Page 16 of Peaks and Promises

That probably should have been a red flag. I did not need to get mixed up with a man like…well, like my ex. Been there, done that.

But Reese seemed so different. Nothing like Axel or the other Mayhem guys who were always trying to mess up my life.

“Are you leaving for the day?” he asked.

“No, just my break. I need to go to the bank to deposit my check.” I glanced around the parking lot again, more as a reflex than because I expected to see bikes. They weren’t there. I would have heard them.

But what if Buzz and Hammer were still in town?

“You’re worried they’re around, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah.” A bead of sweat trickled down my back. “With my luck, I’ll run into them at the ATM.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“Come with me where?”

“To the bank. Just to make sure no one bothers you. I’m not going to steal your paycheck.”

I laughed. “That’s exactly what someone who was going to steal my paycheck would say.”

He grinned, and my heart fluttered. That smile was something else. It changed his whole face. “I guess so. But if I was going to mess with you, I could have done it a long time ago.”

“That’s true.”

“If you don’t want me to go with you, I’ll leave.” His deep voice was gentle. “But I can follow you over there. Make sure you get back to work safely.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay. An escort to the bank would be nice.”

“I got you.”

Those three words, delivered with such confidence, threatened to crack me wide open. Nobody “had” me. Not like that. Ever. I’d always been on my own. I swallowed back the surge of emotion.

“The bank I go to is over by the grocery store.”

“I’ll follow you.”

I appreciated that he didn’t suggest I get in his car. We were more than strangers—maybe even friends—but I still needed to be careful. “Thank you.”

He tipped his chin.

I walked over to my car and got in, not quite understanding what Reese Haven was doing. Why he would be concerned about me. But I decided not to worry about it. For now. If he was nice enough to spend twenty minutes escorting me to an ATM, why not take advantage of that?

Besides, I didn’t get a lot of breaks in my life. Maybe I was due.

He followed in his black SUV, and when we parked at the bank, he got out and held open the door into the building for me. I’d chosen that bank because it had two ATMs inside. After being robbed at an outside ATM once, I tried to avoid them—especially when I was depositing my precious paycheck. If I lost that, I’d be screwed.

No one was in the bank lobby, but Reese positioned himself near the entrance and stood like a sentinel, his thick arms crossed. I could see him reflected in the small mirror on the ATM. With his alert posture and dark sunglasses, he looked like a bodyguard doing security for a celebrity or something. It almost made me laugh.

Until a loud engine roared by and my back tightened with alarm. I whipped around to look, but it was just a noisy car. It disappeared down the road, the sound fading.

I let out a relieved breath and finished making my deposit. Reese held the door again and we walked outside into the heat.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “We could get lunch.”