Page 18 of Laying it Bare on the Run

I wiped the tears from my face. “Oh my God. Thank you so much for that. I am wound so tight that that release felt incredible.”

“Are you ready to get out of here? I know I am. I’m still recovering from those long ass shifts. I’m not as young as I once was.” Cannon finished off his soda.

He was such a sweetheart. I didn’t believe for one moment he was ready to head out. I could tell he enjoyed hanging out with his buddies. But I had to admit I was a bit shaken and he was providing an out for me. He’d probably bug me until I conceded anyway. I had learned that about him. And besides, it might have only been a matter of time before I had a melt down over the incident, considering I had just had a crazy outburst of maniacal laughter. Thoughts bounced around in my head like bumper cars at an amusement park: was it only a handsy drunk or had one of Waik’s goons found me? “Yeah, I think I’ve had my fun for the night.”

“Aww, that’s too bad, Cannon.” Mike snickered. “She’s all funned out.”

It took me a second to catch on, but when I replayed my words in my head I realized how Mike used them against me and Cannon. Well, Cannon had spoken the truth: Mike was a little asshole. Knowing I’d probably regret my retort because I knew Cannon wasn’t really into me, I did it anyway. “My fun is just beginning, that’s why I’m ready to go. Cannon will have his hands full with me later.” Eek, put on the brakes, girl. I think they got the picture. I had to salvage a little pride here. But I had to admit my little amusement at the moment did manage to distract me from my earlier frightening encounter.

“I like her, Cannon. She’s got a bit of sass.” Mike winked at me again. “Well, you two enjoy your evening. I’ll probably be heading out soon too so I can shower before heading back to meet up with my fun for the night.”

“Good night, guys. I’m back on shift Sunday. But I’ll text you if we want to hang out again before then.” Cannon lifted me off of his lap, grabbed my hand, and led me out to his car.

Once in the car and on our way, Cannon wrapped my hand in his. “I know you’re still shaken up. And I’m not trying to make light of what just happened but try not to worry too much, my thoughts are it was a handsy drunk. I know Waik is looking for you but the odds are too improbable that he would have figured out this was the little town you settled in. That would have been even luckier than someone winning the jack pot lottery twice in his lifetime.”

“I know. It was most likely I was in the wrong place at the wrong time but I’m constantly going to be worrying that he is going to find me. I won’t feel completely safe until he is gone. I don’t even think him being in prison will be enough for my peace of mind. He needs to be dead for me to be truly free. And I know I shouldn’t admit that to a cop but I’m not going to lie to you. I was only deceitful when I was out trying to survive. I don’t lie just to lie.”

“It’s okay, Harper. Like I told you before, not everything is black and white.” He raised my hand to his lips and pressed a tender kiss to my wrist. “I will protect you. I’ll make sure he doesn’t find you here. And I’ll do what I can to dig up dirt on him without putting you in jeopardy.” He pulled his car in front of his place and we hopped out and headed up to the door.

Once we were inside, we slipped out of our shoes. “Do you normally shower at night or in the morning? I shower at night and am going to grab a quick one, if that’s okay.”

“I would always shower at night; I’m not a morning person.” I gave him what I hoped was a witty smile. “But I would catch one whenever I could sneak one in. It didn’t matter the time of day. But now that I can be on a normal schedule again, I’d like to return to evenings. But I can wait until you are done, if it will be a problem.”

“There will be enough hot water for the both of us to shower at the same time.” His lips curved into a disarming grin. “So go take a nice long one if you need to. I won’t be long.” With that, he walked down the hallway to his room.

After a couple moments of unscrambling my inner thoughts which were crammed with erotic images of me and him soaking wet and me plastered against the shower wall by his hard body, I padded down to the room I was sleeping in and into the bathroom. Man, he was sexy and so damn sweet. And even if he didn’t mean to, his comments made me wet. But I really couldn’t jeopardize ruining what I had here with him by acting on the feelings rushing over me. I needed him more as a friend right now than anything else, even though my body craved him for so much more. But I didn’t want to risk that I was merely someone he wanted to take care of because that was the nature of a cop and that his flirty comments were just part of his outgoing personality. Batting down my steamy thoughts of Cannon so that my girly parts would take a chill, I stripped out of my clothes and hopped into the shower. The decadence of beautiful smelling soap and shampoo, as much hot water as I wanted, and being able to enjoy the water rushing over my skin and soothing my muscles still made me pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t in the middle of some awesome dream. I never in a million years would have expected to wake up in that deserted building to three cops staring me down and then to end up staying with one of them who wanted nothing more than to help and protect me.

Not wanting to take advantage of Cannon’s hospitality, I finished up in the shower before drying off and pulling on the pajamas I had on last night. Then I brushed my hair and teeth. When I strolled back out into the bedroom, Cannon standing in the doorway startled me and I jumped. But my alarm was quickly replaced with a healthy dose of lust. He was shirtless again and wearing a pair of running shorts.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you.” He leaned against the doorjamb and didn’t make any movement to enter. But his expression gave me the impression his thoughts were waging war on one another. “I know that mattress is better than what you have been using but I can’t imagine it is all that comfortable. I need to order a bed for in here.”

“Don’t order one on my account. I don’t want you spending any more money on me. It’s bad enough we’re ordering clothes tomorrow. This mattress is perfectly fine. It is a hundred times better than what I had been using and I am very grateful for it.”

“Then why don’t you sleep in my bed and I’ll sleep in here?” Pushing off of the frame, he took a step inside.

Tilting my head to the side, I placed my hand on my hip. “I thought you said it wasn’t that comfortable. So why would you want to sleep on it then?”

He shrugged. “I want you to get some decent sleep. You have been through more than enough and need adequate sleep and nutritious meals to build up your strength and health.”

“Didn’t you just come off of a long string of overtime? You need a good night’s sleep too.” Somehow I got the feeling I was being set up.

“That is true. So since we both need some serious sleep, why don’t we both sleep in my bed? No one should have to spend more than one night on that mattress.”

And there it was. My mouth dropped open and I stood there gaping like a fish for a moment. Wait a second. Was he seriously trying to get me into bed with him? I had to be missing something here. He wasn’t interested in me. Was he?

“Before you start freaking out over there, I have a king sized bed so we can put distance between us. We will both be more comfortable in there. You will get a better night’s sleep and I will too because I won’t be worrying that you aren’t sleeping well.”

Who was he kidding? I wouldn’t get a better night’s sleep. My nipples would be on high alert and my pussy would be throbbing worse than it was right now. Oh my God, he wanted me in his bed. But just for tonight? Just until he bought another bed? Because I got the feeling Cannon was unwavering when he made a decision. So there was no doubt he’d be ordering another one. But as tempting as his offer to share his bed was, I couldn’t risk it.

Because if I crawled in his bed tonight, I wouldn’t want to ever leave it.

Chapter Four

~Cannon~

Harper stood there staring at me like I had lost my mind and she was forced to make a decision that was sure to bring destruction to the entire world. Her expression filled me with equal parts amusement and disappointment. It saddened me to realize her actions tonight were only to seek comfort from me. While I was glad I could provide that for her after her near attack at the bar, I wanted more. Which also meant her jab at Mike earlier was just that; while I was hoping she was sending me a hint. Maybe I needed to get better at taking cues.

While I was well aware my strategy with using the bed situation was pathetic at best, I was trying to find a way to invite her to my bed in a somewhat joking and comfortable way. And with as much as I wanted her, I knew enough that I couldn’t come on strong. I wanted to hold her tonight and provide comfort but in a more intimate way than I had at the bar and hoped to eventually work up to building a romantic relationship with her. I wanted her in my bed in the true sense but I wanted us to take it slowly. First of all, I didn’t want to scare her off but more importantly she deserved my tenderness with this situation.

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