Her brows drew together. “What? You are?”
“It’s my first official meeting with Caleb. I’m doing a security assessment for some new cottages they’re building.”
She only stared at him as if confused.
“I do threat analysis as my job,” he explained. “In simple terms, I figure out where a place is exposed before someone takes advantage of any vulnerabilities. Since they’re starting a building project, they need to know how to do it safely. It’s an issue since construction workers will be on and off the property.”
Understanding flickered in her eyes, followed quickly by something else. Relief, maybe.
“I was trying to get there for a surprise visit,” she said. “I haven’t been in a while, and I got turned around. I think I’m close, but my GPS stopped working.”
He quickly observed her black Tesla. At first glance, it looked nice. But when he studied it more closely, he noticed it could use some maintenance. The tires appeared worn, it was dirty, and a small dent marred the bumper.
“You’re not far away. You can follow me. How about that?”
A beat passed before she nodded and said, “Okay.”
Wes stepped back, giving her space to get into her car. When she was safe inside, he returned to his truck.
As he climbed behind the wheel, his gaze flicked once more toward the road behind her.
He didn’t like how scared she’d appeared.
What wasn’t she telling him? The fear in her eyes seemed to be rooted far deeper than she’d let on. There was more to her story . . . and if he was smart, he’d let it go. He wouldn’t try to figure out what.
But being around Rowan had never led him to smart decisions.
CHAPTER 2
Rowan slowedas the road curved, her grip tightening on the steering wheel when the familiar entrance came into view.
Refuge Cove. Yes,thiswas the entry she’d been looking for.
Refuge Cove wasn’t just a place to stay—it was a place to start over. Women came here when they had nowhere else to go, when leaving meant risking everything, including the animals they loved.
Sarah, Rowan’s oldest sister, had understood that better than most, and this place was built on that truth—in her memory. Here, no one had to choose between safety and leaving a pet behind.
The property was secure—gated, monitored, protected.
Rowan’s brother Caleb had walked away from everything he knew to build a place where women wouldn’t feel trapped the way Sarah had. A place where they could come in broken and leave with something that looked like a future.
The sign for Refuge Cove welcomed her—simple and well-kept, the lettering clean against the wood. A gated entrance blocked the drive, a keypad mounted beside it. Trees framed the approach, thicker than she remembered, offering privacy more than decoration.
She eased to a stop behind Wes as he approached the gate, her car idling as she took it all in, trying to reconcile the place in front of her with the knot of tension still lodged in her chest.
Relief flickered through her, but it didn’t settle. Not fully. Not with everything from the past few days pressing in on her.
Her gaze shifted in front of her to where Wes sat in his truck. He typed a code into the gate, and it opened.
The sight of him sent a different kind of tension through her, one she hadn’t been prepared for.
She hadn’t seen him in years. Not in real life, at least.
She’d caught glimpses of his life online once or twice, enough to know he was single and seemingly doing well for himself. But those moments had felt distant and contained.
This didn’t.
Having him so close felt immediate and disorienting, like stepping back into a part of her life she’d quietly closed off.
