“That’s good, because it looks like you’ve been off-roading in a Christmas tree farm.” She stomped her boots, rubbing her mitten-covered hands together in front of her face. “Jeez, it’s cold. Aren’t you going to let me in, Rip Van Winkle? I come bearing gossip.”
Leni swallowed, feeling a tense shift in the air behind her where Knox yet loomed. “What kind of gossip?”
Carla rolled her eyes. “Fine, I guess I’ll tell you before you let me turn into a popsicle out here. I ran into old Willa Barnes and a couple of the other local fat-chewers at the post office this morning. They were talking about Dwight Parrish and how his brand-new pickup ended up in the river a couple of nights ago.”
Leni nearly choked. “In the river?”
“Yep. With him inside it. He managed to get out, more’s the pity, but apparently the truck is a goner. It sat half-submerged at the bottom of the ravine down by the falls until Sheriff Barstow got some of the county boys to make a special trip out there yesterday to tow it up.”
Leni didn’t think for a minute that Dwight’s misfortune was any more accidental than her own plunge into the ravine. And while she couldn’t see Knox, she could feel his cold satisfaction emanating from a few feet behind her. “Did you hear how it happened?”
“Apparently, Dwight’s telling everyone who’ll listen that he was attacked on his way home from plowing. By avampire, Leni. Can you imagine? One of the Breed way up here in Parrish Falls? According to Dwight, the only way he escaped getting his jugular torn open was by ditching his truck in the river.”
Knox’s derisive scoff was quiet, but Carla didn’t miss it. “Is someone in there with you?”
Shit. Leni wasn’t ready to explain her unusual houseguest—or the circumstances that had brought him into her home. Carla knew about her Breedmate mark, but what would her friend think if she learned Leni had agreed to allow a Breed male she’d only just met into her home? Even worse, one who’d been born and raised a killer.
She tried to appear calm and casual. “I should go wake up Riley and get some breakfast into him. Call you later?”
“You’re acting really weird right now, Len.” So much for trying to dodge her best friend’s scrutiny. Carla studied her, her expression moving from curious to concerned. “What’s going on with you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, for one thing, I know how upset you are about Travis Parrish coming home tomorrow. But for another, I just told you there’s a blood-crazed Breed male on the loose somewhere in town and you’ve barely blinked.”
Dammit. She had never lied to Carla and she hated to start now. Leni shook her head, letting go of a resigned sigh. “He’s not blood-crazed.”
“What?”
“Come in here, quick.” She pulled her friend inside and closed the door behind them. “Carla Hansen, meet Knox. Knox, this is my best friend, Carla.”
His stony expression hardly looked welcoming. He dipped his chin in vague acknowledgment. “The one who watches Riley for you.”
“You know who I am?” Carla gaped at the huge, half-dressed vampire standing in the foyer. Then she swung a confused look at Leni. “You two know each other?”
“Knox and I met a couple of nights ago. At the diner.”
Her brows arched high. “A couple of nights ago. You mean, the night of the blizzard. The night you came to my house to pick up Riley and didn’t mention one single word about meeting a” —her gaze flicked back to Knox for a second— “a new . . . um, friend?”
Were they friends? Leni hadn’t really considered what to call her relationship with him. After all, it had only been about thirty-six hours since he’d wandered into her diner and turned her life upside down.
So, why didn’t it feel strange to see him in front of her now, looking for all the world as if he belonged in her house? Why did he seem like the one person who understood her better than anyone else, with the exception of Carla, whom she’d known literally all her life?
It wasn’t friendship that made Leni’s face heat under the intensity of Knox’s gaze. For all the moments they’d clashed in the past couple of nights since they met, there was no denying the attraction that simmered between them. It crackled beneath the surface of every glance, every word they exchanged, even the angry ones. She could feel that electric awareness now as Knox’s gaze lingered on her. Heat licked through her veins, coiling somewhere deep inside her.
Based on the astonished expression on her friend’s face right now, Carla seemed to be picking up on the charge in the air too.
Knox cleared his throat. “You have things to talk about with your friend. I’ll be upstairs.”
She nodded, but he was already in motion. Silent in spite of his size, he vanished into the kitchen to the back stairwell leading up to the attic apartment.
The instant he was gone, Carla’s brows shot high on her forehead, her eyes wide as saucers. “Oh. My. God.” She kept her voice barely above a whisper as she hooked her arm through Leni’s and pulled her into the living room. “Did you see how fucking gorgeous he is?”
Leni exhaled a laugh. “I have noticed that, yes.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“Well, last night he put in some new locks on the doors and windows. Right now, I imagine he’s upstairs in the attic apartment finishing drying off after his shower was interrupted.”
