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Heart hammering, I turn my attention back to the problem at hand. “What are you going to do, Davis? Follow me around the next however many weeks until it’s safe?”
“Yes.” His big, muscled frame stomps forward. I shiver at the bright blaze of protection in his piercing eyes. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
If looks could kill, Dakota’s fiery glare would incinerate me on the spot.
It was a split-second decision to have her stay at the ranch. Stede can’t protect her if her ex follows her to Resurrection. I promised him I’d keep her safe. I intend to do that.
I park my truck in the paved driveway in front of the lodge and shut off the engine. The last slice of light died out an hour ago, and the big Montana sky is now an inky purple-black.
Dakota, huddled in her oversized sweater, sighs and stares out the window. “So, we’re here. What’s the grand plan?”
“Listen,” I say, and her troubled chocolate-brown eyes turn my way. “I’m not locking you up, Koty. We have good security at the ranch. You can come and go. And when you head into town, I’ll just…”
“Be with me?” Her words spear through my chest like a knife.
“Something like that.”
“And if you can’t?”
“There is noif. I’ll be there.”
Her lush lips thin. “My father wanted to call you. Not me.”
“Good thing he did. You’d probably be back in that shitty motel, planning to ride a cow back to Resurrection.”
My voice is cool, controlled, when all I want to do is wring every ounce of the truth out of her. Remind her of the promiseshe made, a promise she broke, a promise that scorches me from inside out.
“And who calls it?” Her chin lifts in that stubborn, defiant way of hers. It’s almost a relief to see that flash of fire back in her dark gaze. “Who says it’s over?”
A vein pulses in my temple. “I say it’s over. When you’re safe.”
I’m already pissed off at her newsflash that she planned to come back to Resurrection without a peep about what happened to her. And now her little announcement back at Stede’s that she plans to run if her ex shows up.
Over my goddamn dead body.
Annoyance flickers through her expression. “How long is that?”
“As long as it takes.”
A frown pulls at her brow. “Davis, you can’t keep me here.”
“I don’t accept that, Dakota. I won’t.”
Her laugh is brittle. “Why are you doing this?”
“You helped me back then.” My voice comes out strangely staccato. “It’s my turn to help you.”
“You owe me.” She punches the lock on the truck, a soft sheen to her eyes, a wobble in her voice. “Got it.”
“Now wait a damn minute.” I lock the doors again, keeping her in so she hears me. “It’s not pity or obligation. I made a promise to your father that I’d look out for you. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
“This doesn’t involve you, Davis.”
I clench my jaw and growl. “The hell it doesn’t.”
We sit three feet from each other. Me, on the driver’s side, Dakota curled up against the passenger door. I’m close enough to her that I can see the rise and fall of her chest, the obsidian darkness of her eyes. Dark enough to rival the night.
“I won’t put you in the middle of my mess. Or use you to put my life back on track. I have to do it.” Her delicate jaw tilts, flexes in defiance. “I’m not your problem, Hotshot.”
