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She took the pot from him and turned her back. “It’llbe better that way, and easier for everyone.” She tamped down the soil in the pot, then watered the plant and set it next to the only other one that could be saved.
He went to the closet, found the broom and dustpan, and swept the entire living, dining, and kitchen floors, while she straightened up the pillows, cushions, and debris, then disappeared into her room one last time.
Max waited in the kitchen, while Hunt and Agent Gunn conversed in low tones outside.
Kenna came out a few minutes later with a large tote bag over one shoulder, her laptop bag on the other. “I’m ready.”
“Let me take those.”
She stepped back when he reached for one of the bags. “I’ve got it.”
He frowned, then picked up the two plants from the counter. “Lock up.” He walked out and stopped in front of the agent and Hunt. “Did you get everything set up?”
Agent Gunn nodded. “Two agents will cover the ranch at all times. One will be assigned to her, the other canvassing the property around the house. Three sets. They’ll be taking shifts. They’ve been briefed on the situation.”
Hunt filled in where the agent left off. “Willow Fork PD, along with the sheriff’s office, will increase patrols around the ranch.” Hunt looked past him at Kenna, who’d finished locking up her place. For the last time, he guessed. “You need to stay at the ranch. Anything you need, we’ll get it for you from this point forward, until the threat is over.”
“What about going to Marcus’s funeral?”
Hunt shook his head. “I’m sorry, Kenna, but that’s simply too dangerous.”
It looked like she knew that, but hoped to be able to say her goodbye in person anyway.
Agent Gunn held his arm out toward the parking lot. “I’ll follow you back to the ranch, make sure you get there safely and check in with my guys to be sure they have everything they need. Then, we wait. If your brother contacts you again, you need to let me know immediately. If he asks to meet you—”
“I know what I need to do.” With that, Kenna walked away, headed to his truck with her heavy load, and he didn’t mean just the bags weighing her down.
“Give her a few days. She’ll be better, more settled,” Hunt said.
Max didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon. Not so long as this was all hanging over her head and she had to stay at the ranch. With him. Which was probably the last place she wanted to be right now.
He pinned Agent Gunn in his gaze. “You better end this soon.”
“She’s the key. If her brother won’t come in to keep her safe, she’s the only one who might be able to convince him to do it, or find him.”
“Yeah, well, in the meantime, nothing better happen to her.”
“If it does, I have a feeling her brother will go after this guy again. And he does not want to lose anything else to her brother.”
“That is only mildly reassuring, when the guy he sent after Kyle threatened her because he fucked up and killed Marcus.” Hunt hooked his thumbs on his gun belt.
Agent Gunn had a really great poker face. “She’ll be protected.”
“She better be,” Max warned, knowing it did little good when the man after her needed her out of the picture and was desperate enough to try to get to her no matter what.
And somehow, Max had to survive having her at the ranch, in his house, and way too close for comfort.
That night, for reasons he did not want to look at too closely, he snuck into Kenna’s room while she was in the bathroom getting ready for bed and set the watch she’d held on to all this time on the nightstand.
If it gave her comfort, the way he couldn’t anymore, then she needed it a hell of a lot more than he did.
And maybe it made him feel good to know that something of his still meant something to her.
Chapter Nine
Kenna spotted the watch the second she walked into the room. She’d turned and stared at Max’s closed bedroom door, tears in her eyes. Her heart filled with love for the man who didn’t want her here but knew that single object still held a significant sentimental value to her beyond anything else.
He couldn’t give her back what she wanted most, but he did give her that small piece of their past.
