Page 17 of Sexual Healing

“I don’t want to cry,” she said, the emotion building up.

“Let it go, sweetheart. You can cry.”

Pam had never cried for Jack when he was alive. There had been no reason to until later, when it was too late.

“I’m afraid if I start crying, I won’t stop.”

Running his fingertips over the skin of her back, he felt her frailty, knew he was contributing to it.

“I wish I could promise you that everything will be okay,” he murmured.

“I don’t want to live without you, Jake.”

“Just live right now,” he said, wedging his knee in between hers. “We’re together now. Right now is all that counts.”

***

Laura Long Maddox Lafferty stretched out in her bed, the sun filtering through the fabric of the white gauzy drapery. Disoriented for a moment, she heard water running, but the bed next to her was undisturbed.

Then she remembered. In the middle of the night, Will, her live-in boyfriend, the county medical examiner, had received a call regarding a body discovered at the beach. Rolling over, he’d kissed her goodbye.

“I’m not going to call you,” he said. “I’ll just wake you up. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“How long will you be out?” she asked, scared for him.

It was one part of their relationship she loathed, and it was a new sensation; she cared more about him than she did herself.

“If I have to do a post, it’ll be in the morning. We’ll go to the famous party. Go back to sleep.”

“Do you want coffee?” she asked.

“No. I’ll get some out. Love you, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.”

She nodded and lay back down, watching him dress. He grabbed his wallet and comb off the dresser. The keys to his SUV hung from a hook on the mudroom wall, and she heard them jangle when he took them down. The door closed, and she heard him lock it, and then the voice of the alarm called out.Alarm set. He’d turned the alarm on to keep her safe.

Lying in bed alone, a slow smile spread across her face. She knew love, true, deep, heart-wrenching love. She wouldn’t be worry-free until he was lying next to her again. So when she woke up and heard the water running, she could finally take a deep breath, so deep she got the chills.

The door opened, and he walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist, but it didn’t do much good; his body was massive, muscled, the body of a mature man, and she wanted to stretch across the bed and tear it off him.

“I’ve got to brush my teeth,” she said, climbing out of the bed.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” he said, watching her walk into the bathroom.

“You did not. I slept. But you must be exhausted. I guess you did the post?”

“I did. There was a chance to collect some evidence right then that I didn’t want to chance losing. There wasn’t much, but I could see that she’d been shot.”

“Oh, how awful.”

“Yeah, she’d been there for a while, too. The family finally might have peace.”

Standing in front of the mirror, he combed his hair while she brushed her teeth.

She went back to the sink and finished up.

“Thank god I finally found you,” she said softly, coming back out and getting into the bed again. “Wow, how empty my life would be without you.”

He met her eyes in the mirror. “I feel the same way, Laura. All I wanted to do was get home to you.”