Chapter Fifteen
“If you hold the pallet up there…yes, that means she can’t duck under it to get to the flowers.”
Bailey instructed Aaron as Hannah and River went to work planting the flowers. Wheatie pawed at the ground, clearly a little annoyed that she couldn’t get at her favorite snack.
Bailey reached out to pet her apologetically. “There’s plenty of grass here for you, Wheatie,” she reminded her. “You don’t have to eat our flowers.”
Aaron chuckled. “I’m not sure she’s going to listen to reason,” he warned her.
Bailey shrugged. “She deserves an explanation,” she replied, smiling.
Today had been about as peaceful and perfect as she could imagine.
She’d come out with Hannah and River first thing in the morning to get these flowers planted around the paddock.
Now, Aaron was out with them, manhandling a pallet around to make sure the horses couldn’t gobble them up before they were planted.
The sun was shining above them, and the horses were keeping them company, watching them as they tried to get their work done.
Bailey was sure that they would descend on the newly planted flowers the first chance they got, but hopefully enough would survive to pollinate and actually get some color out in this part of the land.
She could imagine how beautiful it was going to look in the summer, how striking and bright.
If she stuck around that long, of course.
She had found herself thinking about the future here, which surprised her.
It had been a last resort when she’d arrived, but as her body started to heal properly and her mind began to settle, she could see herself staying.
It was like a little sanctuary away from the rest of the world.
Even if she missed her work, she found purpose here, and it was a pleasant change of pace.
This sure beat sitting behind a desk like she had been doing for all those years, anyway.
“I think that’s the last one!” Hannah exclaimed as she got to her feet and dusted off her hands. Her knees were stained with grass and dirt, but she didn’t seem to notice. Aaron lowered the pallet he held so he could see their hard work.
He nodded in approval. “Looks great.”
As soon as he took his eye off the horse, Wheatie lunged forward again, but Bailey caught her before she could eat the flowers.
“Hey, you leave those alone,” she scolded her playfully. “You’ve got to show some self-control, girl.”
“I think I need to take a shower,” River remarked, looking down at her grass-stained clothes. “Do you need a hand moving the pallets, Aaron?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” he replied as he hefted one up into his arms. The muscles in his biceps flexed slightly, and Bailey quickly averted her gaze.
She was still getting used to seeing him out of his uniform, and she had to admit, there was something seriously sexy about him in a T-shirt and a pair of well-fitting jeans.
“I’ll stick around and help,” she offered without thinking.
Hannah shot her a look, and Bailey knew at once what was on her mind. She raised her eyebrows at her pointedly, as though daring her to say something, and Hannah grinned and followed River to the path back to the main lodge.
“You sure?” Aaron asked. “I can manage it myself—”
“You said you need to move them to the other shed, right?” she reminded him. “I can give you a hand with that.”
“You sure you’re feeling up to it?”
“Aaron, I’m fine,” she told him. She knew he was just trying to look out for her, but she was really feeling so much better. Her leg still twinged every now and then, but the wound had healed well, thanks to the help of the women and the physical therapy.
“If you’re sure,” he replied, and they began to carry the empty pallets toward the outbuilding at the far corner of the paddock.
“I never tagged you for a horse girl,” he remarked to her as they walked.
“I don’t think I was,” Bailey replied. “Until I met Wheatie, at least. She’s just such a sweetheart. With the worst attitude ever.”
Aaron laughed. “Yeah, I can see that,” he agreed. “You think she’s going to leave those flowers alone?”
“I think they’re going to be gone before we even get back there,” she replied as they carefully put down the pallets inside the other outbuilding. The shed still needed a lot of work done on it, but judging by the job Aaron had done on the other one, it wouldn’t be an issue for him.
They turned to head back through the long grass around the paddock.
The sun was just starting to dip a little lower in the sky, and a coolness had settled into the air.
Their hands brushed against each other as they walked, and a jolt of electricity rushed from his fingertips to hers.
She drew her hand away quickly. She still didn’t know exactly where they stood, and she didn’t want to confuse the matter any further.
Aaron cleared his throat. “I spoke to Xavier and Lawson today. And Cade, too. He’s part of a tactical unit they train and run out of here.”
Her eyebrows shot up excitedly. “You did? What did they say? Are they willing to help?”
“They are,” he replied, but she sensed a hesitation in his voice that told her there was a but coming.
“Okay, good,” she replied, frowning in confusion.
He sighed and looked down at her. “But they don’t want you involved in the case any longer. They also want to move you to a safehouse while they get everything in order.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. She must have heard him wrong. What was he talking about? She was the one who had been attacked by those guys! She was the only one who was still a cop, for God’s sake! They couldn’t expect her to just drop this, like it didn’t matter to her.
“What did you just say?” she demanded.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I know it’s not what you wanted to hear,” he apologized.
She almost laughed at how ridiculous that statement was. Not something she wanted to hear? Yeah, you could say that again. She had been working behind a desk for so long to get where she was right now, only for him to turn around and tell her she couldn’t be part of this mission? It was ridiculous.
“No way,” she snapped at him. “No way. I’m not letting go of this. I’m the only one with the credentials—”
“Yeah, and that’s exactly what they’re worried about,” he shot back. “They’re worried that your involvement might put your future career at risk.”
“And I won’t even have a future career if these cops don’t get what’s coming to them!” she protested. “I can’t… I can’t believe you would do this to me. You really think this is a good idea?”
“I think you’re great at your job, and you would be an asset to any team,” he replied carefully. “But this is dangerous. And you don’t want to put your future on the line when you have people who are willing to handle it for you.”
“I don’t want them to handle it for me,” she replied through gritted teeth. “I want to handle it myself. I don’t see what’s so hard to understand about that.”
They stared at each other for a moment, and she felt the anger crackling in her system. After everything they’d been through, he was doing this to her again. He was pushing her out of something that mattered to her.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Bailey,” he told her, and she tore her gaze away from him. Was he right? Probably. But that didn’t make this any less painful, didn’t make listening to this any easier.
“And what about how I feel?” she demanded. “What about what you did to me? What you’re doing to me right now?”
She took a step closer to him, her anger getting the better of her.
He stood his ground. He wasn’t going to budge on this, she could tell.
He had made up his mind, and he had decided this was what was best for her.
She couldn’t believe it, couldn’t wrap her head around him doing this to her again, as though they hadn’t been through enough already.
They had found each other again and she had finally started to trust him, and then this. This betrayal. Again.
“If you think I’m going to let you stop me—”
“If you think I’m going to let anything happen to you, you’ve got another thing coming,” he replied.
Their hands grazed again, but this time, the electricity matched the anger in her body and morphed into something else entirely.
She pressed her lips to his before either of them could say anything else.
She knew they weren’t going to resolve this by talking, she knew she couldn’t change his mind right now, and all she wanted was to find the one thing both of them could agree on.
The feel of their bodies together, and the lure of this chemistry that never seemed to go away.
His hands tangled into her hair, and she kissed him hard, desperately—needing more, needing as much as she could have from him and so much more.
His touch aroused her in a way nothing else did, and even though they were right out there in the middle of a field, she couldn’t deny how much she wanted him.
Before she knew it, they were sinking down in the long grass together, and forgetting everything else but the intensity of this kiss.