Because he knew it would be over. That the sexy, generous woman who’d spent last night and most of today in his arms—hell, even the courageous, friendly woman who’d spent the last two days talking with him—would be gone.
But he had to tell her. He had less than thirty-six hours to get her to understand and ensure her cooperation with the media blitz plan.
He wanted to show her somewhere first. A low overhang that looked out over the river. He could admit it was because he was hoping she would paint it one day.
Not that he’d ever be there to see a finished piece in the future. But he was hoping some part of this place might inspire her to continue painting. Ren and the rest of Omega were going to make sure Freihof never hurt her again.
Broke her damn fingers. No doubt specifically so she couldn’t paint, to steal away the obvious joy she derived from it.
That bastard was going down. Ren was willing to pay whatever price it took to make that happen. Had been willing to for a long time.
But he’d never dreamed the price would be the special connection blossoming between him and Natalie. Had never dreamed that would even exist and be so precious to him.
“Ren, where are you taking me?” The exasperation was clear in her voice. He’d made her stop painting, even though she was so close to being finished, and was walking her to the overhang. To share the breathtaking view.
As if that was going to make what he had to tell her—how he’d deceived her—all okay.
“A view. You have to see it for yourself. I think it’s right up there with your beach house view.”
“You know I don’t like snow,” she grumbled, but kept walking.
She still hadn’t told him why, and he hadn’t pushed. He had no doubt it was horrific. “It’ll be worth it.”
The smile she gave him said she absolutely trusted him to be telling the truth. And his gut clenched even as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.
Beautiful view first, relationship-ending talk after.
He knew the moment she saw it. “Oh, my gosh, Ren!” She hurried up to the edge, looking down over the river just ten feet or so beneath them from here. Most of the edges were frozen but the middle still flowed, giving the entire area a surreal, unearthly look.
“I was hoping you might paint it someday.”
She grinned back at him over her shoulder. “Are you kidding? Absolutely. I wish I could paint it right now!”
“I know it’s snow, and how much you hate that, but I thought the beauty of it all could trump that.”
She spun around to face him. “It does. More than, it...” Her words trailed off as blood drained from her face at something behind him. “Ren, it’s a...”
He spun and found a mountain lion just a dozen yards behind them. A huge one. Maybe close to eight or nine feet long. He knew these big cats didn’t hibernate and they normally weren’t aggressive toward humans. Only under extenuating circumstances like protecting young or...
Then Ren saw it. The animal’s slight limp in the back leg as it took a step forward.
He immediately pushed Natalie behind him. “Mountain lion. It’s injured or it normally wouldn’t be anywhere near us.” Ren unzipped his jacket and opened it.
“We need to make ourselves look as big as possible.” He wished like hell he had his Glock. He wouldn’t have shot the cat unless he absolutely had to, but even firing above his head would probably scare him off.
Natalie was opening her jacket and standing beside him.
“Peaches, get back behind me.”
“No. If being big is what will scare him off, two of us looking as big as possible has to be better.”
She was right but he didn’t like it. He began yelling loudly and clapping his hands, which also should’ve scared the animal away. It was definitely not behaving in a normal way. Ren began shifting Natalie slowly toward the side, providing more distance from the cat, yelling the whole time. If they could make it to the set of trees near the edge, Ren could at least use a branch as a weapon if the mountain lion attacked.
Whenit attacked. If it was going to flee it would’ve already done so.
He had to turn to use both hands to break off a branch and that was when the giant cat pounced. Natalie let out a terrified scream as he pushed her to the side.
Ren ripped the branch the rest of the way off as the cat landed on him, the force knocking him to the ground. He swung as best he could from the side, but couldn’t get much momentum. He felt his jacket and skin rip from the mountain lion’s claws.
