“Yes, ma’am.”
He was in his truck and on his way in a matter of heartbeats. His woman needed him, and he’d be damned if he was going to make her wait one more minute than was absolutely necessary.
He pulled up into her driveway since that shortened the distance to Kate by a few strides and therefore got him there sooner. The classy rental wasn’t there.
She was waiting for him, stepping into his arms the second she opened the door.
“Thanks for coming,” she said quietly against his chest.
“Baby, I’ll always come for you. You want to tell me what’s got you so upset, so I can kill it?”
She chuckled as if he were kidding.
“Later,” she said, petting his chest. “Right now, I just want to get out of here.”
“You got it. Karyn and Amanda left?”
“Yes. They caught an early flight out this morning.”
“I thought they were staying the whole week.”
“Change of plans,” she said simply.
As she stepped away to grab her coat, he noticed the living room looked barer than it had the last time he was there, less than forty-eight hours earlier.
“What happened to your photographs and books?”
She pointed to a group of closed cardboard boxes. “They’re in there along with the rest of my stuff.”
Oh, yeah, it’s bad. “Kate, what’s going on?”
She summoned a brave, watery smile. “I’m choosing me.”
He didn’t have to know the details to get the gist. For everything else, he could and would be patient because the fact that he was there now meant that she wasn’t just choosing herself; she was also choosing him. Choosing them. Over what, he didn’t care.
“Shall we take them with us? The boxes?”
She gazed up at him with red-rimmed eyes and blinked. “Could we? I was going to try to load them into the back of my Jeep, but”—she raised her cast and grimaced—“it’s more of a two-handed job.”
He looked again at the meager pile. The whole lot wouldn’t take up half the space in his enclosed truck bed. “Sure.”
Kate smiled, and all was right with his world again. He made short work of loading her stuff into the back of the truck while she double-checked the house, making sure everything was either turned off or unplugged before setting the thermostat at fifty-five degrees. Clearly, she wasn’t planning on returning anytime soon. That was also one hundred percent fine with him.
“What about your Jeep?”
“I wish I felt comfortable enough to drive it, but on those roads, I’d rather wait until I can use both hands. Especially after what happened last time.”
“I’ll come down with Smoke tomorrow and get it.”
Her eyes welled up with tears—it gutted him every time that happened—so he gently lifted her into his vehicle and helped her with her seat belt. As he leaned over to snap it in place, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“You really are the sweetest, kindest man I’ve ever met.”
He was glad she thought so even if that meant she’d been surrounded by assholes her whole life. She had him now, so that wasn’t going to be an issue ever again.
They didn’t talk much on the drive, the silence broken only by the hum of the powerful engine and the intermittent swish of the wipers to clear the windshield of the lightly falling snow. When they turned off into Sanctuary, he drove right to his trailer. He didn’t offer her the chance to stay in the main building, and she didn’t ask.
He carried in her overnight bag but left everything else to be sorted out later. She settled right in, refusing tea and cocoa in favor of choosing one of his shirts to sleep in before climbing into his bed.
The shirt didn’t stay on long.
Within minutes of sliding under the covers, she turned to him, pressed her body up against his, and poured her soul into a branding kiss. The next hour was spent making sweet, tender love, their bodies saying everything their lips didn’t.
Hers said, I need you.
His said, You’ve got me—always and forever.
“I’m serious about that job, you know,” she said afterward, snuggled in his arms.
He couldn’t think of anything better than having Kate relocate to Sanctuary where he could see her every day and be with her every night.
“We’ll talk to Sam and Church in the morning, okay?”
“Mkay,” she hummed and then drifted off to sleep.
~ * ~
While Kate was in the shower the next morning, he texted Smoke, Sam, and Church and gave them a heads-up, so they wouldn’t be too surprised when Kate walked in with him.
Sam was practically bouncing on her toes when they arrived. “Is it really true? You’d like to work here?”
“I would,” Kate confirmed. “I realize I might not be too useful at first,” she said, holding up her cast, “but I’ll do what I can.”
Church was somewhat wary of Kate’s sudden eagerness to come on board but agreed to consider it. Unsurprisingly, he called Mad Dog into the war room at one point, closing the door behind him.
“Talk to me, man. What’s going on?”
Mad Dog shrugged. “Kate hasn’t shared the details with me, but something went down with her family. She packed up her shit and called me to come get her.”
He frowned. “Do you think it has anything to do with what we divulged?”
“No. Not directly anyway. I don’t think she relayed anything we’d told her, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“So, the timing is just a happy coincidence?”
“No. I think we opened her eyes and provided a different perspective, but that alone wouldn’t have had her packing her shit and walking away. Whatever happened, it’s far more personal.” Mad Dog leaned back, considering the little he did know. “She did tell me that her older sister and sister-in-law flew out three days earlier than expected. My guess? Lines were drawn in the sand, and Kate and Karyn chose to stand on their own side while everyone else stood on the other.”
“I remember Karyn Handelmann,” Church said thoughtfully. “Very friendly and down-to-earth. A lot like Kate.”
Mad Dog nodded. He’d thought the same thing. “So, how about it, Church? Can we make this happen or what?”
Church’s lips quirked. “Since this morning, I’ve had Sam, Sandy, and Doc in here, telling me what a good idea it was to bring Kate on board.”
Sam and Sandy, he’d expected. Doc, not so much.
“Doc?”
“He believes that, with her knowledge of the tunnels, she could be a valuable asset.” His lips curled into the semblance of a smile. “But if you ask me, he just wants to stay on her good side, so she agrees to let us keep the dogs.”
Mad Dog chuckled. Doc had been researching training programs that would bring in therapy dogs for vets. They’d all thought it was a good idea, but after seeing the positive effect the animals had had on Justin in such a short time, the opportunity was too good not to consider.
“True enough.”
“My main concern is that Kate’s here because of a knee-jerk reaction to whatever went down, and once she cools off, she’ll have second thoughts.”