Always watching Bit.
“Having her here?” I ask.
“Having anyone connected to trouble here,” he corrects. “You heard her. Stalker. Break-in. Trouble like that doesn’t just go away.”
His jaw flexes.
“But,” he continues after a beat, and I know this costs him something, “I also saw your face when you walked up.”
I stiffen again.
“Don’t,” I warn.
He ignores me.
“If you feel even half of what I think you do,” he says, voice low and steady, “then she’s not leaving this place unprotected. Not while there’s a threat out there.”
I let out a rough breath.
“That’s not your problem.”
His head snaps toward me.
“It is if it walks onto this land,” he says flatly. “And it is if it puts her at risk.”
He jerks his chin toward Bit.
Message received.
Clear as day.
This isn’t just about me and Esme.
It’s about the ranch.
The people on it.
The woman he’d burn the world down for.
And still—he’s offering.
Reluctantly.
Carefully.
But it’s there.
“If she stays,” Sawyer adds, “we lock it down. No wandering off. No solo trips. You handle your business, your past, whatever the hell this is—” he gestures vaguely toward the porch “—but you don’t bring heat down on us without warning.”
I nod once.
Because there’s nothing else to do.
Because he’s right.
And because if there’s one thing I trust more than my own temper, it’s Sawyer’s read on a threat.
I look back toward the porch again.
