Too bad.
But she didn’t need to know that.
I walked her to the door, doing my best not to show my suspiciousness, and kissed her cheek before closing the door and moving to stand by the Christmas tree.
Arms crossed, I stared at the shiny glass ornaments on the tree and drummed my fingers on my upper arms.
Should I follow her?
No. I couldn’t today.
Neither could Ash or Bishop.
I caught my scowling reflection in one of the gold ornaments.
Colt stood behind me, making faces.
He stuck his thumbs in his ears and waved them back and forth while sticking out his tongue.
“I see you.” I bit back a laugh when he dropped his hands like they’d caught fire.
Should I send someone to follow Noelle?
The thought of following her knotted my gut. It was the kind of thing a stalker would do.
I wasn’t a stalker, but I sure as hell needed to know what she was up to.
I’d spent too long trusting my instincts to ignore when they screamed at me.
I wanted to trust her, and this was the best way to prove that she was trustworthy.
Colt appeared by my side, arms crossed in a mockery of my stance.
He tapped a red ornament, causing it to sway back and forth. “You’re awfully moody today.”
“As opposed to any other day?”
He snorted and clapped a hand to my shoulder. “True. So. What’s on the agenda today?”
He offered me the perfect segue into my request.
I checked that we were alone.
Colt’s eyebrows raised, and I shushed him with a glare. “I want you to follow Noelle. Without her knowing. I need to know where she goes and who she talks to. If you can get close enough to overhear, even better. But don’t let her see you.”
“Follow Noelle?” His eyebrows rose high enough to wrinkle his forehead. “Why?”
“Because that’s what I need you to do today.” I nudged him toward the door. “Better hurry. She’s already left. She headed toward town, but I don’t know where she’s going other than to see her editor.”
If she proved true to her word today, I could lower my guard.
“I meant, why can’t you follow her?” Colt was the one person who wasn’t afraid to challenge me.
Growing up as brothers meant he’d seen all my awkward phases.
The same way I’d seen his.
I rolled my shoulders.
