Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 85228 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85228 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
"Caitlyn?"
I don't recognize the voice.
Me: Someone is at my front door. I'm so scared.
The confession seems like too much, as if it reveals more than it should to a man who can't be bothered to help me when he vowed that he'd keep me safe. Relying on others has never been a strong suit of mine. I've always known that I had to depend on myself and no one else unless I wanted to be disappointed.
Roman: It's Lark, baby. Let him in.
How is it even possible for the man to show up a minute after I text Roman?
Did he have the guy waiting outside in case something bad happened?
Why would he send someone else instead of being out there or even inside with me?
"I'm going to check around your house," the guy on the front porch says. After being told who he is, I realize I sort of recognize the voice.
I haven't spent much time speaking with anyone at the cabin other than Aspen and Nolan, but I've been in the same vicinity as the others more than once.
I swallow, listening to the footsteps leave my porch, but then there's nothing but silence.
The click of toenails on the kitchen floor draws my eyes to Kiva, who doesn't seem to have a clue what's going on. She stretches out her body, yawning as she walks toward me. I see the confused look in her eyes with me being on the kitchen floor, but she doesn't seem too bothered by it as she uses the opportunity to crawl into my lap. I hold her close, trying to calm my labored breaths by pressing my face into her fur.
A knock on the back door makes me scream a second time, and I realize just how bad I am in stressful situations.
"It's Lark, Dr. Rudd. Can you open the door?"
Kiva, closer this time to the noise, lets out a quick bark, but then she settles back into my arms, unimpressed with what is going on.
"Some guard dog you are," I mutter as I begin to stand and lower her to the floor.
She looks at me, disgust in her eyes at not being given a chance to snuggle, but I realize she's still tired from her interaction with Eli as she saunters back into the living room to find a comfortable place to go back to sleep.
I turn my body sideways as I move to peer out the window because it's something I remember seeing on a crime drama, something about making your person smaller and a harder target if someone wants to shoot or stab you.
The porch light shines on Lark's face, his eyes locked on the tiny area where I'm holding the curtain back.
He gives me a quick dip of his head, his breath coming out in cloudy puffs due to the frigid air outside. Spring hasn't had the ability to take much of a hold on the weather, and the nights in the mountains have been as cold as ever.
"Are you okay?" he asks, his voice easily carrying through the thin glass of the door's window.
Instead of holding a conversation with him freezing on the back porch, I flip the deadbolt and turn the lock on the doorknob, opening the door and taking a step back so he has enough room to enter the home without needing to touch me.
"Are you okay?" he repeats, stepping further into the house to close the door.
I wrap my arms around my middle, both in a bid to keep myself safe and to shelter myself from the cold air he let in.
"Jersey is out of town, or he'd be here himself."
I blink up at the man, wondering if he's just saying that to make me feel better or if it's true.
Either way, it doesn't matter. I didn't get Roman's number from the man himself. Anyone being here at all is about Nolan and Eli and the boy's therapy. I'm not being protected by this group of men for any other reason, and it would be smart to keep that in mind.
"There was someone in my backyard," I say, not breathing any more life into his statement than needs to be there.
"I saw tracks in the snow," he says, surprising me because I hadn't even realized we had gotten snow. "I was going to follow them all the way out, but I needed to make sure you were safe first."
"I'm fine," I say with as straight of a back as I can manage.
He doesn't look any more convinced than I feel.
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
I glare at the man. It's common courtesy not to say such things to a woman. It's akin to telling someone they look tired. Might as well say I look like shit and move on.
"Where's Rom-I mean Jersey?"
Lark gives me a slow smile as if I've revealed something of substance with my question.