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“You’re safe, Lara.” My name snaps me out of my daze and my eyes lock onto his. I retract my hands, wrapping my arms around myself and blowing out a shaky breath with a nod.
Caspian lingers for a moment, glancing around before leaning in to wrap me in his blanket as a shudder wracks its way through my body.
Concern paints his features as he searches my face for a second with his large hands on my shoulders and I shiver involuntarily but not because of the cold.
My breath gets caught in my lungs as he leans in, wrapping his arms around me tightly. My heart is pounding in my chest so loud, I’m certain he can feel and hear it.
“Breath, Lara.” His voice reverberates throughout my body and electric butterflies flutter from head to toe as I exhale shakily. The heat radiating off him seeps through the blanket and clothes.
I tremble again.
“Inhale.” He commands in a soft tone and I suck in a deep breath as his hold tightens.
“Good. Now exhale.” Another shudder comes over me as I blow out my breath.
Caspian pulls back to look at me with a hard expression. “I’m going to deal with the body. I won’t be far. The house is clear, but I’m going to keep a knife with you though, alright?”
My anxiety is piqued at the thought of him leaving, but I nod.
Placing the handle of a blade in my hands, he covers them with the blanket before disappearing out the front.
Moments after he walks out, the door pushes open and my momentary panic is quickly washed away when familiar dark fur stalks through the front room.
Dan sniffs around and his ears twitch every which way before he settles himself against my knees comfortably. We sit there in the quiet for a while and my eyelids get increasingly heavy. I set the knife under the couch cushion and lay down with the blanket still wrapped around myself, burying my head into the pillow. I blink again, but this time my eyes remain closed.
As the front door opens I’m instantly alert, sitting up to see Caspian walk in with his hair mussed and framing his face. He turns his head to look at me, glancing at the pillow where I’m laying and his lips twitch at the corners before he continues to the kitchen.
“Did you get some rest?” He asks softly.
I nod.
“Good. We need to get a new lock system for your house and some cameras set up. We can get it all done tomorrow.”
I pause because I know what he’s going to say, but I say it anyways, “I need to get samples from the lake tomorrow.”
He raises his eyebrow, “Not by yourself. Absolutely not.”
“I can take Dan.” A weak effort, but I figured I’d try.
“Still not enough.”
I huff in protest, but after this unfortunately eventful week, I know he’s right.
“I can get Henry to install the cameras, if you do the locks in the morning. Then we can go to the lake together?”
Caspian pauses for a moment and searches my face, “Fine.”
“Thank you.”
He freezes and studies me, the seriousness in his voice sending a jolt of trepidation down my spine, “Thank me if you make it out of this alive.”
The next morning, I’m making eggs for breakfast when there’s a knock on the door. Caspian answers it without a shirt and Henry’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head. His shocked gaze meets mine as I fight back a grin.
If he finds shirtless Caspian attractive I’d have to be a doorknob not to, I suppose.
Dishing eggs onto two plates, I slide one over to Caspian as the two men spend the next two hours setting up an elaborate security system.
To get inside, you have to use biometrics. Any movement in the house will trigger a notification to an app on both mine and Caspian’s phone with a snapshot image, with the ability to watch the video footage live.
