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“I… thank you.”
“For which one?”
“What?”
“For saying you're distracting or for my apology for being inappropriate?”
Laura blinked and Rafe chuckled.
“Both I guess,” she said.
He nodded. “Are you coming up to breakfast?”
She chewed on her thumb for a moment unsure what to say. Once he said it she noticed the gnawing, slightly nauseous feeling in her stomach she’d been getting lately when she got too hungry. Chalking that feeling up to stress, she glanced at her watch and grimaced. The time had gone by so fast now that she wasn’t engrossed in the records. Still, was it a good idea to show up to breakfast with him? Especially since Eli would know what happened between them soon?
“It’s alright if you’d rather not.”
Laura looked down. “No, I want to, I just don’t know…” She trailed off again.
“This doesn’t have to be awkward, Laura. Can’t we just be friendly at least?”
“Yeah, of course. Sure, let’s go eat.”
Closing the binder, she left it sitting on the desk. Rafe fell in step beside her as they walked to the cabin and for a moment she let herself think about what it would feel like if he were to reach over and grab her hand as they walked. It sent a shiver of awareness down her spine that she couldn’t shut down with her usual arguments.
Friends. Friendly. That’s what he said. She could do that right? Maybe. Laura had never had a friend besides Harper. She’d try though. She had to. If it became an issue, Sunny had been here first, and they’d keep him over her.
It was already bad enough that he had seen her naked. No matter how amazing it had been, more would compromise her job.
Plus, she would never give a man power over her again.
Repeating those thoughts helped her get the urge to lean against him under control. It was a ridiculous thought, anyway. They’d slept together. They weren’t lovers. That weekend they’d been strangers, and they still were. They could be friends. Maybe.
* * *
Rafe openedthe door for Laura at the cabin. The table was already full, and Nails, Cash, Cap, and Eagle were all standing against the counter eating. Harper was already seated with Quinn on her lap next to Hilary, who was talking to her about the newspaper she was learning how to manage.
Harper gave her a skeptical look in between feeding Quinn her breakfast. “So you mean to tell me your man bought you a house and a newspaper without even knowing if you’d follow him out here?”
Hilary smiled at Cap, and his returning look was equally sappy. “Yup, but I agreed to come out here before I knew that.”
Harper wrinkled her nose and frowned. “Why?”
A shadow passed over Hilary’s face. “There’s another man looking for me whose intentions are… shall we say, less than honorable.”
Harper didn’t respond to that, just nodded.
Cap cleared his throat. “Just so you all know, there’s a couple of FBI agents stationed in Felton now.”
Sadie’s head snapped up. “Why? Do they think he knows where she is?”
“We don’t know,” Cap said, “but they wanted to be safe. The information on his whereabouts right now is conflicting. Sunny, you’re only here until noon today, right, so you can get some sleep before your shift?”
“Yup.”
Hilary harrumphed. “I still don’t understand why I need someone there besides you. That security system goes off if the wind blows too hard.”
“Better safe than sorry,” his entire team said at the same time. Sadie and Hilary looked at all of them and burst out laughing.
