3. Piper #2
While I stood there floundering for a response, Theo turned his focus back to Madge. “Can you get them organized while I move their bags?”
“Of course, they’re in good hands.”
Theo pushed off of the counter and went to pass me, though he leaned down close to my ear as he breezed past. “Yeah, they can be sure they are.”
I watched with my jaw on the floor as the man strode out the door and back into the cold, all dark swagger that curled my stomach in a fist.
Madge chuckled lightly, drawing my attention back to her. “Might as well go with it. That man thinks he needs to solve all the world’s problems, and he’s set on doing it his way.”
Hysteria bubbled up to the edge of breaking. My mind whirring with what the hell he thought he was doing.
Why was he still here? And why did he seem to know everything about this place?
“Does he work here or something?”
Surprise had Madge lifting her brown gaze up to me. “Oh, no, sweetie. Theo owns The Sanctuary.”
Shock rocked me back a foot.
Madge slid me two keycards. “Here you go, dear. Two keys for Unit B. If you need anything at all, just call the lobby, and I’ll see to it that it’s taken care of.”
“Well, that sure is nice.” Nelly ambled up behind me carrying my duffel and purse, and Finn trotted along at her side.
“Definitely nice.” Madge gave my grandmother a genuine smile, though there was something locked below the surface. “It is one of the best cabins here at The Sanctuary. You’re lucky it’s available.”
A few minutes later, the door swept open again, and Theo came striding back through.
Stealing the air and stability, as if I ever had any of that.
“Took your bags over. You can either hop back in my truck or brave the cold for a minute to make it over there.”
There was no chance I was stepping foot near his truck again.
No way could I handle being boxed in with his volatility.
“We can walk.”
I swept Finn up into my arms, then wrangled my duffel and purse out of Nelly’s arms and tossed them onto my other shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“I hungee, Mommy.”
Shit.
Panic surged from that place where I felt like I was barely treading water.
Barely keeping it together.
The undertow so close to sucking me under.
With everything, we hadn’t had dinner yet.
Frantic, I glanced around the lobby, praying there was a vending machine or something. I hadn’t noticed a restaurant on the premises.
“Already have something on the way,” Theo tossed out as he stalked back for the door.
Are you freaking kidding me?
He shifted back to look at me. “No, Piper, I’m not kidding you. What, did you think you were going to forage in the forest?”
“I…” Crap. I didn’t even know I’d uttered that aloud. And he was right. My son was hungry, and by whatever means necessary, he needed to be fed.
“I, for one, could go for a hot meal,” Nelly said, putting on a show as she waddled around me like she was having difficulty walking, patting Theo’s shoulder as she headed for the door.
“Ah, at least one of you isn’t so stubborn.” He eyed me up and down as he said it, as if he had the right to label me as anything, before he tossed my grandmother a winning smile. “There is plenty of it coming. Wasn’t sure what you all like to eat, so I got a few options.”
“Such a nice boy.” Wow, was she laying it on thick. She ducked out through the right side of the double doors and into the snow.
I wavered, mind careening through every way that I might be able to get my family out of this town tonight. Because there was something about it that made me sure that I’d wandered into dangerous territory. Fallen onto a path that was going to lead to…I didn’t know.
Trouble?
Destruction?
Or was I just being paranoid?
“Comin’?” Theo grunted, his eyes slanting over me in a slow slide that sent a tremor ripping through my body.
A spark of severity that sliced through my middle.
That was the trouble right there.
The effect this stranger had on me.
But there seemed to be nothing I could do but follow him out the lobby doors, considering Nelly was already waiting out in the storm.
“Have a great night,” Madge called behind me.
Oh, there was nothing great about what I’d gotten us into, but still, I returned, “Thank you for your help, Madge. I hope you have a great night, too.”
Theo wound ahead of us, and he turned left down the walkway that led along the wing of rooms on that side.
The storm had waned, and now soft flurries fluttered down from the heavy night sky.
From what I could tell, the motel was both comfortable and upscale. Sort of a cross between retro chic and mountain resort.
The neon sign I’d been able to see when we’d been driving in from the distance proclaiming The Sanctuary definitely lent to the vintage vibe.
It was a one-story building that looked like it was likely built in the fifties, and it had two long wings that extended from each side.
I’d noticed there were a few larger cabins interspersed around the grounds, and the landscape promised to be lush and beautiful and fully surrounded by the dense woods.
Even though the wind was no longer battering, the air was still a bitter cold, and I curled myself around my son to try to protect him from the chill as we hurried to catch up to Nelly who was now five feet behind Theo.
“Is co-wed , Mommy.” Finn shivered as he tucked himself closer.
“I know, baby,” I whispered at his temple.
Theo took a right on a sidewalk that angled off the main building. The pathway was illuminated by low landscaping lights that sent rainbows glittering off the tumbling snow.
The path cut through a dense copse of trees, and the snowcapped tops of the pines disappeared into the gloomy expanse above.
Up ahead were two small cabins that faced each other where they were situated on a small cul-de-sac drive, the one on the left about a hundred yards closer than the one on the right.
A-frames that seemed to almost blend in with the trees that surrounded them, each with a little covered porch out front.
Muted lights glowed like a beacon from within.
A quiver of relief vibrated somewhere in the deepest depths of me. Something about this place oozed a warmth that my weary spirit wanted to fully fall into.
Give in and rest.
I needed to ignore it because there could be no comfort in this.
Theo turned up the path that led to the left one. Unit B was written in bronze letters that hung vertically on a wooden beam that fronted the porch.
He bounded up the single step onto the wooden planks, his movements fluid and lithe as he moved across the space. He dug something out of his pocket.
A keycard, I realized.
Panic churned.
Right.
Of course.
Because he owned this place.
He pressed it to the reader, then opened the door and stepped aside to allow Nelly to ramble by.
He swiveled that heady gaze to me as I raced up behind her, Finn clinging to me as my boots thudded on the porch as I rushed. I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the man that I was trying to outrun.
But the truth was I was trying to outrun everything.
Every threat.
Any danger.
Still, I inhaled a staggered breath when I stumbled into the warmth of the cabin.
I let my attention sweep the bottom floor of the great room.
A cozy couch sat in front of a gas fire that already roared from the hearth. It was made of rugged stones and had a wood beam mantel with a flat-screen television that hung above it.
The entire wall to my left was made of windows and climbed high to the pitched roof.
Through it, I could barely make out the view of the lake in the distance. An endless expanse that was hugged by the wintry forest.
A kitchen sat on the far side of the living area, the two spaces separated by a low bar with three stools. A four-person round table sat under the giant windows in the corner on the left.
It wasn’t large, but quaint and cozy.
Theo stomped his boots out on the rug in front of the door before he stepped into the space.
Consuming it. The air churning with the tension he emitted.
Warily, I turned toward him, hugging my son tight. The rock that grounded my purpose.
“There is a bedroom downstairs.” Theo gestured to the far right of the living room where there was a door next to the staircase.
Then he waved his hand toward what looked to be a loft upstairs. “A loft with another bedroom and bathroom is upstairs. I’ll have housekeeping bring over a baby gate. Not sure if you’d rather be upstairs or downstairs, but thought Nelly might want to be downstairs.”
My spirit stirred.
Did he really think all this through?
Taking into consideration my grandmother’s age?
Caring and caring and caring when there was no reason for him to?
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “I’ll probably take the second floor so Nelly doesn’t have to navigate the stairs.”
“Probably a good call. Wouldn’t want to take a tumble down them.” Nelly ambled into the first-floor bedroom, her voice drifting out as she enthused, “Oh, lord a mercy. I’m never going to want to leave. You’re going to have to drag me out of here.”
I had to wonder if she issued it a challenge.
“Which bags are yours?” Theo glanced at the pile of baggage he’d left just inside the door.
“I got the owws !” Finn exuded, pointing at his backpack with white snow owls all over it. I wasn’t sure when he’d become obsessed with them, but they had become his favorite thing.
“Yeah. Thought this might belong to you.” A grin hitched at the edge of Theo’s wicked mouth as he tossed the small backpack onto his shoulder.
“I can get the suitcases,” I told him.
“Know you can,” he grumbled as he picked up the black suitcase and matching carry-on. “But why would you want to if you have me to do it for you?”
I sighed. I was picking up quickly that there wasn’t much use arguing with him. “Those are mine. The mint green ones are Nelly’s.”
“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He smirked, the man a storm in the middle of the cozy room. In four long strides, he bounded up the stairs with my bags, and a moment later, he was coming back down.