Chapter 9 #3
“There’s a private bathroom down the hall for families. It only has one stall. I’m taking you there so I can check it out first without scaring a bunch of women.”
“If you only had a dime for all the times you’ve said that before, right?”
Another glower was sent my way. I gave him a silent clap.
He checked the bathroom quickly and all but threw me inside. He closed the door in my face but not before I saw the slightest upturn tick of his mouth.
Plot Twist:
‘Have I told you lately how much I don’t like you?’ hits different now.
My feet ached later that night as I trudged up the stairs in the Walker home, holding Ann’s high heels.
It had been a long time since my feet had worn anything higher than an inch lift, and they were feeling the effects of it tonight.
Before we went inside the house, Tate had Jaxon wait with Ann and me in the car while he, Tom, and Luke did a quick sweep of the house.
Until now, I wasn’t aware the men had been doing sweeps of the home each evening, but Jaxon informed me that they had been doing it every night, usually before Tate and I arrived home.
Tate was very thorough. It was disconcerting. I should have expected it but was still surprised that it was all done for me.
Okay, not just for me.
For Will.
For this job.
But I’d be remiss not to feel touched by the attention to detail, while at the same time hating that it was even necessary.
I readied myself for bed, peeling off Landrie’s dress and draping it over the chair at the small desk.
It had been fun dressing up for a night, but as soon as I was alone, I couldn’t change into sweats and an oversized sweatshirt fast enough.
The bra came off. My hair went into a high ponytail.
The night had both revived me and worn me out, but I was determined to write a scene or two before I went to bed.
An idea had sparked in my head at the party tonight, and I needed to see how it looked on paper.
A soft knock sounded on my door sometime later. I stretched from my spot on the bed before opening the door to find Tate standing before me in a pair of navy joggers and a fitted gray t-shirt. For the briefest of moments, his gaze trailed downward before landing on my face.
He rubbed the side of his head. “Sorry it’s late. My dad just told me he forgot to look at your window when he checked your room tonight.”
“Look at my window?” I asked, folding my arms and suddenly feeling naked without my bra on.
He nodded. “To make sure it’s locked.”
I glanced back in my room. “Oh, I can do that. Don’t worry about it.”
He paused, his dark eyes meeting mine again. “I need to look at it.”
I relented, stepping aside while he brushed past me. “I promise I know how to lock a window.”
“It should already be locked,” he said as he pulled back the curtain and discovered that it was most definitely not locked.
He whipped around to me. “Did you open this?”
I made a face. “Um. Yeah. Sorry, I forgot to… I just opened it for a few minutes this morning.” I had gotten into the habit of doing that in the mornings, just for a few precious minutes, being careful to lock it immediately afterward—except this morning.
I’d been called down to breakfast, and the smell of bacon had erased the window from my mind.
The breath slowly expelled from his lungs, and I watched his chest deflate. He turned back to the window, pressing it down, making sure it was a tight fit before he flipped the latch to lock it.
I stood tense, my mind a whirl of excuses I could give him.
I opened a window for the morning breeze and the crisp smell of fall on the horizon.
A man couldn’t begrudge a New England woman such a simple pleasure.
But he surprised me. He didn’t reprimand or berate or criticize.
His voice took on a softer tone, almost pleading, and all my defenses vanished.
“If you’re too hot in here, tell me, and I’ll turn down the heat. If you’re cold, I’ll turn it up. If you want to hear the birds, I’ll take you outside. But this window needs to stay locked. Please.”
I was knocked off my guard at the same time a not-altogether-unpleasant tingle trailed down my spine.
“We’ve removed you from your life, and it probably feels like you’re on vacation.
I get that. I’m glad for it. But the threat is still very real.
And if we’re not on the same page here, none of this matters.
” He raised his arms, motioning around the room.
“I need you completely on board. Can you do that, please?”
All I could do was nod. I was left speechless while a rush of affection for this man flooded my body.
There was a muddied look in his eyes as he studied me, my stomach a flutter of activity as he did so.
Then he nodded and saw himself out. He was different from how I remembered him.
He'd always been confident. He'd always been strong.
But there was a quiet restraint to him now, a thoughtful caution I didn't remember from before.
The temperature of the room had risen significantly, but I refrained from opening my window.