This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(56)

My body trembled, again. Nolan kept his arms around me until the younger cop joined us, then the bulkier cop indicated for Nolan to follow him.

“You going to be okay?” Nolan asked.

I nodded, temporarily unable to speak.

He followed the officer until they were far enough away so I couldn’t overhear them.

“Can you tell me what happened?” the younger cop asked me. I told him about being chased through the woods, about how I’d remembered the man was the person who’d attacked me a few weeks ago. I explained how I’d lost my footing and how Nolan had saved me.

As Nolan and his cop returned to us, my body started shaking again, but this time for a different reason. I believed Nolan was a hero for saving me. He hadn’t meant for the guy to die. That was an accident. But would the cops see it that way? Would they detain him further because there was a death involved? Would tomorrow’s headlines declare Nolan a killer, just like his father?

“Are you staying in town?” the cop asked Nolan.

Nolan glanced at me for a brief second before looking back at him. He let out a heavy breath as if his world was about to crumble. “I have to return to L.A. tomorrow morning.”

My heart splintered in two. I pushed the pieces aside. I had known this was coming. Or at least my brain had accepted it. My heart wasn’t so quick on the uptake, it would seem.

Nolan returned his gaze to me. “The president of the record label called earlier….He demanded that I be on the next plane to L.A.” So the band could prepare for the upcoming recording session. So he and Alyssa could begin work on repairing his image.

So he and she could become lovers in everyone’s eyes—which could possibly develop into the real thing.

Ignoring our pain and Nolan’s comment to me, the cop asked, “We might need to be in touch with you. Is there a number you can be reached at?”

After Nolan gave him the information and the scary cop suggested I go to the hospital to be checked over—which I refused to do—we were allowed to leave. Still concerned about me, Nolan pulled me against him. I sank into his warm, strong body. All I wanted was for him to take me home, hold me, and never let me go. At least I’d get the first two. The last one would remain a dream.

The younger cop drove us back to my apartment. Once inside my room, I grabbed my yoga pants, favorite T-shirt, and underwear, and headed to the bathroom. Nolan came with me. The memory of what happened last time we were in the bathroom came back to me, and my body heated.

“I just want to hold you,” he said, reading my mind, his voice gentle. “I don’t think you should be alone.”

I nodded, removed my clothes, and turned on the water. Nolan stripped off his clothes too, and we entered the enclosed space.

I stepped under the water, closed my eyes, and let the heat soak into me. Nolan moved behind me and wrapped his arms around me. The water was hot, but that didn’t stop the trembling that upgraded to earthquake-sized shakes. I tried to stop, but the harder I tried, the harder my body shook.

And then I was sobbing.

Nolan turned me around in his arms. He didn’t tell me everything would be all right. He knew it wasn’t over yet. I didn’t have to fear that man again, just as Nolan didn’t have to fear his father anymore. Now I had to deal with the emotional trauma from everything that had happened. But unlike with Nolan, I wasn’t going to pretend it had never happened. I wouldn’t let it bury me alive.

I’d get help.

The tears eventually slowed to a hiccup, and I remained under the water while Nolan gently washed my body. The sensation was both sweet and erotic. If I’d had the strength after everything I’d just gone through, I would have made love to him in the shower. Again.

Instead, I kissed him. As far as I was concerned, that was okay. The world might believe he was involved with Alyssa, but they weren’t in the real sense of the word.

Even though our naked bodies were touching, the kisses remained sweet and unassuming, and they soothed my battered emotions. We gently swayed to the imagined music in our heads. The one I was hearing, of course, was the first song he’d written, the first of his songs I’d fallen in love with.

Eventually we turned off the water and dressed. The day’s events had drained me, but I didn’t want to go to bed yet. I just wanted to curl up with Nolan and watch a movie. To let it distract me.

“If you want,” he said as I combed my wet hair, “I can order pizza.”

“Mediterranean?”

He grinned. “Of course.”

While we waited for the pizza to be delivered, I phoned my parents and Kayla to tell them the guy who had put me in the coma had been found. I didn’t tell them about the attack or that he was dead. I didn’t feel like talking about that now. I simply told them the police had him. Close enough.

We found a movie to watch and cuddled together on the couch. Even though it wasn’t normally his top choice of genres, Nolan had suggested a romantic comedy. Okay, maybe not the best choice, since our romance wouldn’t have a happily-ever-after ending, but at least it made us laugh.

Well, made me laugh.

I shifted to face him. “What’s wrong?” There were so many possible answers, it was just easier asking than guessing.

He gave a bitter laugh. “What’s right? I killed a man today, accident or not. And now I have to fly back to L.A. and deal with the repercussions of the shit storm that’s hit since I got here.”