Page 41 of Keeping Kara

He had a flash of her doing the exact same thing sometime in the future, except turning to give him a sexy smile right before she disappeared, telling him not to stay up too late, that she’d be waiting for him in bed.

He blinked and the vision was gone.

Shivering in reaction to the image, he closed his eyes. He desperately wanted to believe what he’d just had was a premonition. But he wasn’t going to get his hopes up. Baby steps. He didn’t want to scare Kara away. Or freak her out. For now, he was her friend. Helping to get her back on her feet. If anything more developed between them, great. If not, he’d have to come to terms with that.

Taking a deep breath, he headed for the kitchen and the coffee maker. Coffee made everything better. This morning would be busy, and they both needed sustenance.

CHAPTER TEN

Kara didn’t realize just how safe she’d felt around Arrow until after he’d left her at Jen’s apartment. All of a sudden, the dread she’d managed to push down since arriving in Norfolk returned tenfold. It wasn’t because she didn’t like Jen, or the apartment, or even the building. The security was top-notch, and it wasn’t easy to get inside or onto the floors. There were cameras everywhere, and the residents had control over who was allowed to come up to their apartments.

But the second Arrow left her—with the promise he’d be in touch later to see how she was doing—Kara felt extremely uneasy. Her thoughts returned to Nolan. Was he alive? Where was he? Was he pissed she was gone?

Of course he was. Hadn’t he told her more than once that if she somehow escaped, he’d do whatever it took to get her back? Knowing he was out there somewhere, very likely searching for her, made her paranoid.

For some reason, being around Arrow calmed her nerves. It was as if he were a bubble of safety. Which was stupid. He couldn’t be by her side every second of the day and night. He wasn’t a bodyguard. He was a real-life hero with his own life to live.

But…she liked being around him. Liked how blunt he was. How he wasn’t afraid to talk about the difficult things. For instance, about the fact he knew she’d barricaded her door last night. Yet, he hadn’t demanded she open it or gotten upset with her for blocking him out.

She hadn’t done it because she didn’t trust Arrow, it was…

Why had she done it? A moment of temporary insanity? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she’d felt vulnerable in that room, all alone. Arrow had reassured her that no one could come in without him knowing, that she was safe. And she believed him. Until she once more began doubting her own instincts. As if she couldn’t trust her judgment.

After all, she’d thought Nolan was a good guy. He’d gone slow, hadn’t pushed for intimacy. Hadn’t pressured her for sex, which a lot of guys did even after the first date. He was funny and charming, and she’d completely let down her guard around him.

Kara didn’t want to be too stupid to live for a second time. Didn’t want to succumb to the instant trust she felt for Arrow.

Even as she was moving the dresser, she’d had second thoughts. Just not enough to put it back. Now, in the light of day, knowing that Arrow had realized what she’d done and still didn’t seem upset, she felt bad that she’d doubted him for even a moment.

And he’d made a very good point…if someone managed to get through the window, that dresser would’ve slowed Arrow down in getting to her. In protecting her. Nolan might’ve had enough time to break the window, grab her, and take her away once more.

Shaking her head, Kara realized her thoughts were all over the place. She didn’t feel as calm as she looked on the outside. Inside, she was spiraling. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. As if she was having a panic attack. How could she get a job, go back to work, and not constantly be looking over her shoulder?

Something cold and wet touched her hand, and Kara nearly jumped out of her skin.

Looking down, she saw Fred, Jen’s black lab, nudging her hand and gazing up at her.

“He’s kind of good at knowing when people are upset,” Jen said quietly. She was sitting in the living room in a comfortable-looking oversized chair, reading a book. She had the day off because Fred had a vet appointment later that afternoon, and she’d already informed her boss at the search and rescue agency that she wouldn’t be available for any assignments.

Kara crouched and nuzzled Fred, while he desperately tried to lick her face. She ended up laughing at his antics, which made the panic she’d begun to feel recede a little.

The rest of the day went by quickly enough. Kara did some searches for accounting jobs on Jen’s laptop, and even managed to log into her cloud account to make sure all the files for her writing career—manuscripts, contacts, graphics, among other things—were still safe. They were, thank goodness.

Nolan had gotten rid of her laptop, along with all her other belongings. He’d thrown in her face that he’d taken great pleasure in destroying it. Kara had made a show of acting devastated, but she hadn’t been too worried, since she had everything backed up in the cloud. She was actually glad he’d taken a sledgehammer to the laptop. That meant he couldn’t attempt to access her email—or somehow use it to find her now.

She really should try to work on her current manuscript some more, but she definitely wasn’t in the mood. Hell, she barely remembered what the story was about, since it had been so long since she’d thought about it. It sucked that Nolan had taken that from her as well. Writing used to be her safe place, what she did when the world felt overwhelming.

Bowie and Penny stopped by after school let out, and being around the friendly and outgoing little girl was a great break. While they were there, Jen took Fred to his vet appointment. Kara and Bowie shared a snack, and the little girl asked what seemed like a hundred questions about North Carolina, her life there, and if she liked the FLATOUTbear Bowie had given her. She also talked nonstop about her school, her best friend named Abigail, and how her teacher was helping their entire class learn how to read Braille.

Jen arrived home while her neighbors were still visiting, and when Bowie started talking about her mom’s upcoming wedding, Kara was surprised. She didn’t even know Penny and Pyro were engaged.

“Kylo-Pyro asked Mommy to marry him. And then asked me if I’d marry him too. So he could officially be my daddy!” The little girl was so excited. “Of course we said yes! Kylo-Pyro is my hero. He gotted hurt protecting me and even though I was scared when he helped me out that window and I had to walk for ages and ages by the ocean, I trusted him.”

It was a good thing Kara knew the story of what had happened to Bowie and Pyro, otherwise she would’ve been completely confused and probably freaked out by that description. Arrow told her all about how his teammate and the blind little girl had been kidnapped, and how Pyro helped her escape out a window in the basement where they were being held. How Bowie managed to walk along the shoreline until someone spotted her and got help for Pyro.

“You thought more about the ceremony?” Jen asked Penny.

The other woman nodded. “Yeah, we’re going to keep it low-key. We don’t want to make a huge deal out of the actual ceremony, but we are planning a big ol’ party for our reception. I don’t care if we get married at the courthouse, but I want to make sure all my new friends are able to get together to celebrate.”