Page 38 of Laying it Bare on the Run

Chapter Seven

~Cannon~

When the words I had been dying to hear escaped Harper’s lips, I couldn’t respond at first. I truly believed I would never hear her utter them and never in a million years thought I would hear them so soon. I had worried she was too emotionally damaged to allow herself to fall for someone. Or an even bigger fear was that when this was all over, she’d take off with nothing here to hold her. I had wanted to be the something to hold her here. And a part of me worried that if she started to develop feelings for me, she would try to protect me because of what had happened to her brother.

My stunned silence must have carried on for far too long because Harper slid from my bed and almost bolted for the bathroom.

Quickly I jumped from the bed after her and grabbed her around her waist, swinging her back toward my bed. “Not so fast. You don’t drop that bomb on me and then flee.”

Ducking her head, she refused to meet my eyes. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. I know we just met and I’ve brought a lot of chaos to your life.”

When we reached my bed, I lay her down gently and crawled up over her. She turned her head to the side as more tears streamed down her beautiful face. Leaning onto my forearms, I took her face in my hands and tilted it to meet my eyes. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable. Just took me by surprise. And yes, we did just meet and yes, you’ve brought chaos with you.”

Her lips trembled.

So I pressed a gentle kiss to them. “But I’m so glad I met you. And I’m falling in love with you too, Harper. I was just afraid to say it for fear you would bolt.”

She stared at me with her watery puffy eyes. “You love me too?”

“I fucking love you so damn much.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me. I can’t handle any more loss, Cannon. There’s not much left of my heart as it is.”

“Nothing will happen to me. I’m so sorry you had to witness your brother’s death. That really scarred you. When this is over, I want you to talk to someone. But I know he’s coming and we’re getting things worked out at the station. And I have a lot of friends who are cops. He won’t get either one of us.” Rolling to my back, I wrapped her up into my arms and hugged her tightly. “We’ll go talk to Sarge tomorrow and get the ball rolling.”

She started to shake her head.

“Kurt is long gone. And the more information Greg has the better. It wasn’t on our list but after today, I know it’s going to be added. You’ll be free of all of this soon.”

“I’ll wear the ball cap so I’m not as recognizable. I want this over with too, I’m just scared, Cannon. I can’t handle . . . ”

“It’s going to be alright.” Tucking my hand under her chin, I tilted her head up so her eyes could meet mine. “I love you.” Then I brought my lips to hers. It started out as a sweet gentle kiss. But when she ground her body into mine, it grew heated. Lust took over and my hands and mouth journeyed all over her body before I made love to her again.

The next morning, after I made us breakfast, consisting of pancakes and sausage of course, Harper and I drove to the station. Going in earlier, we hoped the precinct wouldn’t be as busy.

Harper sat nervously in the passenger seat, her hand clasped tightly in mine.

“I won’t let you out of my sight and everyone there knows who Kurt is so it’s incredibly doubtful he’ll be back.”

“I’m more worried about Waik showing up.” She chewed on her bottom lip.

“He won’t come to the station. We’d grab him there.”

“You don’t have any reason to arrest him. There isn’t any evidence indicating he’s a criminal.”

“I’ll agree to your point. But he won’t come there because with all of the cops watching, he won’t be able to get you without being seen.” I glanced over at her.

She met my stare. “Then he’ll come to your house. We should have just talked to your sergeant over the phone. It would be harder for him to find my location then.”

“He won’t find my house. And if he does, I have an alarm system and weapons. Try not to worry about it, Harper. I know that might sound like empty words to you but I want you to try to calm down. I don’t like seeing you like this. We’re going to figure something out. Trust me?” I rubbed my thumb over her knuckles before lifting her hand to my lips.

“I trust you. But I love you too and that’s the problem.”

“I can’t find any problem with you loving me.” I smirked at her.

Shaking her head as she rolled her eyes at me, her lips tipped up into a small smile.

“That’s better.” After I pulled into our lot, the two of us walked inside the station.

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