Page 98 of Home Town Knight

Aiden, River, and Lynx combed the area before declaring the hostiles were all neutralized, including those in the bunker. Duke was conscious but woozy, still secured to the tree.

Owen took the gun from my hands and set it on the ground. He stroked my hair back from my face. “How are you?” he asked.

“Hand hurts. But I’m good.” I put my arms around him. “I forgot to ask how Norris is doing. How bad was the gunshot?”

Owen smiled fondly and kissed my forehead. “Norris is stable at the hospital. He’ll be very relieved to hear you’re all right. He didn’t want you to sacrifice yourself for him.” His dark blue eyes held mine. “I didn’t either. It was agony to watch you do that.”

“Good thing it worked out.”

“It did. Mostly. But it’s your turn to head to the hospital, and I’m not taking any chances.” Owen scooped me into his arms, sweeping me right off my feet. I scrambled to grab onto his shoulders.

“Hey! I can walk. My legs are fine.”

“Maybe this is somethingIneed. You’re way too likely to run off, and I’m tired of chasing you.” Cradling me, he walked toward the others, holding me tightly against his chest. Like he never wanted to let me go.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Genevieve

Three weeks later,I woke before Owen. It didn’t happen often.

He was lying on his stomach. Sunlight illuminated the tiny, pale hairs on the smooth expanse of his back. The sheet had pooled around his hips. It was cold up here at Last Refuge at night, but he had a tendency to kick the blankets off because he got too hot, even sleeping naked. Which was convenient, because I’d piled as much blanket as possible onto myself.

Usually Owen set an early alarm. He’d been driving into town each day to deal with the messy aftermath of all that had happened. I’d stayed at Last Refuge as much as possible because, even when Owen was gone, I was never alone here.

Rent on my Denver apartment would be due next week. A friend of mine was checking my mail, and she was probably getting tired of it. But I was trying not to think about that.

Owen rolled over and stretched. “What are you doing awake? I was going to surprise you with breakfast.”

I crawled on top of him. “We’ll just have to make it together.”

“We’re going to do all kinds of things together. We have all day.”

A day to ourselves. Something we both sorely needed after weeks of turmoil.

There’d been difficult questions to answer, especially once the state authorities had descended and even threatened Owen with arrest for going rogue. Special prosecutors from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office were investigating every decision he’d made. But I’d been defending him to anyone and everyone I could.

Owen and his friends had saved my life. We’d solved the murders of Ace Tucker and Josh Ellis, and the killer was now in jail. Duke had refused to say a word. Literally. He hadn’t even asked for a lawyer. Still, Owen was sure there’d be plenty of evidence to convict him of murder and kidnapping, even if Duke’s ties to Stillwater were harder to pin down and prove.

As I’d argued to the investigators, it was no wonder that Owen had decided not to use official channels after I was kidnapped. State Trooper Sykes had been working with the killer, so Owen hadn’t known who to trust.

Ironically, District Attorney Grissom agreed. He’d been defending Owen too. Probably because Sykes had been operating under the DA’s nose, and Grissom’s office had been taking a lot of calls from the trooper. Grissom now claimed he was just as fooled as everyone else.

Was Grissom the corrupt politician I’d been searching for? Could it be Jud Hale, or someone else entirely? We didn’t have those answers yet.

I’d revealed small bits and pieces about Stillwater to the state investigators. I’d repeated what Duke had told me: that he worked for a criminal organization and guarded a storage facility holding some of their property. A lot of that propertyhad been damaged or destroyed by Aiden’s grenade. The rest, including the cache of Stillwater gold medallions, helped corroborate my streamlined version of events.

Thankfully, Owen and his friends seemed to be in the clear. Especially when the dead commandos and helicopter pilot had been revealed to be foreign nationals and known mercenaries. The state investigators had plenty to chew on already.

Trooper Sykes was dead. Rossiter was being charged with stealing evidence, and would likely lose his job. As for the citizens of Hart County, they viewed Sheriff Douglas as a brave hero. Hewasa true hero. But I’d also helped nudge public opinion in the right direction with online pieces I’d been writing freelance.

I hadn’t given up my own investigation of Stillwater though. I’d been working with Cerberus and River, and I’d have to get an update from River soon on their findings.

But not today.

Today was Sunday, and Owen and I were taking the day off. No meetings for him, no tense phone calls. No research on the Stillwater story for me.

We exchanged a few soft kisses, which escalated when Owen arched his hips to nudge his hard cock against my stomach. He wrapped an arm around my waist and flipped us so he was on top. We both moaned when he pushed inside me.

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