Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
I’m not sure of our exact age gap, but I know it has to be a lot. It’s too much to overcome even if I weren’t her late father’s best friend. I swore to him as he lay dying that I would protect his daughter. I took up the mantle of guardian that day and I’ve tried to do right by her ever since.
Although I couldn’t be part of her life, I sent financial support. I’d planned to go back to see her every year then my own life had unraveled. I knew I had nothing to offer a scared kid, so I stayed away.
“In town,” she murmurs. She’s staring at the checkerboard floor, barely able to look me in the eyes and it surprises me how much I want her moss green gaze on me. I need it more than I need to breathe.
“Uh, Colt…” Lorna calls.
When I look at her, she gestures at the line of customers behind me that are eager to pay for their breakfast and get on with their days.
I tip my head to her and thank her for my food then I motion for Sierra to follow me. There’s an alcove beside the diner. It’d be the perfect place to push her up against the bricks and press kisses to the creamy skin of her neck.
She’s an undeniable beauty now. I shouldn’t be surprised given that Daphne was the prom queen before she was knocked up by a backwoods farm boy who wanted to go fight for his country. I think they were happy at one point maybe but that didn’t last too long. Parker only stuck it out because he loved his little girl so fiercely.
I stop beside the diner, refusing to step into the alcove. Instead, I keep us in plain sight where anybody on the street could see me. It’s the only thing that’s going to help me keep my hands off those generous hips.
“Where are you staying?” I repeat and this time, my tone comes out the way I mean for it to. Gentle and steady, reassuring.
She kicks at a pebble on the ground with her scuffed-up sneaker. I’m pretty sure that there’s a hole in it and not the kind that kids have in their things because it’s fashionable.
Her blue jeans are old and worn too. I can’t help wondering where the money I sent her has gone. Because if how she’s looking now is any indication, she hasn’t been taken care of well at all. “The hotel in town.”
“Try again. There is no hotel in town,” I answer. Courage County has just one place to crash and that’s the local bed and breakfast. While we get some tourists who come for the small town charm, the truth is that we don’t have enough tourism dollars to need more than one tiny lodging establishment.
She finally looks up at me, defiance flashing in her gaze. “So, I was going to crash on a park bench. Sue me.”
I let out a breath, feeling the anger bubble up. Courage doesn’t get much in the way of crime unless you count bored teenagers spraying graffiti on Old Man Teller’s barn or Sticky getting caught with a carton of cigarettes down at the gas station. But it doesn’t matter how safe this little town is. There’s no way in hell I’m letting her sleep outside in the elements unprotected.
“You’re coming home with me,” I grunt and turn toward my pickup. Piece of shit came with the property. I got it running but it breaks down on me more often than I’d care for.
“You can’t just decide something like that for me,” she protests. She glances around the street, checking over her shoulder again. I’ve got to figure out what the hell is going on with her.
I pause on my way to my truck. She might be afraid but she’s still a little spitfire. Something in my chest warms, and my admiration for her grows. She not only got herself out of a tough situation but here she is, standing up to me despite her fear. Don’t you know I only want to protect you? Don’t you know you’re precious to me?
I shouldn’t be thinking thoughts like that, but I tell myself it’s only because Parker appointed me her guardian in his passing. “You can do what you want. But looking at you, I’m guessing you don’t have bail money for when the sheriff arrests you for sleeping in the park.”
3
COLT
Sheriff Luke and his deputy won’t arrest Sierra for sleeping in the park, but I’m not above playing a little hardball to make sure she’s protected. At least until I can figure out what’s going on and make sure she’s safe.
Her eyes go wide at the mention of getting arrested, betraying the casual tone she’s trying to use. “I guess I could go with you then.”