“Our mothers were friends,” she said. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Yeah, it means your mother’s a bitch. She backstabbed a friend. I think I’ll go after her next. I almost got your sister in the fire, but her time will come.” He inched even closer, within range of a strike. Any second now, she’d take her chance. “I’ll save your little boy for last, to make sure the family name can’t continue.”
The mention of her son filled her with power. When a noise to his left distracted him for a split second, she went into action, targeting his weak left leg with a powerful kick and knocking him off balance. The gun dropped from his hand and she kicked it away, but she wasn’t finished. With all the force in her, she drove an open hand up and into his nose, feeling the bone crunch. He screamed in pain but came at her, landing a punch on her jaw and sending her back into the cabinet. Before she could right herself, he was on her, grabbing her hair.
“That’s it, you bitch. I’m going to kill you with my hands.” He raised a fist to punch her again. Before he could, he was yanked backward and thrown to the floor.
Zach was on him, landing blow after blow to his face and body. Oh, God, he was going to kill him. Enough violence had already occurred without that. She rushed forward, risking a hit to put her hand on Zach’s shoulder.
“Stop, Zach,” she pleaded. “He’s not worth killing.”
Another punch connected with the man’s face before Zach stood up. Dale Huntly was out cold.
“He would have killed you,” Zach said, turning to her. His arms went around her, pulling her against his chest. She could feel his hammering heart and knew hers was going just as fast from fear and adrenaline, but she’d survived.
“You stopped him,” she said. She’d hurt Dale, but she had no illusions about what would have happened if Zach hadn’t come in at that moment. She owed him her life.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Zach whispered into her hair, “for last night and this morning.”
“Shhh, we’ll talk later. Just hold me.” His arms tightened around her, and they stood together until brakes squealed on the street and a man ran into the store.
“Shit, you got all the fun.” Alex assessed the situation, looking from them to the prone man.
“Call the police,” Zach said to Alex, “and let Colin know he can stand down.” He loosened his hold on her, touching her face before stepping away. “I’m coming home with you tonight.”
“I’m not arguing,” she said, not wanting it any other way.
Hours passed as she retold her story to the police, filling in the details of what Dale Huntly had done to her business. Her mother and sister arrived to comfort her and corroborate details of the story. Through it all, Zach stayed by her. Finally, they were home, with Austin in bed, thanks again to Zach’s brothers.
“Let me,” Zach said, taking the ice pack from her and holding it to her jaw. He sat on the coffee table, facing her. “It’s still going to hurt in the morning.”
“It’s okay. Taking him down was worth one punch.” An aching jaw was way better than what could have been if Zach hadn’t arrived when he did.
“Not to me. I should never have let you get in that situation.”
“You couldn’t have stopped it, Zach.” She’d replayed the scenario, recognizing that she should have been more aware of her surroundings but knowing that Huntly was going to come at her no matter what.
“I could have, by sticking with you when we knew you were in danger,” he argued.
“No one knew he’d pick today to attack.”
“After the fire…I should have—”
“Stop blaming yourself,” she declared.
“I’m so sorry about what I said last night. I was…”
She waited, knowing how difficult it was for him to talk about his feelings, when showing emotion was perceived as a weakness.
“I was out of line,” he continued, lowering the ice bag. “You are nothing like my mother. I’ll never know her reason for leaving us. Maybe it was my father’s abuse. I don’t know. What I do know is that you’re an amazing mom, so loving and caring. Everything you’ve done has been to protect your family and Austin. You’d never abandon them.”
“Or you,” she said, wanting to make that clear. “I won’t abandon you again.” His eyebrow went up at her again, and he shook his head, but she went on. “I feel that’s what I did when I broke our engagement. I let you down because of my fears. I was so scared you wouldn’t come back from a mission that I had to put distance between us. I guess I preempted the risk of you abandoning me—even if it wasn’t your fault—by breaking it off with you. It seems so silly now. We could have had that time together.”
She remembered how she’d felt then, so justified in her actions and not thinking about what it did to him. When he didn’t respond to her messages about the coming baby, she’d been sure she’d done the right thing. How wrong she’d been.
“We can’t change what happened,” Zach said, taking her hand, “and I’m done being controlled by the past.”
She’d seen the danger of letting the past rule your life in the way Dale Huntly had felt the need for revenge, even if his beliefs weren’t true. The past could be toxic. “We have to let it go and be in the present.”
“The present isn’t enough,” Zach said quickly. “I love you, Carolyn. I never stopped in all the time I was away. I was angry with you, but I couldn’t help loving you. Now, though, the love I feel…when I thought I might lose you today…I never want to spend another day without you in my life.”
If she could have planned what she wanted to hear from him, it would have been those words. She smiled at him and scooted forward on the couch until their knees were touching. “I love you, too. I tried hard not to when I thought you were ignoring your son and me. Now, I know you’d never do that. You’d never let your family down.”
“I’ll never let you or Austin down.” He said it as though it were a pledge, and she believed him.
“Let’s go to bed, Zach.” More quickly than she would have thought possible, he stood and lifted her in his arms.
“Are you going to carry me up the stairs?” she asked, delighted by his actions.
“Are you objecting?” He walked toward the steps. “I don’t want to get on your bad side. I’ve seen what you can do to a man,” he teased.
“No objection.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him, not stopping until they reached her bedroom. “You are one talented man to kiss me and still be able to climb the stairs.”
“It’s my superior training.” He lay her on the bed and knelt between her legs.
“I didn’t know that carrying women off was part of SEAL training.” She sat up to let him remove her dress, his fingers trailing up her torso and lighting little fires wherever they touched.
“We have to be prepared for any contingency.” He touched her jaw gently, first with his fingers and then his lips, slowly coasting over the injured part before moving on to her temple, her cheeks, and finally her lips.