Page 95 of Wild Sanctuary

“It’s clear.” I come back to the door. She’s standing exactly where I left her, arms crossed over her chest, shivering. I can’t tell if it’s the temperature or the shock.

I pull my jacket off and put it around her shoulders. She grabs the lapels and tugs it closed.

“Don’t touch anything. I need to call the sheriff.”

She nods. Doesn’t speak. Just looks around at the destruction of the cabin.

I call the sheriff’s office. Get the night deputy, a kid named Travis who sounds half asleep despite the hour. I tell him what we found, tell him I’m taking Daisy up to the main house, and to meet me there. Then I hang up before he can ask questions I’m not interested in answering.

Her heels are somewhere on the porch. I scoop her up before she can step off into the gravel, one arm under her knees, the other around her back. She doesn’t argue. That’s how I know she’s rattled. Daisy Monroe argues about everything.

She curls into my chest and I carry her to the truck, setting her in the passenger seat. Her fingers let go of my shirt slowly, like they forgot how.

Neither of us speaks on the short drive to the main house, and my jaw is locked so hard my teeth ache.

The house is dark when we pull up. Empty. My siblings are still at the rodeo. I come around to her side, open the door, and lift her out before her bare feet can touch the ground. She wraps her arms around my neck and I carry her through the back door, past the mudroom and the kitchen, up the stairs that creak under my boots.

My room is at the end of the hall. I push the door open with my shoulder and set her down gently. Her bare feet find the dark wood floor and she stands there in the middle of my room, completely swamped by my jacket over her shoulders.

She looks lost. I’ve never seen Daisy look lost.

I fish out an old, soft shirt, too big by a mile, and hand it to her. She takes it with a wobbly smile that sends a pang through my chest.

“I’m goin’ to check the house.” She swallows before nodding up at me. “Lock the door behind me.”

I clear every room as quickly as I can and as meticulously as possible. There’s nothing out of place, and no one to be found. Only then do I wash up, cursing myself soundly as I fish out clean underwear from the laundry.

By the time I’m set to rights and back in the kitchen, gravel crunches under tires outside. I open the front door and meet Deputy Travis on the porch.

“Cabin’s down the track.” I keep my voice low. “Place tossed, laptop’s gone. She’ll have a full list tomorrow.”

He nods, writing it down on a notepad. “I’ll seal the scene tonight. Torres’ll come by in the morning for prints and a full statement.”

“Appreciate it, Deputy.”

He’s already turning back to the cruiser. The Hartleys aren’t strangers to him, and he knows when to back off tonight.

I watch the cruiser pull out and turn down the track toward the cabin, then I lock the door behind me, and take the stairs two at a time.

When I knock on my door, it takes her a second. Then the lock turns. She’s changed. The black dress is in a pile on the floor and my shirt hangs past her thighs. I hand her a glass of water I grabbed from the kitchen.

She crawls into my bed and pulls the covers to her chin and looks at me with those big brown eyes.

“Are you going to stand there all night?”

I should. I should sit in the chair by the window and keep watch.

Instead I pull off my boots. My belt. Lie down on top of the covers beside her. She rolls into me immediately, her forehead against my chest, her hand fisting in my shirt, and I wrap my arm around her and stare at the ceiling.

Her breathing evens out in minutes. She falls asleep curled against my ribs, trusting me completely, and I don’t deserve a single bit of it.

Because I’m lying here in the dark and none of it makes sense. I was with her all night. Right beside her at that dinner. Right up against her on that porch. She was never out of my sight, not for a second, and it still wasn’t enough. Someone walked into that cabin and tore it apart and I didn’t see it coming. Didn’t think to check. Didn’t think about anything except stealing kisses I have no right to.

I think about Dad. About Tom. About how I was supposed to ride with them that morning and didn’t. Fifteen minutes, twenty max. I’ve done the math a thousand times.

And now his daughter is asleep in my bed, and I wasn’t paying attention again.

If Tom could see me right now, he’d put me through the wall. And goddammit, I’d let him.