She’d cried all over Mac’s bare chest. He’d held her, stroked her back and whispered words until she got it all out. I’d given them room, just watched her fall apart and let her learn we’d be there when she did so. To catch her.
She must be exhausted. Work. Life. Going it all alone. Her work was stressful, literally life or death. Some guy had slashed her tire and broke into her apartment. She’d showed us how things had been moved. As an outsider I’d have never known, but the oddities were unlike her. I couldn’t imagine her setting a flower pillow upside down.
On top of all that, she now had us.
I sat on the side of her bed waiting for her. The pale yellow bedspread and matching pillows looked so girlie in comparison to my huge frame. The bed itself was small. I’d have to sleep in it at an angle so I’d fit, which meant we weren’t sleeping here. She’d stay with us at one of our houses.
“Feel better?” I asked.
She nodded, came over to me. I spread my knees a little wider and settled a hand at her back, pulled her forward so she stood right in front of me. Since I was sitting, we were eye to eye.
“Right here,” I murmured, breathing her in. “This is where I want you.” I slid my hands up and under her sweatshirt, my palms resting on her waist, my thumbs brushing her belly. She was so warm, so soft. The scent of her soap and shampoo smelled so fucking good. I would swear it was strawberries.
“I took a peek in your bedside drawer.”
She gasped, looked to the little white table with the lamp on top and a biography of Robert E. Lee. It looked innocent enough, the table, but the contents inside… it was like a mini adult store toy collection.
“I want to play with them someday,” I said, referring to the dildos, vibrators and other fun stuff. I’d gotten instantly hard peeking at the things she’d used on herself. “For now I’m really liking my hands on you.”
To prove that, I caressed her skin, and I felt goose bumps rise.
“I’m not used to this, to being touched. Held,” she admitted.
“Get used to it.” While my words were sharp, my tone was soft. I was big. Really big, and because of that I’d learned to keep my voice low. It wasn’t in my nature to shout, but Sam was the last person I wished to scare. Big size plus booming voice equaled bad, especially after the emotional roller coaster she’d been on.
“Hardin,” she said, even though we were the only two people in the room.
“Hmm?”
“Do you… do you think this is crazy?”
“What?”
She worried her lower lip and glanced at me through her glasses.
“Us. I mean, I really don’t know you, and after what we did in your office and now you’re here in my bedroom and it’s you and Mac I’m interested in and—”
I set a finger over her mouth to quiet her rambling. Her lips were plump. Soft.
“You want to be with me and Mac?” I asked, studying her closely.
She nodded.
“Good answer after what we did in the shop.”
That made her smile.
“That’s all that matters,” I promised, so fucking relieved. We’d cleared things up back in the office, but we hadn’t said much after she’d cried herself out, only brought her back to her apartment to wait for Nix and his partner from the Cutthroat police. They’d arrived while she was in the shower, and Mac was out in her living room talking with them.
I had Sam in front of me, and I was in no rush to get out there. They could wait. This, us together, was too fucking important.
“One look, Sam. That was all it took,” I told her straight up.
Her eyes flared wide at that admission, and she flushed prettily. I vowed to myself I’d never hold back with her, not with how I felt.
“Surprises you, huh?”
“Yes,” she admitted with a soft sigh.