Chapter Four
As Church stepped through the front doors of the training facility, Zee’s voice carried across the lobby.
“—wondering if it would be all right if I park here overnight.”
Even if he didn’t consciously give his feet a direct order, his steps slowed.
Zee stood at the front desk with Gabe, morning light spilling over her face. Church stopped as he saw how pale she looked.
Gabe shrugged. “Sure. Leave your vehicle wherever you want in the lot. It’s safe here. Cameras cover the whole perimeter.”
Her shoulders eased just a fraction.
Church walked over. “Wait—where will you be if your vehicle is here?”
She didn’t turn to face him. And from a woman who knew that in the military, you showed respect to the speaker by facing them, the action was telling.
She didn’t respond to his question.
He took a step closer. “Will you be in the vehicle overnight?”
Her chest heaved. “Maybe.”
Gabe jerked his head to fix his stare on her.
Pitching his voice low, Church said, “Is this a money thing? Do you need money?” His hand twitched toward his wallet.
She threw up a hand to stop him. “I don’t need money. The place where I was staying doesn’t have any more nights available. It’s leaf peeper season.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me, but what the hell is that?”
She swung to face him at last. “Tourists come from all over to see the changing seasons and the colors of the leaves.”
“That’s a thing?” He shot a look at Gabe.
Gabe nodded. “The town fills up with tourists. It’s difficult to find places to stay.”
Zee raked her fingers through her hair. “It’s only a few nights. I’ve stayed in my car before.”
He damn near choked. “Stay with me then. Not with me. Just with me. I have space,” he stumbled over words.
Emotions rippled across her pretty face, from disagreement to rejection, and finally…amusement?
“Is this move-your-daughter-in-with-you day?”
He groaned.
Gabe chuckled. “What’s that about?”
“It’s nothing. An inside joke,” he grated out, holding Zee’s stare.
Gabe pushed away from the desk. “I’ll leave you to figure this out. I have a phone call in five.”
Church waited for Gabe to get out of earshot before turning back to Zee. “I can’t let you sleep in your car, Zee.”
She dropped her stare to his chest. He watched her struggle for a moment before she finally nodded once. “All right.” She lifted her gaze to his, her hazel eyes burning. “Thank you, Grant.”
He nodded, his chest gripping.
“I don’t want to be in your way.”
He thought about saying she was so small she wouldn’t take up any space at all. Or that he would hardly notice she was there. But the latter wasn’t true at all.
He was far too aware of Zee.
“I have the space.” His voice came out low and gritty.
“Okay then.”
“I’ll show you to my place after work.”
She stepped closer, face tipped up to his.
Church had seen plenty of beautiful women in his life, but Zee’s face wasn’t the kind that hit a man all at once.
It crept up on him.
Her features were simple in their beauty, the kind someone might miss at first glance. A straight nose, softly defined cheekbones and a mouth that seemed made for soft smiles rather than dramatic ones.
Her hazel eyes were what held him the longest. In certain light, they were green like the pines on the mountains. In others, warmer—brown threaded with gold that caught the sun.
Her hair framed her face in loose waves that never seemed styled, just brushed back enough to stay out of her way while she worked.
It wasn’t the polished, camera-ready beauty he was guarding on the movie set.
Zee was real.
When she reached out and touched his hand, electricity zapped up his arm. “Thanks, Church.”
He didn’t move away. He couldn’t if he tried. “We should get to the set.”
As if she finally realized she was touching him, she let her hand drop. “Can’t be late.”
They rode together to the set. As he guided the truck down the narrow country road that wound through the foothills outside Willowbrook, the tires hummed.
Zee turned her head to the window and issued a sigh. “It’s so beautiful. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
He shifted his gaze from her to the landscape beyond. Morning light spread across the valley, washing the world in pale gold.
“I don’t know how I didn’t notice the changing of the leaves.”
She twisted to give him an incredulous look. “You’re joking.”
He shrugged. “Guess I’ve been so focused on getting things ready at the facility that I wasn’t looking at the world.”
Lower in the valley, fields stretched wide, the tall grasses bending lazily in the breeze. A thin ribbon of mist clung to the far field where the ground dipped toward a small creek. Above it all, the mountains rose sharp against clear blue sky. They approached a bend in the road.
“I don’t think I could ever get tired of this view. Stop right here.”
He glanced at her in surprise, then braked slowly on the roadside.
“I feel like I’ve been searching for this view my entire life.”
His throat tightened at her words. “More than one person has found peace in these mountains.”
She met his stare and nodded. “Peace. That’s exactly it.”
A weathered split-rail fence ran along the road here, gray boards silvery with age. The place carried the kind of importance that felt different from the rest of the world.
After a long minute, he looked at her. “Ready?”
“Yes. We don’t want to be late. They might think we slept in.” She giggled, and the sound made his lips quirk.
He put the truck in gear and eased back onto the road.
The bend disappeared behind them, and they rolled on until the trailers of the movie set came into view.
By the time Church pulled into the lot, the peace of the valley had been replaced by the steady hum of generators and shouted instructions.
They climbed out of the truck and Zee fell into step beside him, taking in the frenzy with a small smile. “I wonder if they have any more of those danishes.”
That caught him by surprise and left a warm sensation in his chest.
“You didn’t mention you liked it.”
“It was good.”
He liked that she didn’t chatter on like some women but what she did say held weight and importance.
Church scanned the lot automatically as they proceeded toward the trailers. Crew members moved in every direction, and his ward would be waiting for him to escort her to makeup.
A few steps away, a young guy carried a ladder balanced on his shoulder. The guy Zee had been talking to the day before.
He spotted Zee and called out. “Morning!”
She threw him a wave.
He jogged over with an easy grin and lowered the ladder to the ground.
Church slowed his steps long enough to watch the exchange. The kid—wet behind the ears and barely out of his twenties—grinned at Zee in a way that made Church’s molars meet.
“More tea and pastries out back if you want anything.”
“That might be tempting.”
Church watched her face for any sign of… What the hell did he care if she flirted with someone her own damn age?
“The set’s busy today,” she remarked.
“Always is at this point in production.”
“Luke! Where’s that ladder?”
He shot Zee another grin and backed away. “See you around.”
Church watched him jog off, his chest tightening unexpectedly.
The guy was young. Easygoing.
Church had been that young once. Before deployments and responsibilities and the weight of men’s lives lodged like a permanent burden across his shoulders.
Before Matt.
He told himself he was just looking out for her, even as he spoke to Matt in his mind.
Relax, man. I’m not trying to steal your girl.
Zee was almost half his damn age too.
“I’ll be in my spot, honey.” She stressed the word and threw him a smile that made his heart do a silly jig in his chest.
He watched her stroll to the chair outside the trailer as he moved to wait for Miss Collins. He widened his stance and folded his arms, glad he was wearing sunglasses for more reasons than the sun rising over the lip of the mountains.
He didn’t need Zee reading his face. Not that he knew what she’d see. He just wasn’t himself since she showed up at the Black Heart.
The rest of the morning passed quickly as he stood guard while the actor moved between scenes. At one point, an unauthorized vehicle stopped at the end of the road, and he immediately had his phone in hand, calling in backup from the local police to urge the fans away from the set.
When the day wrapped, the sun was dipping lower behind the ridgeline. Church drove them back toward town, thinking of what would have happened if he hadn’t overheard Zee asking Gabe to spend the night in the parking lot.
The place was covered in security cameras and no one would disturb her there. But Church would never let Matt’s widow go without shelter.
When they reached the parking lot, she sliced a shy look at him. “Do you happen to have a key get in?”
“Yeah, I do.”
They entered the building. Just inside the door was a small stack of boxes. Zee made a beeline to them and bent to read the label.
“They’re mine,” she determined, picking one up.
Then he saw it—the product photo clearly displayed on the cardboard.
Wireless security cameras.
Motion sensors.
Church’s jaw tightened. He didn’t like this at all.
“Zee.”
She balanced a second box on top of the first, clearly used to doing everything herself. But he was here now, and he wasn’t going to let her carry the boxes—or anything else—alone. After all, she was his fake wife.
He stepped up and took them from her. She didn’t quite meet his gaze, so he dipped his head, meeting hers. “I’ve been staying on the Black Heart Ranch. There’s no safer place. You won’t need these.” He shifted the boxes against his hip.
Her brows pinched together. “Church—”
“You don’t have to tell me why you ordered these—”
She blew out a breath.
“—yet. But we’ve got security, cameras, and people around all the time. You’ll see when we get there.”
She didn’t speak. But, whatever she was hiding had put a guarded look in her eyes.
“I’ll take the couch,” he announced.
She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut across her.