Bennett nodded, but he was stiff. She pressed her face into his neck. His skin felt like ice. She pressed closer and held on.
* * *
It was latewhen Bennett let Hadley into his penthouse. After the chaos of the wedding, it’d taken some time to set things straight.
The injured had been taken to hospital. The shocked guests were calmed down. Shade and Hellfire had melted back into the shadows, and Kitty was back in custody. The bodies of the dead mercenaries and Paul had been taken away.
They’d left David to deal with the rest of the cleanup.
Bennett had stood over Hadley while a paramedic had checked her out. After some ice on her cheekbone, she’d insisted that she was fine. She’d wanted him to go to the hospital to get his torso checked, but he’d refused.
She was still in her pink dress, the skirt of it smeared with dirt and mud.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Lights on.” He dropped his keys on the hall table.
He was numb right now. He felt like he was made of ice inside. It had started spreading from the moment he’d realized who Westley was.
Seeing Paul alive, knowing what had happened to him… Bennett’s chin dropped to his chest. Paul had been a part of Bennett’s team, and Bennett had failed him.
He pulled in a shuddering breath.
I hope you’ve found your peace now, Paul.
And Bennett hoped, in time, he could work through everything that happened and accept it.
Warm hands cupped his cheeks. “Bennett?”
Hadley’s beautiful face was in front of him, worry in her eyes.
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “Eventually.”
“Talk to me. How do you feel?”
“Numb. Cold inside. Paul…”
“It’s terrible what happened to him. But he was wrong to blame you. And everything he did was wrong. You can’t purge your pain by inflicting it on others.”
Bennett slid his arms around her. “How do you purge it?”
“It takes time.” She leaned closer, her breasts pressed to his chest. “It takes leaning on others who care about you. It takes mulling it over and putting all the pieces together the best you can. It takes love.”
His heart thumped hard.
“Now, I’m going to take care of you, Mr. Knightley.” She took his hand in hers, and pulled him toward the bedroom.
In his bathroom, she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off. She helped him remove his vest and he shoved his trousers off.
He stood there in black boxer briefs, and saw her stare at his chest and sucked in a breath.
The bruises weren’t pretty.
“I’m alive,” he reminded her.
She nodded. “I hated watching him shoot you.” She leaned forward and pressed gentle kisses over the bruising. “When he had me, I knew you were coming for me. I know you’ll always come.”
His hands clenched on her hips. “Always, Hadley.”