bed. “I need your touch as much as you need mine, but you need to rest.”
