Chapter 53
Nine Years Later
I pull myself up onto the rooftop of a boarding house in Preston, Arizona.
The sky above clear and carrying a breeze that reminds me the temperatures are going to keep growing colder as we get closer to winter.
I frown thinking about it, letting out a long sigh as I drop down onto two bedrolls and a few blankets that are already spread out, wasting no time before turning my attention toward where it most often resides.
“Hello, wolf,” Cypress murmurs, those striking blue eyes of his searching my face from where he lies next to me. “Everything all right?”
“There’s a girl in the stable,” I tell him, seeing no point in trying to conceal what’s on my mind after all these years. “She’s staying up in the hayloft.”
He immediately looks intrigued. “Oh?”
“Could hear something when I walked in,” I tell him, immediately feeding his curiosity rather than teasing him with it, since I feel as much a need to tell him as he does to listen.
“First I thought it was a bird up in the rafters, but then she slammed the hatch down. Think she must’ve seen me and startled. ”
“Why? Were you being broody?”
“No, I wasn’t…” I hiss out a breath, because while I might not have been broody, I also wasn’t friendly. Not after a long day getting here and not when towns like this one still tend to put me on edge no matter how many times we pass through. “I told her to come down, and she didn’t, so I went up.”
“Hm,” Cypress hums, clearly amused. “Have a nice talk?”
“Not exactly…” I drag a hand through my hair. “I may have pointed my gun at her.”
Cypress gives me a look. “I take it you’re not speaking metaphorically…”
“No, damn it,” I bite out. “I didn’t know who was up there, and you know the reputation Preston has. Better to be careful.”
“True,” Cypress agrees, nodding. “So, you pointed your gun at her, and then you…?”
“Was fine,” I inform him. “We came to an agreement.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“And what does that entail?”
“We mind our own business.”
Cypress laughs. “How sweet.”
“More feisty,” I say, turning to stare back at the sky and quickly clearing my throat when I realize her temperament likely was not what he was referring to.
“I suspect she doesn’t know how to defend herself properly.
Also think she’s on her own. Not saying she needs looking after, but she seems like maybe she hasn’t had much kindness.
No people around her. I might…I might go check on her later.
” I can feel Cypress looking at me, can practically hear what he’s thinking, but he’s wrong.
“Just something for us to be aware of as we’re getting into things here. ”
“Indeed,” Cypress agrees. “And what does she look like? So I can be aware, too, if I run into her.”
“Pretty,” I say, deciding to keep things short and simple, since there’s no reason to be going on about it.
“Green eyes. Freckles on her nose. Long auburn hair put up. Think maybe it’s a bit curly, kind of.
She’s not very tall, but you might not know it for how she holds herself.
She’s feisty, as I said, but I think maybe she’s got a softness to her, too.
She has a horse there that looks well and cared for…
” I clear my throat again, trailing off.
“Anyway, not sure that’s much to go on.”
“Hardly anything.” Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him grinning. “Although, I have a feeling I will know her when I see her.”
“Cy…” I say, looking at him now.
“Aiden,” he replies, the picture of innocence.
“Whatever you’re thinking…”
“I’m not thinking anything.”
“You’re always thinking something.”
“I am merely open to possibilities.”
“You open to the possibility of not causing trouble for just the span of a few hours?”
“I’m not sure.” He frowns, appearing to think carefully before his eyes drop to my mouth. “A lot can get accomplished in a few hours…”
I roll my eyes. “I’m still not gonna fuck you on a roof, Cy. Not when there’s a perfectly good bed downstairs.”
“What if I fuck you?”
“Sure. Downstairs. In the house. In the room we are paying for. Where the farthest we can fall is to the floor rather than several stories.”
“Fine,” Cypress says, letting out a resigned sigh that makes me chuckle.
“You going to be okay?” I ask him, worrying about leaving him up on this roof. “If I go check on her? I know you don’t sleep well if I’m not…”
“I’ll manage,” he says easily, then smiles again. “Small price to pay.”
“Cypress,” I warn.
“You really thought she was a bird when you walked in? That’s interesting.”
“Cypress.”
“Just think, wolf…”
“Cy.”
“What if we finally get to use that third chair?”
“I’m closing my eyes.”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting her.”
“Fuck’s sake,” I groan. “Go to sleep.”
“When I’m this excited? Impossible.”
“I never should have told you. Getting all worked up, and all it’s going to amount to is a headache.”
“What’s her name?” he asks, not remotely deterred.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You should have. She sounds important.”
“Important enough that you probably won’t even see her.”
“Care to wager on it?”
“No.”
“Fine. But when I’m right…”
“You are not right. And I don’t just mean on this.”
“We’ll see…” he says, grinning wide, and I know there’s no point in trying to rein in his enthusiasm now. No matter. Nothing will come of it. Might as well just listen to him talk. Because no one…no one gets that lucky twice.
Cora. Her name is Cora.