Bo

  I’m enjoying the view. Both the one around me as well as the one straight in front of me.

  Fine, maybe the sight of Lucy’s ass bouncing in the saddle wins out over the landscape. Yup, definitely enjoying that.

  “What about here?”

  Lucy points at a branch hanging low enough it barely clears her head. I’ll have to duck to get under.

  “Sure.”

  I watch as she pulls some hairs from her head and wraps them around the slim branch.

  “Cheeky,” I tell her.

  It had been Lucy’s idea to add an additional challenge to the tracking exercise I planned to set up. I intended to lay down a simple trail with the horses for Dan to follow, but she thought it would be more fun for him to turn it into more of a ‘treasure’ hunt by leaving a variety of clues from different species along the way he would have to collect and identify.

  She collected goat droppings, a raven feather, donkey hair, shed snake skin, a chicken bone, and a dog turd, which she’s been leaving along the trail we’re setting out. Tossing in a few human hairs would throw him off.

  “Change the term animals to species in his instructions and we’re covered,” she suggests.

  Very cheeky.

  When the buildings of the rescue come into view, I check my watch to see it took us forty or so minutes to get back down the mountain. We’d gone up the existing trail along the creek to the southeast boundary, where a previous owner had built an underground shelter.

  The location borders High Meadow lands and I figured it will make a good spot for Fletch to drop Dan. He can lead him in—blindfolded and on the back of a four-wheeler—on the old logging path on ranch property. Dan will be left with instructions on what he is to look for and a time limit of three hours to find his way to the end point, which is the rescue.

  As we approach the barn, I call Fletch.

  “Whenever you’re ready. Tell him that aside from horse tracks, there is evidence for seven other species he needs to collect along the way.”

  Fletch chuckles. “Putting him through his paces. I like it. I was too easy on him last night. Kid did pretty well, he’s got potential.”

  “Wasn’t my idea, Lucy came up with it. We’ll see if he can find them all.”

  “How long does he have?”

  “Three hours.”

  “Even if he makes it in two, he’ll have to do part in the dark,” Fletch observes. “That’ll mess with his orientation.”

  “I know,” I confirm.

  Another deep chuckle.

  “I’ll make sure he has a flashlight. Give me half an hour to get him up there.”

  “Roger that.”

  I catch up with Lucy and quickly dismount, following her into the barn with Flint, one of the rescue’s horses. A sedate, big old guy, no longer suited for heavy work, but still good for an occasional stroll. I tie his lead to one of the stall doors and remove his saddle. Then I carry it into the tack room, bumping into Lucy who is coming out.

  “Are we gonna put them out or do you want them in here?”

  “Back in the field. I need to haul a couple of bales of hay for the feeder in their shelter, though. Not a lot of grass left and with snow expected toward the end of the week, I should probably start feeding them on the regular.”

  “I can help with that.”

  The dogs run ahead of Lucy, who is leading both horses, while I follow behind balancing three hay bales on a wheelbarrow. What this place needs is a John Deere Gator. Something that’ll make it easier for Lucy to haul hay all damn winter. I’ll have a talk with Pippa. There’s an old Gator behind the shed at High Meadow, along with a few other broken-down vehicles we haven’t disposed of yet. She might be able to get that thing back in working order. I’m sure Jonas won’t mind.

  She needs a new pitchfork too, the one I grabbed from outside the tack room has a bent tine.

  “How long do you think it’ll take him?” she asks as we walk back to the house.

  I have to shorten my stride to allow her to keep up with me.

  “Fletch should be doing the drop-off right about now.” I check my watch; it’s four thirty. He’ll only have an hour of daylight left at most. “He’s got three hours but I don’t think he’ll need it. We’ll see.”

  “Okay, good. That gives me time to make beef chili. He’ll be hungry.”

  I shake my head as I let her go up the porch steps ahead of me. Don’t particularly want Dan hanging around any longer than necessary. He’ll finish the exercise and I’ll get someone from the ranch to swing by and pick him up.

  “He can eat when he gets home.”

  She swings around, looking annoyed.

  “He’ll be cold, tired, and hungry. Least we can do is feed him.”

  Like hell. Last night’s plans were interrupted, and I fully intend to make good on those tonight, which won’t work if the kid hangs around. Unless, I can get a head start on those plans before he gets here.

  “Fine. We’ll order pizza,” I announce, putting my hands on her hips and backing her up to the front door.

  “But I was going to make chili, I already took the beef from the freezer.”

  “It’ll keep.”

  Her mouth thins stubbornly so I bend my head and kiss her. She doesn’t give an inch at first, planting flat hands on my chest but not quite pushing me away, until her fingers slowly curl into my shirt and her mouth opens.

  With my tongue slipping between her lips and my hand covering her ass, there is no space left between us. There’s no way she can’t feel the outline of my cock straining against my fly, but she’s not flinching. In fact, I’d swear she presses even closer and I growl deep in my throat.

  Then one dog barks, followed by the other, and reality crashes home.

  “I should feed them,” Lucy mumbles, disentangling herself from me.

  “Fine, we can continue this inside.”

  I reluctantly let her go as she turns to unlock the front door and take a moment to cool my jets. When I follow inside, I almost run into her back.

  She stands frozen on the threshold of the living room and almost jumps out of her skin when I drop a hand on her shoulder.

  “Everything all right?”

  Lucy

  I do my best to keep a straight face.

  Ever since we came home, Bo has kept a very close eye on me. I don’t think he believed me when I told him everything was fine.

  The truth is, I’m probably just paranoid, but everything that’s happened in the past couple of weeks has me on edge. When I walked in the house earlier, I watched the dogs make a beeline for the kitchen. Both of them stopped in front of the sink, their noses high as they sniffed the air and the hair on my neck stood on end.

  I noticed it right away; the blinds covering the window over the sink were all the way up.

  They’re never rolled all the way up. The sun comes up on that side of the house and I don’t want it blinding me when I stumble around the kitchen in the morning, so I end up leaving the blinds half-closed all the time.

  It brought me right back to another time, another house, and another kitchen.

  In an instant, the hot buzz in my blood Bo left with his kiss was replaced with a sharp chill. Bo’s question if I was all right snapped the freeze and I rushed into the kitchen to return the blinds to their half-closed position. Then, with shaking hands, I fed the dogs and pulled the ingredients for my chili from the fridge. By the time I dared look at Bo, he was sitting where he is now—at the kitchen table—closely observing me.

  “This will only take a minute,” I tell him, rinsing the beans.

  I have onions and beef browning in the Dutch oven and the scent of the rich spices is filling the air. All I have left to do is toss in the rest of the vegetables and beans and turn the whole thing to simmer. Chili tends to be better the next day when the flavors have had more of a chance to blend, but that’s why I always make tons.

  When I drop the lid on the pot, turn down the burner, and swing around, Bo is right behind me.

  “Now are you ready to tell me what that was all about?”

  No. I’m not ready to go down that rabbit hole.

  I’ve already convinced myself Bo must’ve rolled up the blinds this morning before I got up, and I simply didn’t notice until now. I don’t want to explain what caused my mini freakout. I’m afraid if he finds out he’ll want a name, but even without he’s going to dig around and put me right back on the radar.

  I’ve fought too hard to build some kind of life that could sustain me, in more ways than one, to risk it over my own paranoia. I’ll stick as close to the truth as I’m comfortable with.

  “I zoned out. I haven’t been sleeping great. First it was the goats, then Ladybug, and now this murder. I guess it’s all getting to me.”

  The look on his face softens as he takes a step closer, lifting his hand to my face to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

  “Yeah, I get that.” He looks over my shoulder at the stove. “Any more you need to do here?”

  “No, it just needs to simmer.”

  The words are barely out of my mouth when he grabs my hand and starts walking toward my bedroom.

  “Wait a minute…what’s—”

  “You need a nap.”

  “It’s the middle of the day,” I protest as we enter my bedroom. “I have a pot on the stove and Dan will be here soon.”

  I feel a light breeze coming in from the partly opened window when he stops me by the side of the bed. Then, with his hands on my shoulders, he urges me to sit on the edge.

  “You’ve got plenty of time. I’ll wake you up when he gets here.”

  I shake my head. “I couldn’t sleep if I tried.”

  “Sure, you can,” he insists, as he climbs on the bed, lies back and pulls me down with him.

  “What are you doing?”

  I try to lift my head, but he rolls on his side and props himself up on an elbow. Then he presses his index finger against my lips. His touch and those dark eyes hovering over me spark a heat deep in my belly and reignites the buzz in my blood.

  “Shh.”

  My skin tingles as he traces my face with his fingertips, his gaze following their path. I feel seen, and yes, exposed, but in the most delicious way possible.

  Sleep? That’s a joke. There’s no way I could sleep when even his slightest touch is lighting my body up.

  I want him.

  My life is in chaos, I’m jumping at shadows, and by all accounts this is the worst possible time to open up to someone, but fuck it…I want this man.

  So when he lowers his head and aims a kiss at my forehead, I lift my face and slide my hands around his neck, catching his mouth on mine. To his credit, he tries to restrain himself, but that doesn’t last long when I swing my leg over his, using the leverage to flip him on his back.

  His pained groan rumbles down my throat as his hands find purchase on my ass. With my mouth fused to his, my tongue tasting and probing, I roll my hips seeking friction on the hard ridge of his cock against my aching core.

  I’m no longer thinking of the past and I don’t allow myself to think of the future. I exist only now; with this man whose need-filled groans and claiming hands cause a storm of sensations raging through my body.

  “I want you,” I mumble against his mouth, sinking my teeth into his lush bottom lip.

  “Fuck, Luce…”

  His fingers dig into the globes of my ass as I rub my body against him restlessly.

  “I need you.”

  The next moment I’m on my back and my arms are being stretched above my head. Then his hands roam my body before shoving up my shirt. He yanks down my bra and latches on to my nipple, drawing me deep. The pull is so intense, my back arches up from the mattress.

  “Please, Bo…”

  “Easy, Gorgeous. I’ve got you.”

  One hand slides down to my waistband and with deft moves, he undoes my button and zipper before slipping his fingers inside. His moan when he finds me slick vibrates against my skin. Lost to the barrage on my senses, I hiss when he slips a finger inside.

  “Too much?” he asks softly, freezing his movements as his breath ghosts over my skin.

  “Not enough,” I return, moving my legs restlessly.

  “Give me your mouth,” he orders on a growl as he pumps his finger inside me, slipping a second digit alongside. “And ride my hand.”

  I’m not sure who I am anymore as I let go of all control and allow Bo to play my body masterfully. The sound I hear is my own keening when the tight coil of my need is released in a breathless free-fall.

  I wake up when the dogs start barking some time later. It takes me a moment to become aware I’m curled up on my side, Bo’s rough hand covering my breast and his hard body pressed against my back. Then I scramble out of bed, my heart pounding.

  “It’s Dan,” Bo claims, much slower to swing his legs out of bed.

  I’m frantically trying to straighten myself into something presentable, but my hands are shaking.

  “How would you know?” I snap.

  I’m feeling vulnerable and I don’t do well with that.

  “Because I could hear him walking up to the house.” He drops a kiss on my head as he moves past me to the door. “Take your time.”

  I’m not going to allow myself to process what happened earlier in my bed. Not now. It’ll have to wait for a quiet moment when I can be alone. There’s simply too much to sort through.

  Bo is stirring the chili on the stove, and the High Meadow lead ranch hand is leaning against my kitchen counter sipping a beer, when I walk in. Dan pushes off and stands straight as soon as he sees me.

  “You made pretty good time,” I comment, checking the clock.

  It had taken him a little over two hours. An hour less than Bo said he was allotted.

  “Thanks.”

  He grins a little sheepishly. Nice guy, but seems a little shy for someone his age. Or maybe he’s just quiet. Can’t be easy taking care of a loved one who is fighting to stay alive.

  “We’ll have to see if you picked up all the clues we left,” Bo mentions.

  “Be my guest, I left them all on the porch,” Dan indicates. “Some of them weren’t suited to bring indoors.”

  I smile. Guess he found the poop.

  “Let’s go check it out.”

  We file out onto the porch where Dan displayed his clues on the railing.

  He has both the goat droppings and the dog turd, both wrapped in leaves. Next to it the raven feather, snake skin, chicken bone, and donkey hair. Six out of seven, not bad.

  “Sorry, kid. You missed one,” Bo points out.

  Dan shoves a hand in his jeans, a grin on his face.

  “Oh, you mean this?”

  He pulls a strand of long blond hair from his pocket and hands it over to me.

  “Yours, I believe?”

  “Good catch,” I tell him.

  Bo shakes his head.

  “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  Seventeen

  Bo

  “You’re kidding?”

  Lucy beats me to it. She’s clearly as shocked as I am.

  “Afraid not.” Speakerphone gives Reggie’s voice a slight echo. “We missed it on the flight manifest.”

  “And voluntarily? You’re sure?”

  “That’s what she said on the phone.”

  I’m not sure whether I buy into the whole ‘reconciliation’ Burns claims. The man apparently found out from an employee that the police came looking for him and contacted Reggie to ‘clear the air.’ As it turns out, Samantha went to Panama with him.

  “You spoke with her?” Lucy asks sharply.

  “I did. She was with him.”

  “FaceTime?” she pushes, and I can see what she’s getting at.

  “No. He called on a landline from a resort in Rio Hato, Panama.”

  “And you were satisfied it was her?”

  I can hear Reggie is getting annoyed when he comes back with, “Been doing this work for a while now, Miss Lenoir. I can assure you it was her.”

  It’s obvious from the look on Lucy’s face the answer doesn’t quite satisfy her. Her eyes meet mine over the kitchen table, where we were just having breakfast.

  “I hope you’re right, Detective, but take it from me, abusers like Burns will do anything to try and regain control over their victim. They’ll lie, manipulate, blackmail, threaten, overpower, restrain, and yes, they’ll kill too.”

  After a pregnant pause, Reggie bites off a muffled expletive followed by, “I should’a picked up on that. You’re a victim too.”

  She flinches ever so slightly but immediately straightens her shoulders and lifts her chin.

  “The appropriate term is survivor, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She’s lying and we all know it.

  Half an hour later, I watch Lucy and Alex walk toward the back field. The farrier is scheduled to come today and look after all the rescue’s nine horses, plus the donkey. The horses will need to be brought into the corral and from there rotated through the barn where the farrier will set up shop.

  The past two days have been pretty uneventful, and I ended up doing a few minor repair jobs around the house to keep myself busy while Lucy went about her normal routine. She seems to have retreated a bit since Tuesday night after Dan left. She went to bed almost immediately and pointedly pulled the door shut behind her. Other than a few pecks I managed to steal, there’ve been no passionate kisses or heated touches, and each time I try to bring it up, she evades the subject.

  Then yesterday afternoon, she had a session with the young girl we rescued a few weeks ago. The kid seemed a little freaked to see me there so I stayed in the house and out of sight until they left. Understandable, I’d seen her at her most vulnerable and she probably didn’t want to be reminded of that.

  When I was trying to get to sleep on the couch last night, it occurred to me that maybe Lucy was feeling vulnerable too. She’d let go the other night. Let me see her need which, I’m sure, she’s not used to sharing. Part of me expected her to straight out reject me at some point, but that hasn’t happened yet.

 

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