Page 94 of Reacher
“Dammit, woman.” I tilted her chin up, so she had to look at me. “Of course I’m fucking marrying you. As soon as we’re well enough.”
“No. It has to be now.”
My stomach clenched, and I moved closer, gripping her chin in a tight grip now.
“What the fuck is going on? Is there something wrong? Are you fucking dying on me or something?”
Her breath caught in her chest, and she shot me a glare.
“Of course not, but… dammit, Reacher. We’re not getting any younger, and let’s be realistic, we may not have years together. I don’t want to waste a fucking minute. We both nearly died recently. Isn’t that enough of a reason to marry? Now? Before it’s too late?”
Holy fucking shit. “So this is about rushing things, so we don’t lose another minute together?”
I glanced down at her hands, clenching and twisting together.
“I’m scared, Reacher.”
I moved up beside her, and dragged her carefully into my lap, cradling her against my chest.
“Talk to me, woman. Tell me your fears, and I’ll kill every last one of them.” I hated seeing her like this. Where was my sassy, dangerous woman? Where was my feisty, quick-to-anger, fucking goddess? Had that bastard broken her this time?
She shuddered, pressing tight against me.
“When he told me you were dead, I wanted to die too. I didn’t realise until then, and I fucking should have. You’re mine. You’re the only reason I still want to exist, so why the hell would I want to go on without you?”
That sounded intense, and unlike her, but her words warmed my soul like a flash of burning heat.
“Hell, woman, Iamyours. And you’re fucking mine, you hear me?”
She shuddered and pressed closer to me.
“Can you handle it if we marry, but you can never claim me as your old lady? I don’t want us to put things off until we manage to convince them.”
And that was the whole point, right? Why the fuck would my brothers, my family, want to keep me away from the woman I need to be with.
“I’ll figure it out, woman. Trust me, yeah?” I knew the exact moment she fell asleep in my arms, because her body became heavier, and more supple against me. And I knew that the moment I could step away from her for five minutes, things were going to get fucking sorted, once and for all.
Thirty-Two
ReacherhadarrangedforTori to sit with me, like I couldn’t be left alone, like I was some burden that had to be baby-sat. The worst part was that he wasn’t wrong. I did need that. I needed it so fucking much.
Worse still was the fact that being apart from him, for even a few minutes was terrifying. I’d experienced, for a few hours, what life without him on this planet would be like. I knew I didn’t want that again. I couldn’t survive it.
“You’re dwelling. You shouldn’t dwell. Let me help you sit by the window, so you can get some sun.”
Tori was fretting, and somewhere, probably down in that creepy basement, Reacher was planting his fists into Raoul’s face. I’d wanted to be there, but when it came to it, I didn’t have the strength, or the courage, to go down there. Only now… Now I wanted to see it for myself.
“I need to go down there.”
Tori frowned at me. “Outside? It’d be good for you. I’ll help.”
I smiled grimly, as I pushed up from the bed, noting that the pinch of pain wasn’t as severe as before.
“Help me dress.” She did, and once I was wearing jeans, boots, and one of Reacher’s t-shirts, because although they’d fetched my cases, I felt better in something of his, we headed carefully for the door. I waited until we’d made it down the stairs, before I confirmed we weren’t going outside.
“You want to go where?”
I pointed to the hallway, which I knew led to a door, and that creepy cold space.
