“Great. What will you be?”
“You’ll have to wait and see. What will you be?”
“Your date.”
Charley laughed and asked, “What was going on at your ranch today?” Gathering items from her bathroom, she put them, along with a hairdryer, into her suitcase.
“A mare, named Rain, was bitten by a prairie rattler on the way to a skeet shoot.”
“Oh no.” Charley turned to face him. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, I think so. But I wanted to make sure, so that’s why I didn’t come back to town sooner. The vet treated her and checked on her twice.”
“Thank goodness. I hate snakes.”
“Like you hate guns?”
“I decided it’s not the gun but the person holding the gun that matters.”
Sully dipped his head once and smiled. “I agree.”
“Okay.” With a look around a few minutes later, Charley put a laptop into her bag and then grabbed the charger for her cell phone. “I’m ready to go.”
“Let’s hit the road,” Sully said and picked up her suitcase.
The blissful numbnesshad hit with the woman’s death. But he’d almost been caught by that stupid café employee. Hiding had interfered with his showing up at Charley’s apartment. He’d planned to be the hero, protecting her from the Cave Killer. Not only that, but she could have provided him with an alibi as to his whereabouts at the time of the murder. He’d been barely half a block away when he heard yelling at the restaurant. He’d kept walking in the opposite direction. When the voices said enough time had passed, he walked back down Colorado Avenue, planning to see the action and go tell Charley about it. But Charley had already heard and was there. Then the other two guys showed up. First the one he’d encountered that morning at her shop, and then the one named Sully. Picturing how Charley had run to that big, brawny gun-toting rancher, he screamed and battered his head with his fists.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Iknow it’s too late to see my log cabin tonight, but maybe we could check on it tomorrow. I was planning to stay there a night or two before the vandalism happened to my car,” Charley said as they passed the entrance to Triple C Ranch-South.
“Sure. If that’s what you want,” Sully said.
“Yes, Cash said they had put fresh linens on the bed and towels in the linen closet for the bathroom. I can pick up some groceries tomorrow and stay there tomorrow night.”
“Okay,” he said, turning right onto the road leading to his ranch. “Does that include me?”
Charley’s heart skipped a beat as she smiled at the handsome man. “Yes, it does.”
“I need to stop in at my gun club, but you can take my Jeep to the grocery store.”
“I remember seeing your Jeep in your garage.”
“Yeah, I got it a couple of years ago. Being white with black trim it reminds me of a stormtrooper fromStar Wars.”
“Me too. I love Jeeps. Does the top come off?”
“It does, and so do the doors. It’s a fun vehicle. Especially out here in the country.”
“You’re fun, Sully,” Charley said softly.
Sully pulled into the driveway of his ranch, drove around the side of the house, and stopped in front of the garage. With a click of the remote, the door went up, and an overhead light came on as he parked the truck inside the building.
“Stay where you are,” Sully said. “The garage light goes off quickly and I don’t want you to trip over anything in the dark.”
“Okay.” Charley’s excitement and nerves at spending another night with this man were bubbling inside of her. But she stayed put as he had asked, and a moment later, he was at her side of the truck. As the overhead light went out, the truck light came on as he opened her door. With a smile, she swung her body to face him.
“Listen to me,” Sully said, keeping her in place by flattening his large hands on her knees. “You’re fun, too, and I really do like you.”
