Page 99 of Home Town Knight

Time passed, but neither of us were focused on how much. I was too caught up in Owen. The rough stubble of his cheek that tickled everywhere he kissed me, and the soft caress of his skin. I loved touching him. Feeling him. Experiencing every bit of Owen that I could get. Even when he was inside me, I still craved having him closer. Like there was some deeper part of me he hadn’t reached yet.

And he seemed to want the same from me. He was careful about my stitched-up hand, which was healing and would probably have scars. But otherwise he didn’t hold back.

Owen was passionate every time we were together. Probably because we still didn’t know which would be our last.

In bed together, skin to skin, we could push the future away for a little longer. But soon, we’d have to decide where this was going.

After we were sated, we squeezed into the tiny shower, laughing about how little space we had but unwilling to clean up separately. We made breakfast together, then went into town.

We hadn’t had many chances to do this. Just stroll along Main Street, hand in hand. He wasn’t in uniform, but people still chatted with us. Everyone in Hartley now seemed to know I wasthat reporter. But it didn’t sound like a dirty word. I was the woman who’d helped the sheriff solve those murders. The woman he’d saved from a dozen evildoers, or maybe a hundred according to some rumors.

We went into the sweet shop, where Scarlett and Vivian were whipping up a batch of something. The shop smelled like chocolate, cinnamon, and caramelized sugar. Scarlett came around the counter to give us each a hug. “Great to see you out and about! Is all the hubbub finally dying down?” She gave Owen a pointed look.

“Getting there,” he said. “I’m still sheriff. For the moment.”

She shook her head. “Don’t even joke. We need you around here.” Scarlett aimed her smile over at me. “And you too, sugar. Figured out your plans yet?”

Owen and I didn’t look at one another. “Not yet.”

“I’m sure you’ll get there.” She went back to the other side of the counter. “You’ll be at Last Refuge for the going-away party tonight, I assume?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Diane and Cece, the mom and daughter under protection at Last Refuge, would be leaving tomorrow for Florida. Another reason that goodbyes and future plans were on my mind.

I was relieved the going-away party wasn’t mine.

I’d spent more time with Scarlett and Jessi in the last few weeks up at Last Refuge. Shared glasses of wine and dessert samplers and confessions. They’d both told me their stories, and I’d told them mine. I knew how Stillwater had, directly or indirectly, hurt them both. How Trace and Aiden had come through for them the way Owen had for me. Our Protectors with a capital P. And how we’d done our utmost to protectthem.

Bonding with Scarlett and Jessi had strengthened my resolve even further to root out Stillwater. I’d been considering how long I would stay in Hartley, and so long as I was working on that story, it made sense to stick around. The town was adorable. I had friends here. I liked it.

But beyond that? Could I see myself making a home here?

Everything came back to the man beside me. A man I’d been having a passionate affair with, who I trusted with my life, but had known for less than a month.

We had both thought we’d said goodbye that morning at the Alpine Hotel, and after my kidnapping and the battle against Stillwater, neither of us had mentioned me leaving again. There’d been too much else going on.

I wasn’t even sure anymore what I wanted, or what he wanted. Or what would happen next. We were in full avoidance mode on those subjects, except for the simple fact that we wanted each other right now, in this moment.

I knew I should talk to Owen about it. It wasn’t like me to let a conversation like that go unsaid. I rarely shied away from confrontation, especially with him. But if I asked thosebig questions, I didn’t know if I was ready to hear the answers.

What if Ididwant to stay in Hartley for longer? What would that mean for us?

Owen had said I was fearless. But when I thought about losing him, I was so damn afraid.

“How can I help?” I asked Jessi.

She handed me a stack of paper plates and cups. “Bring these outside? I love my man to death, but I can’t believe he insisted on a barbecue picnic when it’s forty degrees outside.”

“Isn’t this Diane and Cece’s party? Do they want it inside?”

“Who do you think conspired with Aiden to make this happen? He talked up his pineapple grilled chicken, and Cece was sold on making it a tropical beach party. On a snowy mountain.”

I laughed. We were in the Last Refuge kitchen. They’d closed the restaurant for tonight for the going-away party.

Jessi grabbed a couple of side dishes, and we walked toward the door. “It’s my least favorite part of spring,” she said. “Half mud, half snow, and seems like forever until there will be flowers blooming and leaves on the aspens.”

“That barbecue smells amazing though.”

“Of course it does. That’s how Aiden won me over. His magic cooking.”

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