Page 40 of Moonlit Colorado

You shouldn’t have to, I wanted to say. But I didn’t think pushing her was the right move at the moment. She was upset, and all my protectiveness had reared to the surface. I wanted to put my arms around her and get her somewhere quiet. Somewhere she felt secure enough to talk and tell me what was really going on.

I crossed the room toward her. “I don’t think you should stay here tonight,” I said softly. “I can get you a room at the hotel.”

“There’s no need for that,” her brother said. Callum pointed a thumb at another of the bedrooms. “Grace can take my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Or she could take my bunk,” the guy who’d introduced himself as Connor said.

“Or mine,” Niko added.

Grace opened her mouth, but Chief Landry spoke over her. “No, I think Knightly has a point. But Grace should stay closer to home. I’ll call Piper. Grace, you can stay at my sister’s place tonight. She has a security system.”

“We’re fine here,” Callum protested. “I’ll head to the damn hardware store right now, get a new lock, and have it installed within the hour. Hell, I’ll install a camera outside too. Grace is completely safe.”

“Would you all shut up and let mespeak?”

Every head turned toward the small, flustered woman in the corner.

“I can decide for myself where I want to sleep. I appreciate all the concern, because you’re right, my room doesn’t seem all that attractive tonight after some creep was in there. But I also need space without all of you fretting over me. I’ll go to the hotel.”

Her brother tried again to talk her out of it, but Grace wasn’t having it. “I’m going to grab my things,” she said.

I made a quick call while she packed an overnight bag.

Callum went to help her, then wandered back to the living room and frowned at me as I finished my call with Tobin, my hotel manager. Grace emerged with a bag hanging from her shoulder.

Callum hugged her. “Text me when you’re in your hotel room, all right? I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Her brother glanced at me. “Make sure she has what she needs at the hotel?”

“Planning on it.”

I took Grace’s bag, along with the stack of books she carried in her arms. We went outside and headed toward my SUV.

It took some convincing, but she was leaving her own car here. She didn’t love the idea of being stuck at the resort and needing me to drive her around, but I’d reminded her that the shuttle made several trips to Main Street every day.

I had no intention of sticking her on the shuttle, of course. I would drive her wherever she needed to go tomorrow. But for as much as Grace bent over backwards on behalf of her family and the town, she wasn’t so great at accepting help for herself.

I opened the door for her, then stowed her bag and the stack of books in my backseat. It was fully dark by now, way past dinner time. I switched my high beams on to light the road to the mountain.

“You can scream it out if you want,” I said. “Now that it’s just us.”

“What?”

I saw her turn toward me from the corner of my eye, but I remained focused on the road. “A primal yell. Don’t you ever do that when you’re pissed off?”

“Just scream? Right now?”

“Sure.”

She paused. Inhaled. “I’ll…think about it.”

“All right. I’d prefer you use the car though, if you change your mind. Screaming in the hotel could raise some questions.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She chuckled. A half-hearted one, but it was something.

We drove in silence for several minutes, and then she said, “I’ll pay you back for the hotel room.”

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