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Ivy rolled down her window and stuck her head out. “Hunter?”
“Coming.” He waited another beat to make sure the man drove away first. When he got in the passenger seat, he replayed what happened in his mind, locking in every detail of the man for future reference.
He could have just been smitten with Ivy. After all, the woman was too stunning for her own good. Her big eyes and the softness about her brought out the protector in men—he should know.
The beat-up pickup shot out of the parking lot and turned in the opposite direction of the Gracey Ranch.
When Ivy turned toward the main street of Eden, he centered his gaze on her. “Where are we going?”
“To Badlands. I thought we could pick up lunch for the ranch hands.”
He softened even more toward Ivy. “You really are a special woman. You know that?”
She tilted her head, studying him as if questioning if he were teasing.
He squeezed her thigh. “I’m serious, baby. And I think the guys will appreciate lunch.”
The grin she flashed dazzled him. For a heartbeat, he couldn’t even breathe.
Covering his hand where it rested on her thigh, she checked the traffic before pulling onto the main street running through town.
Storefronts were painted in quaint colors of blue, red and green. Flowerpots stood out front, along with signs.
“This place is nothing like the city where I grew up.”
“It’s a nice town. Small, but nice.”
“When you went to Europe, were you dying to get out into the big world?”
She bit her bottom lip. “I was dying to escape, period. When Forest passed, the family fell apart even more. I just needed to breathe—ya know?”
“I do. I was too young to take off for Europe, but I did what I could to escape from the loss of my parents.”
She turned her head to pierce him in her beautiful green gaze. “We make a depressing pair.”
He chuckled.
As she pulled into the parking lot of Badlands, he studied the parking lot in broad daylight. Without the shadows of darkness that someone with malintent could hide in, the place looked totally normal.
“The owner is a friend of mine. Meadow’s too. Her name is Livia. You might have seen her behind the bar working the other night when we came. The redhead?”
“I saw her crawl over the bar to hug you.”
She laughed. “Well, I’ve been gone a long time. We have some catching up to do. C’mon.”
They jumped out and walked to the front door. The dim space smelled strongly like rum.
She wrinkled her nose. “Livia must be bottling the rum today.”
He had been so busy trying to get people comfortable enough with him to tell him what they knew about the attack on the Gracey, while watching over Ivy too, that he barely took notice that Badlands boasted a bar and distillery on the sign.
“You don’t like rum?”
“I’m more of a tequila girl.”
“Of course you are.” He didn’t even want to think about how Ivy would act with a couple shots of Jose Cuervo in her. He didn’t come to Montana with enough weapons to keep her safe from the men who’d prey upon her.
She’d probably surprise him by pulling out a taser disguised as a bottle of perfume to protect herself.
