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She blinks. “What’s this?”
“It’s a tracker. It pairs with my phone, so I always have your GPS location.” I affix the tracker to the back of the dog tag. It’s small enough to be hidden. “One push and I’ll be there. You hear me, Cupcake? I’ll be by your side.”
She stays silent—or stubborn—and I lean in. “I care, Koty, and never say I don’t.”
Dakota’s face softens. She glances down, analyzing the tracker. “Looks expensive.”
I grunt. “Don’t worry about it.”
Mischief flickers in her dark eyes. Her full lips curve gently. “What if I push it?”
A frustrated growl rises in my throat. “Dammit, Dakota. Don’t push me. I can’t do my job if I’m worried that you’re not safe.”
“Your job,” she repeats, gaze locked and loaded on my face.
The question heats the space between us, causing my heart to flail madly. “Yes, my job.”
It doesn’t matter that it means more than that.
It can’t.
Fallon scowls the minute I step into the corner store.
“Davis dropped the leash?” she asks snidely. She’s in a worn jean jacket, her long caramel hair in a fat fish-tail braid. She looks frazzled and annoyed and entirely too beautiful.
I sigh and tuck my purse under the front counter, shaking off the chill of the winter wind. After a second thought, I keep my parka on. My stomach being the talk of the town is not on today’s agenda. “He’s parked at the station. He gave me this.”
Grudgingly, I show her the tracker.
Amusement dances in her hazel eyes. “Looks fancy. Better not lose it, or you’ll have to deal with your babysitter.”
Babysitter.
I don’t like it either, but it looks like I’m stuck with it. And Davis.
Turning the dog tag between my fingers, I glance down at the tracker. Its red light pulses like a heartbeat.
A thousand emotions run through my veins.
Davis cares.
I felt the hard heat of him pressed up against me. Growling filthy words in my ear that only turned me on even more. He’s a stubborn man. I’ll give him that. But he’s the best man I have ever known. The tracker’s a reminder that I am safe. That Davis and Aiden are completely different species.
Aiden would find me because he wanted to hurt me. Davis wants to find me to protect me. There’s a difference. One I should have realized from the beginning.
Aiden was never one to take no. He asked me repeatedly for a date when I refused the first time. Waited for me after my shift to bring me flowers. At the time, I thought his persistence was charming. A beautiful man with money who looked like he stepped off the pages of a magazine. Bright white teeth. Tailored clothes. In his perfection, he hid his red flags like bodies. I blinded myself to what was right in front of me until it was too late.
The anxious knot in my gut swells.Aiden.
Goosebumps pepper my skin. I remind myself Davis is parked across the street at the sheriff’s department. The scare today already scrambled my brain enough. It was only Charlie, but it showed me how much I need to relax.
Although, I don’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to Ruby’s cake. It was like a dare. I couldn’t say no, and now all I feel is panic.
Fallon, wiping down the deli case, says, “Face looks better.”
“Not so busted?” I ask and she looks away, avoiding my eyes.
I glance around the store, itching to do something. Then, remembering Fallon’s cold shoulder when I offered to help our father, I ask, “What can I do?”
