Jill Shalvis - Time Out

But that faded fast as she caught sight of the man in dirty jeans and wrinkled shirt walking toward the field from the parking lot. He staggered a bit, but his eyes stayed focused on the diamond.

Martin, Sharee’s father.

Drunk.

Just what Sharee needed, for her father to humiliate her today.

Rainey moved towards him, wanting to run the other way, but she couldn’t let him ruin the game for Sharee. “Martin, wait.”

“Gettoutta my way.”

He smelled like a brewery and looked like he’d slept in one. “Did you come to see the game?” she asked.

“I came to see my daughter,” he slurred, blinking slowly like an owl. “She stole money from my wallet. She’s going to pay for that.”

Rainey’s gut tightened. “I have your money in my office,” she said, gesturing in the opposite direction of the field. No way was she letting him out there to embarrass Sharee.

Not that Rainey was going to take him to her office either. Hell, no. He was a mean drunk, and her unease had turned to fear. She led him around the side of the building, heading back toward the parking lot, her phone in her hand to call Rick for help if necessary, when suddenly she was slammed up against the brick building, hard enough that she saw stars. But that wasn’t her biggest problem. That would be the forearm across her throat, blocking her airway.

Her fear turned to terror.

“You told her to call the police on me,” Martin hissed, his fingers biting into Rainey’s arms. “Didn’t you, bitch?”

Bitch… It hadn’t been those kids who’d painted her car. It’d been Martin. Rainey blinked the spots from her eyes and looked around.

There was no one in sight. They were all watching the game. She wasn’t quite in view of the parking lot, and was out of view of the stands. In succeeding to get him away from the field, she’d screwed herself. “Martin, I can’t…breathe.”

“Because of you, Sharee called the police on me the other night. I went to jail, and lost my job when I couldn’t make bail.”

“You shouldn’t…hit her.”

Martin gave Rainey another shove against the brick wall, and her head snapped against it, hard. More stars. She’d have slid to the ground if he hadn’t been holding her up. He pressed harder against her throat and her vision shrank to a pinpoint. “Stay away from my kid,” he gritted out. “Stay away from me. You hear me?”

She heard him, barely, over the rush of blood pounding through her ears. Unable to draw a breath, she clawed at his hands.

“Answer me, bitch!”

She answered in the only way she could. With a knee to his crotch.

His scream was high-pitched, and thankfully very loud as he let go and they both hit the ground.

Martin bellowed in pain again.

Someone hear him, she thought. Please, someone hear…

Pounding footsteps sounded, and cool hands reached for her. “Jesus. Rainey. ”

Mark.

“I’ve got you,” he said firmly, pulling her against him, his voice raw with emotion. “I’ve got you, Rainey.”

There were others with him, the whole field by the sounds of it, but she could only sigh in relief as the spots claimed her.

RAINEY BLINKED AND found herself staring up at a white ceiling. She was in the hospital.

“You’re okay.” Mark’s voice, then his face, appeared in front of her, looking more fierce and intense than she’d ever seen him.

“You have a concussion,” he said. “And your windpipe is strained.” As was his voice. “You’re going to hurt like hell, but you’re okay.”

She nodded and held his gaze. It was blazing with bare emotion. She tried to say his name, but nothing came out.

“Don’t,” he murmured. He leaned over her, one arm braced at her far hip, the other stroking her hair back from her face. “Talking will just hurt.” Turning, he reached for a cup with a straw and helped her drink. “You’re supposed to just lie there quiet until morning,” he said.

She felt surrounded by him, in a really warm way. She swallowed and winced. “Martin-”

“In jail,” he said tightly, and dropped his head, eyes closed for a beat. Then he met her gaze. “You did great, Rainey. You took a really bad situation and handled it. Do you have any idea how amazing you are?”

“Did you win?”

He stared at her in shock for a beat, before an exhausted but warm smile crossed his face. “Yeah. I won.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “But not the game. We declared a tie. God, Rainey. I thought I’d lost you. I just found you and I thought you were gone.”

She remembered how he’d looked earlier, in his sunglasses, hat low over his game face, letting nothing ruffle him.

Nothing.

In fact, she’d never seen anything ruffle the man…except her.

She got to him. And there was a good reason for that. He loved her, too.

And if she hadn’t already been head over heels, she’d have fallen for him right then and there, even as she watched the pain and hurt flash in his eyes, neither of which he tried to hold back from her. “Sixty-five seconds,” he said. “You weren’t breathing for sixty-five seconds after we found you. I lived and died during each one of them.” He let out a breath. “Never again.”

Her heart stopped. Never again…?

“Never again do I want to be without you.”

Her heart had barely kicked back on when Mark cupped her face and peered deeply into her eyes. “I want to be with you tonight,” he said.

“Here in the hospital?”

“Here. And tomorrow night. The next night, too.”

She swallowed hard. “What happened to day-to-day?”

“It went to hell,” he said. “Do you have any idea how addicting you are? The minute I’m away from you I’m already thinking about the next time I’m going to see you. Touch you. Taste you.”

“That sounds like sex.”

“It’s always been more than sex, Rainey. Always. You said you love me.” He gently set his finger on her lips when she would have spoken. “That threw me. You throw me. You were unexpected, and you’ve changed my endgame. And then you-” His eyes burned hot emotion. She was surprised when he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face between her breasts, breathing deeply. “You could have died before I could tell you.” His grip on her tightened. It wasn’t something he’d ever done before, taking comfort from her instead of offering it. Eyes burning, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in even closer.

“I can’t remember my life before this summer,” he said, lifting his face. “Before you came back into my world. I don’t want to be without you, Rainey. I’ve known that for a while, before what happened to you today, but I guess I thought knowing it made me weak.”

And he wasn’t a man who had any patience with weaknesses, especially his own. She laid her cheek on top of his silky hair. “And now?”

He let her see everything he was feeling. “I don’t give a shit whether it makes me weak or not. You’re the only thing I care about. I love you, Rainey. I think I always have. You make me feel.”

“What do I make you feel?”

“Everything. You make me feel everything.”

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author Jill Shalvis has published more than fifty romance novels. The four-time RITA® Award nominee and three-time National Readers’Choice winner makes her home near Lake Tahoe. Visit her website at www.jillshalvis.com for a complete booklist and her daily blog.