“Hey, Pixie. Yeah, I’m just taking Harper into the back room to treat a cut.”
“Okay. Linda’s not in there, so it’s free. Let me know if you need anything.”
Cody carried her into the back office and lowered her to a couch before grabbing a first aid kit from a cabinet. She was quiet as he knelt in front of her and rolled up her pant leg, his touch gentle as he swabbed the wound.
“I’m sorry I didn’t find you faster.”
Hewas apologizing toher? “It’s my fault. I should have just stayed on the path.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She nibbled her bottom lip. “I guess I was scared someone would overhear the conversation.”
“Someone being me?”
Bingo.
“Would that have been so bad?” he asked when she didn’t answer.
“Yes.” The one honest word slipped from her lips before she could stop it.
He put a small bandage over the wound before looking up. “Why?”
“You’ve been so nice to me. But if you knew how much of a mess my life was, you’d run.” More truths she probably shouldn’t be sharing. Had she hit her head as well as scraped her ankle?
“You think I scare that easily?” he asked.
“No. I think my life’s that much of a mess.”
His hands went to her thighs, and her body tingled as if he were touching bare skin. “I won’t run. We may have just met, but I feel something for you, Harper. And when the day comes where you feel comfortable enough to tell me, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”
The air stopped moving in her lungs. It just…stopped. If she’d thought she’d dropped a bomb with her honesty, it was nothing compared to his.
He tilted his head. “Can I ask you to just tell me one thing?”
Right now, with his hands on her thighs and his face so close, she’d probably tell him her entire life story if he asked. “Sure.”
“Are you in danger?”
In danger… Had she ever felt anythingbutin danger with the family she’d been born into? “Right now, I feel safer than I’ve ever felt in my life.” It wasn’t really an answer to his question. But it kind of was.
CHAPTER 7
“What in the ever-loving hell is this? It looks like Barbie threw up in here.”
Cody emptied ice into a bucket and looked at Barry. “If I never see pink again, it will be too soon.”
It was everywhere. Pink balloons. Pink bows on the chairs. Vanessa had even carried in a two-tier pale pink frosted cake with pink macarons on top. It looked less like a work luncheon and more like a party.
“If I never seeVanessaagain, it’ll be too soon,” Barry said in a voice so low only Cody heard.
He elbowed the older man, although he wasn’t disagreeing.
“Cody!”
Barry groaned at Vanessa’s voice. “Good luck,” he muttered under his breath before moving into the back room.
Vanessa leaned over the counter. “People are arriving. Would you be able to set out the pre-lunch snacks?”
