Page 28 of Cowboy Stalker
“Staying here and protecting our daughter is what’s best for her,” he insists. I can tell from the hard set of the jaw that there’s no arguing with him. He’d give me the world if I asked him, but he won’t let me put myself in danger.
“Don’t get shot,” I whisper, voicing my biggest fear out loud.
He takes my face in his hands, his touch gentle for such a big, rough man. “You’re not going to lose me. I’m going to take care of this. Then we’re going to be together forever.”
I blink back hot tears that threaten to spill down my cheeks. “Promise that you’re coming back to me.”
“I promise,” he says the words solemnly as if they’re a vow. “I promise you I’m coming back home.”
I wrap my arms around his neck and stand on my toes to give him a kiss. The moment our lips connect, the familiar passion explodes. I kiss him with all of the fear and the sadness and the love I have.
He cups the back of my head, angling the kiss so he can deepen it. His tongue strokes along mine. I moan against him, curling even closer to his body.
He is my rock in the storm, my safe shelter. He breaks the kiss, and I blink up at him, sucking in oxygen and trying to figure out why he stopped kissing me. That’s when I hear the soft vibration of his phone.
He glances at the screen, and I see it’s a call from Sheriff Luke. I know he has to take this. I give him my best serene smile.
Although I’m nervous something bad will happen to him, I also trust this man completely. “I know you have to take the call.”
I leave the room and go to the kitchen where Aunt Dorothy is. She frowns the moment she sees me, looking dismayed. “I’ve searched the truck three times. I cannot find it. I’m so sorry.”
Daisy and I went shopping with her today to get my daughter new clothes. Somewhere in all of our activities, we lost Daisy’s blue blanket.
That blanket is the last piece I had of Shelley, a reminder that not everything she did was horrible. I can’t bear the thought of losing it, but I don’t want to make Aunt Dorothy feel bad. It’s not her fault it went missing.
“Maybe it’ll turn up.” Her voice is weak and uncertain. We both know it’s not in the house.
That’s when it hits me, the barn. Dorothy and I both spent time in the barn with Daisy today. We’ve been visiting Belle every day since Griffin introduced us.
She seems to have taken a real liking to the barn, and Dorothy swears she’s going to grow up to be a horse girl. I’m pretty sure she’s already picked out the very first pony she plans to buy for Daisy. She’s going to spoil my little girl, not that I mind. I like that Daisy is surrounded by so much love.
Aunt Dorothy snaps her fingers. “That’s a great idea.”
“I’ll check there,” I say because I know she’s exhausted. She’s spent well over an hour looking for the thing.
“While you do that, I’ll get dinner started,” she says. While we were out, we picked up all of the ingredients for tacos. She tells me her homemade hot sauce is famous in five counties and outlawed in two of them. I can’t wait to try it.
I slip into my sandals and pat my pocket to make sure my phone is in it. “I’ll be gone a minute.”
I could wait and ask Griffin to go with me, but the ranch hands are doing regular rotations around all of the buildings. I’m not sure there’s a square inch on this property where I could go and not be watched. Thinking about that has me remembering my argument with Griffin over the cameras.
My body heats thinking about that. Maybe I need to pick more fights with him. I love how passionate he is.
As soon as I step into the barn, I know something is wrong. It’s almost like I can sense the anxiety of the horses. A hand reaches from a darkened corner and yanks me into one of the stalls.
Glaring at me are Roulette and Jagger, the men I’ve been running from. I reach for my pocket to call Dorothy, but Jagger grabs my phone and tosses it on the floor of the mucky stall.
Roulette sneers at me, his gun glinting in the cracks of light coming through the old boards. “Where are the drugs?”
“I don’t know,” I whimper out the words. I wish that I had thought to ask Griffin. My heart is pounding so hard that I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a heart attack right here. Is that a thing? Can you get scared into a heart attack?
Roulette shrugs. “Then we’ll go in the house and ask your boyfriend.”
Daisy is in the house. I can’t have these men anywhere near her. I have to lead them away from her, Griffin, and Dorothy. They are my family, and I won’t let them get hurt.
Doing my best to sound confident and not like I’m scared out of my mind, I say, “I don’t keep them here. Are you crazy? He’s a cop.”
The two exchange a look, and I can tell from their expressions that this is not new information. It’s only something that I confirmed.
