Nikki clambered over the seat, tugging free a length of boat line. She pitched the rope. Looping fast with a skill honed from years on the water, he trussed their down-for-the-count attacker, hands, ankles, securing him to the small cannon. In some distant part of his brain he heard Nikki placing a cell phone call to the cops. With an extra tug to his best sailor's knots, Carson stepped away from Avery and opened his arms to Nikki....
Damn certain he wasn't letting her go this time.
The next day, Nikki twisted the key in her apartment lock, tickled to her toes to have her life, her job, her home back. Her heart, however, was forever given to Carson.
And if she hurried, she would have time to change before he arrived to pick her up for whatever mystery outing he had planned.
How he'd found time to make preparations after the insane night they'd had with Kevin Avery's arrest, she would never know. After her 911 call, Special Agent Reis had arrived, as well. The procedural intricacies were mind-boggling as the civilian cops debated with the military security police over who would get the first bite at Avery, one of his crimes off base, one on the government installation.
The SPs won. The kidnapping had begun on base after all, and the murder was the larger crime.
Nikki pushed inside her tiny apartment, no longer minding the bare walls she couldn't afford to fill yet. Instead, they represented all the time ahead of her and experiences to collect. Unlike Kevin Avery who would be locked up for life.
What a sad end for someone with so much potential. As a teacher, she couldn't help wondering where things had gone wrong for him. By the same token, she saw so many students with fewer advantages and opportunities who worked their butts off and made their own successes happen—without excuses.
After giving statements, she and Carson had swept away the glass from the cab of the truck and driven home with the windows open to air out the scent of alcohol and those hellish moments of abject fear. She'd called her parents with the details and to explain she was returning to her apartment. Her place and reclaimed life.
She slung her backpack up onto the kitchen bar with a hefty overloaded thump of work to accomplish. Hopefully with Carson at her side. Last night a shower together, making love, celebrating life until they both fell into an exhausted slumber had gone a long way toward settling her ravaged nerves.
Unloading her bag from a blessedly full day of teaching— a wonderfully normal day with her students and a job she loved—she knew now to cherish everyday life with her new found appreciation. She couldn't wait to show Carson her blueprints for a miniature Viking ship she wanted to build with her students for an upcoming unit.
She dropped to sit on the bar stool, her plans spread in front of her. What a long way she'd come in a few short weeks. Her crush-style visions of Carson had put him on a pedestal in a way that would set anyone up for failure. Now she understood the value of simple dreams and everyday life, the love of a good, wonderfully human man to build a future with.
Love was a journey, not a destination.
Her doorbell chimed.
It seemed her trip was about to begin before she had a chance to change from her work clothes into jeans. She raced across the carpet, peeking through the peephole, blithe acceptance of safety having taken a serious hit lately.
Her eyes filled with Carson still in his flight suit. A smile split her face and spread through her. Apparently he hadn't even taken the time to change, either, instead rushing over to see her.
She swung the door wide. "Hey there, flyboy. I missed you today."
He swept her into his arms for a kiss that sent that smile singing further through her veins before he pulled away to ask, "Would you like to go for a ride?"
She'd thought they were headed to her bedroom, but apparently he was sticking to his plan. "Do I need to change?"
Carson cupped her face, unmistakable love shining in his crystal-clear blue eyes. "You're perfect as is."
"Not hardly." She arched up onto her toes to steal another kiss, a definite perk on this journey. "But thanks."
He extended his hand and she clasped it without hesitation, snagging her purse and locking her apartment before following him to his truck, a new windshield in place along with freshly cleaned seats. The horror of Kevin's attack would be tougher to erase. Thank God they'd made it through together. Her grip on Carson tightened.
Twenty minutes of easy silence and hand holding later, they reached.. .a marine repair yard? She squinted in the late-afternoon sun through the chain-link fence until she saw— yes—Carson's sailboat suspended in slings. "Wow, they were able to salvage your boat. That's awesome."
"It'll take time before she's seaworthy again, but the hull is intact." He put the vehicle in park and turned to face her. "That boat holds some irreplaceable memories."
A blush burned her cheeks. "Maybe we'll make more memories when it's afloat again."
"No maybe about it once we get her back in the water about a month from now." He winked.
She studied the landlocked craft, winging a prayer of thanksgiving the sturdy craft hadn't capsized altogether. "Thanks for bringing me here. Seeing this helped take the edge off what happened."
"Hell." He thumped his forehead. "I never considered you might not want to sail again. Hey, no sweat if this is a problem for you. I can put this puppy on the market before close of business today."
"You would do that for me?"
"It's just a thing," he answered without hesitation.