AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Look, I know my dad was acting like a jerk at the mention of her and the rest of our family has a century old feud they engage in, but Justine and I don’t. We’re friendly and I just want to check on her before I leave, thank her for finding my baby sister. I don’t intend to disturb or upset her,” he told the man who studied him for a long moment before nodding, directing him towards a room.
There was no one around as he gave a soft knock on it, peeking his head around the door to ensure no one else was in there before heading in as Justine’s head turned his way, a smile settling on her tired face. His breath stalled seeing the bandage on her neck along with the cast on her arm. His chest tightened knowing how easily he could have lost her tonight, and he never wanted that. He wouldn’t survive that.
“It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise,” Justine said as he shut the door behind him, slipping over to her side quickly, his hand sliding beneath her shoulder, gathering her to him as tightly as he dared. “I’m okay, Tyler.”
“Tell that to me when you’re not in a hospital bed with the doctors monitoring you for kidney damage and then we’ll talk,” he argued pulling back enough to see her gorgeous face. Her eyes were sleepy but thankfully there wasn’t pain evident in them.
“They’re just being overly cautious about it, I’m perfectly fine. Don’t worry honey-bae,” she said, and he couldn’t stop the smile that hit his lips hearing the term slip from her. “What?”
“You haven’t called me that in ten years. Just savoring it,” he admitted, lowering his mouth to hers in a soft, sweet lingering kiss. “If anything had happened to you…I couldn’t survive losing you again, babydoll.”
“Talk about not hearing something in ten years,” she teased resting her forehead against his cheek as he leaned over her still, unable to move away from her yet.
“I guess part of me felt like you weren’t really mine still,” he admitted, pulling back a bit to see her better. “I knew you were keeping something from me. I just didn’t realize it was to do with your job. I still don’t get how you had so much leave…what?” he added when she let out a soft sigh, his brows furling a bit. “You weren’t out here working. It’s not possible…”
“No, I wasn’t working. Had no intention of getting anywhere back near that world again,” she told him, worrying him at her tone. “I promise, I’ll explain everything later when I know there’s no chance to be interrupted. I know my team didn’t call my family but that doesn’t mean they won’t hear and show up without warning.”
“And finding me in here holding you isn’t the way we need this coming out,” he said pulling a nod from her. “Are you getting out of here tonight…or morning whatever it is now.”
“Probably later today, they want to monitor my kidney function for a bit to make sure everything’s good. I’ll let you know when I’m back in town. I’ll probably need to be up here for a couple days at least to handle paperwork. Since I discharged my weapon there will be more questions to answer than normal. Nothing’s changed except now my medical leave is extended again…” she said making his brow rise quickly as he studied her intently. “I technically was on an extended medical leave. It wasn’t for any physical ailment, more to let me process what happened on my last assignment, deal with it. I wasn’t sure whatI wanted to do when I got here but seeing you, being back with you, it’s the only thing that makes sense, Ty.
“I love you. Even when I swore I couldn’t or shouldn’t because things that happened during that last assignment messed me up pretty good but being with you…it’s cleared up so much of it. Made me deal with it, own up to the fact that I still have a ways to go and I probably do need to talk to someone to help with that, but the first thing I see when I wake up isn’t danger and chaos. It’s sweetness and hope and I want to stay in that, here with you, for good this time. There is nothing out there that’s better or makes more sense than being with you, being us,” she added, and he lowered his lips to hers, stealing another kiss wanting to know everything she was still keeping to herself but for now, knowing she wanted to be here, wanted them was enough to let him head back to town to wait for her to come home again.
“I love you too, babydoll. More than anything in this world. Nothing else but that matters right now. Get some rest—and thank you, for saving both of the twins’ lives,” he added, kissing both of her eyelids then her forehead before he left her, hoping it was the last time he ever had to walk away from her.
Chapter 10
Tyler moved to answer his door as the bell rang, wondering who it was as he wrapped up his phone call with his mother. She’d called to pass along the update Justine’s teammates gave them about the case. Both of the Grimes men were recovered from their injuries to the point they could be released from the hospital, and in the federal prison, facing more than thirty counts of kidnapping and at least twenty counts of sexual assault. He’d preferred for the bastards to have died, but he wouldn’t put that on Justine to deal with for anything.
He hadn’t seen her since the hospital other than a glimpse here and there around town. Her parents brought her back to town on Tuesday, keeping her at their house, which meant he couldn’t get any time with her. He hadn’t had her in his arms for a week now and it felt like a lifetime after spending nearly every night with her for nine weeks.
He ended the call, pulling open his front door without checking to see who it was, and a huge smile broke out finding Justine on his stoop. “Please tell me this isn’t just a flying visit, babydoll.”
“I was hoping for more like an extended stay—forever hopefully,” she replied, a smile spreading across her face turning him to absolute mush.
“Just try to leave me again, your sweet ass won’t make it out of the county before I’d be on you,” he stated, pulling her towards him, claiming her lips in a long, sensual kiss as he moved them into his house, taking the weekender bag from her good hand when he spied it as he pulled back to breathe. “How did you get away from your mother? I heard from sources that they showed up at the hospital just after daybreak and barely let you out of her sight since then.”
“She’s been a nightmare—in the best way,” Justine mused, slipping onto his lap when he settled onto the couch wanting to hold her and never let go again. “If she knew the jobs I actually took she’d really be a nightmare, and I definitely wouldn’t be here right now. I probably wouldn't be let out of the house ever again. I only got away by claiming I had to go back up to Seattle to answer some more questions on the case.”
“She doesn’t know you were working what…trafficking and abduction cases?” he guessed not quite sure exactly what her work entailed.
“I gave them a superficial explanation of my job but didn’t begin to get into the UC work I did,” she explained, and his brow rose curious about her ease at telling him that bit. “Saturday and Sunday was spent finishing up the necessary questions on the case. It was pretty easy for once since Isabelle confirmed everything that’d happened leading up to me shooting Harvey. Monday and Tuesday I spent talking with one of the therapists, getting a lot of the pent up stuff off my chest before I came back down with my parents.”
“Is that why you seem more relaxed?” he asked, letting his hand trail through her hair, loving the softness of it against his skin.
“Yeah, we’ve set up a schedule for me to keep seeing her, twice a week for now, but thankfully I can do it online and won’t have to go up to Seattle for it. My medical leave was extended tosix months so technically I’ll still be employed with the FBI for at least three more months but after that, they’re aware that my plans are to still leave the bureau. For now, I’m going to focus on healing completely, after that we’ll see what comes along for work,” she said and he nodded, brushing his knuckles against her cheek putting a light smile on her lips.
“Can you tell me what you were doing? What sent you back here on medical leave to start?” he asked pulling a soft sigh from her that he hated. “If you can’t or aren’t ready to…”
“It’s not that. I…it’s really not pretty and I don’t know how you’re going to react to it. How you’ll deal with it.”
“No matter what you tell me, it won’t change how I feel about you, babydoll,” he promised, lowering his lips to press a kiss to her forehead as her eyes shut. “Whatever you did, had to do, or was done to you…”
“I never slept with anyone or was forced to,” Justine said stopping him, seeing the worry in his eyes as she looked back up at him with a soft smile his way. “There’s been no one but you in my life that way, Ty. When I first left, it was all I could do to just get through the days without you. Other guys weren’t anywhere on my radar. I focused on school and pretty much nothing else. I finished my undergrad in three years and went straight into the master’s program. During my first year in the program, the FBI recruited me. One of their agents was a guest lecturer for the semester and thought it might be a good fit, especially since I looked younger than I was still.”
“You still do, especially dressed the way you were last week,” he stated, and she smiled a bit more, nodding in understanding at the look that crossed his face.
“It worked to our advantage though. People underestimate me, what I’m capable of because I’m little and I look young. Originally I was hired on as a contractor since I couldn’t officially qualify to be an agent because I was only twenty-twostill, but I worked with them for a year helping with catching online predators while I was finishing up my degree. With that year of work, plus my degree, and the extra courses I’d taken about UC work, I was able to get into the academy and become an official agent. My team works on the Child Exploitation task force. Since I could pass for a teenager still, I was sent into places that other agents couldn’t manage to get into. I did over twenty different short-term UC jobs up and down the east coast with ease the first two and a half years. I didn’t have a single issue on any of them. It left me no time for a personal life though, I only dated a couple guys in the last ten years and neither of them was serious.”
