She held out her hand. He laced his fingers through hers and squeezed tight. “I guess something about living and dying makes you really question life, doesn’t it?”
“When I lay in the hospital bed, and I was all alone,” he said, “I did wonder for a long time if anybody in this world would give a damn if I was no longer on the planet. It’s very sobering to come to that realization that there really wasn’t anyone. Sure, I had teammates and people I’d helped in the world, and they would have given a thought and maybe been sad and sorrowful for a few minutes, and that would have been it,” he said. He could feel some of that pain still inside. “When you realize that nobody really loves you, that you really have nobody to love, and that nobody cares one way or the other if you’re here,” he said, “it sure makes you take another look at life.”
“And it’s given you another chance at life,” she murmured.
He smiled. “So true. And I’m determined to make the best of it.”
“Sounds good to me, but we have to get rid of this asshole who’s trying to crawl into my house. So we can see what we have between us.”
“Speaking of which,” he said, “I want to take a cup of coffee upstairs and peruse where he would come inside and what we can do about that.”
She immediately hopped up and poured two cups of coffee, and, as he stood, the dog immediately bounced to her feet, her gaze watchful.
“So, is she watching you to see if you’ll leave her,” Laurie Ann asked, “or is she watching to see what we’re doing?”
“In this instance,” he said, “both. She’s been left before. I think she’ll probably have abandonment issues for quite a while, until she learns that she’s secure and healthy and happy and that life will be good again.”
“Well, let’s hope she gets there fast,” she murmured.
“Yep, I hear you.” As they walked up the stairs, she led the way and said, “The master’s right here, and this leads into the master bathroom but also to the closet.”
He stepped in behind her, noted the large space, and said, “This is a decent-size room.”
“Isn’t it? It’s one of the reasons I loved it,” she said. “All the time I was living with my sister, Jeremy and I had two very small rooms and a bath, and it really got to me after a while,” she said, “so it was one of the advantages of this master.”
“I like it.” He walked over to the deck door and pulled open the slider. “At least this makes enough noise that you would think it would wake you in the night.”
“I’m a heavy sleeper,” she confessed, “and often I don’t even hear my alarm in the morning.”
“In other words, he might have made it inside without you knowing.”
“I’m afraid so.” And she really was worried about that.
He could see it on her face. “Well, it’s a good thing that I’ll be here tonight.”
She said, “Yeah, and then what about tomorrow night?”
He looked over, grinned, and said, “How do you feel about a permanent house guest?”
She snorted. “I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”
“Nope, but,” he said, “nobody’s coming after you while I’m around,” he said, “so we need to come to some arrangement. What other rooms do you have here?”
Chapter 9
Laurie Ann led the way and showed him Jeremy’s bedroom, which was another large room, with his big gaming setup, his messy bed, his dirty clothes on the floor, his sports team posters and a big hockey jersey all on the wall.
And Kurt smiled. “Typical boy’s room.”
“Well, I’m grateful it’s not pinup poster girls,” she said with an eye roll.
He laughed out loud. “At that age I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”
“Neither would I,” she said, “so I’ll be grateful for what we have.” She laughed. At that, she walked over to the spare room, which was on the other side of the house and faced the street.
He looked it over and said, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but any chance you want to sleep in here tonight and let me stay in the master?” he asked. “At least that way, if the guy comes back, he’ll find me, not you.”
She hated to put him in danger like that. “I don’t want you to get into trouble because this asshole’s after me.”
“I’d love to get into trouble because this asshole’s coming for you,” he said gently. “I live for guys like this.”
She frowned at him. “You always were like that,” she said, “you and that badass attitude.”
“Well, now I have the skills,” he said with a small smile, “to go with it.”
“Are you sure?” she said. “I don’t want you hurt, and you’re already injured.” At that, he shook his head, and she could see she’d insulted him. “Or you’re not that badly injured, are you?”
He lifted his pant leg and showed her his prosthetic.
She stared in surprise. “I didn’t know,” she said. “I had no idea.”
“Good,” he said, “the last thing I want is for you to see me as handicapped.”
“I can’t imagine a less handicapped person in my life,” she retorted. “But I still don’t want you setting yourself up as a victim here.”
“Hardly a victim,” he said with a smile. “A willing target. And then, when he comes inside, he’ll have to deal with me.”
“If you’re sure,” she said doubtfully.
“I’m very sure,” he said. “It’s still early yet tonight, but let’s get whatever you need for the night moved over.” She grabbed her big down comforter, and he smiled and said, “I’m not planning on sleeping on the bed,” he said. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “You might as well sleep in my bed.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” he said with an odd note.
She looked at him and asked, “In what way?”
“I’ll want so much more,” he said, “and sleeping with all those smells and scents will be that much harder.”
She flushed, realizing exactly how much passion still simmered underneath the surface for him too. “We always were good that way, weren’t we?” she said with a half smile.
“We were deadly,” he said. “I’ve never met another woman who made me lose control quite like you.”
“Ha! And I didn’t even know that’s what I was doing,” she said with a big grin.
He burst out laughing. “That’s another thing,” he said, walking over and taking her in his arms, where he could just hold her. “We always laughed. I remember that very distinctly.”
“Yep,” she said, “we always could see the bright side, and we always could laugh at each other and at the world,” she said. “It’s a sad day if we ever lose that.”
“Sometimes it’s a sad world,” he said.