He pulled her to him with such force that she groaned and wriggled for breathing space.
She offered a ghost of a smile. ‘I probably was. I certainly couldn’t have been far from it. All I knew was that I wanted my life back, and I wanted this bastard to leave me alone.
‘In the end, I sold up and left California. The stress was doing a number on me, and the detective thought I’d be better somewhere safe and out of harm’s way.’
‘So what happened?’ Garrett asked.
Kendra wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hand. ‘It was almost like the minute I took back my identity, my real identity, and came home to where I belong, the threats, the phone calls, the emails, everything stopped. I lived on eggshells for several weeks. Harris and Dee took me in, took care of me until I was fit to rejoin society again. Then, when I’d been home about a month or so, the detective agency got in touch with me. They’d found the man, a Frederick Parks. Called himself Edge. Apparently, I wasn’t the first woman he’d stalked.’
‘Did he go to jail for what he did?’ Garrett said.
She shook her head and shoved the hair back over her shoulders. ‘He was dead. They think he fell asleep with a cigarette, he was probably drunk or on something, and burnt his own house down around him.’
‘God,’ Garrett whispered. ‘And they were sure it was him?’
She nodded. ‘The ID was positive. So there’s no way this Razor Sharp can be my stalker. You said it yourself. He’s been emailing Tess for a long time now. And I still maintain that it’s probably nothing. I just … I never expected to react quite so strongly.’
‘Fuck, Kendra! Why the hell wouldn’t you react strongly? I mean, the man made your life a living hell. The nightmare. It was …’
‘It was about him, yes.’
For a long time, the two sat in silence on the bathroom floor, Kendra resting her head against the wonderfully steady beating of Garrett’s heart. At last she sighed. ‘I really need a Diet Pepsi, and maybe some more of that cold pizza.’
Later, when they had both eaten and had worked up an email to send Don that was evasive enough about what happened to protect Kendra’s privacy but they felt offered enough to satisfy his curiosity, exhaustion set in.
Garrett pulled Kendra to her feet and guided her to the stairs. ‘Shower in the morning,’ he said, then he nuzzled her neck gently. ‘Together. Rain check and all, you know?’ She smiled and nodded her agreement.
At the top of the stairs, he didn’t let go of her hand at the guest room door, but slid his arm around her and guided her to his room. ‘If you think I’m letting you sleep alone tonight after the day you’ve had, then you’d better think again.’ When she started to protest, he covered her lips with his and shushed her. ‘I won’t take no for an answer.’ He slid the shirt off over her head, then went to work on the fly of her jeans. ‘And don’t worry, I’ll behave.’ He nipped her earlobe lightly. ‘Unless you want me to misbehave. I’m fine either way.’
He helped her out of her boots, then her jeans, and settled her into his big bed, the one they had romped in together – was it just last night? It took him all of two seconds to shed his track suit and his sneakers, then he slid in next to her and pulled her tightly against him into a spoon position. ‘Get some sleep, Kendra. Tomorrow we’ll both see things more clearly.’ He kissed her ear. ‘And if you dream, I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Garrett.’ His name felt good on her lips in the darkness.
‘Hmm?’
‘Thank you.’
He kissed the back of her neck and cupped her breast in the curve of his hand. She could feel the press of his erection against her butt, and she would have loved to take care of it for him, but she was asleep before she could do more than think about it. This time it was the deep, dreamless sleep of exhaustion, sleep in a safe place, a comfortable place. Quite possibly the most comfortable place in which she had ever slept. In the arms of Garrett Thorne.
Chapter Nineteen
Dawn was paling when Garrett woke, feeling confused. For a brief moment he didn’t remember where he was or what his circumstances were. It was the muffled moan that came from the pillow next to him and a length of exquisite thigh extending from beneath the comforter that brought everything back to him, and he was suddenly wide awake, holding his breath, listening, listening to Kendra sleep. But after a moment of intense scrutiny, he relaxed and raised himself on one elbow to look down at her. She wasn’t dreaming. Thank God! There was no rapid eye movement, and her breathing was deep and even, completely relaxed.