Radclyffe - Sheltering Dunes

“No. She didn’t call me. She didn’t tell anyone. But she left a note. A note that said she knew God wouldn’t forgive her for what she’d done, but she didn’t believe God would forgive her for who she was either.”

“Oh man, that’s bad. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t see it coming.” Flynn rubbed her face. “If I’d suspected, if I’d had the slightest idea what she might do, I could have stopped her. But I let her walk out, pleased that we were making progress. Pleased that I’d helped her. When I had utterly and completely failed her.”

“Being a priest,” Mica said softly, “that makes you a mind reader too, huh?”

“I should have known, Mica. I should have known and I didn’t.” Flynn’s chest constricted with the agony of her failure. “My arrogance, my pride, blinded me to her need. I failed her.”

“You did what you could—if she’d come to you, you would have helped her. It’s not all on you.” Mica shifted closer and slid her arm around Flynn’s shoulders. She tugged and Flynn rested her head on her shoulder. “You can’t save everyone, you know.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Flynn murmured. “But if you don’t try, what’s the point of anything?”

“Do you think you can save me?” Mica asked.

“If you’re in need of saving, you’ll do it yourself. You’re plenty strong enough.” Flynn tilted her head and met Mica’s gaze. “I don’t want to be your savior. I’m no one’s savior.”

“That’s good, because I don’t want you to be my priest.” Mica kissed Flynn slowly and thoroughly. “Even if you are one, no matter what you say about it. You can walk away from your life if you want to, but you can’t change who you are. Didn’t they teach you that?”

Chapter Twenty-three

What do you think?” Reese asked.

Tory snuggled closer, her cheek pressed to Reese’s chest, one of her favorite positions. She loved listening to Reese’s heart. The steady, strong, unwavering beat, so much like Reese herself. She pressed a kiss to one of the many scars that were so much a part of Reese too. She might never be able to overlook them, but she understood them. She understood Reese’s need to put herself between those she loved and danger. Reese had been raised in a military family to be a soldier, and she lived the concepts that were to so many only theoretical. The words “honor” and “duty” shaped the horizons of Reese’s life and guided the actions of every day, in her family, in her job, in her dreams. Tory hadn’t expected to find a woman she could count on to be there, physically and emotionally, unendingly. The price she paid for that incredible gift was the ever-present fear that one day Reese wouldn’t come home. Joy almost always overshadowed her dread, relegating the agony to the distant recesses of her consciousness, but every morning when Reese left the house, some small part of her worried over what evil Reese would face that day and if she would put herself in the line of fire rather than let even the life of a stranger be at risk. “What do I think about what?”

“The little swimmers.” Reese stroked her hair. “Did we hit a home run?”

Tory laughed. “Well, we certainly gave them a good send-off.”

“Oh, I know I got my part right.” Reese chuckled, a comforting rumble that chased away the whisper of sadness. “A couple of times.”

“Your part. Oh really? All on your own?” Tory slapped Reese’s stomach, and muscles sang beneath her fingertips. She loved Reese’s body, the soft swell of her breasts, the taut stretch of her abdomen and thighs. She skimmed her fingertips in slow circles over the ridges and valleys and lines of past battles, other moments when she could have lost her. But she hadn’t lost her. Reese was hers. “In addition to your stellar performance and out-of-the-park winning hits, I have this feeling…”

Reese sucked in a breath. “A feeling? What kind of feeling?”

“There’s this thrumming deep inside. A kind of knowing. It feels a lot like coming home to you—comforting, peaceful, exciting.”

“That’s good, then.” Reese kissed her. “That’s great. I can’t wait until I can feel him.”

“Him?”

“Reggie asked for a brother.”

“Um, darling? She’s not two yet. Are you sure she said that?”

“Positive.”

Tory laughed. “You’ll need to tell her that’s not the kind of thing you can just order up. Even if you do think you can make the world spin just for her.”

“I don’t—spin, huh? I suppose if she asked me to—”

“You’d find a way.” Tory smiled. “I’m a little older this time around. It might be a little harder hitting that home run.”

Reese tightened her arms around Tory. “I haven’t noticed any difference. You’re still just as beautiful, just as hot, and just as sexy as ever. I’m not worried, but the nice thing about all of this is if we have to try again, it’ll be a hell of a lot of fun.”

Tory pushed up on her elbow and traced the outline of Reese’s mouth. Outside the window, the sun had climbed high in the sky. They weren’t going to sleep again. She had work waiting in the office. And ever since Reese took over as chief, she went in before the day shift started, no matter how late she’d worked the night before. The day was upon them, but right now, right this moment, she could pretend that time was all theirs. She kissed Reese. “You make me feel like the most cherished woman in the world. I don’t think I can tell you what that means to me.”

Reese framed Tory’s face and ran her thumbs along Tory’s jaw. The simple caress set Tory on fire.

“Before you,” Reese said, “a huge part of my life was just waiting to happen, and I didn’t even know it. I thought I was complete. I thought I was happy. I didn’t know there was a difference between satisfaction and happiness. I didn’t know what it meant to be fulfilled. You gave me happiness—you gave me a future that was filled with something other than war and death. You gave me Reggie, and soon, you’ll give me another gift that I’ll never have a way to thank you for.”

“You know there’s no thank you in love, right? You give, I give. That’s how it works.”

“I think that might be one of those lessons I’m not gonna be very good at learning.”

“We’ll work on it.” Tory slid on top of her and eased her thigh between Reese’s legs. She wanted her. Not to make a baby, but to celebrate who they were together. “I love you.”

Reese cupped her ass and pulled her tighter against her leg. The strength in Reese’s hands, the ease with which Reese took control, sent pleasure surging through her. Tory moaned, losing focus for a second. “I love—”

Reese’s phone rang and Tory closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against Reese’s shoulder. “Answer the damn thing.”

“Sorry.”

Tory chuckled. “Me too. Maybe we’ll still have time. If not, later.”

“Yeah. That’s a good thing about being married.” Reese slid her hand under Tory’s hair and clasped her neck as she reached for her phone with the other hand. “We’ll always have another time.”

Tory clung to that thought, needing to believe there would always be another moment when Reese was completely hers.

*

“Conlon.”

“Sorry to call so early, Chief. This is Detective Lieutenant Rebecca Frye—Philadelphia PD. I just spoke with Officer Tremont, and I believe you’ve got a person of interest up there in a case we’re working.”

“That would be the Butler girl.”

“That’s right. We believe her to be Mia Gonzales, the girlfriend of Hector Guzman, the present leader of MS-13 in our region. That would make her the highest-ranking female in the organization.”