Page 12 of Montana Justice

I’d repaid his kindness by robbing him blind and disappearing like the criminal I’d always been.

It was who I was.

Chapter 4

Lachlan Calloway

I wasn’t usedto waking up groggy.

Then again, I wasn’t used to bringing a beautiful woman whom I barely knew to my house and having ridiculously good sex with her for half the night. So maybe groggy was acceptable. Or at least understandable.

I kept my eyes closed for a moment, savoring the memory of last night. The way Piper had felt in my arms, the fucking sexy sounds she’d made when I’d touched her, the look in her eyes when she’d asked to stay with me. Not just in my guest room. Withme.

I’d been shocked when I’d first spotted her across the crowded tavern last night. My brain had needed a full thirty seconds to process what I was seeing.Piper. Little Piper Matthews, who’d cried over her broken bike chain when she was ten years old.

Except she wasn’t little anymore. She was a woman now, beautiful and guarded and carrying herself like someone who’dlearned to expect the worst from the world. But when she’d smiled at me, really smiled, I’d caught a glimpse of the girl I remembered.

I’d meant what I’d told her about thinking of her over the years. Wondering if she’d escaped to college, if she’d found someone who saw her worth, if she’d managed to build something good despite Ray Matthews’s poison.

If she’d found a better life than the one she’d had in Garnet Bend.

Her family being run out of town that night eight years ago had never sat right with me, not for Piper or her mother. Ray Matthews had been a Grade A bastard who’d deserved prison, but we could never make the charges stick. Nobody mourned his departure.

But watching Piper that night—eighteen years old and terrified, stuffing her few belongings into garbage bags while her world collapsed around her? That had been wrong. She’d been collateral damage in her father’s war, punished for crimes that weren’t hers.

So, seeing her again? It had been a mixture of a ton of things: relief that she was alive and relatively healthy, guilt that I hadn’t been man enough to question out loud what was happening that night eight years ago, and attraction.

Like,punch-in-my-gutattraction.

Last night had been incredible. Not just the sex, though that had been mind-blowing in ways I hadn’t expected. It had been the connection between us that had really drew me in. The way we talked like we were old friends, comfortable and laughing. Sex had been an unexpected, and fucking fantastic, bonus.

I stretched, running a hand down my face, wishing she were still curled up next to me like she’d been when she fell asleep. She must be in the bathroom or something. I’d give her some space. I understood the need for it.

But then I couldn’t stop thinking about that bruise on her ribs. Dark purple, days old, covering way too much area to be from any accidental fall down the stairs. I hadn’t pressed last night. But I wanted to find a way to talk to her about it. See if I could get her to open up. Was she on the run from some sort of abusive ex?

She’d been hitchhiking when she’d arrived in Garnet Bend—caught a ride, she’d said, like it was no big deal. But hitchhiking was dangerous as hell, especially for a woman alone. What kind of situation had she been running from that risking her safety with strangers had seemed like the better option?

And she’d devoured that burger like she hadn’t eaten in days. Now I was wondering if that might actually be true.

I wanted to feed her. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to let her know she was safe here—both in my house and in Garnet Bend. I could help her find work here if she wanted to stay. She was smart and capable. Hadn’t made it to college, but that didn’t matter. There were still plenty of jobs we could find for her. I’d call Lark Monroe over at Pawsitive Connections. She always had work with her animals.

And damn it, I wanted to take Piper out for a real date. I wanted to rewind things back to the beginning and do this right—court her properly instead of jumping straight into bed, no matter how incredible that bed had been.

But fuck, I was getting way ahead of myself here. No need to hire the wedding band just yet, for Christ’s sake. How about just making some breakfast. I slipped out of bed, pulling on boxers and a T-shirt before padding downstairs.

The coffeemaker gurgled to life as I started it, filling the kitchen with the rich scent of dark roast. I grabbed two mugs from the cabinet and set them on the counter. I opened the refrigerator, mentally cataloging ingredients for what I could make. Fortunately, I always had breakfast food in the house.Eggs, bacon, toast, maybe some of those frozen hash browns. She definitely could use the calories.

How many eggs would she eat? Two? Three? I was a fucking mother hen here, but I didn’t even c?—

My wallet sitting open on the counter caught my attention. It wasn’t folded next to my keys like how I’d left it last night—how I left it every time I set it down in the house, so I wouldn’t lose it.

My hands were steady as I picked it up, but something cold was already spreading through my chest. For the first time, I was aware of the utter silence inside this house. A silence that had covered the place since I woke up, but I’d been too busy writing my wedding vows to pay attention to it.

I flipped the wallet open, knowing what I’d find but hoping I was wrong.

Empty. Every bill gone. I’d had about $300 from my recent trip to the ATM.

The small note under my keys caught my eye. I folded it open slowly.

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