3. Leo

3

Leo

I check on Fable for the third time in fifteen minutes. Her breathing is still soft and even, telling me that she’s getting some well-needed sleep. I didn’t miss the dark circles under her eyes. She’s been through hell. I just wish I knew what it was.

I pace away from the door and back into my living area. I want to push her, make her tell me there is no man in her life. The truth is it doesn’t matter. If there is a man, he failed to keep her safe. Hell, he could even be the asshole who hurt her.

Fisting my hands, I close my eyes and count back from twenty. Then I do it again. I had a real problem with rage when I separated from the military. My last mission was…well, it went completely FUBAR from beginning to end. It left me with some issues and a medical discharge. I had to work with a therapist to get my rage under control, and I had until I met Fable.

How could someone hurt a woman like that? I was brought up to revere women to make sure they were protected. Whoever it was, he left her on the side of the road, battered, and broken. As my irritation starts to spike again, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and see that it’s Frank calling.

“Yo, Leo, how’s the woman doing?”

“She’s fine.”

“Good. I went through the area and surrounding counties' reports and couldn’t find anything. Want me to cast a wider net?”

“Yeah, but Frank, don’t inform anyone about her.”

There’s a beat of silence.

“I did put that post on the site.”

“Well, yeah, but other than that.”

A heavy sigh sounds over the phone.

“What did you do?”

“I told Mirabelle.”

I roll my eyes. Mirabelle is Frank’s wife, his former high school sweetheart, who is also our dispatcher.

“That’s fine. Just make sure she doesn’t spread the information around about the woman.”

I hear a noise behind me and turn and promptly lose my ability to think. Frank is yammering on in my ear about something, and I don’t hear a word of it. Instead, my entire focus is on Fable, who is standing there wearing my shirt. It’s huge on her, but the knowledge that she doesn’t have anything on beneath it has my head feeling light as all the blood drains to my dick.

Mine.

There’s that word again. This woman is my other half, the one to make me complete.

“Listen, Frank, just try to keep a wrap on it because we don’t know what happened. We have no idea who the assailant was.”

“Okay. Where are you keeping her?”

“At my house.”

Another beat of silence.

“What?”

“It’s just that…well, everyone knows that you never have a woman over at your house. Now you take this strange woman there. People are going to talk once they find out.”

“Let them, as long as we keep this all under wraps for the next few days while Fable tries to figure out what happened.”

“Okie dokie.”

“Also, I have her bracelet. We need to have it dusted and see if there is any chance to pull DNA off it. It might take a while to get it back, but I want to do everything we can.”

“You got it, boss. I’ll come out there and get it from you. Devon is here to take over the calls.”

Shit. I’m supposed to be on call, but Frank is a mind reader today.

“You need to take care of our charge. Better to have you on her twenty-four hours a day than have you back here. Nothing going on right now anyway.”

After I hang up, I smile at Fable. “Feel better?”

She nods. “Although my head is starting to really pound. But I need to take my medicine with food.”

“Good thing I made stew.”

She smiles at me, and I feel as if the angels are singing my name. “I thought I smelled something delicious.”

“Well, we need to be careful. You might be allergic to something that we don’t know about.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh, I didn’t think about that.”

I nod. “No worries. I have an epi-pen if we need it. I’m allergic to peanuts, so I always have one.”

“I’ll just go get dressed.”

“You can stay in that.” Please stay in that.

“Well, either way, I need to do something with this.” She motions to her hair.

“Don’t feel like you need to, but if you want to, I’ll get this all ready.”

“I was wondering if I could take a shower.”

“Of course. Come on. I’ll show you where everything is.”

She follows me, and when we get into the bathroom, I show her where the towels are. When I see the extra toothbrush in the cup on the vanity, I feel something warm and happy in my chest. It’s a sign that my life is changing, and I like it. Of course, she has no idea about it, but we’ll get to it as soon enough.

“I’ll get the biscuits made and just come out when you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Sheriff.”

“Leo.”

She offers me a shy smile. “Leo.”

Hearing my name on her lips has me taking her into my arms and sliding my hands down her body, pressing every luscious curve against my hard body.

I bend my head and brush my mouth against hers, liking the way she trembles in my arms. She’s not scared, or I don’t think she is. Instead, I feel a wave of desire as her tongue slips out and traces the seam of my lips. My eyes roll back in my head from the shot of pleasure that hits me from that simple move. I groan, backing her into the bathroom, my hands slipping over her ass and pulling her up against my groin. I’m so fucking hard I’m about to bust out of my jeans.

Then I remember the poor woman was left for dead, that she is under my care, and I break the kiss.

“I’m sorry.”

She lifts her hand to her lips, tapping her fingers against her swollen mouth. Then, she looks up at me, dropping her hand.

“I’m not.”

This woman is going to kill me. I’m not sure how long I can survive with no blood in my brain. I curl my fingers to keep from reaching out to her. She needs space, and I can’t take advantage. I’ve been raised better than that.

“Take your time, Angel.”

Then I slip out of the bathroom, leaving her to her shower. The idea that she’s going to be in there completely naked, water sluicing down her soft flesh…fuck.

I force myself away from the door and back into the kitchen. My mother would smack me upside the head for behaving the way I did. Thinking of my mother apparently works on my dick, at least for now. My erection goes down, and I can finally think straight again. I throw together some biscuits. My mother didn’t have any daughters, just me, so she gave me all the family recipes. A southern girl who fell for an airman, she brought all her great southern recipes with her.

Thinking of my mother has me worried. If she hears about this, she’s going to be over here in a minute, wanting to meet the woman. I don’t mind, because I aim to marry Fable, but she could make things more difficult. I want her to meet her future daughter-in-law, but my mother is…a lot. I love her, but she’s definitely the handful my father calls her.

I brush that thought aside. I make quick work of the dough, trying my best to concentrate on the task at hand instead of the beautiful woman in my shower. Soon, I’m slipping the pan into the oven.

“Wow, you made them from scratch?”

I turn and find her standing there, wearing the new shirt I left for her. She’s combed her long mahogany hair back from her face, and she’s flushed from her shower.

“Are you feeling okay?”

She nods. For a moment, I stand there staring at her. I had no idea how much my life would change when my phone rang today. Life will never be the same because of this slip of a woman.

I pull myself out of my thoughts. “And yes, I did make them from scratch.”

“That’s impressive,” she says as she pads over to me. She’s such a little thing that I get angry all over again about what happened to her.

“It’s easy.”

She nods, but she doesn’t look convinced.

“I promise. My mother taught me.”

She blinks, and then her smile fades.

“Did you remember something?”

She licks her lips, then sighs. The sound is so lonely that I want to pull her into my arms, but I resist, barely.

“No, not really. Just a feeling.”

“What feeling is that?”

“When you talked about your mother. I just felt sad. I’m not sure what that means.”

I hear the anguish in her voice, and I can’t help but pull her into my arms. Much like before, I rock her, kissing the top of her head and brushing my hand up and down her spine.

She relaxes into me, pressing her breasts up against my body as I feel a shudder move through her. Of course, my dick has no control over his reaction, and he comes up to attention, pressing against the zipper of my pants.

I pull back and look down at her. “Are you okay now?”

She nods.

“Go have a seat while I get everything else ready.”

She offers me a smile as she sits down at the table. I pull in a big breath and get her a bowl of soup. I set it down in front of her, and she smiles up at me.

“Thanks, Leo.”

Just hearing her say my name has heat lapping up my spin and my dick twitching.

This is going to be one long meal.