Saved by Love (Willow Valley Book 3)(35)

Abby shook her head again. “You have too much faith in me.”

“A lot more than you have in me if you think one good wave is all it takes to bring me down.” He grinned.

“You’re impossible.” She smiled back, but her eyes clouded over again. “Ethan, I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you. I’ve already come to care about you so much.”

Her words made his heart simultaneously swell and crack. He wanted to be the one she cared about. But she’d just vocalized the one thing he’d tried to ignore since he met her. He had the power to hurt her again. Not that he would ever do it on purpose. But his life was dangerous. And now he understood her aversion to danger more clearly than ever before. She wasn’t just overly-cautious. She had a legitimately valid reason to be careful.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, never wanting to let her go. They sat for a long time in silence, Abby relaxing against him, seeming to be at peace again in his arms. But the feeling of dread only grew bigger the tighter he held her. She was strong, but could she handle the kind of pain that she’d been through once again? If something happened to him, would it break her?

He’d only brought heartache to himself and Marissa when his attitude toward danger had cost them a child. The idea of Abby having his child had never entered his mind before, but now he couldn’t get it out of his head. He wanted everything with her, to be everything for her. But he couldn’t promise her that. Every time he walked out of the house to do his job, he risked never coming back again. Was he willing to give that up for her?

He’d thought not, but the idea of causing Abby any amount of grief was enough to make him rethink everything. The sun was starting to set and the orange and pink in the sky contrasted against the turquoise waters. It was breathtaking, no doubt. One of his favorite parts of going to the beach. He tilted her face up to his and studied her. The beauty of the sunset had nothing on her. Leaning down to kiss her, they both poured all the emotions of the day into a kiss that said more than they were yet willing to say with words.

He couldn’t imagine his life without her now, even though she’d only been in it a few weeks. But he had to protect her. Did he have the strength to let her go before he caused irreparable damage? He honestly didn’t know.

***

The next few days flew by for Abby, and the trip was over before she knew it. She’d spent hot days on the beach with Ethan, and even hotter nights in his bed. She had fallen for him. Hard. She was pretty sure he felt the same way about her, though neither of them had vocalized it. The way he kissed her was full of passion and tenderness, as though he cherished everything about her.

She sighed in content as she cuddled up next to him in bed the morning they were supposed to leave.

“I’m not ready to leave this place. It’s magical,” she said.

“It really is,” he agreed. “But duty calls.”

She smiled against his chest as he ran his fingers lightly up and down her back. What would things be like with them once they got back? She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but she felt like they’d come really far this week.

“What’s your typical week like?” she asked him. She’d gotten spoiled to being with him twenty-four seven and knew their work schedules were drastically different.

“Typically I work ten shifts a month, each twenty-four hours. The days change.”

Another thought crossed her mind. “How often do you get called out?” She hadn’t intended for her voice to sound as strained as it did.

His hand froze on her back for a second before resuming the soft strokes. She wanted to look at his face to see what he might be thinking, but she was also afraid to. She’d tried not to think about it, but after the incident at the beach, she couldn’t keep her mind from going there. His job was dangerous, no question about it. Probably one of the more dangerous things he did.

“Well, you know Willow Valley is small, so if you mean fires, not a lot. We get a lot more calls for accidents, and believe it or not, the random saving the cat from a tree. But we are out in the country, and things do get dry, so there are occasionally some big issue fires that we deal with.” His voice sounded a bit strained to her ears too. Or maybe she was projecting her worries onto him.

“Hmm,” was all she could think to say. She didn’t want him to know that the idea of him going out to fight a fire had her stomach turning flips. And not in the good way.

“Abby…” He turned on his side so he could face her, and the look of trepidation on his face was something she absolutely didn’t want to see.

“Forget I asked.” She searched for a way to change the subject. She didn’t want to ruin their last morning by talking about it. “What time do we have to leave?”

Ethan glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’d say we have at least an hour before we even have to get out of bed.”

“Whatever will we do to pass the time?” She managed to make a perplexed face without even a hint of the wicked grin that wanted to break through.

“I can think of a thing or two,” he said, flipping her onto her back and tickling her until she was gasping for breath.

When he finally stopped, and she managed to catch her breath again, her stomach hurting from laughing so hard, she gave him a taunting smile. “Is that the best you can come up with?”