He kept his hands firm and steady on her hips as he stroked them both into a climax that let her fly free and as high as she wanted to go, keeping her safe and secure until she was ready to come back to him.
He raised a gentle hand, stroking her cheek. Her expression was open and filled with a surrender that no woman who lived through what she had due to her father’s cruelty should be capable of showing. Her fragile spirit should have been damaged beyond repair, yet she looked at him with such a wealth of love that no money on earth could buy. It was priceless. Her father had had her love, yet he’d been so busy chasing the next big score that he destroyed Zoey’s love for him until there was nothing left. He had the greatest treasure within his reach all along. Zoey.
“What?” She placed her hand over his on her cheek.
“Nothing.”
“I thought I heard you say my name.”
He gently straightened her, placing her feet back on firm ground. “Your mother was wrong. You are the most precious thing on earth.”
Flushing, she hugged him, but he could see she didn’t believe him.
“I need to get back to my office. I’m late for my appoint—”
“Just one more minute. There’s something I want you to see first.” He turned her around so she could see the church on the corner of the street. “Watch,” Stump said as he moved to the side so he could look at her reaction.
“Stump, I really—”
When the church bells started ringing, her mouth dropped open in awe at the sight that followed it.
“Are those doves?”
“Yes, they had a wedding today.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“That’s how you look to me.”
Her gaze dropped from the sky to his. Her eyes filled with tears as she stepped back into his arms.
“Stump, before I found you, I never realized how lost I was. When I bought the map to choose what city to move to, I didn’t know it was leading me to you.”
His throat tightened at how close he had come to never knowing her.
“Do you still have it?”
“I think I do.”
“Then I want it. You’re never going to need it again.”
24
Zoey opened her eyes to pitch-blackness. She had dozed off after checking on Mrs. Combs.
She tensed in fear when she realized the dim light that she kept on in the kitchenette was off and inwardly sensed someone was in the room with her and Mrs. Comb. That must have been what had awakened her.
She was used to the nursing staff coming in to check on her patient. That wouldn’t have disturbed her into waking. It was the light going off in the kitchen.
Making sure she kept her breathing light and even, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness as she listened to any sound in the room.
“I know you’re awake, bitch.”
The gravelly voice had terror spiking, sending her jumping up and running, not to the door, but to Mrs. Combs’ bedside so she could press the emergency button on the railing of her bed. The red light went on over her bed. However, her relief that the staff would come running from the nurses’ station downstairs was short-lived when a mocking laugh rang out just a few inches away from her.
“You don’t think I’m that stupid, do you? I took care of the two nurses and the aid before I came in here.”
“The guard—”
“He won’t be coming either. He can’t, you stupid cunt.”
Zoey tried to circle around the bed. She almost made it when a vicious shove sent her to the floor. Then a kick to her ribs had her huddling into a ball to protect herself.
“Who are you?”
Another kick had her wheezing to get her lungs working again.
“Shut the fuck up! I told you to stay away from her!”
Shock had her holding the pain at bay as she crawled under the hospital bed to avoid getting kicked again.
“From whom?” She tried to keep him talking so she could distract him long enough to make a run for the door. She waited with bated breath for him to speak again.
“From Ginny.”
When she heard his voice by her head, she realized he had lowered himself to the ground next to her. The revelation sent her mind into turmoil at the reason she had drawn the attention of a madman. It had nothing to do with her or her posts. It had been about Ginny all along.
Scooting backward, she kicked and clawed at the hands that reached for her. Then she jumped to her feet as soon as she was out from under the bed, darting toward the door and praying that she was heading in the right direction
She sobbed when she felt the wooden door under her fingertips. Scrambling for the handle, she heard him cursing when he ran into the chair she had been sitting on.