Chapter 2
Lucy
Bronson Hale was the embodiment of every man I’d ever sung about.
He was tall, burly, and gruff. And breathtakingly handsome.
I’d been around a lot of security men in my life, but not one had ever set my pulse racing like he did.
Despite his military appearance, there were some rough edges to the man.
His hair was longer than regulation, and he had the beginning of a beard growing in.
Something about him set my pulse racing.
Valerie had even joked about him before she left, telling me to ride the beast while she was gone. She never missed a thing, and I knew she’d spotted me drinking him in when I first saw him.
Cal, the owner of Salt and Steel Security, had told me that Bronson had just left the Navy SEALs after twenty years of service. And that he was headed home to some small mountain town in the Ozarks.
He wasn’t a regular employee of Cal’s. In fact, he was just doing his old SEAL buddy a favor.
He fit in the mountains. I could see him there.
Dragging my eyes off him, I scanned the online menu before making my final choice.
He’d let me order dinner in, since Valerie wasn’t here to pick it up.
And when the delivery driver showed up at the gate, Bronson changed out of his military gear and put on a casual pair of jeans. Then he flipped a John Deere baseball cap backward on his head before going out to grab the food bags.
The change was immediate. He no longer looked like a bodyguard. He’d transformed into an everyday normal guy. An extremely buff, rugged version of an everyday normal guy. But still.
I ate fast because I always ate too quickly when I was nervous. And I’d been a bundle of nerves ever since this nightmare had begun.
Someone was hunting me, and I didn’t know who.
After dinner, Bronson rumbled, “I need to take a shower. Don’t move until I get back.”
As soon as he was out of sight, I snuck outside.
But not before hesitating.
He’d told me not to move, and here I was disregarding his order.
I knew he’d be pissed, but I needed to clear my head.
The sliding glass door barely made a sound when I slipped through it, and I relished my moment of freedom.
My nerves were shot, and I needed the fresh air to ground myself. Just five minutes to pretend life was normal.
The wind out here was stronger than I’d expected, and it caught my hair and threw it across my face.
The ocean waves crashed, and in the dark with just the stars shining down on the pitch-black water, I felt like I was alone on a small island. Just me and the sea.
I thought about the recording session tomorrow.
I’d been turning a new melody over in my head for weeks, about what my life might actually look like on the other side of all this mess with Jimmy.
The song was calledSmall Town Rambler, and I knew in my gut that it was going to be a hit.
