Page 110 of Falling for Her

“That’s a long time.”

“I had time saved up.” I kiss her. “Now get into bed.” She slides into bed and sighs. “I’ll see you soon.” I kiss her and then go downstairs. “She’s napping,” I tell Theo and Asa. “I’ll be an hour at max.”

“I’ll watch over her, Dad,” Asa assures. “Can I sleep here tonight?”

“Anytime, buddy. We’ll call your mom when I get back, yeah?”

“Collins is on her way here too, so take your time,” Theo says.

I walk out of the house and dial Captain, who answers after one ring. “Be there in five,” I say, disconnecting and trying to calm myself as I make my way to the office.

Cathy looks up from her desk. “Hey,” she greets, “this is a surprise. I thought you were still out of town.”

“Yeah, change of plans.” I smile at her, even though I want to rip her head off her shoulders. “Just here to meet with Captain.” I walk up the steps.

“Hey,” I say when I reach his office. I can see he’s just as pissed as I am, and I close the door. “You have everything?”

“Everything has been waiting for you for the past two days. You know how hard this was?”

“You have no idea. I had to see Finley’s face every single day, bruised and battered.”

He picks up the phone on his desk. “Can you come in here?” He hangs up and looks at me. “You want to lead this, or should I?”

We don’t have a chance to decide because the door opens and Cathy steps in, the smile on her face quickly dropping. “Oh fuck,” she swears. “This doesn’t look good.”

She sits in the same chair she’s sat in for the last ten years.

“It’s not good,” I agree. “Let me rephrase that, it wasn’t good, but now it’s good.” She looks confused.

“Over the last four days, the team was able to catch the head of the drug-smuggling operation,” Captain says as I watch her face.

“Which only happened because the news was kept from one person in particular,” I add. Her eyes dart right and left. “Got to say, none of us would have known if it wasn’t for Davis.” The minute I say his name, her throat bobbles up and down as she swallows. “After he kidnapped Finley, he started yapping when he thought she was unconscious.”

“Burke,” she whispers.

“We fucking trusted you,” I roar. “You sent him to my house, where my child was. My Asa, who I thought you cared about. I even trusted you to watch him.”

“It’s not what you—” she starts.

I get up. “I don’t want to hear one more fucking word out of you,” I hiss at her then look at Captain. “She’s all yours.” I spare her one last glance. “I hope it was worth it.” I pull the door open. “I hope it was fucking worth it all.”

“Burke!” she shouts after me. I ignore her, jogging down the steps and out of the building, on my way home to the woman who has everything, but only wants me. I smile as I get into the truck and vow to never make her regret choosing me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

FINLEY

TWO WEEKS LATER

I feel the bed move, and cool air rushes over the side of my body before the blanket is put back down. I turn my head to the side, opening my eyes at the same time that Lincoln walks past the bed. A smile fills my face as I see his perfect naked body before he disappears into his bathroom.

I tuck my arm under me as I lie on my stomach and bask in the comfort of his bed. Our bed now, according to him. I look over at the bedside table at the picture of the two of us taken out on the deck while we were having coffee two days ago. The first day my bruises were gone. It took him six hours to have it printed and framed.

Another picture is beside it of the three of us in the tree house, me sitting with Lincoln behind me and Asa leaning into us. Lincoln made it a point to sit Asa down with us and explain to him that I was coming back but would be staying in the house. Asa, completely unfazed, just asked if I was Lincoln’s girlfriend. So I was stressed for nothing; it was totally anticlimactic and free of drama, which is so Asa.

I smile when I hear the water turn off. I know he’s going to walk out at any second.

The sight of him with his black shorts and nothing else greets me. He takes one look at me, not saying anything as he walks out of the room. I flip the covers off me and head to the bathroom he just came out of. Pinning up my hair, I wash my face before slipping on a pair of lounge pants and a matching tank top. My clothes now mingle with his in the walk-in closet. Well, more of my clothes than his clothes.