Page 89 of The Couple's Secret
He wasn’t going to the boat ramp. He was going to crash through the trees at the bottom of the road and sail straight into the river—into the same watery grave where he'd once left Tobias and Cora.
That wasn’t happening.
Josie punched the gas, holding the pedal down so hard that her foot ached. The engine roared and the silky glide of the tires on the road told her she was dangerously close to hydroplaning. The muscles in her shoulder blades pulled taut. Her knuckles whitened as her fingers clenched around the steering wheel. The back of the sedan got closer, a dark red blotch strobing between the manic swipes of the windshield wipers. The trees at the bottom of the hill loomed ahead, an amorphous green blob flying toward them at terminal velocity. Jackson was going entirely too fast to make the turnoff onto the street that ran parallel to the river. If she needed more reassurance that she was doing the right thing, that was it.
Her heart fluttered, skipped a beat, then another, and finally thundered back to life, pounding so hard she heard it in her ears. This was it. She had one shot at this and if she didn’t get it right, didn’t pull it off before they reached the bottom, Jackson was as good as dead. Her chances didn’t look that good either.
“Wren.”
The name pushed past her lips, threatening to break the seal on the tornadic inner conflict she now lived with: give one hundred percent on the job, or shirk the more dangerous parts to ensure that she was alive and present for the girl whose care she’d been gifted? In this line of work, anything less than one hundred percent was a betrayal of her oath to serve and protect and yet, now, for Josie, there was a person whose needs and safety and well-being trumped every other soul in the world.
But Dex hadn’t entrusted her with his daughter because she gave in to her fears.
Only a few feet away now. The sedan shimmied but quickly regained control. The wall of trees was so close now. This was it. She had to trust herself even though she hadn’t done the PIT maneuver since she was on patrol. That was Precision Immobilization Technique, a fairly safe way to stop a fleeing vehicle. Usually there was a lot more road to work with.
She ignored her galloping heart and the tightness in her chest. Ignored the frantic thwip thwip of the wipers, the hard drum of the rain on the roof and windows. Dismissed the shitty visibility. She could do this. She would do this.
Finally, she was almost touching Jackson’s bumper. Yanking the steering wheel to the right, she gave herself enough room to pull up beside him but just until the front of her SUV overlapped with the back of his sedan by a few feet. Then she gave the wheel a jerk back to the left, hitting the rear quarter panel of his vehicle with the left-side bumper of her own. On contact, she gave her steering wheel a quarter turn toward the sedan just as it spun out in a one hundred eighty-degree turn. Josie instantly straightened out her SUV, slamming on the brakes. She passed the sedan as it slid onto the shoulder of the road and finally came to rest, facing uphill.
A film of sweat coated her forehead, her cheeks, the back of her neck. Her palms left sweaty impressions around the steering wheel as she let go and got out of her SUV. The closer she got to the sedan, the less she felt the vise squeezing her chest. As she strode toward his door, her pistol drawn, he lifted his head, the battle in his midnight-blue eyes apparent, even now.
Keep trying to run or face his fate?
Whatever he saw on Josie’s face made the decision for him. Before she barked a single instruction, he lifted both hands in surrender.
Forty-Nine
The heat coming from Noah’s body was deliciously warm as he crowded into one of the second-floor stationhouse bathrooms with her. She was mostly dry but her clothes were uncomfortably stiff and chafing. The thought of looking in a mirror right now made her want to retch. When she turned to face her husband, his smile was half amused and half appreciative.
Josie put her hands on her hips. “What? Don’t tell me this whole drowned rat aesthetic I’m rocking turns you on. ’Cause there might be something seriously wrong with you.”
He laughed and rummaged through the tote bag he’d brought from home, coming up with one of her bras and a pair of her panties. “It’s not that.”
She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, tossing it to the floor. His eyes roamed unapologetically over her bare skin.
“Oh,” Josie said as her hands reached back for the clasp of her bra. “You knew you’d get to see me naked.”
“Well, I never don’t want to see you naked.” He shrugged and handed her the clean bra. “It’s just that I love it when you go all badass. It’s hot.”
Josie kicked off her boots, laughing softly, her eyes rolling. “You know I’m a sure thing, right? I’m going home with you tonight. You don’t have to woo me.”
He held out an arm for her to hold for balance as she peeled off her socks. “I’ll never stop wooing you, Josie.”
The serious note in his voice almost made her forget they were at work. Having a husband who could melt her heart and her panties was addictive in the best way. Except for when all the melting distracted her from the fact that he’d been avoiding having the discussion he’d promised her about seeing a therapist. It also didn’t help that he looked so damn good.
“Noah,” she said tentatively, knowing this wasn’t the best time or the place for a personal conversation. “You promised you’d think about?—”
“I will,” he said quickly, cutting her off. “Not the guy the Chief sent me to, someone else, but I’ll do it.”
They stood frozen for a long moment, staring at one another. She could see the struggle in the way his hazel eyes darkened.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t,” he admitted. “You’ve dealt with trauma since you were a kid. I’ve been dealing with it for nine months. I can man up and get help. Plus, we’ve got Wren now. I know this isn’t how either of us expected to become parents. Well, guardians. But I want to do it right. To get better so I can be whatever she needs. Whatever both of you need.”
Emotion was thick and hot in Josie’s throat, but she didn’t have time for it now because as soon as she changed into clean, dry clothes, she had to walk out the door and do her job. She went for flirty instead. “Well, you are going to get very lucky later.”
The full-wattage grin he gave her turned her knees to jelly, tempering the mushy feelings threatening to unfurl inside her.
