Made For Loving You (Rescue My Heart Book 3) by Kait Nolan (i can read book club txt) 📕

Understanding now wasn’t the time, she took pity on the still screaming Joel. “Duke! Come here, baby.”

With one last bark, as if to say, “And don’t you forget it!” her dog trotted over, tail wagging, mouth spread in a broad, canine grin. He rubbed against her, whining, licking. As soon as her hands were free, she wrapped her arms around him. “You’re such a good boy. As soon as we get home, I’m getting you the biggest, juiciest steak I can find.”

She felt Ty pull back even before he walked over to Joel, yanking his hands behind his back and slapping on cuffs. “You’re under arrest for kidnapping, assault, breaking and entering, and that’s just for starters.”

Joel screamed again as Ty hauled him to his feet. “I need…medical attention.”

“Yeah, you’ll get it. Eventually. That’s the thing, though. You picked such an out-of-the-way place, it’s gonna take us a while to get you back for any. So you’re gonna have to deal with that well-deserved mess Duke made of your butt cheek. Meanwhile, you’ve got the right to remain silent.”

He finished mirandizing Joel and only then radioed back to report she’d been found and make arrangements for extraction. By the time more help had arrived, he still hadn’t touched her again. He’d hardly even looked at her. As she slid onto the back of an ATV—with Harrison instead of Ty—Paisley accepted that the mission was over, objective achieved, and she was going to have to find a way to live with letting him go.

Night had fallen by the time all the formalities were taken care of. Fisher’s wounds had been treated, and he was in a cell. Despite the offer to put it off, Paisley had insisted on giving her statement. Ty had listened to her account of events, thinking of what might have happened and feeling sick. Then he’d offered his own statement, grateful there’d been nothing he needed to edit out. He’d gone prepared for deadly force, but he wasn’t sorry he hadn’t needed to use it. Paisley had enough trauma to sort through without adding that to the list, and by-the-book meant there was less chance Fisher would weasel out of this on any kind of technicality. There’d be paperwork—there was always paperwork—but that could wait.

Xander laid down his pen, flexing his hand. “I’m sure we’ll have more questions. But for now, you’re both free to go.”

Paisley shoved back from the table. “My car is back at the inn.”

Ty grabbed his keys. “I’ll drive you.”

They loaded up in the cruiser, Duke in the back, Paisley in the front passenger seat. Silence lay heavy between them as Ty pulled out of the lot. He didn’t miss the arms she crossed over her middle or the way she didn’t look at him.

No more putting off the inevitable.

“I need to say some things.”

He felt rather than saw her tense.

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry. The list of what for is getting pretty long, at this point. I was all kinds of out of line last night. I got too much in my head, listened too much to my demons. I should never have said those things, and I sure as hell shouldn’t have left you alone and vulnerable. I swore I’d protect you, and instead I was a complete ass and made you feel like it was better to leave than stay and deal with me.”

She glanced over in surprise. “You knew I was leaving?”

“Ari kinda read me the riot act about it.”

Paisley huffed a little laugh. “Me, too.” She turned her focus back to the passing dark. “Last night feels like a lifetime ago. I appreciate your apology, Ty, but it seems like we’re even on all of that. You did what you set out to do. You caught the person behind all this.” Her tone was off. Strained somehow.

“You sound...not entirely happy about that.”

Her shoulders twitched. “It was someone I considered a friend, so that’s got me questioning my judgment.”

“You said something about that before. About how you hadn’t ever dated anyone you didn’t think was a good person. You never went out with him.”

“Because I didn’t think we were a good fit, and I wasn’t attracted. Not because deep down I recognized he was stalker material. I looked at him with rose-colored glasses, and look where it got me.”

“I’ve always liked the fact that you see the best in people.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep doing that. I think it will take some time for me to accept it’s over. That I’m safe and don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder. But it’s more that I’m sad that we’re over.”

The words slid between Ty’s ribs like a blade, sparking panic. Had everything she’d said in the church been a lie? Just something intended to distract Fisher, so they had a chance to move in? He tightened his hands on the wheel as she kept talking.

“I mean… it’s not that I didn’t expect this in the beginning. You were very clear about what you had to offer. It was just the threat to me that changed the rules. Now that’s past, and you’re realizing that nothing really changed for you. I get it. I hate it, but I get it. I was the foolish one who went and fell in love with you again. That’s on me. I don’t blame you for not feeling the same.”

Unable to listen to any more of this, Ty whipped the car to the shoulder and turned to her. “What the actual fuck are you talking about? Everything changed, even when I didn’t want it to. I admit I kinda lost my shit with the case, and I said some unconscionable things in the process, but I haven’t changed my mind about wanting you. I was working out how to best grovel for a second chance when I found out you were missing. I didn’t get that far, what with the search, so let me just