Braden chuckled, at first over how tightly Sam was holding him, and then out of concern. He pulled back and stared down at her. She looked tense, even after what they’d just done. He furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know…” She shuddered then. “You’re just so damn perfect that I worry it can’t last.”
“What can’t last?”
“Us,” she said.
He leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers. “Yes, it can, and we will.” His stomach rumbled then. “As long as you don’t keep distracting me so that I starve.”
Her lips curved into a smile , and her stomach grumbled in a soft-sounding echo of his. “Let’s get up and see what’s in the fridge.”
“No, you stay here,” he said. “I’ll rummage around and bring you back breakfast in bed.” They were usually so busy that breakfast was a cup of coffee on the way out the door, with him heading to the firehouse or a wildfire and her heading off somewhere to catch an arsonist. Remembering what he’d heard on the radio as he’d been driving out to what he’d believed was a hostage situation, he leaned down and kissed her again. “Congratulations!”
“For what?” she asked. “Having the most wonderful husband?”
“Well, that, too,” he said. “But also for catching the arsonist.”
She sighed. “Another sad case of a troubled teenager. From the way his dad reacted when we picked up the kid for questioning, it’s pretty easy to understand why…”
Braden felt a flash of regret that he’d brought it up. “I’m sorry.”
She smiled again. “It’s over now. He confessed. And I confess that I’m hungry.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll feed you,” Braden said. He rolled off the bed, pulled on his jeans and headed across the living room to the kitchenette on the opposite wall. He was just in front of the sliding doors when shots rang out, shattering the glass. For a second he was too stunned to react, then he felt the pain and the panic. “Sam!” he yelled out for his wife. He had to get to her, had to make sure that she was safe. But when he moved, the pain intensified, and he dropped to the floor, atop all that shattered glass.
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