Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
I could shoot it, but then I’d have a hole in my bathroom floor.
Finally, I trap it in a towel and take it outside, about a hundred yards from the house, before I flick it away.
“Burn that towel!”
I spin and see Lena standing on the back deck, watching me.
“I can just wash it.”
“No! Absolutely not. It needs to be burned. The whole house might need to be burned. It’s okay, I have some money. I can help pay for a new one.”
“A new house?”
She nods solemnly as I approach, and she skitters out of the way, afraid that the spider might still be on the terry cloth in my hand.
“I can appreciate that that was a gigantic spider, and your scream and my subsequent heart attack were warranted, but I’m not burning my house down for you, Rebel.”
But I would incinerate the entire fucking world for you.
“I’m terrified to use that bathroom now. I have PTSD.”
“Do you need me to do a sweep to make sure it’s safe?”
“Well, it is part of your job description.” Her lips twitch, and her shoulders relax just a little when I drape the towel over the railing of the deck, leaving it outside. “You’ll also have to check my bed, between the sheets, every night. Oh my God, that was horrible.”
“None of the spiders here can kill you.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“In the summer, you’d have to watch out for rattlesnakes, and the occasional bear, but that’s really all that we have that’s life threatening.”
“You’re not helping, Gideon.”
“I’m giving you knowledge. Knowledge is power.” I smirk and reach out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, breaking my rule on touching.
Her hair is like silk.
“Come on. I’ll make sure he wasn’t the daddy of a family, and the rest of the clan isn’t in the shower.”
“Oh my God, Gideon.”
I laugh and lead her up the stairs.
Lena stands in the hallway as I clear her room of any other terrifying creatures, and when I return, we both eyeball the doorway.
“Do you want another room?” I ask her.
“You really demolished this door.”
“You screamed.” I shrug, as if it’s a no-brainer. “I had to get to you.”
And it’s a sound I never want to hear again.
“I don’t need another room. I don’t need to hide anything from you.”
She squares her shoulders and lifts her chin.
She’s so much stronger than she gives herself credit for.
“I’ll fix this right away, but it might be a couple of days because I’ll need to go to Missoula for supplies.”
“Oh, I’ll go—”
“No.”
She deflates. “Gideon, I love this ranch, but I could really use a change of scenery.”
“No.”
“I’ll wear a disguise. No one knows I’m here. And I’ll have you with me. I won’t do anything stupid, I won’t leave your side. I won’t even go to the bathroom without you. Please.”
I should say no.
I should not give a shit that those gorgeous lavender eyes are begging me, and that I would give her literally anything she asked for.
This is a bad fucking idea.
“You’ll do exactly what I say.”
Her face splits into the biggest grin, and she nods frantically.
“I promise. I won’t do anything stupid. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
This is a bad fucking idea, James. Say no. No fucking way.
“Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“For the record, I don’t like this.”
Some of her excitement fades. “If it’s really dangerous, I won’t go. I’ll stay here and sketch, or whatever. I don’t want to put you in harm’s way. Never again.”
Blowing out a breath, I shake my head.
“I’m just going to a hardware store. It’ll be okay. But I’m trusting you, Lena.”
“You can trust me.”
Chapter Twelve
Lena
“So where did you go to school?” I shift in the front seat of Gideon’s truck so I can look at him better. “Did you have to ride an hour each way every day?”
“No, we went to Paradise Valley schools.” He checks his mirror and then makes a lane change. “That’s a small town about fifteen minutes from the ranch. There were twenty-six kids in our graduating class.”
“Holy shit, that’s small.” I nod and glance out the windshield. When we arrived almost two weeks ago, it was dark, so I couldn’t see any of the scenery on the way out to the ranch.
And I’m sad I missed it, because this is gorgeous. Brown fields flank the highway, with lots of evergreen trees rising tall into the sky. There’s a little herd of deer in one of the fields, and little puffs of clouds that hang close to the ground, making it feel eerie.
The past week or so has been so . . . hard.
I was mortified when I realized that Gideon knew what I’d been doing in the shower. Honestly, I kind of hoped it would encourage him to actually really touch me.
It had the opposite effect.
He’s hardly even looked at me since, let alone talked to me. It took a horrible, giant spider to break the ice again.