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But I could make do. I was grateful that my only job requirements were my camera gear and Wi-Fi. I could work from a hostel in Cambodia or a coffee shop in Berlin…or a cattle ranch in Wyoming.

Not that anyone was asking me to consider a cattle ranch in Wyoming as a long-term option. And that was…It was okay. The future would be whatever it would be, and I wasn’t going to get myself worked up over impossible questions. I loved him. Being here, with him, was a gift. I was going to enjoy every moment of it while it lasted.

Editing photos was one of those things I always had to talk myself into, but once I got started, I could lose myself for hours. Ideally, I edited photos within a week of taking them, when the subject was still fresh in my mind, but since I tended to procrastinate the parts of my job that kept me indoors, that almost never happened. Yellowstone was still a vivid memory, and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

I took a quick pass at the first twenty photos, just to see what I was working with. Raw images looked like shadows of the real thing, but in truth they were so much more that our eyes couldn’t comprehend it. A camera lens was very different from an eyeball lens. Editing was deciding what to keep. What to feel.

An hour passed before the cramp in my back finally forced me to take a movement break. Groaning, I pushed up from the couch and arched my back. I shook out my arms and legs and rolled my shoulders. Then I did some gentle stretches, working out the kinks in my back, hips, and neck. Sitting hunched over like that was harder on my body than miles of hiking uphill.

Humming to myself, I moved around the cabin, getting the blood flowing through my muscles and tidying up as I went. The cabin was small, so it didn’t take long for things to pile up, especially when we were both exhausted from ranch work. I washed the breakfast and lunch dishes, wiped down the counters, and moved into the bedroom. My mouth curved as I took in the unmade bed and rumpled sheets. It morphed into an all-out grin when my gaze landed on Seb’s pillow on the floor where he’d tossed it to protect my knees.

So thoughtful, that man.

I stripped the sheets from the bed and tossed them into the wash, then pulled the clean clothes from the dryer to fold and put away. Seb had cleared a drawer for me, but that was before summer had turned to autumn. There wasn’t enough space for his clothes and my bulky sweaters in his dresser, so I’d been keeping my underwear and socks in the drawer and living out of my suitcase.

But my suitcase wasn’t in the closet. Instead, the back wall was lined with new shelves, already put to use with Seb’s jeans, T-shirts, and flannels. Curious, I pulled open the top left drawer of the dresser and found Seb’s underwear and socks right where they had always been. The top right was mine. The bottom four were now full of my clothes. It took me a minute, but I finally located my suitcase under the bed.

My heart stuttered in my chest. When had he done this? What did it mean? Did he want me to stay? Those cedar shelves were permanent. Someone wouldn’t install them just to accommodate a temporary guest, would he?

A knock sounded at the door, pulling me from my thoughts. I froze. It could be Lennon or Holly, maybe? Or it could be…someone else.

“Lila? Are you in there?” The panicked male voice sounded familiar. “It’s Seb. He’s been in an accident. Hello?”

I flew across the cabin, unbolted the door, and yanked it open. “Where is he⁠—”

The words strangled in my throat at the sight of the black barrel of a handgun leveled at my chest.

“Lila.”

I knew that voice. The hatred in his voice chilled my blood. He had hissed my name just like that the night he burned my shoulder with his lit cigarette.

Slowly, I lifted my gaze from his gun to his face. A spasm of shock tore through me.

“You?”

32

SEB

Damn, it felt good to be on the back of a horse again. Cowboying in the modern century was more likely to involve riding an ATV than riding a horse, but there was something special about viewing the world from between a horse’s ears. It just felt right.

I still thought the hats were cheesy as hell, though.

“You got anywhere to be?” I asked Mateo as we untacked. “I’ve got some photos from Yellowstone to go through. Turns out the park photographer was there for Lila’s workshop so she could do a write-up for the website. It’s probably a long shot, but we might get lucky.”

“Sure, I’ve got time.”

We gave the horses a good brushing and some water, then turned them out in the pasture. I texted Lila to let her know where I was going, see if she needed anything, and that I’d be home in about an hour. I stared at my phone for a minute after pressing send, waiting to see if she would text back. When the text dots failed to appear, I shoved my phone back in my pocket. She was probably deep in work mode.

“Something’s been bothering me,” Mateo said as we headed to the lodge. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? We don’t know. We can’t find a name. We can’t find an address or a Social Security number. He’s a fucking ghost.”

“That’s the part that bothers me.” We reached the lodge doors at the same time. Mateo pulled it open and gestured for me to go first. “Whoever he is, he’s a professional.”

I unlocked Jay’s office and flipped on the light. We stepped inside. “Why does that bother you? You jealous?” I smirked at him over my shoulder. “He’s not better than you, Mateo. He might be a ghost, but you’re the Darkness. Russians still whisper about you like the boogeyman.”

“You’re damn right he’s not better than me. I wouldn’t have worn a sweatshirt with an easily identifiable logo. Twice.”