“I’d like to go.” She set her fork down.
“Sure you don’t want to finish that pie? Be a shame to leave the last bite.”
She laughed. “It’s all yours.”
He scooped it up without hesitation and popped it in his mouth, making her stomach flutter.
They cleared their trays and drifted outside. The fire had been built high and sparks rose into the dark sky.
From the edge of the clearing she could see fence marked pastures. As they passed a gate, she noted a small camera was mounted on it. There was security everywhere, and for the first time in forever, she felt safe.
The fire popped and someone across the circle laughed. Zee stared at their faces. Not all were smiling—but they all looked content.
Sitting here with the firelight warming her face, with Church and the people who had invited her into their fold without hesitation, Zee realized she felt something she hadn’t in a very long time.
Peace.
The word filled her chest, like a fragile spark shooting up into the sky. She was afraid that if she put a name on the feeling that it would disappear.
For so long, calm had only ever been the heartbeat before everything went wrong—a moment before a lock was forced and her world rocked under her feet.
She curled her fingers in her lap, a habit that began after Matt’s death, but this time she didn’t squeeze them as tight. There was no threat here, not right now. Just the warmth of the fire on her face and a man beside her who didn’t make her feel so alone.
Her throat tightened with an ache of longing, but she couldn’t have any of this. She didn’t belong.
The thought came automatically, but for the first time since Matt…it didn’t feel entirely true.
Her gaze slid to Church, an old friend and a dear one. A link to her past and yet he was here in her present.
Out of the corner of her eye, she studied him, sitting beside her, one arm draped along the back of the bench, close enough she could feel the heat of him without touching. He wasn’t making any moves on her. He was just…here.
And he and the others all made her feel welcome.
Maybe she didn’t belong here yet.
But she wanted to.
Chapter Five
Church was used to waking before the sun cleared the ridge.
He was fine with answering to his internal alarm, but this morning he didn’t need it because he’d never really fallen asleep.
The blanket was twisted around his legs, and he kicked it aside to sit on the edge of the couch. Ten feet away, Zee was asleep. In his bed.
He dropped to the floor, his palms hitting the wood. He lowered himself down, breathing steady as his muscles remembered the drill. They should, since this wasn’t his first set of pushups this morning.
Actually, he’d woken more than once and every time, he ended up on the floor working through another set just to burn off some of the tension in his body that had been there since the middle of the night.
And he knew exactly when it started.
Zee had come out of the bedroom sometime after midnight, probably thinking he was asleep on the couch. She’d padded into the kitchenette for a drink of water, wearing a thin tank top and loose sleep shorts.
The strap of the tank top had started it all. It slipped down her shoulder when she reached into the mini fridge for a bottle of water.
He’d lain there frozen, every cell in his body focused on that delicate strap.
He’d seen a lot of things in life. Combat zones. Violence. The worst humanity could do to itself.
