Suspicion flashes across her face. "You'd let me off the property?"
"With me." I rest my hand on her knee, feeling her warmth through the thin fabric of her dress. "There's a trail that starts at the back of the clearing. Good views."
She considers this, lower lip caught between her teeth. That fucking lip. Makes me want to bite it myself.
"Okay," she says finally.
Twenty minutes later, we're on the trail, climbing through pine and hardwood forest. Beck moves cautiously ahead of me, giving me a perfect view of her ass swaying in that dress. My flannel shirt is tied around her waist now, the day warming as the sun climbs higher.
"It's beautiful up here," she says, pausing to look at the valley spreading out below us through a break in the trees. "So quiet."
"That's why I bought the place," I tell her, stepping closer until my chest nearly touches her back. "No neighbors. No prying eyes."
She shivers despite the warm day. "Just you and your surveillance equipment."
Smart girl. She noticed the cameras.
"Protection," I correct, my hand settling on her hip. "For both of us now."
She doesn't pull away from my touch. Progress.
We continue up the trail, climbing higher along the ridgeline. Beck's breathing grows heavier, and I slow my pace to match hers. Not used to the altitude. Something else I'll have to help her adjust to.
The trail widens into a small clearing with a view that stretches for miles—rolling blue mountains fading into mist on the horizon. Beck gasps, moving to the edge to take it all in.
"Worth the hike?" I ask, enjoying the wonder on her face.
"Definitely." She smiles—the first genuine smile I've seen from her—and something twists in my chest.
Mine to protect. Mine to keep smiling.
A sound on the trail behind us. Footsteps. My body tenses instantly, hand moving to the knife concealed at my belt.
A man rounds the bend—mid-thirties, athletic build, hiking gear. Harmless enough, but the way his eyes immediately lock onto Beck sets my teeth on edge.
"Beautiful day," he calls, approaching too fucking close.
Beck, sweet and polite, smiles back. "It is."
His eyes roam over her—her face, her curves barely concealed by the thin dress, her legs pale and exposed to mid-thigh. He's undressing her with his eyes. Imagining her. Wanting what's mine.
Red bleeds into the edges of my vision.
I step forward, placing myself between them. "Trail narrows ahead," I growl. "Barely room for one."
The warning in my voice is clear. The hiker's eyes flick to me, then back to Beck, then register my size, my stance, the threat in my eyes.
"Just passing through," he says, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. But his eyes drift to Beck once more over my shoulder. "Enjoy the view."
My hand twitches toward my knife. One quick movement. No one would find the body for days.
Beck's small hand touches my arm, and I freeze. "Thank you," she says to the hiker. "You too."
The man nods and continues past us, giving me a wide berth. Smart. I track his movement until he disappears around the bend, my body still humming with the urge to hunt him down for daring to look at what's mine.
"Gray?" Beck's voice, hesitant. "You're scaring me a little."
I turn to her, struggling to bank the feral rage. "He looked at you."
