“No.” She shakes her head, squeezing her eyes closed for a moment before she reopens them and meets my gaze. “I know I don’t have to, but it’s okay. I was…sleeping out near the falls.”
My shoulders stiffen. “What?”
I had figured she’d been walking, maybe hitchhiking to get to McBride Mountain since she doesn’t have any sort of vehicle, but sleeping alone outdoors in this area isn’t merely unwise, it can be downright deadly if you aren’t prepared with the proper equipment.
Which Lucky clearly was not.
All she has with her is a backpack and that little dog.
A shudder rolls through me imagining what might have stumbled upon her and Gizmo while she was out there alone without any form of protection. “You’re incredibly lucky nothing found you out there.”
She releases a heavy sigh, running her hands through her hair which falls back into place around her freckled face like water cascading over the side of the mountain. “You have no idea.”
I’m smart enough to read between the lines there.
Lucky isn’t just talking about the wildlife.
But I promised I wouldn’t ask even though every part of me desperately wants to push for the truth.
I push off the wall beside the door and close the distance between us, tugging her up against me. “You don’t have to worry anymore, Lucky. I know you may not want to tell me everything that’s going on, and that’s okay because I know when you’re here, and when you’re with me, you’re safe. You are safe with me, Bluebell. That’s enough right now.”
She gives me a look that suggests she isn’t so sure.
Getting Lucky to actually trust me, and trust in the things I tell her, isn’t going to be easy, but I’ve never been afraid of hard work. It’s what my entire life has been built upon, and something tells me that putting it in with this woman will be both the easiest and hardest job I ever do.
Leaning in, I feather my lips across hers. “Come on, let me show you the rest of the place.”
She kicks off her old Chucks, tossing them next to my boots by the door, and I take her hand and tug her up the stairs into the loft.
My bed occupies almost the entire space, save for one corner with a dresser and a large reading chair, small end table, and lamp where I sometimes sit before bed when I don’t feel like lounging by the fire downstairs.
“Wow.” She gapes at my California king. “That’s a big bed.”
Laughing, I step in behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, burying my face in her hair, which inexplicably smells like the eucalyptus that grows on the mountain—with the slightest tinge of bacon from having worked at the diner this morning. “After a long day, I want to be able to spread out.”
Hopefully now with her…
“And you need room for whoever’s with you, right?”
She doesn’t say it in a callous way, or like she’s jealous, but it makes me stiffen in all the wrong places.
I turn her in my arms to face me and take her cheeks in my palms. “I need to tell you something.”
Her brow furrows, and the tiniest bit of trepidation I hate seeing seeps into her eyes. “What?”
Hell.
I didn’t think this would be so difficult, but I honestly didn’t really spend much time considering this moment until Lucky walked into my life—and accused me of theft.
“This is kind of embarrassing…”
Swallowing thickly, I glance away, but Lucky raises her hand and nudges my face back toward her, completely stealing my move.
Her fingers graze across my cheek. “What is?”
“I haven’t…”
Fucking hell.
