Page 6 of Receiving His Mercy
“Yeah,” Gray agreed. “But I don’t know how to do that. I think Rory needs normalcy. A job.”
“I need an assistant. Maybe she’d like to work for me,” Caren said.
“What do you do?” Travis asked.
“I’m a photographer,” she replied. “It might not be what Rory is interested in, though.”
“Thanks for the thought, I’m not sure she’d want to travel to the places you go to, though,” Gray told her.
The places she went to? What the hell did that mean? Where did she go as a photographer?
“Fair enough,” Caren said. “I’ll keep searching for an assistant. I’m not traveling out of the country until after New York, so another few months.”
“New York?” he repeated.
What the hell? She was going to New York? His territory?
“Oh, did you decide to go to New York?” Lacey asked. “Are you sure you want to?”
“Want to? No. Have to? Debatable. But I’m going anyway.”
Lacey threw her arms around her friend and hugged her tight.
What the hell was going on? Travis didn’t like when he didn’t know something. Although why he cared what was happening with this woman, he had no idea.
She’s a nuisance, remember?
You don’t like her.
Only, she was going to be in his neck of the woods.
It’s a big city.
You won’t even see her.
But why was she going there?
“Travis lives in New York,” Lacey told her. “Perhaps he can show you around.”
Like hell.
But as he opened his mouth to refuse, Caren shook her head. “I might not have been to New York for twenty years, but I think I’ll be all right on my own.”
A woman on her own in New York City? Was she crazy? Anything could happen to her!
“A lot has changed in twenty years,” he told her. “You need to be far more careful now. What area are you staying in? Doesit have good security? Do you have personal security to carry on yourself at all times? Are you planning on taking public transportation?”
Everyone stared at him like he’d grown another head.
“What?” he snarled. “These are legitimate questions I’d ask any woman who was moving to New York on their own.”
“Right . . . well . . . I’m probably not moving there permanently. Maybe six months to a year. And I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She gave him a strange look.
“Caren’s traveled a lot and she’s used to taking care of herself,” Lacey told him, patting his arm. “But it’s really nice that you care so much.”
“I don’t.”
Shit. He wished he could take those words back as he saw a flash of pain on Caren’s face. That surprised him. He hadn’t thought that anything he’d say would hurt her. And she’d been the one to quickly reject the idea of him showing her around.
