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“I’ll see Doc before I head home. I know we hate each other, but can I borrow your gun for a couple of weeks?”
Sam rocked back on his heels. I found myself staring into those damn green eyes I could get lost in until they narrowed—the way they did right before he lectured me. Even when we were seventeen, he would preach about my safety. He knew I could shoot—he taught me. We’d set up targets in the field, and he would make me practice.
He took the gun out from his waistband and placed it on my desk. I hadn’t touched one since high school, but I needed the extra protection.
“I took the gun from your son. Want to explain why he has one, and you don’t?”
That couldn’t be right. “There has to be some kind of mistake. I don’t keep guns in my house.”
I’d worried Brad might come home drunk one night and shoot one of the boys. So I’d made it a point not to have guns in the house. When he left, I never bothered, mostly because I worried I wouldn’t be able the pull the trigger or, worse, accidentally pull it on the wrong person.
I grabbed the gun on my desk and stuck it in my top drawer. “I’ll have a conversation with Benji. Really, you don’t need to look after me.”
Sam cocked his head to the side again.
“I think you need someone watching your six.”
Anger bubbled in my gut. “I don’t need a man to protect me. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.”
“Well, from what I see, you aren’t. I’m not saying you need a man to take care of you. From the outside, it just looks like you need help. I’m here offering you that help.”
I wanted to scream and ask where the hell he was thirty-six years ago when I did need help. Why he’d left for the military two days after graduation, when he wasn’t supposed to leave for two months. I’d lost my best friend and the man I loved. Even as a kid, I knew nobody would compare to him.
“Just let it go.” I let out a frustrated breath. I wanted to rest my head on the desk or curl up and cry, but those weren’t options for me.
Sam’s forehead creased when his cell phone beeped. He stepped back and stared at the screen. I studied his face while he typed on his phone.
He pinched his brow. “I need to get back to the ranch. A couple showed up. I wasn’t expecting them for a few more weeks.”
“Go. I’m fine.”
He shook his head. “You’re not, and you’re stubborn as hell. If I had to guess, you’re not going to visit the doctor. You plan to work and then go home. So here is what is going to happen. I’m going to go get my guests checked in. I’ll be at your house around five thirty to pick up you and Benji up. Pack enough clothes for two weeks. I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay home alone.”
A slight throb started in the back of my neck, and I could feel the signs of a massive headache coming. The bickering with Sam didn’t help. “Thank you, but we are fine.”
Sam leaned forward and placed a hand on each side of my chair. His rich pine aftershave filled my nose. “You have two options. The first is to have your happy ass packed when I show up and come stay with me until we get those fuckers to leave you alone. The second option is I call your older two boys. Do they know what is going on?”
I winced. My boys saw their dad in a different light. Brad was a perfect father to his boys; it was behind closed doors that he changed. It wasn’t often Justin or Des called. They would think the loan shark was my fault. “Fine, I’ll stay with you.”
He stood perfectly still, searching my face, but I wouldn’t tell him how my own sons didn’t even talk to me because they blamed me for the divorce. I knew he was trying to figure out why I accepted so fast.
I’d be out of the house before he arrived. The drive to Dallas would take hours.
Sam took a step back and folded his arms across his chest. “I see the wheels turning. You’re planning something. Ivy, if you aren’t at the house when I show up to get you, I’m going to take it out on your ass when I do.”
His deep voice was like a direct connection to my sex. I wanted to reply yes, sir. “I’m not twelve. I thought we went over this already.”
“Oh, what I want to do to you isn’t something you would do to a child.” He pinched his brow when his cell phone dinged again. “I have to go. Remember, five thirty sharp, or you will be bent over my lap tonight with my hand on your ass.”
I blinked, trying to erase the image, but it sounded so hot.
“You hate me,” I replied. Sam only spoke to me when he brought the animals in or if I had to make a house call.
“I’ve never hated you, Ivy.” Sam turned toward the door. Before he exited, he looked over his shoulder. “Just never expected you to betray me.”
Before I could respond, he slipped out the door, leaving me with my mouth hanging open. He had everything wrong. He’d abandoned me for my best friend.
I shot up from my desk, and pain exploded through my head. No matter how much I wanted to yell, I couldn’t. My head throbbed. I slumped back into my chair.
