Slowly, I forced myself to sit back and stop touching her. Stop breathing her in.
I certainly wasn’t going to leave her unprotected. It was my fault she even thought I was capable of that.
“I’m not taking you home at all.”
“Where are we going?”
“Someplace we can regroup and figure out how to respond. Where they won’t find us. Just for tonight.”
“For tonight?”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“A hotel?” Keira glanced at me from the corner of her eye.
Sharing a hotel room with her… That really wasn’t an image I needed in my head.
“No, it’s somewhere else.”
I buckled my seatbelt again and put the car in gear.
We pulled up to the ranch house about forty-five minutes later. The sun was sinking, painting the sky in shades of amber and red. Long shadows stretched across the grass from the mountains in the distance. She’d been quiet on the drive. Pensive.
Keira finally asked, “Where are we?”
Fuck me. Now I had to explain.
“A property I own.”
“A…wait, what?”
“A property.”
“Yeah, I know whatpropertymeans. But that’s a house.” She pointed. “That’s yours?”
I nodded.
“You own a house,” she said evenly.
“Yes, Keira.”
“This isyour house. Here in Hart County.”
“Now we’re starting to sound like an old-timey comedy routine. Who’s on first…”
She glared, showing my joke was not appreciated. Or funny.
“It was purchased under an LLC,” I said, “so my personal name isn’t on it. It’s safe.”
“I’m not focused on the safety part. It’s…” She shook her head. “This is where you’ve been staying since you arrived in Colorado?”
“It is.”
With a huff, she pushed the truck door open and got out.
My head dropped back against the seat. So far, this was not going well.
I brushed loose strands of hair from my face. The last thing I’d expected this morning was to be bringing Keira to this place. Since returning to Colorado, I’d already revealed secrets about myself that I’d never imagined confessing to her.
