Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(51)

He hit Send and nearly held his breath.

Makenna responded in less than a minute. I have an on-site meeting in Loudoun County on Friday and won’t get home until late. Saturday morning? It was good to see you, too.

That last line made him smile, even though having to wait an extra night was going to kill him. The only reason he hadn’t driven right from the Pittsville FD to Makenna’s apartment the day before was because he’d wanted to touch base with his therapist first. Just to make sure he’d thought all this through the right way. Because when Caden went to Makenna, he wanted it to be for keeps. If by some miracle she was willing to give him a second chance, he didn’t want to do anything to f*ck it up. Ever again.

He texted back. Saturday morning works. Your place, or?

My place. Be careful, Makenna replied.

You, too, Red. Caden’s fingers itched to type more. But he’d wait. Because now he knew exactly when he’d have his shot to get the life he most wanted.

And this time, nothing was going to stand in his way.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO



The traffic on 66 was heavy but moving as Makenna made her way home on Friday night from the off-site meeting she’d had out west of D.C., which was surprising given the snow and freezing rain they’d had on and off all day. Being from Pennsylvania, Makenna wasn’t uncomfortable driving in the snow, whereas people in D.C. tended to either crawl along or drive like maniacs who didn’t think frozen surfaces and black ice could possibly affect them. But so far, so good.

Makenna’s stomach did a little flip. Only one more sleep until she’d see Caden tomorrow and finally get to tell him her news. Their news.

As if she wasn’t nervous enough, seeing him on Wednesday night had confused the hell out of her. His compliments, his touches, his kisses. The text he’d sent saying how good it was to see her. What did all of that mean?

And was she being a complete and hopeless idiot for wanting it to mean that he still had feelings for her? Because she would’ve given almost anything for that to be true. Even after everything.

It didn’t seem to matter what she told her heart, because it wouldn’t stop wanting the sweet, sexy, damaged man she’d met in the darkness.

A song came on and she hummed along until she couldn’t hold back from singing the catchy tune on the chorus. Paying close attention to the road, her gaze shifted from the cars in front of her to her rear view mirror as she sang.

A tingling sensation in her belly. Again.

Makenna didn’t think anything about it.

Until it happened again. Harder. Like… Oh, my God! Like something moved inside her.

Could that have been the baby? She was suddenly sure it was.

“Was that you peanut?” she asked out loud, a smile breaking out on her face like she hadn’t felt in weeks. She nearly held her breath for the sensation to happen again, because the first fluttery feeling of her baby moving inside of her was one of the most amazing things she’d ever felt. “Do that again, you little bugger.”

The rest of the song played out, and the baby didn’t move again, but that didn’t keep Makenna from grinning until her cheeks hurt.

Slam!

Something hit the rear quarter-panel of her car on the driver’s side, and Makenna barely had time to make out the shape of a dark SUV spinning out of control before she was struggling to control her own car. The impact of the other vehicle sent her Prius into a slow sliding circle. She turned her steering wheel in the other direction, trying as hard as she could to keep from losing control.

“No, no, no, no, no.”

Her efforts were keeping the car from spinning out, but the hit had pushed her onto the snow-covered side of the road untreated by the plows and salt trucks. Her tires lost traction, and the car wouldn’t respond to her handling or to the brakes she reluctantly engaged as other cars’ brakes lights came on ahead of her.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” she said out loud, because she wasn’t going to be able to stop. And flashing headlights behind her revealed she wasn’t the only one out of control.

Airbags exploded in front of her with a cracking pop, and then her car became a pinball.

She hit a car ahead of her and slammed into the airbag. There was no time to think or feel or react. Pop. The side airbags deployed, and she was hit again. Again. Again. The car jolted this way and that. Screeching tires and blaring horns and other crashes sounded out all around her until Makenna couldn’t tell from which direction they came. Another hit, the hardest yet. Suddenly the car was on its side and rolling.

And all Makenna could do was scream.

*

Caden’s cell phone rang a little after seven, and he picked it up to see the firehouse’s number on his screen. “Grayson here.”

“Caden, it’s Joe. I know you just pulled a double but there’s a multi-vehicle MVA on 66 I expect us to get called in for any minute now. I sent Olson home an hour ago with the flu so we’re short and I know you’re close,” his captain said.

Caden was already shoving on his boots. “I’ll be there in five.”

By the time Caden was parking his Jeep, the doors on the firehouse bays were rolling up. Both emergency vehicles had their lights flashing as men suited up and climbed in. Caden hightailed it through the falling snow to the rig and grabbed his gear. “Let’s rock and roll,” he said as he jumped into the passenger seat of the paramedic unit.