He stilled. He knew that voice. Recognized it instantly. Bree.
Cage opened the door and stepped into the bright warmth, certain his eyes were playing tricks on him when they landed on the woman inside. Bree was in his trailer. She turned from the counter, away from the coffeemaker that hadn’t been there when he left, her eyes growing wide when she saw him. Her hair was piled on top of her head. Black-rimmed glasses sat on her pert nose, a new but very cute addition. And she was wearing one of his shirts. She looked beautiful. Even more beautiful when her face lit up at the sight of him.
“You’re home.”
A low, menacing growl made him turn his attention away from Bree to the stocky pit bull mix who’d placed himself protectively between them. Cage recognized him as one of Kate’s rescue pups.
“Easy, Brutus,” Bree said. “This is his place, not yours.”
The dog looked at her, then sat down on his haunches, and stared at Cage, tongue hanging out the side.
“He followed me out here a few days ago and hasn’t wanted to leave,” Bree explained from too far away. “Kate said it was okay.”
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Waiting for you. I thought I’d surprise you.” She shrugged and brought her hands up near her shoulders, palms up and out. “But the surprise was on me. Matt told me that —”
The rest of what Church told her was lost as Cage dropped his duffel and closed the space between them. “You’re here.”
“Yes,” she said softly, turning her gaze up to meet his. “I’m here.”
Unable to wait another moment, he lowered his head and kissed her. The feel of her melting into him, of her arms reaching up around his neck and tangling in his hair were the best things he’d felt in months.
“For how long?” He kept his arms loosely around her.
“Well, I suppose that’s up to you.”
He grinned. “It’s going to be a while then.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Bree
This was it. The moment she’d been waiting for. She’d been all psyched up to see Nick and lay her heart bare when she arrived nearly a week earlier, only to discover that he had decided to take some time off. Where he’d gone, no one had seemed to know, but they’d assured her that he’d return and encouraged her to stay.
At first, she stayed in one of the rooms in the main building. During the day, she sat in the dining room and worked on her blog. It afforded her the opportunity to spend time with Kate, Sam, and Sandy, all of whom had been very warm and welcoming.
That was where Brutus attached himself to her, too. He just started following her around one day and became her companion on daily walks out to Nick’s trailer.
After a while, however, she started spending more time at Nick’s. She felt closer to him out there and managed to get more work done. Eventually, she just started sleeping there, too.
Each day, she grew both more comfortable and more apprehensive, and several times, she nearly chickened out. Then, she got the call from Toni that Nick had actually been out in San Diego, asking about her, and some of her bravery returned. Toni had gushed over him, saying it was the most romantic thing she’d ever seen and that any man who would go to such lengths just to ensure she was okay was worth keeping.
Bree couldn’t say for certain that she was the reason he’d gone out there, but if not, it was a hell of a coincidence, and Bree didn’t put much stock in random coincidences.
“Are you hungry? I was just about to heat up some stew. Kate’s been sending me back with food every day. There’s enough here to last us a week.” A rosy color tinted her cheeks at the implication that they wouldn’t need to go anywhere anytime soon.
He narrowed his eyes. “They knew.”
Her lips quirked. “Yes, of course they knew. Do you seriously think I would’ve been able to sneak in here without them knowing about it? I guess they didn’t give you a heads-up, huh?”
“No, they failed to mention that you were here.” He inhaled deeply and took a step back, looking as if it was difficult for him to do so. “Stew sounds good. I’m going to grab a shower. A cold one. Then, we can talk.”
Her heart soared even if she was a little disappointed. That steel rod against her hip had given her ideas. But he had been right. They should talk. Hopefully, after he heard what she had to say, she’d still be welcome, and the possibility of reunion sex would be back on the table.
She pulled the tub of stew from the refrigerator and heated it up in a pan on the stove. She was pouring it into two bowls when Nick emerged in sweatpants and a clean white men’s T-shirt. The slight blue tint to his skin suggested he hadn’t been kidding about the cold shower. She shivered in empathy as she handed him a bowl.
“Thanks.”
“Thank Kate. My cooking skills don’t extend beyond opening a can or popping something in the microwave.”
They sat down at the small kitchen table. Brutus curled up at her feet, and she knew the time had come.
“So, I guess you’re wondering why I’m here, huh?”
“It has crossed my mind, but mostly, I’m just glad you are.”
His words gave her the courage to continue. “When I look back on my life, I can see pivotal moments,” she began. “Times when everything changed. The night my father went to prison is one of them. Making the decision to leave New York and fly out to California is another. Since then, I set a path and thought I was finally working toward something, but then I came here and realized that I was going the wrong way.”
He listened quietly as she told him about her self-realizations. How she’d been inspired by Sanctuary, particularly Kate, who was willing to fight
