Ruthless Bastard (Dangerous Love 3)

She snuggled into him, feeling like she belonged there. “When a little toddler looks at you with all the love in the world and wants only one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You.”

Something shifted in the air between them then. Heat and things unexplored between them lay heavily in the space separating them. He shifted slightly until she was lying on her back again, and he placed his hand on her belly. “You need to tell me if I’m getting anything wrong, all right? I need you clear and open, always up front.”

She swallowed against the sudden emotions that rose up within her. “Have you ever known me to withhold my thoughts?”

He didn’t answer her question; he simply went on. “If I hurt you, tell me. If I say something wrong, tell me. If I disappoint you, tell me. I need to hear these things. I don’t want to fuck this up. Promise me you’ll be honest. Always.”

Sudden tears welled in her eyes. “That’s an easy promise, Rhett.” She placed her hand over his, feeling his slight tremble. She understood. Today had rattled her too. But this felt like even more, like a line had been crossed today, and he couldn’t uncross it anymore. “We’re in this together,” she told him, lacing her fingers through his. “I’ll be honest. Promise.”

“Good,” he whispered, gathering her in his arms and bringing her up against the hard lines of his body. “Go back to sleep. I’ll stay here until you do.”

And there, in the tightness of his hold, she began to believe that maybe…just maybe…those walls of his were falling.

* * *

By the time Rhett got back to the station, his mood had soured. He’d wanted to stay in bed with Kinsley, ease her worries and his, not deal with the reality that the reason Kinsley had been attacked was because of someone in his town. Especially if that person was Bernie, a man that Rhett knew personally. He’d spent many nights at Bernie’s club. Mostly because when he’d looked for women to warm his bed and keep him afloat when he’d been drowning, he hadn’t wanted to shove it in Kinsley’s face, not when he knew she had feelings for him.

As he headed down the hallway toward the interrogation room, the station was quiet around him. At a little after three in the morning, Stoney Creek was a ghost town. The bar rush had already gone home to sleep off the booze, and Main Street had been empty when Rhett had parked his truck in the station’s lot.

He skipped the door to the interrogation room and walked into the one next to it. Boone was leaning a shoulder against the wall, arms crossed, gazing through the two-way mirror at Bernie and Asher in the interrogation room.

“Good. You’re here,” Boone said, picking up his phone and firing off a text.

Asher glanced at his phone, receiving Boone’s text, then flipped it over, setting it next to the file folder on the table.

“All right, Bernie,” Asher said. “I know you’re curious about why we brought you in here today.”

Yeah, so was Rhett.

Bernie nodded frantically. “You’re right, I am curious, and concerned, for that matter. Why won’t anyone tell me what’s happened?”

Rhett stepped closer to the two-way mirror. There was a good reason both he and Boone weren’t in that room. Rhett most definitely did not trust himself not to flatten Bernie if he’d had any part in Kinsley’s attack.

“Before I tell you what’s happened, I want you to understand that I know you, Bernie.” Asher kept his hands laced on top of the table, a poster of calm. “I know the type of man you are and what you’re not.”

Rhett didn’t know how Asher did it. He was so cool and collected with men that Rhett would’ve punched first and talked to later.

“Okay,” said Bernie, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face.

Asher drew in a long deep breath and then said softly, “Earlier today, Kinsley was attacked outside her bar.”

Bernie’s eyes went huge, the shock palpable in their depths. “Dear God, is she okay?”

Rhett cocked his head at that. Unless Bernie was a very good actor, and he doubted he was, his concern looked genuine.

“Not quite the reaction I was expecting,” Boone said, obviously thinking along the same lines.

Rhett crossed his arms, widening his stance. “No kidding.”

“Kinsley and the baby are fine.” Asher’s voice grew gentler now. “Our problem here is that, through our investigation, your name came up.”

Bernie blinked. “My name?” He shook his head, shifting in his seat. “No. No. No. Whatever you’ve heard is wrong. I would never be a part of that. I’ve known the Knight family for years.”

“And yet, we got your name, Bernie,” Asher stated more firmly now.