Page 84 of Noel Secrets
He vowed to keep her safe. He wanted desperately to hold and kiss her, but her safety had to be his focus right now.
He would keep praying the love and kissing could someday be another gift from God. Right now he was grateful Addie’s life had been preserved and would fight to keep her safe. No one would take her from his arms.
Chapter Eleven
Addie was confused and horrified. The only thing that felt solid and safe and right was Price. Addie clung to his strong shoulders as he ran away from her destroyed and still burning home. She could see the fire growing even as Price protected her.
He darted up the porch steps of the Blotters’ rental house and set her on her feet on the porch. The cold seeped through her socks. Thankfully Price kept an arm around her or she would have fallen over. She could feel his body shaking as he typed in a code on the door. It must have been wrong because he let out a low oath and then typed it again. The door finally buzzed, and Price swung it wide and escorted her inside.
Addie could hardly think straight. The boom still rang in her ears and she was seeing black spots, semi-blinded by the light from the explosion.
She’d been getting ice from the fridge when the world, or more accurately her home, exploded. She was tossed like a ragdoll against the open freezer. Her body was sore and her mind full of terror. Someone had tried to kill her. That was the only explanation she could come up with for her master bedroom blasting into a million pieces of wood, sheetrock,and her material possessions. Everything in her bedroom and bathroom was probably ash. Maybe even her entire home.
Slamming the door, Price typed in another code and then flipped on the light switch. Addie stared at the living area, not really seeing anything. Price. He was all she wanted to see. All shecouldsee. Price Sanderson was her dream man, and he had just pledged to keep her safe. She’d felt that vow through every cell and was grateful for him and for the good Lord bringing such a man into her life.
Price turned her to him. His hands trembled on her arms as he assessed her. “Addie. I can’t … I’m so grateful. It’s a miracle. Still … how did you survive a bomb like that?”
She’d never seen Price unsettled.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she explained, “so I was in the kitchen getting a glass of ice water. I was thrown against the fridge, but ...” She shook her head, trying to make sense of all of this. “If I’d been asleep, if I’d been in my bedroom, I’d be dead.” Her entire body started trembling again. It was a miracle, and she was grateful just as Price had said.
“Oh, Addie.” He gathered her close and tenderly kissed her forehead. “I have never been so scared in my life. When the sensor went off, then I saw the black shadow behind your house on the camera, I sprinted for you and called Thayne, but I couldn’t get there fast enough. Then your bedroom exploded. I thought you were dead. I’ve never been so scared.” He buried his face in her hair and his body shuddered.
Addie didn’t know what to think. Price was the only thing that was real and safe, and his concern was heart-warming. “You were in the military for twenty years,” she reminded him, trying to ground herself and talk normally. “You work fortheAiden Porter. You’ve seen much more terrifying things than a house being bombed.”
She wanted to fall over. It washerhouse that had been bombed. How had that happened?
“Yeah.” Price’s dark eyes seared into her and all the other worries disappeared. “But none of those ops involved the woman that I …” He cleared his throat. “Have fallen for.”
Addie’s eyes widened. All the horror and shock seemed to float away as Price’s strong arms surrounded her and lifted her close to him. He’d promised not to leave her side and to protect her. He’d admitted that he’d fallen for her.
She tugged him down, arching up to kiss him and show him she felt the same. Their lips met, and joy and peace filled her. She was safe. She was happy. She didn’t have any trust issues or fears. Price took all of that away. This was the man she could trust and love … hopefully her entire life. Heaven above had brought him into her life just when she needed him and she’d be forever grateful.
Price pulled back far too soon, and she registered the buzzing against her hip. He pulled out his phone and held it up. “Thayne,” he explained.
Addie nodded. He swiped the call on and started talking fast, telling the detective where they were and what had happened from Price’s point of view. Addie wrapped her arms around herself, chilled without him holding her close. She was a mess, and no one could blame her. Almost killed. Her house destroyed. Thank heavens for Price being there.
She was only half-listening, her mind distracted by her near-miss with death and all the feelings surging through her for Price. She could finally trust a man to protect her, to be there for her, be honest with her, maybe even love her.
Price’s conversation with Detective Thayne didn’t make a whole lot of sense, so she tuned it out. He was talking about the cameras and sensors he had set up and how grateful he was that Addie had been in the kitchen and how he should’ve called andwarned her. He kept glancing at her, his brow wrinkled. Instead of the pledge to protect her and the depth of feelings she’d seen in his eyes after he carried her from her burning home, that conflict she’d glimpsed was back a hundredfold.
What was he talking about with the detective? It seemed to have him concerned for her, or maybe for their relationship. Price had said something about cameras and sensors earlier to her as well, but she hadn’t thought much about it because of all that was going through her scrambled brain.
Addie glanced around the room and zeroed in on the monitors set up next to the laptop computer on his table. Slowly, she padded toward them, feeling unsteady and confused and full of questions. The images on the screen were burning. Was there a fire at his client’s house too?
She kept moving forward, in a trance like a moth to light. The cameras revealed angles of a beach house with a front porch like hers. Did they also have a two-thousand and twenty Honda Accord parked out front? She peered at the screens, confused.
“Addie.” Price’s voice behind her was a warning. She expected him to say, ‘Don’t look.’ Part of her didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to understand what Price and Detective Thayne were talking about.
He didn’t say anything else, and she didn’t stop or turn around or close her eyes.
She reached the small table and stared at the camera angles. Angles of her own house. It washerhouse Price had camera angles of. Her beloved home was burning. It wasn’t a surprise, but it was sickening. Fire trucks were there, and firefighters were angling hoses at her bedroom. She wanted to puke. She loved her house, but even more important … she’d almost been blown to bits. Whoever had sent her those threatening notes had tried to fulfill his threats.
The fact that she’d almost died and she might lose everything of earthly value to her registered, but even more strongly was the blaring realization …
Price’s warm hands wrapped around her arms, and he gently pulled her back into his chest. She wanted to lean back, but something kept her rigid. Every cell in her body wanted to lean into his strength and let him love and protect her.
Every cell except her brain. A confused brain, but also a brain that was realizing like a slap to the face that she’d been lied to. She’d been betrayed by the man she’d been falling for, the man she’d thought a few minutes ago she could trust and love like no one else.
