15
Ben
“Bunny, please tell me you know who I am,” I ask when her eyes finally open. I cup her soft cheek in my hand. I carried her back to the office after she went and fainted on me. I’d barely caught her before she hit the damn ground.
“You’re my Benny.” She smiles for a moment, then it drops away as she tries to sit up and see where she is and what the hell happened. I can see it all coming back to her in a rush this time. Her face pales at the memory.
“Pink?” she whimpers, tears filling her eyes.
Fuck me. My girl is too sweet and tender to go through this shit. I never should have let her out of my sight for even a second. I’d meant to give her a few minutes’ head start. She and Pink had been hopping up to the bakery a lot lately, but I’d gotten distracted on the phone with Knox for a few extra minutes.
“I’m here!” Pink pops up so Bunny can see that she’s okay. “Even got the goods.” She holds up the teal bakery box. Bunny’s mouth opens and closes. She wants to cry, but Pink cracking a joke when she shouldn’t be actually gets her tears to stop.
“Everyone is fine,” I reassure her. Not everyone, but anyone that matters.
“Hart.” I glance over my shoulder to see two uniformed police officers and Detective Juno come to the doorway of my office. I’d brought Bunny straight in here, thinking a more enclosed familiar space would help her when she woke up. She’s taken many naps on the sofa here while I’ve been at my desk.
“My gun is on my brother's desk. I need a minute.” I dismiss them, needing to make sure my girl is okay. The rest of the shit can wait until later.
“I’ll show you,” Kane says, motioning for everyone to get the hell out of my office. “We've got surveillance footage too. We keep camera footage on the front and back of this whole area.” He shuts the door to my office to give us a moment.
“I heard gunfire. Didn’t I?” She sits up a bit more. I tighten my hold on her, making it clear she’s not going anywhere that’s not my lap.
“Yeah, you heard gunfire. It was mine.” Her eyes widen. “That fucker is dead. No one else was hurt.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
“I thought I recognized him when I was in the bakery, but I couldn’t place him. I’d forgotten my wallet so I’d come back to get it. I was on my way back to meet Pink when he called my name.” Tears form in her eyes again. I wish I could bring that asshole back to life just so I could kill him all over again. “It’s then I finally put together who he was. I thought running into him was a coincidence at first, but then he started getting mad. Saying crazy things.”
“He’s the one who had you taken,” I tell her. “It’s over now.”
“I just don’t understand.” She chews on her bottom lip. I lean down and brush my mouth against hers to get her to stop before she hurts herself. I need to kiss her too. She melts into me. Some of the tension leaves her body.
“You don’t understand how someone might have become obsessed with you?” I run my finger down her jaw.
That’s what he was. I’ve had Knox digging into everyone around her, one by one checking people off the list. I knew it was someone who knew her. The law firm slowed us down. They had tighter security for all their computer systems. Too bad for them, I didn’t care if this had been handled illegally. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her.
I wasn't trying to find this person and toss them into jail. My world isn’t black and white like Kane’s. Not everything works that way. Hell, it’s why the government hired Knox and me half the time. They wanted information or something handled, and they didn’t want to know how it was done.
One by one, we’d plucked people off the list. Until we’d gotten to David. He was one of the partners' sons. From the outside, he was picture perfect. But no one is that perfect. The man had been stalking her from the very start. My Bunny didn’t give him the time of day. That really pissed him off.
He’d slept with a handful of the other women who worked in her same position. He just couldn’t have her. Which made her more appealing to him. Bunny might be shy and quiet, but she reads people. I don’t think she even knows she does it, but she has a very good sense of who to stay away from and who is safe. I bet growing up in the foster system taught her that from a very young age.
“He and I barely talked. He gave me the creeps.” She scrunches her nose.
“I’m obsessed with you, Bunny.”
“Better be,” she huffs, fighting a smile. She shifts in my lap. I let her slide over, and she straddles me. “I think we know I’m obsessed with you too. I’ve become one of those clingers.”
“Thought we talked about that.” I grip her ass. “Cling away.” She lets out a small laugh, resting her head on my shoulder. Her warm breath tickles my skin. I slip my hands up and down her back, rubbing her. Thankful that she’s okay and back in my arms. Knowing things could have been a lot different.
“Are you going to be in trouble for killing him?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that. I should have been more careful. I know I’m not supposed to go anywhere alone.”
“Bunny, you gave me a gift. As terrified as I was when I saw him pointing that gun at you, this worked out well. He gave me cause, and now I never have to worry about him trying to get near you again.”
“I worry it will haunt you.” She’s the one that’s been kidnapped and now held at gunpoint, and she’s worried about me.
“What was haunting me was knowing someone was out there obsessing over you. I reckon I’ll sleep better than I ever have now that he’s no longer a threat to you. He’s not the first man I’ve killed, Bunny.” She slowly lifts her head. A month ago, I would have been scared to tell my sweet girl that. Worried it would have made her look at me differently, but not now. Bunny’s love is unconditional.
“Your other job.” It’s not really a question.
“Not my job anymore.”
“Really? I don’t want you to quit because of me.”
“That’s too bad, Bunny, because I am.”
“What! No, you can’t.”
“I don’t want to do all that traveling. Not when I’ve got you at home. I’m not quitting because you want me to. I mean, I would in a heartbeat if you asked, but I’m quitting because I’d rather be home with you. Besides, I’m sure you’ll get pregnant at some point.”
Bunny’s cheeks start to turn red. I’ve had my way with her all over this office, and she still blushes for me.
“You going to give me babies?”
“I’d give you anything you asked for, Benny.”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” she says instantly. I shift her onto the sofa next to me. I can tell she wants back in my lap, but I need to do this now.
I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life. Gone on missions I wasn’t sure I’d come home from. I’ve never been more scared in my life than I was today. I now know what terror actually feels like. When I saw that gun pointed at Bunny, a fear that I’ve never known rose up in me. This small curvy girl is my whole world. Without her, nothing else matters.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the box before dropping to my knees beside the sofa. I open the box, revealing the large pear-shaped diamond. I knew she’d want something simple but different. It might be a bit bigger than she would have picked, but I want people to see it from fifty yards out easily.
“All I want is you,” I tell her. Tears roll down her cheeks. “Give me your hand, Bunny.”
“Oh!” She quickly lifts it, letting me slide it on her finger.
“Bunny, will—”
“Don’t ask,” she cuts me off. “You don’t have to. I picked you already. When you lifted me out of that trunk.”
“I love you.” I cup her face with my hands and kiss her.
“I love you too,” she gets out between kisses.
My Bunny will soon be a Hart. She’s always been mine.