Her heart tripped, but she just held on. She could acknowledge, to herself at least, that she’d always hold on to him. “I’m sorry you had a crap day.”
After a long moment, his hand covered hers and the knots in her stomach loosened. But then his fingers were untangling hers, and he was stepping away.
Heart sinking, Paisley braced herself for the goodbye she didn’t want.
Ty stepped away from her, feeling wooden and hollow as he turned, determined to do the right thing. But when he met her eyes, he saw naked grief there before the shutters came down again. He was already hurting her without even trying. Calling himself ten kinds of asshole, he pulled her in, needing to offer some kind of comfort, even though he was the problem. Her hands curled in the front of his shirt, and he couldn’t stop himself from burying his face in her hair. She smelled of warm vanilla and the sharp cedar of his body wash.
Paisley burrowed against him, holding tight. How could he send her away now? How could he put that look in her eyes again? He’d had nightmares about it for months after he’d shipped out. He’d never, ever forgotten the sound of her tears when he’d broken things off.
You are a coward. You’re weak. You’re selfish.
He’d been none of those things at eighteen. But then, he’d only been a shell of himself since he’d left the Army. A ghost going through the motions. The only time he’d felt like he had any substance at all was when he was touching this woman.
He opened his mouth to apologize but what came out was, “Better now.”
And it was. The feel of her grounded him, leeching away some of the tension he carried. He didn’t know how to let that go, even though he should.
They stood like that for a long time, breathing each other in, until Duke scratched at the door. Pressing a kiss to her temple, Ty stepped back and went to let the dog in. “How do you feel about nachos for dinner?”
It was a helluva non sequitur, but they both needed some normal.
“Amenable.” She poked in the bags. “You got the fixin’s for fresh guac?”
“Of course.”
Duke pranced in and gave a cheerful leap, trying to kiss Ty’s face.
“Down.” When his butt hit the floor, Ty obliged the mutt with a rub, noticing the bright red collar. “Do you change out his collar to accessorize or what?”
“Huh?”
“Duke’s collar. It’s different from this morning.”
“I didn’t…” As her gaze dropped to the dog, all the blood drained out of her face. She visibly shook as she rushed over.
The hair on Ty’s arms stood up. “Pais?”
“No.” The word came out in a tremulous whisper. Not directed at him. Her eyes were fixed on the collar, a dawning horror moving across her face. She lunged for Duke, fumbling to get the collar off. “No, no, no, no, no, no!”
“What’s wrong?”
Her hands raced over the dog, searching for what? Injury? He seemed fine. No visible blood or wound, though he whined, clearly picking up on his mistress’s distress.
“Paisley.”
“He’s here. He followed me.”
Ty remembered her reaction to his assertion they were being followed at the tavern Friday night and went on high alert. “Who?”
“I don’t know! But he’s been in my house! This collar was in a box, on a shelf in my closet, when I left to come here.”
Which meant someone had broken in to take it and followed or tracked her here.
Ty straightened. “Stay here. Lock the door behind me.”
He sprinted up the drive, but there were no vehicles on the winding road. Turning back to face the cabin, he studied the surrounding woods with sharp eyes. Was somebody watching, sticking around to see the reaction he’d inspired? He had questions, so many questions, as he circled around to the west side of the property, where he’d heard Duke barking. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, and the light was going fast. The nearest road was on the other side of the next ridge. Unless their perpetrator had hiked a lot further afield, that was the most logical place to have parked.
Ty jogged through the woods, scanning for signs of passage and hoping like hell he wasn’t destroying any evidence on the way. Finding nothing by the time he made it to the top of the ridge, he started to turn back. Whoever had been here was likely long gone.
The sound of a distant engine had him pivoting, scrambling down through the trees to get to the road below. But when he burst free of the trees, onto pavement, there was no one and nothing to see.
“Shit.”
It was full dark when he made it back to the cabin. He unlocked the door, grateful he still had his keys on him. Paisley had retreated to the sofa, locking her arms around Duke, who sprawled across her lap, still trying to lick at the tears streaming down her chalk-white cheeks.
“Did you find anything?”
“No.”
“We should call the vet. What if he did something horrible to Duke? Poisoned him or gave him pork bones or…” She trailed off, pressing her face to her dog’s fur, her brain clearly still spinning with the possibilities.
Ty had seen almost every mood of this woman. Joy. Excitement. Annoyance. Anger. Upset. Arousal. But he’d never seen her truly afraid, ever. The sight of that fear etched into her face had every protective instinct he possessed roaring to life.
“Has he thrown up? Behavior changed? Anything?”
“No. But—”
There were a thousand terrors in that “but”, and Ty knew she’d never settle until she knew for sure. He pulled out his phone. “We don’t actually have a vet in Eden’s Ridge, but I’ve got
