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“Anything I can do?”
He kissed my temple. “Is there anything that you haven’t told me about Nathan, anything you think might be useful? Whether it relates directly to your relationship or not—it all could help.”
“I don’t know. Other than the fact that he’s a genius. Not only that, but he’s determined. When he wants something, he gets it. Either he buys what he wants, or he finds a way to make it happen. Please don’t underestimate him.”
“I won’t.” Lucas’s voice was dark. “I’m as stubborn as he is, and I have far better motivation than he does.”
“Oh?”
His whisper shivered down my spine. “Not fucking losing you.”
I curled closer to his chest.
“I’m not going to let him near you, Ev. Security is going to be high. I will be with you as much as I can. You won’t be alone until this is over.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know. Thank you.”
Nerves still swam in my gut. It was hard to believe that after all the times Nathan had chased me that this time would be different, even with allies. But I had to try.
“Do you trust me?” Lucas asked.
“I do.” The answer came immediately and without question. I did trust Lucas, and I knew that he would do whatever he had to do to keep me safe, even if that meant throwing his own body between Nathan and me.
“Good.”
I sat up, blinking as light from the windows hit my eyes, and I realized that I still had no clothes. Lucas realized the same time I did. “I’ll call Lena,” he said, opening some drawers and pulling out fresh clothes for him and a new pair of too-big clothes for me. “We’ll stay here until she can bring you some things.”
“What about everyone else? Don’t you have to go find out what’s happening?”
Lucas came back to the bed. I was very aware that I was still naked, the sheets pooling around my hips. He was naked too, and in the morning light his body was a masterpiece. A living sculpture of muscle. Light and shadow painted him beautifully.
He leaned down and kissed me. “You are priority number one right now. Everyone on this ranch is focused on finding that asshole and making sure you never have to think his name again. If we need to talk to them, they can come to us.”
After so many years trying to hide—never drawing attention to myself, never stepping out of the shadows—being the center of focus was overwhelming. But even with the nerves swirling in my stomach, I felt calm. There wasn’t irrational panic or dread or phantom iron fists crushing my lungs.
I nodded, embracing the steadiness that Lucas was giving me. Okay. I put on the temporary clothes, and together we went downstairs to take the lay of the land.
Chapter 21
Lucas
Three days, and things were fine.
And at the same time, they were very much not fine.
Each morning, a bouquet of black roses had appeared somewhere along the perimeter fence, and each morning, there was a brute force attack on our security that altered the security footage. It was skilled and fast, and so slick that the things Jude kept putting in place weren’t enough to stop it.
Evelyn knew about the flowers. She didn’t know about the attempt to take down the electric fence that Jude had been able to stop. Barely.
The three nights, she’d slept in my bed. After the first time, it was like there wasn’t even a question. I had asked if she wanted her own space, and her answer had been to wrap her arms around me and tilt her mouth up to mine. And that was that.
The clothes that Lena and Grace brought for her were in my room along with the few things that had survived Nathan’s destruction. Her toothbrush was on my sink, and her towel hung next to mine. I couldn’t ignore the way she was already folded into my life like she belonged there, that sense of rightness in my bones whenever I walked up the stairs and saw her in my space. Our space.
I’d never realized how lonely the house felt until I was sharing it with someone.
There was no way I was about to lose that.
I scrubbed my hands over my face as I walked toward the main house. There wasn’t any direct evidence that Nathan was here in person. We had people walking the perimeter, but we couldn’t be everywhere at once. With the attacks on the cameras, we didn’t have proof.
