Chapter Six
Church kept his pace slow, allowing Miss Collins to navigate the uneven ground in her high heels. Their progress from the trailer toward the filming location was painfully slow, but it gave him time to scan the area.
Road clear.
Tree line clear.
This was one of the easiest jobs he’d ever had, and he’d take it. His years of war were behind him. Soon he’d spend his days training men for battle and his evenings with a beer in hand, looking out over the Wyoming mountains.
Except right now, the mountains didn’t have his attention.
Zee did.
The woman possessed an effortless elegance.
In simple trousers and a deep red sweater, she looked like she’d stepped out of a movie set herself instead of a training facility office.
The sunlight caught in her chestnut hair, turning the strands to warm copper as she moved from the food tent to her usual chair with a fresh cup of tea in hand.
Church had long ago learned the value of mirrored sunglasses. They were perfect cover in a bodyguard role and no one ever knew exactly where he was looking, which meant he could keep an eye on Zee without appearing like he was ignoring his surroundings.
Suddenly Miss Collins cried out.
Church snapped his attention forward. The actor wobbled, clutching at the assistant beside her. One of her heels had snapped clean off on the uneven dirt.
“Oh my god,” she gasped, grabbing her ankle.
Church stepped in, already assessing. Not an injury, just a heel dangling uselessly from the bottom of the shoe.
She looked up at him for answers.
“Nothing to worry about.” He pitched his voice into a soothing tone. “Heel’s broken.”
“But we’re supposed to be filming!”
“You’re not walking anywhere in that.” He eyed her. “May I?” He held out his arms.
She nodded, and he scooped her up in one smooth motion. From beside them, her assistant issued a small gasp and as he carried her back to the trailers, crew members hung back, staring.
By the time he reached the wardrobe trailer, someone had already pulled the door open.
He shouldered his way through the narrow door with Miss Collins in his arms. “Broken heel.”
The wardrobe assistant fell back a step, hand fluttering to his chest like Miss Collins had been injured in combat.
“Take twenty!” someone shouted.
Church almost laughed at the absurdity of it, unable to grasp the idea of breaking for twenty minutes when it took twenty seconds to slip on a new pair of shoes.
Miss Collins sank into a chair while the team fussed around her, bringing her alternate shoe choices and water, as if she’d crawled through the desert for twenty days. Within seconds she declared she needed a longer break to recover.
Seeing he wasn’t needed at the moment, he stepped back outside and mentally rolled his eyes.
The sudden pause in filming gave him a few minutes, and he scanned the area once more before heading toward the folding chairs near the trailers.
Zee was sitting where he’d left her. She had her phone in hand, her brows slightly furrowed as she stared at the screen.
When he approached, she glanced up. “Everything okay?”
“Broken heel. Production crisis.”
That earned him a small smile. And any smile from Zee felt like a win.
Her phone chimed, and his gaze flicked down automatically.
She skimmed the message and straightened slightly. “Oh.”
“What is it?”
She darted a look around. “Maybe we shouldn’t discuss this here.”
He extended a hand for her to take. When she did, he pulled her from the chair and guided her some distance away from the crew.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“The owner of the Airbnb I messaged yesterday.” She looked at the screen again. “He says he had a cancellation. I can move in for a few days starting tomorrow.”
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
He frowned. “You’re going to just keep moving every few days?”
She shrugged. “It’s what I’ve been doing.”
“You’re already worried about security. Stay with me. You won’t have to set up cameras at all.”
She sputtered. “I can’t just move in with you, Church.”
His heart hitched, her words going straight to his head.
You can. You should.
He stopped before they reached his lips.
He liked having her there. More than that, he liked knowing she was safe.
“Church—”
“Stay on the ranch until you find an apartment in Willowbrook.”
She studied him for a beat. “You’re serious.”
He didn’t need to answer—his response was plain on his face.
Another pause stretched between them before she finally nodded. “Okay. Until I find a place.”
“Good.” He took her hand again, realizing how right it felt to touch her this way, even if it was only for show. As they walked back, a few people jogged past.
Once they reached her chair, he saw Nigel watching them. To keep up appearances, Church planted his hands on Zee’s chair and leaned over her. “Nigel is watching us,” he said, low.
“Well then we’d better look like we’re married.” She smiled into his eyes, and his heart hitched again.
She smelled like sun-warmed skin and shampoo. And he ached to see if she tasted as good as she smelled.
His stare hovered on her lips for a beat too long. Before he could do anything rash, like kiss her, he pushed away.
Filming resumed shortly afterward, and the set returned to its normal activity. Church took up his position near the trailers, constantly on watch as the crew moved through their shots.
By the time lunch rolled around, Zee seemed more restless than she had earlier. She picked at the edge of the sandwich he’d brought her before she finally met his gaze.
“Church?”
“Zee.”
The ghost of a smile crossed her lips. “Can I borrow the truck?”
His brow furrowed slightly. “Why?
“I want to run into town.”
When he hesitated, she launched into the reason and the story behind it.
“For yoga stuff. Rhae and I were talking this morning and we think we might have a really great idea. Something I can do on the ranch. For the veterans.” Her voice wavered, and he knew she was thinking of Matt.
He pressed his lips together. “I’m listening.”
“She told me that Fern created the community garden and Honor holds art therapy. I taught yoga in a gym for a little while. Before…” She waved a hand.
“Well, I’d like to offer a class to the veterans.
Yoga really helps ground me. It’s gotten me through a lot of rough times in my life.
If I can give those men any peace at all… I’d like to.”
Her whole face lit up as she spoke. For the first time since she’d walked into that training facility, she looked almost like the woman he remembered.
She looked alive.
“I was looking at purchases online, but it’s going to take days to get here. I’d like to start right away. One of the shops in town might have a few yoga mats or other things to get started.”
When she finished, her smile tugged at a place deep in his chest. For one reckless second he wanted to lean down and kiss those perfect, smiling lips.
He dragged in a breath to regain control, but it only slipped more when the breeze teased her hair and sent the notes of her shampoo dancing into his nose.
Counting to ten, he forced his focus back where it belonged. Then he pulled his keys from his pocket. “I’ll say what most husbands wouldn’t—shop till you drop.”
Her smile widened. She jumped up, and he stood too, grabbing the container with her uneaten sandwich before it landed on the ground.
She laughed and reached for the keys. “Thanks, Church.”
His throat closed. It took so damn little to make her happy that it left a twinge of pain lingering in his chest. At the same time, he wanted to do more to put that smile on her face.
She closed her fingers around the keys, but he didn’t release them yet. He leaned down and pressed a brief kiss to her forehead before he could overthink it.
“Be careful.”
She went still, lashes sweeping her cheeks as she closed her eyes. “I will.”
When they stepped away from each other, she took the keys and headed toward the parking area, her hair swaying on her spine with the spring in her step. He watched her go before turning his attention back to the set.
Two hours later, his phone buzzed. Zee’s name flashed across the screen, and he answered immediately.
“Zee?”
All he heard was crying. Gasping. A low sob.
“Zee.” His voice came out sharp as fear gripped him “Talk to me.”
Her words tumbled out in broken fragments he couldn’t make sense of. Then a different voice came on.
“Sir, this is Officer Kendon with the Willowbrook Police Department.”
His stomach bottomed out. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“The vehicle Ms. Davis was driving has been broken into. The driver’s side window is shattered.”
Church’s fingers chilled as he locked them tighter on the phone. “I’ll be right there.”
He ended the call and immediately dialed Theo.
“I need someone to cover the rest of my shift on set. Zee took my truck and it just got broken into.”
Theo didn’t hesitate. “I’ll send someone.”
Church was already striding toward the grip, Luke—the young kid who liked looking at Zee too much. As he approached, the guy looked up.
“I need your vehicle. Now.”
* * * * *
How did this happen?
One minute Zee had been walking out of the little shop with an armful of yoga mats and a bag of grippy socks, thinking about the kiss Church had pressed to her forehead before she left the set.
She’d never imagined something as simple as a peck on the forehead could feel…sexy.
But the warmth of it had lingered long after she’d driven into town, leaving her smiling like an idiot while she wandered the aisles searching for supplies.
Then she stepped outside and saw the truck.
The driver’s side window was shattered.
Glass glittered across the pavement.
For a second she just stood there, her brain refusing to make sense of what she was seeing. Then the realization hit her.
It was happening again.
Panic splintered through her chest so fast it punched the air from her lungs. The yoga mats slipped from her arms and thudded hollowly on the sidewalk while she stumbled closer to the truck.