Page 29 of Long Hard Road
“And what is?”
I exaggerated a slow scan of his body. “Well, I can’t say that I’ve seen all your features, but from what I have seen… I’d vote for your eyes.”
“That’s boring.” He pursed his lips in disappointment and put the truck in park. “I think maybe I need to show you more of my features if that’s the best you can come up with.”
“Okay.” I laughed when his eyes flew over to me, wild and surprised. “What do you want to show me, Sullivan?”
He cleared his throat and quickly looked away. I was about to call him a tease when his eyes narrowed and he leaned forward. “What is that?”
I followed his stare to the porch where a box was perched next to an empty flowerpot. “I don’t know. That wasn’t there when we left. Maybe Maggie had something delivered here?”
He made a noise of disagreement and opened his door. “You should stay here.”
“It’s just a box.” I hadn’t even finished my sentence before his door slammed shut. I didn’t wait to see if he would come around to open my door or head straight to the porch. I jumped out of the truck and started trudging through the snow.
“Madison, I said to stay in the truck.” Nate threw his hands up in exasperation. “Otherwise I would’ve carried you out so you didn’t land in a damn snowbank.”
“It’s just snow.” I grabbed a handful of it and threw it at his chest.
“Hey.” He pointed a finger at me. “Don’t make me punish you, angel. I have a feeling we both would enjoy it way too much.”
Yep. From the way all the blood started rushing in my body as my core clenched, he was absolutely right that I would enjoy it.
“Fuck. Don’t look at me like that, Madison.” He ran a hand through his hair and groaned. “It’s hard enough being around you. I don’t need you looking at me like you’re having the same kind of thoughts that I’m having.”
“What thoughts are you having?” I asked in a whisper.
In three long strides, he stalked close enough to brush a strand of hair from my cheek. “Thoughts that have me taking a cold shower every time I leave you.”
“Oh.” I had suspected his answer might be something along those lines, but I hadn’t expected him to admit it. “We should… check the box.”
“Check the box?” He blinked hard. “The box. On the porch. Right.”
He looked pained as he took a step back. “Let me check it out. You stay behind me.”
“Are you under the impression that you are my boss?” I hurried to keep up with his long strides as he crossed easily through the snow.
“If I were your boss, I have about a hundred things I would order you to do besides stay behind me. A lot of those orders would involve you being beneath me.” He wasn’t even trying to restrain his dirty thoughts now.
“You are all talk, Sullivan. If I told you that I’d let you spend all night ordering me to do anything you wanted, you’d tuck your tail between your legs and run back to your cabin so damn fast your feet wouldn’t touch the ground.”
Nate was already kneeling next to the box. He pulled a pocket knife from his jeans and slid it along the tape holding down the top flap of the box. “One night wouldn’t be enough to do all the things I want to do with you.” He looked up without a hint of shame. “I think I was wrong about you, Madison. I think you’re the one who would ruin me, not the other way around.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I nearly melted under the heat of his stare. “What’s in the box?”
He opened the flap and after looking inside, reached in to pull out a white card with something written on it. After reading the words, he shot to his feet and quickly scanned the property. “Change of plans tonight. You’re coming to the bar with me.”
Two hours later, I was perched on my barstool at the end of the bar, nursing a beer while I watched Nate get everything ready for a busy night of bartending. I had offered to help, but he said he needed to do it himself. I thought he might be using the work as a distraction from what we’d found on my porch.
It took a little convincing, but Nate had finally let me see what was in the box. At first, I’d been confused. It was a beautiful vase of flowers. Aside from it being a strange thing to have delivered to the porch of a cabin where I was only staying temporarily, it wasn’t that alarming. Then Nate showed me the note.
There is nowhere you can go where I won’t find you.
After reading that message, I hadn’t needed any convincing to stick with Nate for the rest of the night. I had taken a picture of the note to send to Ellison, but I hadn’t worked up the nerve to send it yet. I knew that as soon as he saw it, he would send every bodyguard he had available to Crestwood.
“Do you need anything?” Nate’s deep but gentle voice snapped me out of my trance.
“No.” I picked at the label on my beer bottle. “I was just thinking… maybe I should leave. It isn’t safe for me to be in Crestwood now.”