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“We’re gonna drive until it gets dark, then stay at whatever motel or hotel we find. Tomorrow we’ll drive until we reach the ranch, so… two whole days, baby. It’ll be an adventure!”
Day made a gruff noise and settled into his seat, the fast-food containers and napkins spilled in the middle seat between him and Hammy.
I drove, and drove, and drove. Day eventually fell asleep, his brow furrowed as he peacefully snored.
I glanced back at him on occasion, watching the morning, then midday, then afternoon sun play over his face as we crossed through the states between our old life, and our new, although temporary, life.
The sun had just begun to set when we pulled into a Quick Stop that shared a parking lot with an unassuming motel somewhere in Colorado.
“Look, they have smoothies.” I grinned as I turned to look at Day, who’d been snoozing on and off over the last ten hours of our drive.
Day perked up, giving me a goofy, boyish smile, then we got out of the Jeep, walking into the Quick Stop with my arm roped around his bony shoulder.
“The drive wasn’t so bad,” he mused, grabbing a few snacks from the rows of white shelves lit by unforgiving florescent lights. “Are we staying the night here?”
“Yeah,” I breathed, ruffling his hair as he hopped toward the smoothie counter.
I watched him order for himself, then turn to look at me over his shoulder. Those eyes… so much like mine, bright with excitement.
But that half-cocked smile always twisted my heart in a way I hated, but I’d never tell him so.
He was mine, and Kirk would never find us again. He’d never be able to take him from me again.
ChapterThree
Grant
Abright red Jeep sped down the mile-long road leading to the ranch, dust flying in its wake. I cocked my brows, wondering if this was the environmental engineer I’d hired or someone else, someone who obviously hadn’t heeded the glaringNo Trespassingsigns posted at the entrance to the private drive.
I was expecting a dumpy woman driving a Subaru Forester with aCoexistbumper sticker plastered on the rear end.
I wasnotexpecting the red-haired bombshell who peeled into my driveway, parking at an angle like she owned the place.
She hopped out of the car, flicking her sunglasses on top of her head in a practiced motion that had my heart skipping a beat.
“I think you might be lost, darlin’,” I said from the front porch, sipping the beer I’d been nursing for the past half hour.
She put her hands on her hips, ignoring me completely as she looked around. Her gray tank-top left little to the imagination, same with her skin-tight biker shorts. She finally caught me sitting on the porch, her mouth twitching into a flat, serious line and her brows furrowing into a scowl that had me standing up, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I said,” I repeated, “I think you’re lost. Did you not see theNo Trespassingsigns at the end of the road?”
She cocked a brow at me, looking me up and down before turning back to the Jeep, where the back door swung open and a little boy jumped out, his brown mop of curls glinting in the sunset.
“I have to go to the bathroom, Mama,” he whined, then saw me and immediately stepped behind the door, hiding himself.
“Get on out here, Day, good Lord…” The woman went over to the Jeep, bending slightly as she whispered something I was too far away to catch.
I was too busy looking at the way those biker shorts hugged her ass and thighs, my mouth going a little dry.
I stifled a groan, taking a long drag from my near empty bottle of beer before stalking down the steps to confront whoever this woman was.
“I said—”
She whirled around, putting herself between me and the boy. Her midnight blue eyes narrowed and her freckled nose crinkled in a scowl as she squared her shoulders at me.
“I’m looking for yourboss, actually,” she said hotly, grabbing her son and hauling him out of the way of the door, which she slammed shut with her other hand. “Grant Hallston?”
“Myboss?”
