Page 50 of Keeping Kara

And with that, the detective ended the call.

Chaos lowered the phone but kept his gaze locked on Kara’s. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I’m afraid to hope. I don’t feel the least bit bad for feeling happy he’s dead, if it’s really him. But what if it’s not? Why do I have a feeling that the remains that were found weren’t him?”

Chaos couldn’t help but feel relieved she felt the same misgivings he had about Nolan. “I feel the same way. But either way, at least for now, nothing changes,” he reassured her. “We’ll stay vigilant. I’ll still consult with my friend Tex, who’s really good at finding people who don’t want to be found. If Colins is still alive, he’ll screw up eventually. And if that was him in that car…hopefully the crime lab can find something with enough DNA to tell us for sure.”

“I hope it was him,” Kara whispered.

“Me too,” Chaos agreed.

“I almost don’t know what to do now.”

“Now? We get up. I don’t know about you, but I need to pee. Then we’ll shower, change, eat breakfast, and carry on with our lives.”

She smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

“And for the record, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve got yourself a new roommate. You can stay here with me for as long as you want. It’ll be nice to have the company. It’s kind of lonely coming home to an empty house all the time.”

Kara bit her lip, then asked, “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

When she didn’t immediately protest, Chaos relaxed a little. She wanted to be here as much as he wanted her here. They probably had different reasons, but he was all right with that. Maybe with time, she’d come to see him as more than a safety net. Even someone she could envision having a relationship with.

“Thanks for everything, Arrow. I mean it.”

“You’re welcome. Now, come on, get up before my bladder explodes.”

She laughed and tried to get up, then giggled more when she found she was stuck in the beanbag.

Every wiggle of her body had his cock threatening to embarrass him, so Chaos took matters into his own hands, literally—he palmed her ass and shoved her upward.

She was still laughing when she turned around and offered him a hand, once she was on her feet. He could get out of the beanbag on his own, but Chaos wasn’t going to turn down a chance to touch this woman.

She helped pull him up, and then they were standing face-to-face. He could see that the call from the detective had smoothed some of the stress lines around her eyes.

As if she could read his mind, she said, “I know the detective didn’t say he was gone, but I still feel so much better. As if maybe he isn’t standing on a ladder outside the window, staring in at me anymore.”

“Is that what you thought last night?”

She gave him a tiny nod.

“No wonder you were so stressed,” Chaos told her.

“I’m not going to let down my guard, because that would be stupid, but I have hope that maybe, just maybe, I can put what happened behind me. That Nolan got what he deserved—a horrible, painful death. You want to use your bathroom first?”

“Nope. I’ll use the half bath then start the coffee. You do your thing. Take your time.”

“Okay, thanks.” She gave him a shy smile, then turned and headed for his bedroom, and what had obviously become her preferred bathroom.

Chaos stood where he was for several moments. Thinking about what the detective had said. It seemed too good to be true, but if Nolan had been trying to escape the flash flood, driving too fast away from the cabin, it was possible he’d wrecked his car. And it had been his car that was burnt, of that there was no doubt.

So why Chaos still felt uneasy, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to let down his guard until he was one hundred percent sure Kara was in no further danger. He’d still talk to Tex, let him do his thing to see what he could find on the man. If Tex said Nolan Colins was the one who was found inside the burned-out car, then he’d start to believe it.

Until then…

Until then, he had a roommate who he hoped would one day be more than a friend. But he’d take things at Kara’s pace. He wouldn’t rush her into anything. She still had a long way to go until she was healed from that asshole’s assault.