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My hand hesitated over the key and my fist clenched. She leaned forward, her brows drawing together.
“Are you okay, Merrick?” she asked softly.
I turned the key and the engine purred. “Yeah, making sure we brought everything.”
She kept her eyes locked on me as I shifted to looked behind us as I backed the car up and pulled down the drive. We were both quiet on the way to the halfway point. Maybe I was paranoid, but I wanted to switch cars halfway there. Just in case.
When we pulled up, she jumped out and grabbed her purse.
I leaned across the seat and popped the glove box. There was a pistol in a holster stored there. Her jaw dropped as I took it out, removed the holster, and pushed the naked gun under my belt.
“What are you doing?”
I stepped out of the sedan. “I’m always armed, Clara.”
“Really?”
I raised a brow as I took her suitcase and ushered her across the parking lot to the SUV parked in the far corner beneath the floodlight. She kept looking back at me, her glittering fingers still clutched around the thermos.
Who did she think kept her safe? I didn’t have security guards in my home, just at the perimeters of the yard. I slept with a gun holster on the side of my bed. When I left the house, I carried beneath my jacket.
I’d seen enough shit not to, but Clara hadn’t and she didn’t understand.
She got into the SUV and I loaded the bags and settled into the driver’s seat. Without thinking, I pulled her to me and kissed her mouth. Peppermint cream and coffee mingled on my tongue. My hand came up to cradle her head. Her breathing came fast and she moaned.
She moaned. So fucking soft and sweet in her throat.
A little sound of longing.
When I pulled back, her eyes were dazed. We both laughed, unable to pretend any longer that there wasn’t something special about a kiss like that.
Fuck, I was going to hurt her, wasn’t I?
We got to the house around five that night. Her eyes were wide as she took in the spacious structure built into the side of the mountain. Hundreds of miles of pine trees spread out in a green sprawl over the valley below.
The sunset would be breathtaking from the bedroom.
I carried the suitcases up the steep stairs and unlocked the door. She waited obediently in the hall while I did a full walk through of the house. Checking behind every curtain, in every closet, testing every lock.
She was staring out the window in the front room when I returned. This side of the house looked north, giving us a picturesque view of the mountains and a bubbling spring. Birds gathered on the front porch, fighting over an empty feeder.
Clara was chewing her mouth, looking out. I took her hand, letting the suitcases stay in the hall, and led her upstairs to the second floor.
The house was modern with big windows and light wood furnishings. The ceilings were lofted and the floors made of warm pine. Reminiscent of a Swiss chalet.
We moved silently into the bedroom. The bed was enormous and covered in a heavy, down comforter. The far wall was completely made of glass and looked out over the pine forest.
Under the overcast sky, it felt private despite the whole room being open.
Like the world had given us a hidden place.
A place for us to discover the secret parts of each other.
“Do you like it?” I asked.
Her eyes were wide and her mouth parted. She slipped off her shoes and padded across the floor. She paused before me and glanced down, curling her toes.
“Is the floor heated?”
