This had her immediately sitting back up, peering into his eyes with fear. “I thought it was over. I thought they were all in jail.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her back into his embrace. “Slow down, Sunshine. Here’s the deal. I told you that when I went under I thought the mission would only last six months, a year at most. But the shit kept draggin’ on and on. The bastards were slick and trusted real slow. It took almost a year for me to even get close to them. I was gettin’ the dirt on them, but my superiors wanted an air-tight case so they kept me in, wanting me to get as much as I could. DEA was also in on it. They had their own undercover agents in as well.”
Annie pulled herself back to where she could peer into his eyes, swearing she could see shadows passing through them. “Was it bad?” she whispered.
“Most of it I can’t tell you, but yeah baby. It was bad. And that was before I even knew about the dogs. Then that shit took me over the edge. I knew I had to get out, and when they involved my own dog for me to prove my loyalty after almost two years of doing their shit. I knew I had to get it shut down before I completely lost myself.”
He pulled her face back to his, smoothing his hands over her cheeks. “I never lied when I said that your sunshine was the first ray of light I had seen in two years. I wanted you then and I want you now. So I also wasn’t lying when I said I want to see where this goes.”
This time her wild, untamed man kissed her with the softest kiss filled with gentle promises. Promises of more to come. Promises of protection. Promises of …love? Before she could ponder that last thought, he pulled back again.
“So Sunshine, I’m gonna be gone this week, but my security buddies and the police will have you under surveillance. We have a huge number of the gang in jail, but there are still a slippery few that got away. They’ve dug in deep and gone way down under. I want you protected, but they won’t risk anything now. Still, you gotta be smart.”
Her eyes went back to his face. “Smart?”
“Yeah. No runnin’ in the neighborhood alone. No opening the back door to anyone. Use the security system in the clinic and in this apartment. You gotta do all of that, promise?”
Seeing the concern in his eyes, she agreed. “Yeah honey, I can do that.”
Hearing the word “honey” on her lips, he allowed the warmth to slide though him, reaching the dark corners that for two years had not seen the light of day.
“And when I come back…we continue this,” he said. “You and me. Gettin’ to know more about each other. Nothin’ between us. We will lay all our shit out and deal, so nothin’ will come back on us.” Seeing her questioning look, he said, “Annie, there’s shit I had to do for the past couple of years. No way am I gonna tell you all of it, but I don’t want anything to come up later and bite us in the ass. So when I come back, I will give you as much as I can give you. But you’ll hear it from me, not someone else. You with me?”
“You’re kind of freaking me out right now, Shane, but I get where you’re coming from. So yeah honey, I’m with you.”
With that, he was through talking and he showed her just how much when he took her mouth. Then he took her body and showed her just how wonderful untamed can be.
Chapter 12
True to his word, Shane left that next morning with promises to be back at the end of the week. Annie, anxious to get back into her routine, took over-the-counter pain meds so that she could perform all the duties necessary to keep the clinic running.
Leon and Suzanne were just as determined to assist in every way possible. The end result was that they often ran into each other as they were all trying to do the same task.
Finally, in frustration after Annie crashed into Leon as they were both attempting to pick up a dog from the lab table, she snapped. “Stop! Just stop you two!”
Suzanne and Leon looked at her in surprise.
“Look guys. I know you are trying to help, but I am fine. Honestly. My side hurts just a little, but other than that, I’m back to normal. We will work more efficiently if we resume our normal duties.” Smiling at both of them, she added, “But thank you. Both of you.”
“Group hug,” Leon shouted as he rushed forward with Suzanne in tow, lightening the mood. The girls couldn’t help but giggle, then broke apart quickly as they heard the sound of a client in the front jingling the bell numerous time.
“Oh dear. It’s Mrs. Scarsdale and Precious,” Suzanne moaned. “Her incredibly fat pug.”
The three laughed as Suzanne and Annie headed back to the examining rooms. After fifteen minutes of trying to get the client to stop feeding Precious treats, she finally resorted to threats.