Page 44 of Vanished in the Mist
Kaden’s eyes darkened, the heat tinged with anger as he gently took her hand in his. “Please tell me he didn’t…that he didn’t—”
“Attack me?”
He nodded.
“He kissed me, or tried to. But I turned my head and told him to leave. The rest of it happened so fast I don’t remember all the details. He…shoved me under the water, grabbed my breast. I kicked and swam away. But he was a strong swimmer, too. He dove, pinned me to the bottom of the pool, yanked down my bikini bottoms and…” She drew a shaky breath. “I haven’t spoken about this to anyone besides my parents. And the police. And my therapist. Ever. Not even with my little sister, Cassidy.”
His hand was shaking now as he held hers, his thumb gently rubbing her palm in a soothing motion. “And you don’t have to tell me this, either. I don’t want you to relive something so awful.”
“I want to tell you. I want you to understand. He didn’t… The boy didn’t do what he wanted. My dad saw him from the kitchen window and dove into the pool. He jerked him off me and hauled him out. That’s when it happened.”
He frowned, his thumb stopping its soothing motions against her palm. “What happened?”
She drew a bracing breath before continuing. “When I pushed off the bottom of the pool to swim to the surface, my hair got caught in the drain. I don’t think that would happen in a modern pool, but it was an old house, with an old pool. My hair was long and…well, I woke up in the hospital. My dad had realized what was happening and grabbed a knife from the kitchen to free me. I don’t remember that part. I’d lost consciousness by then. But I do remember waking up with a really bad haircut.”
She chuckled but he didn’t smile back. His expression was a mixture of anger, shock and sympathy.
“That’s why you’re afraid of the water,” he said.
“Apparently. I haven’t been able to get near it since without feeling nauseous. My therapist at the time told me it was like riding a horse, that I needed to hop back on to get over my fear. But every time I tried… I couldn’t. So I gave it up. I never went near a pool again.”
“Please tell me the jerk who attacked and almost killed you got what was coming to him.”
“We had a security camera that caught everything. But I didn’t want to go to court, be victimized all over again. I’m sure his lawyer would have made me out to be some temptress or something equally stupid to justify his client’s actions. We settled out of court, kept it quiet, even though I promise you my dad wanted to kill him.” She smiled. “But that’s not why I told you. I told you because I trust you enough to tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me. Well, aside from Troy. He’s the second worst thing to happen to me. But that’s different. And I don’t even want to go there right now. Kaden, you say I deserve to be protected, cherished. You make me feel that way, already, just by being here, wanting to keep me safe. And by denying yourself something I would freely give, because you care about me. You’re worried that it will hurt me to spend a night in your arms when there’s no possibility of a future relationship. But isn’t that my decision to make?”
“Shanna—”
“We don’t know what the future holds. But I do know how I feel tonight, right now. I care about you, too. Hold me, Kaden. Cherish me. Make me forget everything else if only for a night. Erase the hurts, the pain, the struggles. Love me, Kaden. Even if one night is all we ever have.”
He made a strangled sound deep in his throat. Then she was in his arms, cradled against his chest as he carried her into the bedroom.
Chapter Sixteen
We’re here. Dawson’s getting ready to head back to town.
Shanna read Kaden’s text then tossed her phone onto the kitchen table and jumped up to put her shoes on. Last night in Kaden’s arms had been incredible. Saying goodbye this morning had been torture. Waiting all day, closed up in the cabin with just her investigative folders and the internet to keep her company, had been a study in boredom. Normally an investigation got her excited, pumped. But she’d grown used to Kaden being around. Without him, she’d been…lost.
What that meant to her future happiness once they parted wasn’t something she even wanted to contemplate. After all, Kaden had warned her. She knew there was no future for them, and agreed that giving up their businesses and moving wasn’t going to happen. But that didn’t make it any less hard to even think about saying goodbye.
Which was why she refused to think about it right now.
She shoved that unpleasant thought to the back of her mind and hurried out the front door and down the porch steps to the side where the vehicles were parked. She had a big smile on her face for Kaden. But his back was to her and it was Chief Dawson who saw her first. His eyes widened, then he grinned knowingly as she forced herself to slow her bouncy steps and dim her smile.
“Hello, Shanna. Good to see you again.”
“Chief.” She barely managed a nod before heading to Kaden. She stopped a few feet away as he turned around.
His mouth curved in a sexy, glad-to-see-you smile. “Hey, there.”
“Hey, yourself. I thought you, um, both of you would never be done with your search. How did it go?”
His smile faded. “Not too well. But it wasn’t a complete bust.”
“What do you mean?”
He motioned toward Dawson.
Dawson leaned back against his SUV. “We found the clearing that Peyton described. Apparently, her group isn’t the only one that has bonfires out there. I’m guessing the current senior class does as well since there are plenty of signs of recent activity. Finding something of evidentiary value there is a nonstarter. But it does corroborate Peyton’s story, which helps with building a chargeable case. But Kaden’s sonar search didn’t come up with anything, not for lack of trying. He scanned all over that cove and ended up diving for several hours to check out some of the structures under the water in case sediment had covered up any remains.”
