“Sure,” she replied.
He grinned. “Thanks.”
“Is River up yet?” she asked as she looked around him. “I’ve been meaning to check in with her.”
“Yeah, she’s still at the cabin. She’ll be down in a bit. Ready?”
“Yep. Put me to work.” As she got to her feet and headed over to join him, he eyed her thoughtfully.
“What is it?” she asked, a little more defensive than she had intended to be.
“I just know that if you’re up early, chances are it’s not just because you’re a morning person,” he replied. “People get restless here. And I know a restless spirit when I see one. Come on, you’re on bacon duty.”
She followed him down to the kitchen, hoping he wasn’t going to ask her anything too invasive about what brought her to Warrior Peak. Thankfully, he didn’t seem interested in much more than setting her to work. As he chopped vegetables, he got her to man the stove, cooking pancakes and bacon until there was a heaping pile of them on the plate ready to be taken out to everyone.
“You’ve got a mean pancake-flipping arm,” he remarked.
She laughed. “Hey, I guess you’re never too old to learn new tricks, right?” she replied. She felt comfortable in his presence, which surprised her. She had been a little nervous around new men after what had happened, but Cade seemed to know not to go delving into her past. He had probably dealt with plenty of people like her over his time here, and the practice was obviously paying off.
“Okay, let’s start plating up,” he told her as people started to file into the cafeteria. The place was starting to fill with a warm chatter, and Bailey felt a million times more relaxed than shehad when she had woken up. That seemed to be the magic of this place: It was meant to be a safe place for those who had nowhere else to go. Even though she had already stayed longer than she intended, she was glad to be here.
They began to carry the food out into the communal area, and she spotted Aaron sitting at the far end of one of the long tables. He grinned up at her when he saw that she had been put to work, and she couldn’t help but smile back. God, it was still so strange to see him again, but she was glad to have a friendly face staring up at her among this sea of people she didn’t know.
Once they had set out the food for everyone, she took a seat next to Aaron. Her mouth was watering now—all this cooking for other people had made her hungry. She hadn’t been eating a whole lot since she’d gotten there, not wanting to take advantage of their generosity too much, but she tucked into breakfast like a starved animal.
“It’s good to see you eating,” Aaron murmured to her.
She glanced up, her heart flipping when she caught his eye. She couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said to her the other day, when they had been out at the paddock together—that all he had wanted when he was back in Kings Mountain was her. If she had known back then that he felt that way, would it have changed things? Would she have made a move, or would she have forced herself to hold back because he was her superior? She didn’t know.
“I’ve been up for hours,” she replied through a mouthful of food. “Been looking into…well, you know.”
He nodded.
“You should give yourself some time to heal,” he reminded her gently. She knew he was just trying to help, but he must have been aware that she wasn’t going to let go of it that easily. Maybe she could find some middle ground, instead of trying toshut him down again. They weren’t going to make any progress if everything ended in a battle.
“Maybe we could go out to the paddock again today,” she replied. “I’d like to see how Wheatie is doing.”
“I’m sure she would be happy to see you,” he told her, and she grinned.
She loved that horse. Heck, maybe she was starting to like it here more than she cared to admit. She never would have imagined she would feel safe anywhere after what had happened to her back in Kings Mountain, but she felt more comfortable in this place with each passing day.
As though he could see what was going on inside her head, Aaron leaned forward and lowered his voice. “See? It’s not too bad here, once you get settled.”
“Eat your breakfast,” she said on a laugh, but he was right. This place had a lot to offer—and the longer she stayed here, the more she saw that.
Chapter Ten
As Aaron set about working on the cabin, he whistled through his teeth. Breakfast with Bailey was about the best way he could think of to start the day. Spending time with her stirred something inside of him he thought was gone for good. The reminder of how good it felt to be around her was bringing all sorts of emotions back to the surface. Feelings he’d pushed down long ago.
Plus, she seemed to be settling in a little better now, which made him happy. He was glad she was starting to see how good this place could be for her, especially after what she had been through. Nobody deserved to be assaulted the way she had been, but at least this was a safe space, somewhere she could heal and relax.
Even if she didn’t seem very good at relaxing. She had never been good at it, actually—even when they worked together, she had always been looking ahead to the next case before the last one was even finished. It was something he used to tease her about, and she had always rolled her eyes good-naturedly and reminded him she was trying to make a name for herself.
But now? Now, things were different. This was about taking down the corrupt cops who had infected the department, not just handling a case. She would be even more laser focused on her goal than before, and he couldn’t even imagine what that was going to look like.
He heard footsteps crunching on the grass behind him, and glanced around to see Bailey approaching. She was still limpingslightly, but not as badly as she had been a week ago. She was healing fast, like her body was trying to prepare her for what lay ahead.
“Hey,” he greeted her, straightening up.
