“Where are you going?”
“I promised Willow I’d pick up some supplies and fill a couple of restaurant orders.”
“Bella, I don’t want you to go into the building-”
“I know. But they have a unit watching the place, and they said it was okay. I’ll be very careful. I just have some things to take care of.”
“I thought I was one of the things you were going to take care of.”
She slid him a bemused look. “Are you saying you need me to stay, or you want me to stay?”
Okay, he knew a trick question when he heard one. Problem was, he didn’t know which was the right answer, the one that would have her stepping out of his clothes and sliding into his bed.
And this wasn’t about fulfilling a fantasy. He really needed to keep her here so that he would know she was safe. But his mind was fuzzy with meds, and the emotion he’d almost let slip right before Austin had walked in. If his brother hadn’t shown up and Jacob had said, “I love you,” Bella already would have gone running for the door. And running from him. “Um…”
At his lack of response, something came and went in her eyes, and he got the very bad feeling that he’d somehow hurt her.
“I think Austin can handle anything you need,” she said.
“Yeah, but he won’t look nearly as good in that apron.” Even to his own ears, his words rang hollow. Why couldn’t he just say what he was thinking? Jesus, he was pathetic.
She stared at him, then stared at her feet a long moment. “Nice try.” Leaning in, she kissed his jaw. “Bye, Jacob.”
She was going to walk away, and his heart skipped a beat. “Hey,” he said, snagging her hand. “Forget the apron thing. I shouldn’t have-”
“It’s okay. It’s not that.”
“Then-”
“Forget it. It’s all good.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite make it to her eyes, and he knew for sure that he’d hurt her. Dammit. “Wait-”
But she was already gone from the room. He lunged out of the bed after her, and gray spots danced in his vision from getting up too fast, dropping him to all fours, where he struggled to stay conscious. It took a long thirty seconds for the spots to fade before he could stagger to his feet. He stumbled down the hall in time to hear a car rev, and whipped his front door open. It wasn’t until he felt the chilly morning air that he realized he was naked.
“Hey,” Austin said, coming around the corner from the kitchen. “Do you want eggs- Holy shit, man. Put some clothes on.”
“Why did you let her go?”
“Um, because they frown on unlawful detainment in this country?”
“She left upset.”
Austin gestured to Jacob’s nudity. “Yes, well, have you seen you?”
“Austin?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.” Jacob took his sorry, naked ass back to bed, where he called Ethan and asked him to double the watch on Edible Bliss. He called Bella, who surprise surprise, didn’t pick up. “Please come back out here when you’re done,” he said to her voice mail. “And call me when you’re leaving the shop, okay?” Then he laid back down, pensive and unsettled, knowing he’d in all likelihood just ruined the best thing that had ever happened to him.
BELLA WAS DROPPING OFF the supplies in the shop’s kitchen when Willow came in. “Honey, you should be playing doctor with Sexy Cop.”
“I wanted to get us set up for when we reopen.”
“Or you wanted to outrun your guilt.”
“How do you know I feel guilty?”
“Honey.”
Bella shook her head. “It’s not that. I mean, I feel…” She closed her eyes. “I am devastated over the shootings, but I know it’s not my fault. I’m-”
Willow raised a brow.
And Bella let out a long breath. “I’m in this fight with myself. My head and gut are telling me to go, to leave town and move on, but-”
“But your heart is telling you to stick.”
“I don’t know.” Bella had to purposely draw in another breath and let it out again. “Maybe. A little. Santa Rey was supposed to be nothing more than a pin on my map. A quick stop. But-”
“But you want to grow roots.”
Bella had to smile. “I like the finishing-my-sentences thing.”
“Yeah? See if you can finish this one for me. You’re in the shop, worried about my business, maybe risking your life to be here instead of nursing your man because…?”
“Because he’s
“Huh?”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Forget it. Even I don’t understand me.”
“Hey, I saw him kiss you. Lord, I need a cold shower every time I think about it. Yeah, he wants you bad, but it’s more than lust. You’re not alone in this.”
Bella wanted Willow to be right, but the fear of not being loved and accepted was an old one. Logic didn’t seem to be able to make a dent against it. Hell, even stone-hard facts didn’t have a chance against an irrational decades-old fear like hers.
Willow helped her put things away. Afterward, the cop on duty escorted Willow to her car where she planned on heading to her mom’s, with Bella agreeing to follow as soon as she put a bag together.
The cop then escorted Bella upstairs, where she took a quick moment to grab her mail, going still when she came to a plain piece of paper, folded in thirds.
“What?” the cop said.
Silent, she handed him the note.
“Shit,” the officer said, and pulled out his cell phone.
Bella allowed herself a moment of panic, a full sixty seconds, before she grabbed her purse and keys.
“No, no one’s come or gone that shouldn’t be here,” the cop was saying into his phone. When he’d disconnected, he walked Bella to her car, his gaze vigilant and alert. “Where are you going?” he asked her.
She sighed. The only place she’d probably ever intended to end up tonight, in spite of the fact that she had no idea why he wanted her there. And at the moment, none of that mattered. The note had been a clear warning-he was in danger.
Because of her. “Jacob’s.”
He nodded, and as he watched her drive off, pulled out his cell phone again.
On the road, she pulled out her own cell phone and called Jacob.
“Jesus,” he said in clear relief. “I just heard from Ethan, and I’ve been going nuts.”
“I had protection.”
“Yes, but I still want you out of the apartment,” he said in an unmistakable demand.
“Already ahead of you.”
In the following beat of silence she could hear his anger that she’d left her protection behind. “Where are you? I’ll call an escort-”
“I’m halfway there. I’m on Highway 1 already.”
“Jesus, you must be flying.”
“Do you have a squad car there? Are you protected?”
