Chapter 7
T rina felt the impact of kissing Joel all the way down to her toes. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t kissed a man before, but this felt different. She wanted to stay in his arms forever.
“I got a candy bar!” Ben’s shout had her breaking off their embrace. Her cheeks went hot as she realized what she’d done. It wasn’t like her to initiate a kiss, especially not with Joel Sullivan! A man who could have any woman he wanted.
“Great!” She turned her attention to Ben, hoping Joel wouldn’t notice her blush. She needed to stop thinking about him as a possible date. “Be careful that you don’t make a mess.”
“I won’t.” Ben had already opened the candy bar, chocolate smearing his fingers. After a moment, he held it out to her. “Do you want a bite?”
“No, but thank you.” She was touched by his offer to share. “When you’re finished, you need to wash your hands.”
“I’ll go with you,” Joel offered. He turned to Royal. “Stay.”
The dog thumped his tail on the floor as if in agreement.
She shot him a grateful glance. He didn’t look nearly as impacted by her kiss, which told her all she needed to know.
She harbored no illusions about her attractiveness.
Her straight red hair refused to hold a curl or any sort of attempt to style it.
She despised the freckles on her nose and knew she carried an extra five pounds from too much desk time at her computer.
She preferred keeping to herself, rather than interacting with the world. Joel was her opposite in every way.
Whatever. It didn’t matter.
Ben finished his candy bar, licking the chocolate from his fingers. Joel rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Let’s go clean up.”
Trina watched them go, realizing Ben needed a male role model to look up to. The boy clearly hadn’t liked Peter, and she wasn’t sure he had a lot of good memories about his father either.
Yet it wasn’t as if Joel had volunteered for the job. This was a temporary interlude. The danger that stalked her had thrown them together. It was more important than ever to stay focused on Ben.
Her nephew was all that mattered.
Royal stared in the direction Joel had gone. She was reassured by the dog’s presence. At the very least, Royal would alert her to danger. She dragged her fingers through her fine red hair, forcing a smile as Ben and Joel returned to the lobby.
Royal jumped up to join them, as if Joel had been gone hours instead of minutes.
“Good boy.” Joel bent to stroke the dog’s silky fur. “My brothers will be here soon. If you don’t mind, I’d like to pick up a replacement video game for Ben.”
“Really? Can we?” Ben asked hopefully.
Irked that Joel had brought it up in front of the boy, she reluctantly nodded.
She’d let it slide this time, mostly because they’d need something to keep Ben distracted at the rental property.
But Joel needed to understand he couldn’t set her up like that moving forward.
Ben was going through a lot, but that didn’t mean she intended to give in to his every whim.
“Just one.” She kept her gaze stern. “No whining, okay?”
“I won’t.” Ben turned and ran across the lobby, nearly bumping into a couple who were trying to check in. Royal stood as if to join in, but Joel kept him back with a hand on his collar.
“Ben, watch where you’re going.” She had learned over the past few weeks that Ben had boundless energy. Too bad she didn’t.
“Sorry.” Ben ducked around the couple. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to mind.
Joel’s phone rang. “Hey, Justin. Yep, sounds good.” He pocketed the phone and turned to her. “We’ll use the side exit to meet Justin around back.”
“Sounds good to me. Come, Ben.” Before she could reach for the suitcase, Joel grabbed it.
Leaving him to it, she shouldered her laptop case. At this rate, she wasn’t going to meet her deadline. Not that she couldn’t ask for a few extra days if needed, but it was a point of pride that she’d always met her deadlines.
Even with everything going on with her sister’s death, she’d managed to get her writing finished.
Maybe she could use some of this in her next book. She followed Joel and Royal down the hallway. Ben skipped over to join them. “Are we gonna buy my video game now?”
“Soon.” She had no idea when Joel planned to stop. Then she realized they’d likely need groceries as a cabin wouldn’t have room service. No doubt they’d pick up whatever they needed here in Cody, before heading to the rental property.
Outside the sun was hot as they crossed the parking lot to a pair of twin black SUVs stood idling.
As they approached, the respective driver’s side doors opened, and two young, fit men stepped out.
The rear hatches lifted, too, and two dogs jumped down.
Royal ran over to greet what appeared to be two more labs, one yellow, the other with a reddish-brown coat.
She recognized Justin, Joel’s twin. She didn’t remember Trevor as well but smiled in greeting as both Sullivans stepped forward.
“Nice to see you, Trina.” Justin gave her a nod and tossed the key fob to Joel, who caught it easily. “This SUV is yours. Stone and I will head back with Trev.”
“Hi, Trina.” Trevor greeted her with a wide smile. “I remember you from high school.”
He did? That statement flustered her. She managed to smile back. “Nice to see you and Justin again. I’m sorry to have caused you to drive all this way.”
“No problem.” Justin waved that aside. “We’re happy to help.”
“You better call Chase,” Trevor warned. “He heard about—ah, everything.”
She appreciated his understanding that Ben was listening in. Although in truth, Ben was preoccupied with watching the dogs. The look of longing on the boy’s face was difficult to ignore.
“I will.” Joel didn’t look concerned about his older brother’s wrath. “I spoke to Griff, that should be good enough.”
“You know how Chase is.” Trevor shrugged. “Our oldest brother takes our safety seriously.”
“Here’s the information on the rental property.” Justin showed Joel his phone. “I’ll text you the information Kendra provided.”
“Thanks.” Joel nodded as the text popped up on his screen. “Kendra is a whizz at this stuff.”
“Yeah, she spends a lot of time on that computer when she’s not doing SAR work with Smoky.” Trevor frowned. “I think she’s digging into the pilot’s background.”
Trina cocked her head. “What pilot?”
“The pilot of the plane that crashed into the mountains with our parents on board.” Joel scowled. “Does Chase know that?”
“Not sure. But she hasn’t found much yet, so it probably doesn’t matter.” Trevor turned to the dogs. “Archie, come.”
The rust-colored dog wheeled and trotted to Trevor’s side.
“Come, Stone,” Justin called. The yellow lab followed suit; his tongue hanging out of his mouth made the dog look happy. She was impressed all over again by how well trained the Sullivan K9s were. She wondered if Joel would help her and Ben train their puppy.
Then she reminded herself that he’d be too busy for that. Besides, it wasn’t as if she needed a dog trained to do search and rescue. She and Ben would manage, just like millions of other pet owners across the globe.
And maybe she could incorporate the puppy into her mystery series. Her main character had a cat, and adding a dog might provide another aspect to the story.
“Thanks for coming out.” Joel opened the back passenger door to set the suitcase inside. She stepped forward to put the laptop bag on the floor too.
“Stay in touch.” Justin gestured to the car. “By the way, we stuck a satellite phone in the back just in case the cell service is spotty.”
“Sounds good. I had forgotten to grab one when I headed to Cody.” Joel paused, then added, “Are you sticking around until the SUV has been towed to the garage for repair?”
“Yep.” Trevor tucked his hands into his front pockets. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.”
“Appreciate that.” Joel turned to face her. “Ready to go?”
“Sure.” She stepped closer to Ben who was kneeling beside Royal, lavishing the dog with attention. “Thanks again, Justin and Trevor.”
The Sullivan brothers nodded, keeping their dogs at their sides as Joel loaded Royal in the back crate area. She waited for Ben to climb into the back seat, then went around to the passenger-side door.
Moments later, they were back on the road.
“Don’t forget my video game,” Ben called from the back.
The corner of Joel’s mouth curved in a smile. “I won’t. We’ll get food too,” he added.
“Okay.” Trina tried to relax, despite knowing the danger was far from over. She noticed Joel eyed the rearview mirror often as he navigated the streets of the city.
An hour later, they had enough groceries to feed them for a week and a replacement handheld video game for Ben. She’d tried to pay for their purchases, but Joel refused.
“Let me do this, Trina.” He kept his voice low. “You and Ben have been through a lot. I want to help.”
She knew better than to read into his kindness but choked up just the same. When they finally reached the cabin, she was surprised at how nice it was.
As they carried everything inside, she tried not to imagine what it would be like to have someone like Joel helping her with Ben on a regular basis. Then she sternly reminded herself that this was not her life.
But she was still secretly glad Joel had insisted on staying with her and Ben until this assailant was caught and arrested.
Keenly aware of Trina and Ben exploring the cabin, Joel busied himself with putting food away. A place like this was far better than a hotel, but it also made things seem—more intimate between them.
He noticed his brothers had included a laptop computer too. A good thing because he needed to try to figure out who was behind these attacks. Doing nothing wasn’t his strong suit. Back home, there was always a myriad of chores that needed to be done.
Royal sniffed the cabin with interest.
Subtly checking his phone, he was reassured to see there was cell service. A good thing, as he wanted to check in with Griff. And he should probably call Chase too.