Be With Me(61)

He glanced briefly away from traffic and locked gazes with her. “You want me to lie?”

“No, of course not.”

He turned his attention to merging onto 610. “It’s dangerous,” he said. “It worries me.” She twisted in her seat as much as the belt would al ow and faced him. “I can take care of myself, Hutch. I’m a trained police officer. I can fire my weapon with pinpoint accuracy. I qualified first in my department at the range. I’m trained in self-defense, and I’ve taken numerous classes in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. I’m not just a skirt and a pretty face behind a badge. I’m damn good at my job.”

“Al of that training didn’t help you the night that bastard attacked you. Qualifying first with your gun doesn’t help if it gets taken away from you,” he said darkly. “He almost kil ed you. He tried to kil you.” She took deep breaths and struggled not to let anger get the best of her. She knew he worried about her.

“I didn’t say I was invincible,” she said calmly. “No one is. No one person could have withstood that attack. Sawyer couldn’t have taken it, and he’s a big guy. This guy was bigger. Much bigger. And crazy as a loon.

“A normal person, I would have taken down and made the arrest.”

“But it only takes one not normal person, Reggie,” he said quietly. “He could have raped you. He could have beaten you to death. He could have choked you. Any number of things could have happened to you because he was bigger and stronger. I get that the result would have been the same with anyone else. But you’re not just anyone else to me, baby.” She gazed steadily at him. “I know al those things, Hutch. I do. I train for the worst. I prepare for the worst. Yes, he could have raped me. I know that. But it didn’t happen. I did what I was supposed to do and it paid off. I’m alive because of my training.” He paled at her words. “How can you be so calm about this? So matter-of-fact? You talk about being raped like it’s al part of the job. Like him beating the crap out of you was just a hazard of the profession.”

“It is a hazard of the profession,” she said gently.

“It’s not one that occurs with frequency, but it’s always a possibility. I could get shot. I could get beat up. I could get raped. Or run over. There’s a mil ion what-ifs. I knew that going in.”

His fingers were white around the steering wheel, and his jaw was drawn tight. “You knowing it doesn’t make it any easier for me to sit back and worry every time you go to work.”

“What are you saying, Hutch? Are you giving me an ultimatum here?” Worry clutched at her bel y, and warning bel s were clanging with ferocity in her head.

“No, of course not,” he muttered. “Damn it, I just worry. That’s al I’m saying.”

She reached across the seat and put her hand on his shoulder. “I know you worry, Hutch. I wish there was something I could do to make you stop. Al I can promise you is that I’l be careful and that I’l do everything in my power to come home to you each and every time.”

“Are you?” he asked. “Going to be coming home to me every time?”

She glanced away. Maybe she’d been precipitous in saying that. “I’m wil ing to see where things take us,” she said quietly.

“That’s al I can ask, baby.”

He picked up her hand and kissed it then lowered it to his lap, where he kept his fingers laced through hers. They drove the rest of the way in silence, but he kept his hand tight around hers.

Chapter 23

Regina and Hutch took the food into the kitchen, and Hutch unwrapped the steaks and set them to marinating. When he started to put the ingredients for the cheesecake into the fridge, her brows went up.

“Not going to fix it?” she asked.

“Later,” he said shortly.

Then he pulled out a pen and paper and scribbled a note. He propped it against the pan the steaks were marinating in then went to the sink to wash his hands.

Regina walked up and leaned over to read the note. Hutch’s hand curled around her shoulder, and she jumped.

“Just me tel ing Cam that the steaks wil be ready to gril in an hour,” Hutch said easily.

“You going somewhere?” she asked.

“Upstairs. With you.”

Her eyes widened, and her heart skipped a beat, giving her that panicky, hiccup feeling in her chest.

He pulled her into his arms and stared down at her mouth with half-lidded eyes, as if he wanted nothing more than to kiss her.

Her mouth fel open as she tried to gulp more air into her painful y squeezed lungs. She was nervous, yes. Particularly now, after having made love to Cam.

Hutch knew it, he had to. She and Cam hadn’t exactly been discreet.

What were Hutch’s motives? And did it matter, when she wanted him so badly?

He angled his head and slowly closed the distance between them. His lips pressed gently to hers, taking possession of her mouth.

His tongue glided effortlessly over hers, tasting, offering his taste to her. He was present, inside her, every time she inhaled. His scent fil ed her. Comfort.

Safety. Love.

For al practical purposes, this was the first time they’d make love together. Just the two of them. And suddenly she was scared to death.

Hutch felt her tremble against him, shake underneath his fingertips as he held her close. Her little gasps came raggedly, and when he drew away, her pupils were dilated. She looked frightened.