AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterTwenty-Three
SAVANNAH
Ilay content on Donovan’s bed, him having pounced on me the second we’d returned to the cabin.
Geez, that man has moves.
Kicking free from the sheets tangled around my legs, I came fully to, listening to the shower running where Donovan had disappeared only moments before.
Is he singing?
I grinned, imagining my life here. It felt good until the panic decided to wake up alongside the joy.
You’ve known him less than a week.
He lives miles away.
“Yeah, but I need a change,” I countered my thoughts. If I upped sticks and moved to Colorado, I always had my truck and my things. If it all went to shit with Donovan, I’d move on. Idaho was a bittersweet memory to me anyway, not even having graves of my parents to visit due to Will arranging their cremation and scattering the ashes. He let me do that. Told me to not hang on to old memories and let them go. I never wanted to keep them. To me, whatever was in those urns wasn’t my parents. Even if what they’d become resembled everything I’d ever known, fluttering away with the wind.
I remembered so little of them now. Only a slight memory hovering in the recess of my mind. I’d got over the anger of them abandoning me, even though it sounded ridiculous, but that’s how I’d felt back then. They’d never made a will or any provisions for someone to look after me should the worst happen. But when I reached a certain age, I understood why. They were still young when it happened, mortgaged to the hilt, and in debt for anything fancy we had in the way of luxury days out or a nice car.
A car that had trapped them in the water.
It hadn’t saved them and they’d left me behind with no guardian or any money to survive. The banks had claimed all we’d had, and Will had used what little was left for their cremation and to set me up with what I needed for school. After that, it was up to us both to bring in the cash to survive.
But my dad’s brother had stepped up. He’d taken me in even when he didn’t have a lot to give. And I’d learned to get over the disappointment, choosing to embrace my new life and have fun with my unconventional one, learning what I could, sparring with him, cleaning his weapons while he shared his bounty hunting stories.
We’d continued that tradition when I’d gone out on my own. Until a bitterness had settled there; something he’d tried to hide when I was getting the jobs and he wasn’t. He wanted the best for me. But he was clueless to anything other than bounty hunting and gambling, and his drinking and smoking had caught up with him as he aged, which meant less hunting.
Would he come with me to Colorado if I took the plunge?
A pang of regret came with such a question. I couldn’t tell Will about Moonlight Creek. He’d sell it out to the nearest bidder. I’d have to set him up somewhere else and leave him behind. Maybe I could put half of my savings in a trust fund for him? Something he couldn’t touch without my permission, and funds that could mature for when he officially retired?
That made me feel better, knowing I didn’t owe him any more than that. But to give it all up for a guy I’d just met. Wasn’t there a rule against such a thing?
He’s a wolf who is going to live for a few hundred years, taking you with him. Rules went out the window a long time ago.
My feelings also didn’t stand a chance against someone like Donovan. This was more than sex for me. We’d clicked from the beginning, something more there worthy of exploring. And I loved the town. If it worked out with him, I could make a home here. Put down roots.
I could even continue with the bounty hunting until I found something else. As long as I had experience and no criminal record, I would be able to operate within the state laws. And even though Colorado didn’t require it, I had the license. Maybe I could even commission more of my artwork? Earn from that by posting more online? I also had my savings I could tap into while I got settled.
Can I do this?
Can I take such a risk with him?
Seeing how Donovan was with the townspeople, with his friends, with me, I knew I could, and it scared the living daylights out of me. Especially the way he’d handled the boy, Justin. How he’d held him and looked upon him with affection. It had hurt, forcing me to feel something I wasn’t ready to experience.
Kids. Marriage. I wanted it. I wanted a family. Someone to love, someone who I respected and who would appreciate me as we raised our children. I’d seen it all too often, the men who’d run from away child support. The women who used their kids to get one up on those who’d wronged them. Marriage could go screw itself if it resulted in that. But I also hadn’t realized how tainted my opinion had become until I met him.
Throwing my arm over my eyes, I gave up on the internal agonizing and decided I’d let out some of it with Grace later. She’d put me to rights.
“I need to catch up on some paperwork before I head out,” Donovan said, entering the bedroom.
He wore a towel around his waist, and I had to sit up and admire that form.
Sitting on the bed beside me, he asked, “How about we have something to eat before I go? Before you go out and leave me all alone.” He pouted, pretending to cry.
I laughed. “I’m sure you’ll survive.”
