CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
SKYE SAT ON THE FLOOR OF THE OFFICE, HER BACK BRACED AGAINST her oak desk, her legs curled beneath her, her bad leg aching. Duct tape cut into her wrists, which were bound behind her back. Her lip was cut and bleeding, a painful bruise forming on her cheek.
Klaus Mahler loomed over her, his arms and shoulders bulging with muscle. The Viking. The guy Daniel Henson had picked for Callie to marry.
Klaus’s big hand flew out and slapped her hard enough to make her ears ring. “I’m not going to ask you again. Where is she?”
Skye didn’t answer. She glanced at the other man in the office. Klaus called him Webb. Webb Rankin hadn’t been found after he’d fled the Children of the Sun compound, but there was an arrest warrant out on him for armed robbery. He was also a person of interest in the death of Sarah Simmons.
But Klaus had been arrested. How had he gotten out of jail?
Seconds ticked past. So far, Skye had refused to answer. No way was she letting this animal get his hands on her sister again.
Klaus’s wide palm connected with her cheek, knocking her into the side of the desk, and pain shot into her shoulder. “You’re pushing your luck, lady.”
“Go to hell, Klaus.”
The two men had broken into the office through a window in the employee lounge. Skye had been distracted, thinking of Edge, sick at the thought he had been in town for days and hadn’t bothered to call her.
By the time she’d realized she was no longer alone in the building, they had been on top of her. She had tried to fight them, but it was too late.
Webb moved closer. He was dark and menacing, with tats over every inch of his thick neck. “Let me have her, Klaus.” He grabbed his crotch. “I know how to handle a woman like her. Give me five minutes, I’ll have her begging to tell you anything you want to know.”
An icy chill raced along her spine. Webb had been one of the men who had beaten Sarah to death. He was a stone-cold killer. Klaus was just as bad.
The blond giant shook his head. “No way. You aren’t getting laid before I do.” Klaus wrapped a big hand around Skye’s throat and started to squeeze. “Where’s my woman?”
Skye couldn’t breathe. The last breath she’d taken was wedged in her throat. She gagged, fought to suck in air. Her chest constricted. She tried to break free of Klaus’s crushing grip, but he was too strong, and blackness hovered at the edges of her mind.
Klaus was going to kill her. She struggled to twist away, but his hold only tightened. Her lungs were starving for air. If she passed out, it was all over.
She started nodding, a last-ditch effort to stay alive. “All . . . right,” she managed to croak out.
Klaus loosened his hold. “Tell me!”
Air rushed into her lungs, and the mind fog slowly faded. She reached for the idea that she had been mulling over for the past ten minutes. She prayed she was doing the right thing.
“I’m waiting,” Klaus warned, looming over her.
“Callie’s . . . at a . . . party.”
“A party? What the fuck? Where?”
“Over at the . . . Fainting Goat.” She could imagine what was going to happen to these men when they went up against a roomful of former military elite. It was her best chance of staying alive, and with luck, Edge, Conn, Trace, and the rest of the Nighthawk crew would be able to handle the situation, protect Callie, and put an end to the threat these men posed.
Unless something went wrong.
Skye didn’t want to think about that.
Finally, Klaus let her go and backed away. He looked over at Webb. “I changed my mind. Go ahead. You can have her. Just make it quick.”
Oh, dear God! Skye summoned the last of her strength, preparing to fight as Webb jerked her up from the floor and started dragging her over to the leather sofa in the entry.
The only light in the office was the brass lamp on her desk. Webb hauled her into the shadows and shoved her down on the sofa, roughly groped her breasts though her cashmere sweater, started dragging up her long, dark green wool skirt, clothes she had chosen for Edge’s party, before she decided she couldn’t handle seeing him again.
Skye waited till the skirt was above her knees, then lashed out with her good leg, managing to kick Webb in the groin with her leather ankle boot.
“You bitch!” Hissing a curse, Webb’s hand went to his crotch, and he bent over in pain. Furious, he grabbed her ankle and jerked her off the sofa onto the floor, then drew back his boot to kick her in the ribs.
The blow never landed. Instead, Webb’s powerful leg went flying upward, knocking him off balance, his body landing hard on the floor.
Edge!
Klaus’s fist doubled up as he raced across the room to aid his friend. Swinging a hard punch Edge ducked, the Viking recovered and swung again, but Edge was ready. Whirling, he jumped and high-kicked Klaus in the face, sending him spinning backward to land hard against the wall.
Webb was back on his feet, gun in hand. Edge knocked the gun aside and punched Webb in the stomach hard enough to double him over; then Edge slammed the ridge of his hand against the side of Webb’s neck, hitting his carotid artery. Webb went down as if his legs had been cut off at the knees.
Klaus charged like a bull. Skye stuck her good leg out and tripped him as he ran past, and Klaus went flying. Edge grabbed his head as he staggered past and slammed it into the wall. Klaus and Webb were both down and out.
Skye looked up as Edge ran toward her. Crouching on the floor at her side, he pulled her into his arms.
“I’ve got you. Everything’s okay. They won’t hurt you again.” Dragging out his pocketknife, he cut the duct tape binding her wrists, eased her up from the floor and back into his arms. Skye could feel him trembling.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he repeated, then drew in a steadying breath. “I’m calling an ambulance. How bad are you hurt?”
Skye shook her head. “No ambulance. No way. I don’t need an ambulance—I’m okay.” She hurt all over, but it wasn’t pain that made tears well in her eyes. It was the way Edge was holding her, as if she were something precious, as if she was the most important person in the world.
He kissed the top of her head, eased her up to her feet, swept her up, and carried her over to the sofa.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” Hurrying to his desk, he opened a drawer and pulled out a handful of zip ties. In minutes, Klaus and Webb were cuffed, hand and foot, completely immobilized, and gagged with the same duct tape they had used to bind Skye. Edge called the police, told them the nature of their emergency, and gave them the names of the men who had broken into the office.
Edge returned to the sofa, sat down beside her, and eased her into his arms. “Looks like they roughed you up pretty good. We need to get you checked out.”
Skye shook her head. “I’ve got cuts and bruises, but my head’s okay, so no concussion. I’d rather just go home.”
He smoothed the back of his hand down her cheek. “Are you sure?”
“I’m all right.” She managed to smile. “I would have been in serious trouble if you hadn’t shown up when you did. How did you know I was here?”
“I didn’t. I looked for you at the party. When I saw you weren’t there and you didn’t answer your phone, I went to find you. You weren’t at your apartment, so I came here.”
He leaned down and pressed a very gentle kiss on her puffy lips, using extra care not to hurt her. “I’ve missed you.”
Blinking back tears, Skye glanced away. “Why didn’t you call?”
Edge caught her chin and gently turned her to face him. “I screwed up. I wanted to call. I wanted to see you more than anything in the world. But so much has happened since I left. I had so much to tell you, so much I wanted to say. But I . . .”
The tender look in his eyes sent hope into her heart. “But you . . . what . . . ?” Uncertainty rose. What was he going to say? What if he asked her to go back with him to Fort Campbell? She loved him so much she was afraid she would say yes.
“I wanted to get everything just right,” Edge said. “I was afraid I would only get one chance to convince you. I didn’t want anything to go wrong.” He took her hand, lifted it, and kissed her fingers. “But I waited too long and screwed everything up.”
There was something in his eyes she had never seen before. Something that made her heart squeeze painfully inside her. She thought that it might be fear, but there was nothing Edge Logan was afraid of.
She had to know—one way or another. “Maybe you didn’t screw anything up. Maybe you can say what you wanted to say, and everything will be all right.”
He tipped her chin up. “I want to kiss you so bad right now, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
Skye leaned into him, pressed her mouth over his, and just tasted. The little zip of pain was worth it.
When the gentle kiss ended, Edge looked at the two men tied and gagged on the floor. “I wish we were someplace else, anyplace but here.”
Skye started to tell him it didn’t matter where they were, only that he was there and they were together, but a hard knock sounded, rattling the glass in the front door.
Edge kissed her softly one last time and went over to let the police into the office.
* * *
Along with the cops, an ambulance arrived. EMTs pronounced Mahler and Rankin well enough to be taken into custody. They checked Skye out, cleaned and treated the cut on her lip and the tape burns from the bindings on her wrists. Nothing they could do about her bruised ribs and miscellaneous aches and pains from fighting off her attackers.
Two Denver PD detectives arrived to take their statements, one of them Zach Powers, the guy who had been with Callie on her twenty-first birthday. He wasn’t happy to find out Klaus was still stalking her.
“How did the bastard get out of jail?” Edge asked.
“Mahler posted bond,” Powers said darkly. “Unfortunately, the judge set some minor amount Mahler could easily afford to pay with the money he made from Henson’s drug operation.”
“Klaus was determined to find Callie,” Edge said. “I guess he figured Skye was his best chance of doing that. He got lucky and tracked her to the office.”
“Yeah, well, Mahler’s not getting out again. Callie’s safe. I give you my word on that.”
Interesting, Edge thought, catching the protective glint in the detective’s blue eyes.
Edge said little as he walked Skye back to her apartment. He still felt guilty for not calling her. None of this would have happened if he had. Or maybe it would have. He had yet to find out where he stood.
He took her key and opened her apartment door, waited till she walked inside, then closed and locked the door.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, still pissed every time he noticed the bruises on her face.
“Other than a few aches and pains, I feel okay.”
His stomach knotted at what could have happened if he hadn’t gotten there in time.
“I know you must be hurting. We don’t have to talk tonight,” he forced himself to say. “We can talk in the morning.”
“You’re leaving?”
“No! I mean, no.” No way was he leaving after what had happened. “I’ll sleep on the sofa,” he said, instead of finding out if Skye still wanted him, if there was a chance she loved him.
“You said there were things you wanted to say.”
A thousand things. He had no idea where to begin. “It can wait until you’re feeling better.”
“Can it?”
Edge looked at Skye’s beautiful face. To hell with it. He’d just tell her and be done with it.
“I love you. That’s what I wanted to say. None of the rest of it matters if you don’t feel the same way.”
Skye’s pretty green eyes welled. He could read the sadness there, and his chest clamped down.
“I love you, too,” she said. “You have no idea how much.”
Edge moved toward her, but Skye held up a hand. “I love you, Edge. But sometimes love isn’t enough. What I want out of life, and what you want—”
“I want exactly what you want. I want to stay in Denver and make a family with you. I want you to marry me, baby. Will you?”
The tears in her eyes spilled onto her cheeks, and Edge’s insides splintered. “Don’t say no. Please. At least hear me out.”
Skye’s voice trembled. “You have a chance to get your old life back, Edge. It’s what you’ve always wanted. Right now, you think you want to give that up, but what if you regret it later?”
Edge reached out and took hold of Skye’s hand, led her over to the sofa, and both of them sat down. He’d been hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but it was time for him to let her in, tell her what had made him the man he was.
“I lost my mom when I was a kid,” he said. “Kade loved the ranch, and that gave him a bond with my dad. Gage was obsessed with seeing the world. I don’t think he needed anyone until he met Abby. I was the youngest. I was the lonely one. I just accepted that I would always be alone and made the best of it. That’s the way it was until I joined the army. In the Green Berets I found a family again. I wasn’t alone anymore.”
He brought Skye’s hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I’m a different man now. I realized that when I went back to Fort Campbell. I have friends here. I’ve made a life here. I like the life I’ve made. I don’t need the army anymore. This is where I belong. Here in Denver, with you, honey.”
“Edge . . .”
“Say you’ll marry me, Skye. I’ll always be lonely without you.”
More tears washed down her cheeks. “Edge . . .” She went into his arms, and Edge held her, feeling the soft beat of her heart against the nervous beat of his own.
“I need you, baby. I love you so much.”
“Oh, Edge—I’ve loved you for so long.”
Everything inside him seemed to settle and return to the way it should be. Edge eased back to look at her. “Is that a yes?”
Skye gave him a teary smile. “It’s definitely a yes.” She kissed him, then stood and drew him to his feet. “I don’t want you to sleep on the sofa.”
“Are you sure? After fighting those two big goons, you have to be hurting.”
Her pretty eyes sparkled. “I trust you to be careful.”
Edge couldn’t stop a smile. He kissed her softly, then followed her into the bedroom.
Half his life, he had been searching for a home.
With Skye, he had finally found one.