Page 115 of Whispers and Wildfire

“I know cookies won’t fix anything, but it might help her feel better to know people care.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see if I can arrange something.”

Melanie shifted closer to me and I tightened my arm around her. It had to be hard for her to hear about an abduction after what she’d been through.

“It’s been nice to get out, but we should probably head home,” Harper said.

Garrett checked his phone. “Yeah, it’s about that time.”

“Thanks for letting us join you,” Melanie said as they got up from their seats.

“Yeah, it was great to see you,” Harper said with a smile.

“Night,” I said, tipping my chin to my brother.

He tipped his. “Night.”

Garrett and Harper left, and I started idly fingering Melanie’s hair as I took a drink of my beer.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine.” She let out a breath. “Actually, no, I’m a little shaky.”

I set down my beer and gently touched her chin, bringing her gaze to mine. “Of course you are. It can’t be easy to hear about something like that.”

“The part about putting her in the trunk made me sick to my stomach. All of a sudden, I remembered what it was like to wake up and realize I was in the trunk of a car.”

The need to protect her swept through me. She didn’t resist as I drew her against me, letting her cheek rest on my chest. With her deep breath, her body seemed to relax. I cast another glare around the bar as if the perpetrator was there, eyeing my woman.

Fuck that guy. Hopefully, he’d be caught soon.

Pulling back, I brushed her hair off her face. “Do you want another drink? Or are you ready to get out of here?”

“I’m ready to go.”

I leaned in and kissed her forehead, then moved so my mouth was near her ear. I spoke in a low growl. “How about I take you home and fuck you senseless?”

The way her body trembled set my blood on fire.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Now.”

Taking her hand, I helped her to her feet and led her out to my car.

Her wish was my command.

CHAPTER 27

Melanie

The dull achebehind my eyes made it hard to focus. Fortunately, it had been a quiet day. The guys were all busy in the garage, the parts we were expecting had arrived, and no grumpy customers had waltzed in to give anyone a piece of their mind.

That last one was particularly fortunate. I probably didn’t have the patience to be diplomatic if someone was being an idiot. Even if they were a customer.

My real career didn’t involve customer service for a reason.

I rubbed my temples, hoping to ease some of the tension. Sleep had been hard to come by the past couple nights. As if nightmares weren’t bad enough, I’d been hit with a bout of insomnia. It was a special kind of torture to lie in bed, unable to fall asleep, only to be jolted awake by a nightmare hours later.

Not fun.