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“Sure,” I say. “What do you need?”
“The items you found in the shed and washed…I know you don’t have time to do everything you wanted to with them, but would you mind giving them to Tobin? Tell him what you had in mind?”
Frowning, because I’m ninety percent sure he’d only gone along with the whole redecorating scheme to appease my father that first morning, I give him a puzzled look.
“I mean…sure. That’s no big deal at all,” I say hesitantly. “But why?”
“Tobin asked me about it this morning. I know he’s a stiff, that’s just Tobin. But he’s also a shameless history buff. He saw everything in the cabin while checking up on you and Nelson and was curious. When I told him those were some of the things you were going to use to decorate the house with, he was…” He swallows what seems like a laugh and shakes his head. “Excited.”
I can’t help smiling with relief.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Tobin genuinely excited before,” he says with a chuckle.
I eye him critically, trying to figure out if he’s trying to appease me so I don’t freak out about the cop coming around.
No, there’s too much amusement dancing in his eyes.
I like this look a lot.
“I’ll do it tonight,” I tell him.
“Seriously,” he says. “Haul a box of that stuff in the house and you’ll see I’m telling the truth. Bet he rips it right out of your hands.”
“All right,” I agree, trying to imagine it.
Tobin seems kind enough in his own way, but he’s very standoffish. I can’t see him getting excited over anything, let alone a few old jars, crocks, and tack from an old farm.
Then again, I’ve been wrong about a lot of things.
The longer I stare at Ridge Barnet and those sneaky smiles that are impossible not to beam back, the more I wonder.
What if he’s everything I need?
It’s late the next day before I fully realize Ridge, once again, was right.
Tobin was excited about the items. He was even more excited about helping me carry in more of the things I’d set aside in the shed.
During the evening that followed and yet again today, the entire kitchen morphed into his own personal lab of sorts.
With meticulous care, he washed, dried and at times, repaired items I couldn’t get to or didn’t know how to fix, while I worked on drafting the best spots to display them. We barely stopped for lunch between talking and consulting each other on displaying the antiques.
Later, I make the latest of several trips to the cabin to check on Dad.
He’s finally awake. I’m not sure he even realizes he’s been out for the better part of a whole day.
“Don’t know why I’m so tired,” he says, lying back down in the bed after taking another big dose of medicine.
“Because you’re sick. Your body’s worn down, and you’ve been lacking sleep for months. The sandman’s a hell of a healer,” I say, repeating Ridge’s words from this morning.
“Come again?” His face jerks up.
“Uh, nothing.” My face heats. “Just a funny phrase I heard.”
“Well, whatever they put in that stuff helped the coughing. And the pain in my chest,” Dad tells me, rubbing at a drowsy eye before flopping back on the pillow with a heavy sigh.
“I’m glad something did.”
Words will never be enough to express how grateful I am.
“I’m still weak, but I bet by tomorrow…yeah, I’ll be ready to pack up and hit the road. Let me know what you find on the Google Maps, will you?”
Oh, no.
Without answering, I lean down, kissing his forehead.
“It’s nice of you to get more of that decorating done, too,” he says drowsily. “Maybe we’ll see this place in a few months, whenever we come back for Rosie and Stern.”
I wait until he falls asleep again, and then tiptoe out of the cabin.
Walking toward the house, I see Ridge now on the roof of the barn. I try to pull my eyes away but can’t.
He’s been working outside all day, putting up cameras and sensors with that other guy, Drake…
He’s been at it for hours.
Going through so much trouble, for me.
The nicest, most handsome, sexiest man alive—hardly an exaggeration considering who he is—and I’ve got him working his butt off trying to save mine.
I don’t know how this ends, but by the time I turn around, flicking my eyes away from Ridge’s silhouette on the barn, I’m determined.
I’m so not letting him put that brutally gorgeous butt of his in harm’s way.
Not if I can stop it first.
10
No Comfort (Ridge)
A smug grin tugs at my lips.
So far, I like what I’m seeing, clicking through the software that shows the locations of the cameras I’d set up today and testing each one. The program matches the app on my phone, but there’s something about testing everything behind a desk that makes me feel like a better watchdog.
