He watched Brunes try to lift himself back up, then slump again to the floor.
“We got him. We heard his confession.”
That sent Brayden whirling around. “You were here this whole time?”
“Nah, the butler called the Justicars in. Then they called me. Needed another higher up on the case.” Dmetri grinned, then clapped him on the back. “No way was I going to intrude on his confession.”
A small hand cupped his. He looked down at Vanessa’s face and something inside him broke. He pulled her into his arms, holding her close. She clenched her arms around him as if she needed to be holding onto him as much as he did her. God, it felt good. Almost beautiful.
“Why didn’t you crash in when you heard the first gunshot, asshole?”
Dmetri sobered. “They found Joseph Harrington’s body in a ditch along the highway halfway between here and Justicar’s headquarters. Figured they’d taken her. Figured she was here. We didn’t want to act to soon and cause...any unnecessary problems.”
Meaning, he didn’t want to act too soon and have someone pull the trigger on Vanessa before they’d even stormed in. “Yeah, I got it. Now I’m going home.”
He didn’t even make it to the front door before he lifted Vanessa’s face, looked into her deep brown eyes and kissed her. His heart pounded loudly in his chest.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said brokenly. She gave him a wobbly smile that pulled at all his heartstrings.
“I love you,” he said.
Her eyes flew wide. She gasped.
Then he kissed her again.
Chapter 16
Two weeks later
“And now, this one.”
The pen flew across the black line as she signed her signature on the last page of the document. The behemoth stack of divorce papers had looked so intimidating, but with Brayden by her side, it’d felt like nothing. In fact, she’d smiled the whole way through and happily scribbled her signature and dated the lines where necessary. She was now free.
The clerk looked over the last signature then nodded. He slammed a big stamp over the last page, then stuffed them into a big manila envelope.
“Congratulations. Once these are made official, you can consider yourself divorced, Ms. Kategan.”
Vanessa’s smile was so huge her cheeks hurt her. She turned into Brayden and gave him a big hug. He laughed at her and she liked that too.
“When will I know?” she turned back to ask the clerk.
He glanced at a calendar. “It generally can take up to two weeks for it to go through.”
She lost her smile. Two whole weeks. Two more weeks that she’d still be considered mated to Joseph.
“Come on.” Brayden tugged her hand and led her outside.
The sun looked brighter, the air smelled fresher. Everything was good. Everything except her nagging conscious.
Brayden glanced down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, I feel guilty.”
“About what?”
She took a deep breath and let it out. “I feel guilty because I don’t feel bad that he’s dead. Isn’t that horrible? I mean, here I am making the divorce official, just so I can get my old name back. But, I don’t feel bad about it. Shouldn’t I?”
She didn’t know what his answer would be, but she certainly didn’t expect him to lean down and kiss her in full display of the Justicars heading in and out of their headquarters. It was a warm, tantalizing kiss that brought her blood to a simmer, causing her heart to race. He pulled back just as she started to think of all the nearest locations she could get his clothes off.
“No, you shouldn’t. He deserved what he got. I just wished I could have done it.”
Her jaw dropped. “What? You would have killed him?”
His eyes darkened so fast it scared her. “In a heartbeat. He hurt you for two long years...” his voice trailed off as a finger skimmed down her cheek. “Come on, let’s go.”
With her heart bursting in her chest, she couldn’t stop smiling. God, she loved him. Like really, madly, deeply, insane kind of love. “You never did tell me where we’re going.”
“That’s because I said it’s a surprise.”
Not put off in the least she replied, “It doesn’t have to be a surprise. They’re totally overrated anyway.”
He chuckled, then helped to lift her in his SUV at the curb. “Nothing you could do could convince me.”
Her eyebrow arched and he looked at her and winced. “Don’t even.”
She relaxed into her seat and parted her legs. “Oh, really? Nothing I could do...could convince you to tell me?”
“Baby, don't; it’s a surprise.”
“But, I really want to know,” she said, breathless. She honestly didn’t even care about the secret, but now she was getting hot and by the look in his eyes, so was he. She wet her dry lips and his eyes tracked the movement.
“Baby, stop that. I’m going to start this car, then we’re leaving. That’s it, okay? No games.”
She smiled devilishly at him. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
He narrowed his eyes on her then shook his head, started the car, and peeled away from the curb. Still, she watched him and still, he cast furtive, watchful glances at her.
She scooted closer to him. He tensed. He must be out of it, because he hadn’t even made sure she buckled her seatbelt. Watching the road ahead, as if nothing in the world was happening, she casually lifted the armrest separating them then scooted closer.
His jaw slid left. His hands curled hard over the steering wheel.
“Don’t do it,” he warned in that dark, sexy voice that gave her shivers.
She looked up at him with wide eyes. “Talking to me like that doesn’t help, you know.”
He exhaled a long, long breath.
What was with her desires going wild every time she was in close confines with him, specifically in this car? The last time they’d gotten all hot and bothered, he’d pulled over to the side of the road and things had just been about to get really, really good when they’d been struck by a car.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned.
“Don’t think about what?” she whispered, her panties already wet between her thighs.
“About that day on the side of the road. I can see every wicked thought that scatters across your face. You’re like a book, beautiful.”
She sighed then curled around him. He hesitated at first, but then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She liked this. Liked being close to him, smelling his wonderful scent, feeling the strength of his body. Her hand rested on his chest, then trailed down over the hard planes and bunches of muscle. Desire rushed inside her. She wanted to lick her way down it, slowly.
The SUV started slowing. She started chanting a victory in her head then looked out the window.
“What are we doing at the airport?”
“All part of the surprise.”
Pouting, she frowned at him, then scooted back across to her side of the car. She wouldn’t be getting any after all. She shot him a dirty look, which he caught, and then grinned at.
“Jerk.”
“Beautiful.”
Okay, so that was really sweet, and maybe she didn’t hate him after all.
He parked in long-term parking then led her inside. O’Hare was busy, to say the least. People rushing, talking loudly, sitting in seats eating quickly before their flights, or piled up against the wall with a laptop or book in their hands. The excitement started to catch on as he led her through the security checkpoint, then past terminal after terminal.
“Where are we going?”
“To the bathroom.”
Her smile fell. “Oh. No, I meant where are we going?”