Leave Me Breathless

‘Oh, he’s alive,’ Jake says. ‘Albeit underground.’

‘And?’

‘And a little gentle persuading dug me up something.’

My eyebrow lifts. Gentle? Jake Sharp? I’m in that place again, the one between desperately needing to know and desperately not wanting to. But . . . ‘So what did the old creep say?’

‘He never met the woman, so he can’t confirm her identity. But he did produce documents and a credit history for a Hannah Bright.’

‘Fucking hell,’ I breathe. ‘How would she know where to go for that kind of shit?’ Reggie Pike isn’t the kind of man any woman should be friendly with. He’s a total slimeball.

‘Can’t help you there, but I can tell you how she paid for it.’

‘How?’

‘A diamond-encrusted Cartier watch. She gave him the code for a safe-deposit box at a bank just outside London. Reggie took the watch and left the documents.’

I need to sit down. I’m not feeling all too stable. I move toward the nearest log and drop to my arse, rubbing my aching head. Where does it end?

‘Is she safe?’ Jake asks.

My hand stills on my forehead, and I stare at my bare feet.

‘Because that’s the only question you need to consider, Ryan. You don’t need to get swallowed up in that shit. As long as she’s out of harm’s way, forget about everything else.’

Is it that easy? Just disregard all I know and start a life with Hannah? ‘I don’t know if I can do that, Jake.’

‘What will happen if you don’t?’ he asks. ‘Let me tell you.’ He goes on before I have the chance to even think about it. ‘You find out every dirty, tiny, graphic detail. You lose your shit, because you will. Trust me, you’ll lose your shit. You’ll want vengeance. It’ll consume you to the point you lose sight of what’s standing in front of you. Hannah is standing in front of you. You’ll go on some mercy mission to get revenge for the woman you love, and risk everything you have right now. She’s Hannah now, not Katrina. She’s yours now, not his. Don’t do anything to jeopardize that. Right now, he’s remarried, over Hannah, and he’s moved on. Just keep this information, shop it, because it’s not needed now and it might never be. Let. It. Be.’

Sometimes, all you need is your mate to kick your arse into shape. He’s right. Of course he’s right. What good will come of me digging any deeper? I have Hannah. She’s here with me and she’s safe. ‘I love you, mate.’

‘Fuck off and go be happy, Ryan. She’s a good woman. Don’t force her back to places she doesn’t want to go. Trust me, it’s not fun reliving your past when it’s so bleak.’ He hangs up, and I smile down at my phone, taking a few minutes to bring myself down from the tailspin of the past half hour.

Let it go. It’s for the best.

I spend a good ten minutes mentally repeating it to myself before I eventually find the energy to stand. Pushing myself up from the log, I wander back to the cabin and take off my jeans, leaving them in the pile by the door. As I approach Hannah, every kind of smile she’s ever given me flashes through my mind: cheeky, coy, unsure, happy, excited. Each one, I realize now, is so very precious. And I’m the reason for them. I’ll be dead before I’m the cause for her not to smile again. I have her. It’s enough.

I lower beside her and crawl in under the blankets. Her eyes open and she blinks. ‘Where have you been?’ she croaks, letting me get comfortable before she crawls onto my chest and settles again.

‘Nowhere important.’ This here is important. Just this. ‘Go to sleep.’ I kiss her hair and close my eyes.

All the things that still haunt her, I plan on eliminating with the power of my love.Chapter 26HANNAH

I’m not asleep. I woke up as soon as I felt him moving, though I kept my eyes closed. He gently rolled me off his chest and eased me to my back, and then carefully spread his body all over mine, supporting his torso with his arms on either side of my head. I can feel his breath on my face, he’s so close. I keep my eyes closed, wondering what he’s going to do. Just watch me?

Ryan gave me so much at the lake last night. His heart. His trust. His love. After such a traumatic day, it was the greatest gift. All I saw in that moment was a man who knows me completely. Ryan accepts who I am. He loves me as I am. It’s more than I could ask for and probably more than I deserve when I’m keeping so much from him. But I don’t want to tarnish my happiness with misery from my past. I don’t want him to see me differently. Ryan made it possible for me to dare dream of something more than freedom.