“Can we go home?”
Ethan looked toward Sean, whose lips twisted in regret.
“Are you up to answering some questions for me, Rachel? I need to know what happened here.”
Cold fear snaked up her spine as her mind flashed to that moment before impact. It was odd just how clear it all was in her mind. That brief glimpse in the rearview mirror. The feeling of impact. And the second. She frowned.
“Someone tried to run me off the bridge,” she blurted.
Ethan stiffened beside her. Garrett’s face drew into a storm cloud while Sam and Donovan raised their brows in confusion.
Sean frowned, then gestured toward a waiting ambulance. “Why don’t you have a seat in the back and let the paramedic look you over. We can talk while he’s taking a look at you.”
She looked down. She wasn’t hurt. Then she looked around at all the faces staring back at her. Deep concern was etched into their expressions. Sure, she was shaking like a leaf, but did she look that bad?
Ethan guided her over to where a paramedic waited. The first thing he did was wrap a blanket around her shoulders, and then Ethan lifted her to sit in the back of the ambulance.
Dutifully, she listened to the medic’s instructions, and she frowned when she shook even harder. “Shock,” she heard someone murmur. Well duh. She’d nearly fallen off a bridge.
“Now, tell me what happened,” Sean said in an even voice.
She shrugged. “I don’t really know. One minute I was glancing over where the last accident had taken place and then he hit me from behind.”
“He?”
Her brows scrunched together. “Well I suppose it could have been a she. I didn’t see. It was just a supposition.”
“I see. What happened then?”
“He hit me on the left so that I spun toward the part of the bridge that was missing. Then he hit me dead-on. It pushed me closer. I practically stood up on the brakes, but he hit me a third time, and that was what pushed me over the edge.”
Sean exchanged glances with Ethan and his brothers. She couldn’t tell if he was concerned over the idea that someone would try to push her off a bridge or if he was worried she was losing her mind.
“I’m not crazy,” she said softly.
Ethan curled his hand around hers. “Shhh, baby. Of course you’re not.”
“Any witnesses, Sean?” Garrett asked.
“They’re being questioned now. No sign of the other vehicle. We’re looking. No plates, not even a partial. Likely the guy panicked and fled the scene. We’ll find him. He couldn’t have gotten far. There has to be substantial damage to his front end.”
“Can I take her home now?” Ethan asked over her head.
“Yeah sure. I’ll follow up with more later, but yeah, get her home. She looks done for.”
“Come on, I’ll give you a ride,” Garrett said. “Sam, you need to get Donovan back home so he can head out.”
Ethan helped Rachel down as the paramedic smiled encouragingly at her. Though Ethan took a wide berth around the gaping hole in the side of the bridge, she knew what was down there, and she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that whoever had hit her had done it with a single purpose in mind. Her death.
CHAPTER 32
ETHAN lay back on the couch and rubbed his fingers up and down in a soothing pattern on Rachels’ arm. She was huddled close to him, her body warm and sweet against his.
Both of them had their shoes kicked off, and she had her legs entwined with his and her feet tucked between his. They were wrapped up like mating love bugs, and it was hard for him to remember a time when he’d been more content.
“I could stay like this forever,” she murmured.
Had he been so transparent? He was thinking the exact same thing. It did odd things to him that she seemed as content as he did.
He continued stroking her arm, simply enjoying the sensation of touching her. She snuggled a little deeper into his embrace, and he smiled as her hair fell over his lips and nose.
“Feeling better now?” he asked.
“Still a little jittery, but yes, much better now that I’m here with you.”
A surge of pleasure shot through his chest. He didn’t tell her, but his insides were pretty much toast. He was amazed he could even lie here so calmly and hold her when he was still screaming what the f**k in his head.
Never did he want to relive the terrible moment of Sean calling him to say Rachel was in danger of going over the bridge. Never. And to know that only Sean’s quick actions of jerking her out of the truck saved her still had the power to drive him to his knees.
She shifted and elevated herself so that she could look down at him. Her hair had grown some in the last weeks, and thanks to a trip to the stylist with his mom, the ends had been trimmed and layers had been added.
Her small hands spread out over his chest and she smoothed them upward to his shoulders.
“Ethan?”
He looked at her, knowing that in this moment she could ask him for damn near anything and he’d tell her yes.
“Would you mind too terribly if I made love to you?”
He swallowed and swallowed again. Here was this beautiful woman, a woman he loved more than anything. The woman he’d married and lost. Now she was here, like a dream, asking him so sweetly if she could make love to him.
Dear God, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
“I’d love nothing more,” he managed to croak out. It sounded better than oh hell yeah, even if that was what his c**k was screaming.