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“How close are you, Eliza?” he asked hoarsely. “I want you with me, baby. Always with me.”
“Close,” she choked out. “Please don’t stop, Wade. Please.”
He pressed his lips between her shoulder blades and whispered against her skin. “You’ll never have to ask me for anything that is within my power to give you.”
As brutal and commanding as his pace had been earlier, he slowed now, stroking leisurely, prolonging both their releases. And when it came, it was nothing like Eliza had ever experienced in her life. It was so beautiful and heartrending that she couldn’t have spoken if she wanted.
Wade lowered his body to hers, following her down flat on the bed. He rolled to his side so she didn’t bear his weight, still embedded deeply within her. He wrapped his arms solidly around her and held her tightly against his thudding chest. He buried his face in her neck and remained so for several long moments.
Emotion overwhelmed Eliza. As did regret. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she clutched at the arms wrapped firmly around her.
“Eliza?”
Wade sounded worried and unsure. He lifted one hand to wipe at her cheek.
“Baby, what is it? Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head mutely and then closed her eyes, her heart shattering into a million pieces.
“Oh God, Wade. What have I done? I can’t let you fight my battles for me. I can’t risk you. I can’t lose you. It would destroy me,” she said tearfully.
His grip tightened around her and he kissed her temple. “And you don’t think it would destroy me if I lost you?”
SEVENTEEN
WADE woke, instinctively knowing that Eliza was no longer asleep beside him. She was sitting up, distance between them on the bed, her knees drawn to her chest, a pensive expression marring her beautiful features. She was miles away, her thoughts not pleasant judging by the slight frown and the sorrow in her eyes.
He shifted quietly so as not to disturb her and then sat up, closing the distance as he scooted toward her, not wanting any space between them. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her side to his chest. She surprised him by laying her head on his chest and emitting a soft sigh that told him he’d been correct that her thoughts were not happy ones.
“What are you thinking?” he asked quietly, brushing a kiss over the top of her head.
“What a mess I’ve gotten you into,” she said in a low tone filled with regret.
“I don’t remember giving you a choice,” he said dryly.
“He has to be taken out, Wade,” she said earnestly. “I can’t—won’t—just let it go. You can’t ask me to do that.”
“He needs to be taken down,” he agreed. “But you will have nothing to do with it. I will not let you face that bastard again. Ever.”
“Then we have to come up with a plan that will work,” she said, for the first time giving him any indication that she was accepting his help.
He tightened his hold on her, shaken by her quiet acceptance and humbled by her trust, even if she hadn’t given him those exact words.
“We will.”
“I have an idea,” she began.
“Do I want to hear this?” he asked, his tone one of clear warning.
“You can’t barge into that town and let it be known you’re looking for him or that you have any interest whatsoever in him. He’ll know, Wade. And then whatever plan you’ve come up with will be useless. It has to be me.”
He was already shaking his head. No way. No fucking way was he putting her in harm’s way.
“Just listen to me, please. I’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“All right,” he said grudgingly. “I’ll listen but that’s all I can promise you.”
“I’ve already announced my presence in town. Not in so many words, but I’ve been seen. Made certain I was seen and that people knew who I was. They know I’m back and I’ve seen the disdain and disgust in their eyes. They blame me every bit as much as they blame Thomas. Maybe more so because they believe I should have been punished too and in their eyes I got away with murder, my role in those murders, and I went free while Thomas was sentenced to jail time.”
Wade’s jaw tightened and he was filled with murderous rage.
“He goes free tomorrow so I only have one more day and I need to make the most of it. I need to go back into town. Let it slip that I’m waiting. Let it be known where I am, wherever here is. Bait the trap. Because he’ll come for me. He won’t be able to control himself. We set a trap for him and when he shows, then we take him down.”
“I take him down,” Wade said firmly.
She shrugged. “You, me, as long as it’s done but I won’t let you take the rap for me, Wade. I won’t. I’ll claim full responsibility and nothing you can say will make me change my mind.”
He wanted to shake some sense into her stubborn head. God, but the woman infuriated him even as he admired her sense of justice.
“Your team is headed to Calvary today,” he said, bracing for her reaction.
“What?”
She paled and began to tremble, her eyes wide with fear and panic.
“Baby, do you honestly think they’d just sit on their hands when someone as important to them as you is in danger? When you wrote what amounted to a fucking goodbye letter and scared the ever living fuck out of them? Dane was completely unhinged. Lost his shit. It took everything I had and all manner of threats to make them sit on their hands for at least twenty-four hours until I could talk to you and we could come up with a plan of action. You matter to them, Eliza. Every bit as much as they matter to you and if you don’t think so then you must not have a very high opinion of the people you work with.”
“They can’t be here,” Eliza said, her voice shaking, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh God, Wade, I can’t lose them. I can’t lose you. Can’t you understand that? It would kill me if anything happened to any of you.”
“And you think you’re expendable? You’re wrong. Dead wrong. You matter a hell of a lot to a lot of people and there is no way in hell any of us are going to stand back and let you take the fall for something you hold no responsibility for.”
She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging desperately to him.