Seth strains to hear. “What?”
She lifts her face, tears spilling from her eyes. “The mugger took my necklace.” Her hand moves to her throat. “My mother’s.”
Seth swears. He knew how special that necklace was to Lacey. That delicate gold locket she always wore, the lavalier that puddled in the hollow of her throat when they lay in bed together, naked, gulping air after one of their frantic hookups.
“Damn. I’m so sorry, Lace.”
Her lower lip quivers. “I should have let Sal have it. She would have taken better care of it.” Seth shakes his head, but before he can say anything, she goes on. “I fought back. I made him mad.” She closes her eyes, her brow creased in pain. “I should have been paying attention. I wasn’t—”
She begins to weep and Seth does the only thing he knows how to do. He gathers her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. He waits for resistance, for a defiant slap, maybe a hard right to his face, but instead, she grips his shirt and cries.
“Don’t do that,” he says hoarsely. “Don’t you fuckin’ dare blame yourself.” He kisses the top of her golden head. “You were doin’ your job and someone decided they were gonna wreck your entire world. That ain’t okay, Lace. And that ain’t your fault.”
He holds her close as silent sobs wrack her body.
He knows this will be a hell of a thing for Lacey to get over. He’s seen how Luke handled Sal’s trauma, and it won’t go away overnight. It’ll stick with her. She’ll break a thousand times over. She’ll break and Seth will be there. He won’t be anywhere else.
And that’s when he knows. He can’t leave her.
Lacey grips his shirt tighter, burrowing into his chest. “I thought he was going to kill me,” she whispers.
Seth swears darkly and pulls her deeper into his arms like he can shield her. Lacey’s voice rises, fever-pitched, distraught. “I thought it was over. I thought I was going to die, Seth.”
“Oh, Lace.” He hugs her close and then pulls back to stare into her eyes. “Well, you ain’t dead. You’re here, right?” He smooths a hand down the back of her head, her golden hair sifting through his fingers like silk. “You’re here and I got you.”
Tears roll down her cheeks. “I can’t get him out of my head. The way he came out of the shadows like a ghost. The way he smelled.” Her eyes close, her body a violent shudder. “The way he touched me.”
Seth’s heart stops. Just fucking flatlines.
He clears his throat. “Did he ...?”
He can’t bring himself to say it. What did he fucking do to you? Because he’ll find the bastard, track him down like a hound and hurt him tenfold. Whatever he did to Lacey, Seth aches to make him pay. To hurt him as much as he hurt her.
“No,” she says to his unasked question. She shakes her head, again and again. “No.”
A combination of relief and rage has Seth going weak. Relief that Lacey didn’t experience the worst thing a woman could experience, but still rage that she was made to feel unsafe. Violated. Hurt.
He closes his eyes. “Thank Christ.”
For a few long minutes, they stay like that, Seth holding her, letting Lacey’s emotions, her breaths, come down to calm, knowing it won’t be the last time she crumples. When her sobs have ebbed, Seth unfurls her from his arms. He cups her face, a strand of hair tangling between his fingers, and stares into her eyes. “You’re safe, Lace. I ain’t gonna let anything happen to you. Never again, do you hear me?”
He hopes she does. He wants her to know she won’t go through this alone. That he’s here with her.
Lacey shivers at his words, the tilt of her face leaving their lips only inches apart.
It’s instinct to comfort her and he leans in, brushing a soft kiss against her brow. Not a kiss of trying to take it further or get her in bed. A kiss to show here he is here. That whatever she wants, she’s got it.
And then, without a word, his lips are meeting hers. She whimpers, then kisses him back just as hard. Breathless. Desperate.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he says when she breaks the kiss with a gasp. Guilt crowds him and he curses himself. He should be caring for her, not kissing her. “I should go.” Before he can stand to leave, she grabs his shirt.
“No.” She bites her lip, clings tighter. Tears sparkle on her lashes. “Can you ... can you stay with me tonight? I don’t want to be alone.”
He hesitates.
Say no. Walk away. Keep your hands to your fuckin’ self.
But he can’t.
No matter what he does, he can’t let her go. Not when she’s looking at him like that, her expression so needy, so damn beautiful it carves up his heart.
“Please, Seth?”
In answer, he eases down onto the bed next to her. Slowly, Lacey curls up against his chest and snuggles down beside him. Like it’s habit.
Like this is how it should be.
Seth closes his eyes.
Like she’s his.