It’s so perfect that when Jared takes my hand and starts pulling me away from the house, I’m confused and a little put out to be missing the food.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he says cryptically and I hold my tongue as we walk hand in hand to the very edge of that massive property, only to see a picturesque little cottage nestled beneath a copse of oak trees.
“Oh wow.”
“I know. I knew it was perfect for my little fairy-chaser the minute Pop brought me down here to show me the renovations,” he says and I almost have an orgasm when he swings the door open to reveal a space filled with flowers, food, and a large bed with white silk sheets and large fluffy pillows scattered all over the surface.
“Jared.”
He comes up behind me and wraps me up in his arms, pulling me back into his chest to settle his lips on that tender spot just beneath my ear.
“I’m so happy right now, Mrs. Lane. I could die right this minute and not regret a moment of the last two weeks. You are everything I never let myself hope for, and I swear to you I will spend the rest of my days showing you how much you mean to me.”
His words are so serious and loving that I shiver and find myself leaking like a damn faucet.
“You know, two weeks ago I was so scared I couldn’t do anything else but run and hope that Jerry and his cronies wouldn’t be too close behind me. I was so ready to just leave everything behind and not exist anymore.” His arms tighten and I feel him stiffen behind me in anger and it makes me smile.
He hates when I get upset, and while I don’t want a single thing to ruin the perfect day we’ve had so far, I want him to know everything I feel. It’s only fair, since I know with every breath he takes exactly how he feels about me.
“Baby.”
“No, let me finish. I ran, but I was so broken at the thought of never seeing you again or hearing your voice. It hurt like hell, Sugar, and I was almost relieved when they caught me and dragged me back. And then…well, I prayed for death and I even wanted to die in that alley because I thought you would never forgive me, and that meant my life was over.”
“Cupcake,” he says, turning me swiftly and pulling me to his chest with a groan.
“I’m so glad it was you who found me and you who saved me, Jared, because it has always been you and it always will be. I’ll love you every single day of my life, no matter what happens, and I’ll even love you after because not even death can stop what I feel for you.”
He groans again and takes my mouth in an urgent kiss that is more than just the show of desire. I feel him flood me with pure love as he kisses me harshly, and it’s everything I could have ever dreamed to have, and more than I ever thought I deserved.
***
I come awake with a hand over my mouth and so much weight pinning me down that I’m struggling and thrashing wildly before the scent of my husband’s cologne reaching my nose and I freeze.
Jared is over me and covering my body protectively as he scans the room and tilts his head as it listening for whatever sound must have woken him.
I hear a faint scrape and the merest rustle of leaves and think it’s ridiculous to even pay attention, but I feel him tense further and grit his teeth before his blue eyes meet mine in the darkness.
“Put my shirt on. Quietly.”
I nod and roll to the floor, grabbing his shirt and buttoning it up quickly before he grabs me and pulls me behind him, stopping every few feet to check the windows and around the furniture.
I know my husband, and if he’s going SEAL on me in the middle of the night, not even a full day into our honeymoon, something is very wrong.
I hear that almost silent scraping again and I feel him tense before stopping in front of a wall and pushing slowly. The panel comes away with an almost silent hiss and he pushes me inside and closes it behind us, sealing us into the pitch-black enclosure.
The kiss I get when he wrenches me into his chest is desperate and greedy and wild and I can tell that it’s his way of proving to himself that I’m okay and that whoever is lurking in the shadows hasn’t gotten to me.
I go to whisper, but he places a finger over my lips and pulls me along behind him. I have no clue where we are right now, but I have to say that I’m grateful for the quick escape.
We walk a little ways in silence before he pushes me through another door and pulls in something above our heads, illuminating what looks like a dirt tunnel that’s narrow and so low, I see that Jared is bent and almost touching the walls on each side with his broad shoulders.
“Baby, listen to me, and listen very well. I want you to run. Keep following this tunnel till you get to the end. Punch four, seven, nine, twelve into the panel you’ll find there. You’ll come out just beneath the kitchen, in the basement. Get to Miah and Jace and tell them there are people on the property.”