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She went still to the point he worried she’d passed out.
“Nod if you recognize my voice.”
Her head bobbed. Sort of. He held her tightly to his chest.
“I’m going to let you go, but you can’t run or scream, honey. Okay?”
He felt her slightly relax and her head moved again. He loosened his grip on her and removed his hand from her mouth.
The second she was free, she whirled around to face him, her eyes rounded in fear. Then, her brain registered it was him and he saw the relief as it washed over her face.
He held his forefinger over his lips and gently pulled her behind his body. The sound of a motor broke the silence of the area and he ran toward the sound. The long curvy dirt road into the cottage kept the vehicle out of his sight and he stopped running, knowing it was futile. He’d never catch a moving vehicle on foot. He jogged back to find Kenna standing where he’d left her, and he took her hand and pulled her into the cottage. Inside, he locked the door and turned to see her staring at him.
“What the hell was that?” he barked.
She flinched, then tears fell from her eyes. He let out a breath, just now realizing how scared he’d been seeing Kenna head toward the place he’d seen the arm of a person just seconds before. He took one step and reached out to pull her body into his. His heart still raced and his breathing was uneven, but he needed to feel her against him and he didn’t like it when she cried. At all.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he murmured into her hair. His hands dug into the warm dark locks as her face laid against his chest. His fingers moved on her scalp, his body liked the feel of her soft curves against him.
She sniffed, and he pulled back to look into her eyes. “I asked you to stay here and lock the doors.”
She sobbed then, and it hurt his heart. After a few moments, she spoke, though it was difficult to understand.
“I wanted to be brave. Like your mom.”
He closed his eyes and held her closer. “I didn’t mean...” He took a deep breath and directed her to the sofa with him. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap.
“I don’t want you putting yourself in harm’s way because my mom did. It wasn’t what my dad wanted her to do, and he was pissed that she did. I was merely telling you that because you asked what they were like.”
She sniffed. “But you said you wanted a love like theirs.”
He put his hands on either side of her head and forced her to look into his eyes. “Because I do. But being reckless isn’t love. What I want is how they treat each other. How they respect each other. How they love each other.”
She sniffed again, and he glanced over to find a box of tissues on the little table next to the sofa. He pulled one free and handed it to her. He watched as she wiped her eyes, careful not to smear her makeup. Then she gently blew her nose. When she’d cleaned up, her beautiful green eyes landed on his and he smiled.
“My mom will be the first to tell you she’d been stupid. But she’d felt guilty because it was her former boyfriend who’d found her and chance put him in proximity to Dani, so he took her instead.”
“Okay.” She hiccupped for air and he continued to stare into her eyes.
“I’m the operative in this relationship. Deal?”
“Deal,” she whispered.
He pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her and her arms willingly came around his neck, locking them together. She pulled away, stood briefly, straddled his legs and sat on his lap again, their chests pushed together. He pulled her as close to him as he could and closed his eyes. Her silky dark hair fell around them, the fresh scent of it his new favorite smell.
After a while, Kenna pulled back to look at him. “I’m sorry.” She swallowed, and he grinned.
“Thank you. Never do that again.”
“I won’t.”
He huffed out a breath. “Now, what did you see?”
“Nothing. Oops...” She reached behind her and pulled her phone out and tapped. Turning the phone to him, she continued. “I got this text. It came from back here. When I turned to look, I saw the glint of something on the north side of the cottage, so I was going to see if Colt was there.”
“Did you see him?”
Her head shook. “No.” She swallowed. “Did you see him?”
