In Safe Arms (28 page)

‘Glad you made it,’ Luke said quietly.

For the first time since he’d found the card, Nate breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in the chair. When he hadn’t been able to get onto Josie, he’d eventually called Luke. Discovered tonight was the night of her concert.

‘Don’t screw this up, Nate,’ said Allegra, eyes fixed on the stage.

He smiled in the dark. Nothing could dampen his jubilation tonight. He only hoped Josie would understand why it had taken him so long to get here. ‘Nice to see you too, Allegra.’

‘She may be young,’ Allegra whispered, obviously intent on having her say, ‘but she’s coped with more than most people will in a lifetime. She needs someone strong, Nate, a man, not a boy, someone older who can handle her family, who won’t be intimidated by it all.’

‘I know that, Allegra. I just have to convince her of it.’

Luke peered around his wife again. ‘You don’t want to cross Allegra, mate. She can be scary when she gets like that.’

As Allegra elbowed her husband in the ribs, Nate sat back and watched Josie. She wore a long sleeve black top and black knee length skirt, blonde curls tumbling around her shoulders as usual. She was finger picking the guitar and singing along with one of the children in a high clear voice.

A picture flashed into his mind, an image of her with their children.

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, he hit the delete button, trashing the image. He had to stop dreaming. Josie was far from a sure thing, and he was getting way ahead of himself.

‘Aren’t you going to congratulate my wife?’ Luke said in a low voice.

Nate whipped his head around and stared at Allegra. ‘You pregnant?’

‘
No
!’ Allegra rolled her eyes. ‘I’m only thirty-one.’

Nevertheless, she and Luke exchanged some kind of “club of two” smile that had Nate thinking it would definitely be on the agenda in the future.

‘Simon Poole’s offered Allegra a partnership,’ Luke said, reaching for his wife’s hand, pride evident in his voice.

‘Yeah? Good one, Ally. When’s this happening?’

‘Start of next financial year. Josie’s agreed to stay on. She’s decided she likes legal work after all.’

‘Congratulations, that’s awesome news. This day just keeps getting better and better.’

‘Thank you, Nate.’

Allegra smiled, eyes still trained on the stage. ‘Now will you two please be quiet.’

‘Bye, thanks for bringing him along.’ Josie waved goodbye as the last of the children left with their parents. She checked her watch. What could be keeping Luke and Allegra? The concert had been a success, but it had finished almost an hour ago now.

All the families had left.

Josie opened the door and stepped into the small storage room where the kids had haphazardly stacked their instruments. She needed help carting all this stuff across the car park to her new “second hand” car.

Damn! She was going to have to go out the front and find them.

She left the storage room, then halted as the door banged closed behind her.

Oh no!

Josie groaned, realisation dawning that she’d left her keys inside. She swung around and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it both ways and trying to push the door open, but the damn thing wouldn’t budge.

‘
Shit
!’

‘Lucky the kids have gone,’ a deep voice drawled from behind her.

Josie stilled, the beats of her heart tripping over each other, her breath catching in her throat. Two and a half months, and she hadn’t heard a word. Two and a half months, six days and ten hours to be precise, and now, just when she’d given up all hope of ever seeing him again, he decides to turn up.

She turned around, and in that one moment, all her doubts melted away.

He was standing just inside the stage door, tall, dark, eleven out of ten on her personal scale. He wore straight cut jeans, a cream tee-shirt and a stylish brown leather jacket. He looked so good, he could have walked straight from a Fifth Avenue men’s boutique in Manhattan. Not that Nate Hunter was the metro-sexual type by any stretch of the imagination. He was lean, tough, tanned and naturally sexy, but she could see he’d gone to a bit of extra trouble with his appearance tonight.

But best of all, he wore a hopeful smile, and he was holding the bottle of 1994 Grange in his hand.

‘I know I’m late. I only found the flowers this afternoon.’

Clean.

Straight to the point.

No bullshit.

‘Oh.’ Josie’s stomach filled with butterflies as she ran nervous hands down the sides of her skirt.

‘When I didn’t hear anything, I wondered, thought — maybe you’d decided to stay in the States, you know, keep screwing the Hilary Clintons of the world.’

A rare flash of irritation sparked in his eyes. ‘Josie!’

Oh
God
, where had that come from?

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m really nervous, and you know how I say things when I’m nervous.’

His eyes softened, and his mouth curved in a dry smile. ‘Yeah, I know.’

She waved a hand in his direction and drew in an uneven breath. ‘And you caught me by surprise, coming in unannounced like that, and looking all great. If I’ve learned anything over the last three months it’s that I hate surprises.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Now he was apologising. ‘I tried calling, but your phone was turned off.’

‘Oh.’

‘Let’s start again, shall we?’ He leaned down and put the Grange on the floor. ‘How are you?’

Josie opened her mouth to say she was fine, to parrot off the automatic response that people just expected. But this wasn’t
people
, this was Nate.

Suddenly, she knew she had to be honest. This man knew her better than anyone else in the world.

‘I’m alright. Truly, I am. It hasn’t been easy, it’s been bloody hard work. But bit by bit, I’m putting my life back together.’

There was a moment of uncertainty in his eyes, but then it disappeared as quickly as it came. ‘Building the wall one brick at a time, hey?’

She nodded. ‘Something like that.’

‘And your mother?’

Touched that he’d asked about her mother when many didn’t, Josie smiled. ‘Mum’s getting there too. The house is being sold — proceeds of crime and all that. But it seems there’ll be enough money for her to live on. I mean, Dad did own the construction company, so not everything’s been bought with drug money.’

She closed her eyes and wondered whether she’d ever be able to utter the words “drug money” without a pain piercing her heart.

When she opened her eyes, Nate had moved closer. ‘I’m proud of you, Josie.’

The admiration in his voice sent a wave of pleasure through her. ‘I’m trying to turn things around. Mum and I have even joined forces, if you can believe that. We’ve set up a charity, raising money to rehabilitate teenage drug addicts.’

Nate’s eyebrows shot up, so close now she could feel the heat from his body, smell his sexy clean aroma. ‘I’m very impressed, but I need you to tell me what made you change your mind, about
me
?’

Josie stared at his firm brown lips, her breathing turning shallow. ‘I saw the interview with Dickson on TV. You’d been right all along about him. I understood then, why you did what you did.’

He reached out and cupped her nape, coaxing her nearer, and when he spoke, his voice was a low whisper. ‘Dickson was out in the hall. He left before I could speak to him.’

Josie moved closer too, parted her lips in anticipation. She didn’t want to talk about Dickson. She wanted Nate to stop talking and kiss her.

‘I feared he might have taken my place,’ Nate murmured, warm breath fanning her face, thumb a hypnotic stroke across her cheek. ‘Has he, princess? Has Dickson taken my place?’

Josie shook her head, raised her hands and splayed them across his chest. ‘No one could ever take your place, Nate.’

He kissed her then, softly and tenderly, lips clinging to hers, hands cupping her face.

‘Josie’, he whispered between kisses. ‘God I’ve missed you.’

‘I’ve missed you too.’

He groaned and gathered her closer, wrapping her in his arms and claiming her mouth again, this time in a passionate kiss. Josie slid her hands upwards, stroking her fingers across his shoulders and down his triceps, where the Altar Boys had inked the tattoo into his skin.

‘You’re thinner,’ he said against her lips, hands roaming her body.

‘I lost my appetite.’

He rested his forehead against hers. ‘I’m going to have to take you home and fatten you up.’

‘Home?’

‘Home to the mountains, and then Tasmania. I haven’t brought a girl home since high school so Mum will know it’s serious. She’d be over the moon.’

Josie stilled, unsure she was ready to confront the entire Hunter clan. ‘Your family?’

‘Yes, my family.’ Nate raised his head and held her at arm’s length, so she had no option but to look in his eyes.

‘Princess, you have to accept that you are not your father, that you did not commit his crimes. I wish I could give you the self-esteem, empower you with the confidence to know that. But I can’t. All I can offer you, is
me
.’

His heartfelt, genuine words brought tears to Josie’s eyes, but she blinked them away and refused to cry even happy tears. This was a night for celebration.

Gathering every bit of internal strength she could muster, she forced herself to smile and give him a gift in return. Prove to him that she’d develop the confidence to overcome all that had happened to her.

And she would, with him by her side.

‘Okay. If I’m in love with you, and I am, I guess it’s only reasonable I meet your family.’

He crushed her in another hug, burying his face in her neck and inhaling deeply. ‘You’ll love it down there. There’s an apple orchard, and we can go for long walks by the river. We even get snow sometimes. It’s about as different from Sydney as you can get. It’s perfect for holidays.’

Sudden elation welled inside of Josie, and for the first time since making love with Nate in the mountains, she dared to think that she could be lucky enough to have all this. Have him. ‘It sounds beautiful, Nate.’

He kissed her again, tongue searching for hers. And then his hands were sliding all the way down her back and over the curve of her bottom.

‘No!’ He pulled away when she crushed her breasts against his chest. ‘We are
not
going to make love in the dusty back room of a community hall.’

‘Oh come on, detective.’ She had the urge to tease, like old times. ‘Where’s your sense of adventure?’

He growled. She didn’t know how he did it, but the low sound that rumbled from deep within his throat was positively primitive.

‘I’ve had enough adventure to last me a lifetime, and I’ve booked us a room at the “Shangri-La”.’

Josie raised her eyebrows. ‘Very posh.’

‘You better believe it. Undercover work pays extremely well.’

Josie sobered. She’d been so excited, she hadn’t even thought about his next assignment. How would she cope without him, cope with knowing he was constantly in danger?

‘Hey.’ He captured her chin between his thumb and index finger, tilting her face up so he could look into her eyes. ‘What just happened?’

‘When do you start your next assignment?’

He grinned. ‘My undercover career is over, princess. This face has been splashed all over the media for three months. I should have mentioned undercover cops have a limited career life. Most only have one or two big assignments in them.’

Josie breathed a huge sigh of relief. She hadn’t realised that, but of course it made sense when you thought about it. ‘What will you do now?’

‘I’ve had lots of offers, from overseas, from within Australia, doing anything I want.

Luke’s even offered me something.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, really.’ He reached down and tapped her lightly on the bottom. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

Josie glanced at the small storage room. ‘Er. I have a problem. I’ve locked my keys in there, and all the instruments have to be out before Monday morning.’

Gees, great timing, Jos
.

Nate rested his hands lightly on his hips. ‘Is that all?’

‘Is that all?’ Josie cried. ‘It’s a pain in the arse. I want to go now, Nate,
leave
with you — and I’m going to have to stay here and wait for a locksmith.’

‘Wait here a sec.’

He turned and disappeared out the door, returning a few minutes later holding a wrench and another fine instrument that looked like a pick.

Josie watched in amazement as Nate squatted on his haunches and carefully slid the pick into the keyway. He moved it around, using the tiniest of movements, and then he raised his other hand and did something with the wrench.

To the Altar Boys I’m Nate Jordan, mechanic by day, lock picker by night
.

Suddenly there was a small click, and Nate lowered the tools, straightened up and opened the door. Then he raised an eyebrow and grinned at her, a slightly cocky expression on his handsome face.

‘That is so hot!’ Josie flung her arms around his neck and crushed her breasts against his chest. ‘I am
so
aroused right now, detective, you’d better get me to that hotel quick smart or we
will
be doing it on the floor of this hall.’

Nate laughed, picked her up in his arms and swung her around. ‘If I’d known you’d be so impressed, I’d have done it before now.’

Josie laid her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes and savoured the moment. She’d come through the darkest days of her life and ended up with the most incredible guy on the planet. And she was safe again now.

Safe in her home city.

Safe in her relationship.

And best of all, safe in Nate’s arms.

THE END

Chaos Bound

by Rebekah Turner

The long-awaited sequel to
Chaos Born
takes us back into the Applecross, where Lora faces increasing threats to her survival and her chance at love
.

Lora Blackgoat — mercenary and smuggler — has only just recovered from the last threat on her life and hasn’t even begun to sort out the mess of having both a nephilim warrior and a reborn hellspawn as potential lovers. Work should be a refuge, but a job finding missing persons puts her in the crosshairs of a violent gang and a merchant with a taste for blood sport.