Dining for Love

30. Reid

Chapter 30

Reid

I COME TO with a start, jerking upright and feeling for my pistol.

“Easy, tiger,” Willa says, smiling beside me.

That smile. Christ . I thought I’d never see it again. We’re outside, and I’m on a stretcher. I relax, then wince. “My head.”

“Yeah, Thompson really got you good,” Willa says. “But don’t worry, I gave him a taste of his own medicine.”

“Yeah?” I greedily drink her in. “I love you.”

Her face softens, then she smiles. “You sure that’s not just the head wound talking?”

“No. I love you. I should have said something long before now. I think I’ve loved you from the second you yelled at me about the burger.”

She laughs softly, and that’s when I see the tears.

“Is everyone okay?”

She blows out a breath. “Mostly, yeah.”

“Thompson,” I start, then try to sit up. My head spins, but I push through the pain. “I’m going to kill him.”

Willa smirks at me, then holds out a hand to help me sit upright. “I don’t think police officers are supposed to say things like that.”

Once I get upright, I blink a few times, letting my vision clear. “Doesn’t mean I still don’t want to.”

“Fair. The paramedics are working on the others.” Then she gives me the rundown: Thompson and a guy that Ox chased down are in the back of the cruiser, and the guy Thompson shot is being treated en route to the hospital. Her family is shaken, but physically okay. Tom and Jerry, who caused the initial ruckus that launched everything into motion, are their usual rowdy selves and are probably already plotting how to make themselves look like the heroes in this whole thing.

“And you?” I look her in the eyes, searching for a sign.

She swallows. “You need your head checked.”

My heart drops, but I let her hand me off to the paramedic. I squint at the guy. “You’re new.”

He smiles and pulls out his flashlight to check my eyes. “I’ve heard you’re pretty new to town as well. I’m Aaron Joseph. My wife just got a job as the superintendent of schools down here, so here I am.”

I nod. “You’ll love it here.”

He hums, then takes me through an examination. After he’s done, he pulls his gloves off. “You’ve got a concussion; that’s obvious. You could use a scan?—”

“No.” My reply is immediate and leaves no room for discussion.

Aaron laughs. “Yeah, I figured. It’s mild. No working for a couple of days. Nothing physical. You know this drill, I suppose?”

“I do.”

Ox reappears. “Thompson’s responsible for everything.”

I thank Aaron and join Ox on the sidewalk. Willa stands a bit away, talking with her family.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I answer, “but I’m gonna need you to explain that.”

“Turns out that Thompson is one of the Bunnies’ informants.” Ox’s voice is deadly calm, and frankly, it’s a little terrifying.

“Explain,” I say again. “And give me a good reason for mysterious bruises not to end up on his face.”

“Oh, you’ll have to get in line for those, my friend.” Ox’s voice is just as calm as before. “Apparently, the Bunnies have people all over the coast that they keep on the payroll for any ‘just in case’ measures. When you got into town, Thompson tipped them off immediately.”

“But how did he know who I was?”

Ox shrugs. “Lucky guess, I think. He didn’t like the sound of you from the minute Chief said you were coming, and with you being from Miami? It’s not hard to see how Thompson thought he’d be getting a solid payday for something related to you.”

I shake my head, baffled. “What the hell was his plan? Especially today?”

Ox scoffs. “That idiot thought he’d be getting a million cash for turning you in. Best I can tell, without actually talking to him, is that he was going to take the money and skip town.”

“How’d you get the intel if you didn’t get it from him?”

“The guy I nabbed running out of the diner. Squealed like a piglet. Impressive, really—but I think he’s hoping we’ll put him somewhere the Bunnies can’t get to him.”

I snort. “Good luck with that.”

Ox eyes me. “Agree. Anyway, did I hear the medic say you’ve got a concussion?”

I wave it off. “I’m fine. I know there’s paperwork?—”

“Get outta here with that shit,” Ox says. “Go home, cuddle with your woman, and take a few days off. I’ve got it all under control.”

“But—”

“No buts. It may seem like we’re a small force, but there really are enough of us to handle this town without you. And Thompson. And Chief,” he says with a wink. Then he leans forward. “Wanna see something?”

“Um, maybe?”

He gestures for me to walk with him. A few feet away sits the cruiser with Thompson in the back, and we walk up to it and look in. I give him a shit-eating grin when he looks my way.

He mouths a few choice words that start with F and sound a lot like “duck” and “ewe,” but I just wave and grin a little wider.

“Being in the back is a good look for Thompson, don’t you think?” Ox asks.

“Might be the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

Willa approaches. “Let me take you home.”

Twin feelings of hope and despair war within me. “It’s okay. I can get myself home. Your family needs you.”

She gives me a look. “Reid. I’m trying to take care of you. Let me do that.”

I swallow hard. “I…okay.”

I call my Miami chief to update him, but I keep the call brief, explaining I’ll give full details later today or tomorrow. Then I look at Willa, who’s staring at me and chewing on her nail. “Ready?”

She nods distractedly, then gestures down the street. “I parked down there.”

We’re quiet on the ride home. My head hurts, but my heart hurts worse. I told her I loved her, and she didn’t say it back. Is this what she felt like when the roles were reversed?

It sucks.

When Willa finally gets us home after driving like a granny, she insists on me taking a shower and changing clothes. I want to argue with her about it, tell her that I’m perfectly fine, but the truth of it is, I’ll do whatever she tells me to.

When I emerge from the shower in my favorite pair of gray sweatpants and a ratty tee, I find her sitting on my couch. Her eyes rake over me, and I allow myself to wonder what it would feel like to have this every day. What kind of miracle would it be to have Willa Dean Dash’s love on a daily basis? To bask in it? To wake up to it, and endlessly work to be worthy of it? Of her?

“Reid,” she starts.

But I shake my head and close the distance to her. “I need to say something first.” I don’t give her a chance to react before I’m on the couch beside her, pulling her hands to mine.

“I’m not leaving.” I blurt the words out as fast as I can get them, and the way her eyes widen tells me that maybe I was a little intense with it. No matter. I keep going.

“I told you I loved you when I came to, and you didn’t say it back. And that’s okay—I don’t want you to say it if you don’t feel the same way.”

“Reid—”

I hold a finger against her lips. “But I’m staying here anyway. I love this town. You’re right. It’s the best town ever. I feel more like myself here than I’ve ever felt at home, even though I don’t know if I’ll ever get over not being able to find really good Cuban food here. But that’s not the point. The point is that I want this. I want us. I want you. I want to wake up and choose you every day. I want to earn your love every hour. I want to irritate the crap out of you with my insane food requests and say dirty things to you in public just to watch you blush. I want to flex my muscles and pop my dimples just to see you stumble, because it means I get to hold on to you and keep you from falling. I want all of you, and I’ll wait as long as it takes, do whatever you need, for you to want me back.”

Tears spring to her eyes. “I love you, too, you big oaf,” she sniffs. “Sending you away was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”

Midnight chooses this exact moment to yowl plaintively at our feet.

Willa laughs tearily. “Even Midnight agrees. She slept on your pillow last night and gave me nothing but grief this morning.”

“So does this mean…” I trail off.

“I love you, Reid MacKinnon. I literally hit a man with Granny’s skillet for you. If that doesn’t say true love, what does?”

I stand and pull her up with me, wrapping my arms around her for a searing kiss. I’m never letting this woman go again.