Holly gazed up at him, dumbfounded. Nate had saved her with the little snow globe he’d given her on their first date? Talk about quick thinking. Or karma.
He shrugged and reached down to help her up, frowning when she grimaced. “I needed some kind of weapon. I was thinking I’d have to scramble around for a kitchen knife, or something else sharp. But as soon as I stepped inside, I saw the snow globe on the counter. Not far from the door. So, I just dived inside, and then got up and grabbed it. The rest was pure instinct, I guess. He wasn’t more than twenty feet from me. I couldn’t miss at that distance.”
“You’re nuts,” she said, shaking her head. And brave and foolhardy. She hated to think what would have happened if his aim hadn’t been true. Then again, this was a man who could easily hit a catcher’s glove from sixty feet away.
He took her in his arms. “Well, it worked, right? Thanks to you, since you had the guts and the brains to go for the bastard’s gun hand. You gave me the time I needed.” He shook his head as he gazed down into her face, his eyes warm and rueful. “Man, what you did was batshit crazy, but you saved us both.”
Holly clutched him fiercely, burying her face in the warmth of his broad chest. “We saved each other.”
They stood, locked in a tight embrace, until someone cleared his throat.
“Sorry to interrupt, folks,” said one of the cops. “The Crime Scene Unit will be here in a few minutes, so we have to get everyone out and secure the scene. Unless you need to get medical attention, ma’am, we’d appreciate it if both of you could come back to the station with me now.”
“You sure you’re okay?” Nate asked, carefully running his hands over her shoulders.
“I won’t be wearing any swimwear until the bruises fade,” she said with a wince. “But yes, I’m ready to go. Let’s do it.”
Nate grabbed her purse in the kitchen and then came back for her. Leaning against him, secure in the clutch of his strong right arm, Holly managed to get herself to the police cruiser. Less than ten minutes later, they were at the town police headquarters, drinking industrial strength black coffee from paper cups. At that point, she thought it tasted as good as any cup of coffee she’d ever had.
Mercifully, it took little more than an hour to give their statements. The detective who had been called in to meet them couldn’t have been more understanding, repeatedly asking them if they’d prefer to come back tomorrow. They thanked him for his kindness, but Holly wanted to get it over with. The detective efficiently wrapped things up, telling them he’d call Detective Rich for further details on Lance Arnold.
A uniformed officer drove them home, and they arrived just as the Crime Scene Unit was packing up. Together, they surveyed the damage. The front door was well-aerated but still functional, so after the crime scene guys departed they stuffed the bullet holes with wadded-up newspaper and covered them with duct tape. The door to the garage was trashed, unfortunately. Nate started messing around with it, muttering under his breath.
By this time, reaction was seriously setting in, and all Holly could do was stand there, swaying a bit on wobbly legs, watching Nate work. As he tried to wrestle the door back onto its hinges, he paused to look at her face. He obviously didn’t like what he saw, for a heavy frown descended on his features.
“Babe, go take a bath,” he ordered. “I’ll bring you up a glass of wine.”
She nodded wearily and trudged up the stairs.
“Call me if you need help,” he yelled up after her. She was too tired to answer.
Holly stripped off her clothes and stared at herself in the mirror as the bathtub filled, wincing as she checked the ugly bruises forming on her hip and shoulder. They would likely fade before the mental ones did. Little shudders kept rippling through her body, and she knew it would be a long time before she could put Arnold’s attack behind her.
But she was alive, thanks to Nate, and she would get past it. She had a second chance at life, and she had no intention of wasting it.
As she lowered herself into the tub, she couldn’t help thinking about poor little Tyler Arnold. Mother dead. Father on his way to prison after he recovered from his injury. Surgeries and long hospital stays an inevitable part of his future. But at least he had a chance at life now—just like Holly—and Mrs. Crump would see to Tyler’s care. Maybe the other relatives in Maryland could even take the boy in, and his follow-up care could be transferred to Johns Hopkins. Holly would talk to Nate about raising money. Whatever it took, she would do everything she could to help. She and Tyler had an unbreakable bond, now, and she wouldn’t abandon him.
Nate brought her the promised wine, kissing her with sweet tenderness as he placed it carefully on the edge of the tub. She sighed and leaned back as he left, letting the hot water soothe her aches and release the last of her tension.
She almost dozed off several times, but wouldn’t let herself. After twenty minutes, she toweled off and wrapped up in her comfy cotton robe. Sliding her feet into the flip-flops she’d left by the door, she went back down to find Nate. He’d stretched out on the sofa, shoes off, and was blowing on a cup of steaming coffee. A full glass of wine rested on the table in front of him, waiting for her.
With a smile, he sat up and made room for her beside him. Holly didn’t hesitate. She grasped the wine glass and snuggled close to him, tucking her legs up beside her.
“That smells good. Okay if I have a tiny taste?” she asked softly. Despite the bath, she still felt a bit cold—more inside than out—and the hot brew suddenly seemed more inviting than wine.
He held the cup to her. “Careful, it’s still hot.”
She took a sip, and sighed at the aroma and taste. “Mmmm, for a jock, you make a good cup of coffee, Carter.”
He gave her a guilty grin. “It’s got a little added something.”
“Quite a lot of added something,” she said, savoring the kick of Jack Daniels. It felt so easy and right to be with Nate again. She’d missed him terribly, even though he’d been gone less than a day. And thank God he’d come back early, or—
An image of that gun, pressing into her forehead, flashed through her mind. She let out a soft moan and snuggled up closer to Nate.
“Hey, hey, it’s all over now,” he said. He set down the cup and enfolded her in his arms. “You’re with me, and that crazy bastard will never touch you again. Nobody ever will, as long as I’m around.”
Holly nodded, willing the image of the gun to fade. But even though Nate had set the living room mostly to rights, she could still visualize everything that had happened in that room with sickening clarity.
“I don’t think I can live in this house anymore,” she said. How could she ever work in that kitchen again without thinking of Lance Arnold’s disgusting body hammering her into the counter?
“Of course not,” Nate said, squeezing her even tighter. “You’ll stay with me until you find another place. As long as you like.”
Her immediate instinct was to agree, but caution held her back. Despite everything that had happened between them today, they had yet to articulate what it really meant. And she had no intention of pushing him to do it tonight.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll figure something out.”
But not right now. Tonight she needed him to hold her, and she needed to start letting go of the nightmare of the last few weeks. Everything else could wait till tomorrow.
He nuzzled his bristly cheek against hers, tickling her a bit. “Holly?”
“Mmmm?” she murmured.
“Leaving you this morning was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life.”
She pulled back to look into his eyes. She saw guilt and more than a hint of anguish in those dark depths.
“Don’t say that,” she said, stroking his cheek. “I told you to go. Even after…well, you know.”
A latent heat flared momentarily in his gaze, then he grimaced. “Yeah, I know, and I still can’t believe I went. I should never have left town u
ntil the cops caught that nut. I should have known he could be waiting for me to leave.”
She hated that he felt so guilty. They had all made mistakes in underestimating Arnold. “Nate, stop. There’s no point worrying about what we should have or shouldn’t have done. The past is the past. Anyway, you didn’t do anything wrong. You came back early and saved my life, you big hero. By the way, why did you come back so early?”
His gaze seemed to look past her at something only he could see, but then he refocused on her. “All I can say is that it felt wrong not to be here with you. My gut told me to get back as soon as possible.”
“Thank God for your gut, then,” she said wryly. “Remind me to listen to it more often.”
A shudder seemed to go through him, and he tightened his hold on her. “I can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if I’d lost you.” He inhaled a huge, deep breath. “I can’t lose you, Holly. Not ever. I’m telling you that now.”
She stared up at him, taking in the hard cast of his jaw and the determined look in his eyes. And it seemed like he had more to say.
“Go on,” she prompted.
“It’s about the trade,” he said. “One of the reasons I was dying to get back here tonight was so I could tell you that I made up my mind. This morning, it hit me like a hammer. I knew for sure what I wanted to do.”
Her breath seized in her throat, and she had the urge to shake it out of him. “Yes?” she whispered.
“I’m staying right here, with the Patriots. It doesn’t matter how much money L.A. might have decided to throw at me. I’m not going to leave my team, or my city, or my friends. Not for more money and glitz. None of that’s worth the cost.”
Overwhelming relief almost choked her, but a flash of anxiety pushed her into speech. “Are you sure? You won’t regret someday that you passed on that kind of opportunity?”
He snorted. “Hell, no. I try not to look back once I’ve made a decision. And, anyway, why would I leave when everything I want is right here?”
She gazed into his eyes. “Everything?”
“Everything,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. His lips moved in a tender smile. “I don’t want to go anywhere without you. You’re everything I want. I know that now. But even if you don’t want me…” He paused and swallowed hard. “Even if we can’t be together, I’m staying here. In Philly, with my team. With my friends and fans.”
Tears started to well in her eyes. “Nate, it’s not that I don’t want you. You know I do. It’s…” The words caught in her throat.
He gently raised her chin, dropping a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back. The depth of emotion in his eyes made her want to sob with joy. “I almost lost you forever tonight.” He inhaled deeply again. “That would have been the end of me, I swear. I love you, Holly. I never want to be with any other woman. Not as long as I have you. I couldn’t make that promise before. But you showed me what it meant to really be a man, and I can make it now. And I can mean it.”
Holly sagged into him, pressing her head into his warm shoulder as she absorbed the words she’d thought she’d never hear him say. “Truth?” she whispered.
He hugged her tight. “Truth. I’m making you that promise. Forever.”
When he kissed her, it was with such tenderness that every cell in Holly’s body rang with the truth of it—rang as loud as the bells in a thousand church steeples.
After all, true Patriots stay loyal. Forever.
-THE END-