She crossed the room so fast he barely had time to brace himself before she grabbed his shoulders and spun him around to inspect his back.
Vander laughed under his breath. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for bullet holes.”
“She didn’t shoot me,” he assured her again. “But she did have the gun propped in the corner.”
She looked up sharply from his hard buttocks filling out those jeans just right. “Arm’s reach?”
“Yep.”
For one second they stared at each other before they broke out laughing. The sound escaped her easier lately around him.She was less guarded, and that realization should have scared her more than it did.
After she walked Ben through some spelling homework and he ate more beanie-weenies for dinner, she took him back to stay the night with Granny Helen when she went to work.
On the drive across town, Vander followed behind her, and she glanced in her rearview mirror, her heart drumming a little too fast as she recalled their day together.
A date. A proper date.
The sun had slipped behind the mountains, leaving downtown Willowbrook washed in cold blue shadows over the places they’d walked just hours before.
When she climbed out of her vehicle, he was already standing there, waiting to walk her to the employee entrance.
And she was trying hard not to think about how natural this felt. Too natural, like he’d slipped into the shape of her life without forcing a thing.
The Stockyard buzzed with noise and movement. Country music drifted from the speakers and boots scraped across old wood floors and waitresses carried trays between crowded tables. Usually the familiar chaos settled her the second she stepped inside.
Tonight it didn’t, even with Vander’s solid presence at his usual table in the back.
Now, she noticed everything.
Every man sitting alone too long. Every stranger at the bar. Every glance in her direction.
Fear had changed the room.
Summer tied on her apron, trying to ignore her pulse stuttering unevenly beneath her ribs. A man near the dartboards laughed loudly, and her focus snapped toward him. Anothercustomer walked through the front doors wearing a dark ballcap low over his eyes, and her stomach tightened.
Could he be the one?
Was he at the grocery store that day?
Had she ever seen him in the bar parking lot?
With every customer entering the room, her thoughts spiraled faster. A group of ranchers took over a back booth. A couple of tourists argued over the menu. An older man sat quietly nursing a beer by himself.
Every person could be a threat.
Her nerves stretched tighter every minute until she nearly dropped a tray.
Vander suddenly appeared beside her. “Hey.”
She startled hard enough that his expression sharpened as he spoke. “Sorry. You okay?”
Summer issued a shaky breath. “You scared me.”
“I know.”
He lowered his head, pitching his voice low enough only she could hear over the crowd. “I see what you’re doing.”
