Page 83 of The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love

“True. It sounds like there’s a whole bunch of guys who live there. You know some of the older SEALs, right? And there’s Xander.”

“I know a couple personally and a few by reputation, and it’s good to know that they’re there, but I wasn’t thinking about them. We have Alma.”

Ty stared at him.

“You know who I mean – Alexis.”

“Yeah, I get that. It’s just … I’m surprised that you have so much faith in her.”

Cash chuckled. “You’ll figure it out when you meet her.”

Ty shrugged. “All I know is that I’m grateful to her – and to Davin. They didn’t need to take Shay in like they did. And if it weren’t for them, she’d still be living by herself in a shitty little house in town. It would have been too easy …” He stopped, not wanting to think about what might have happened to her if Alexis and Davin hadn’t made her part of their family and rented her the apartment above their garage.

“I know you’re grateful that they took her in, but it might turn out to be an obstacle for you, you know that, right?”

“I do.” He held his brother’s gaze. “I know it makes the most sense to bring her home with us, but I don’t know that she’ll do it. Even if she’s okay with leaving all her jobs and working around the ranch … she’s not going to want to leave them and Booker. And … If she’s not going to come back with us …”

Cash held his hand up. “Don’t say it, squirt. We’ll find a way to make it okay. We can fly her back here to visit them as often as she wants to come. I’m happy to send the jet whenever I can, but … I don’t want you to move away.”

“I don’t want to do it, but …”

Cash nodded. “I get it. If it turns out that way, then we’ll have to flyyouhome as often as possible, but I’ll tell you now – I’m going to do my best to persuade her that she should come home with us – and stay there.”

“You know that’s what this freak who’s after her said, don’t you?” The words of the message Shayna received were etched into Ty’s memory.

It’s almost time for you to come home with me.

“Yeah, but that’s different.”

“I know that, but there’s enough similarity to make it feel weird. If we were in Davin and Alexis’s shoes – if it were Laney or Janey in this situation, are you telling me that we’d be happy for them to leave us and go with some new guy? To go a thousand miles away with a guy who wants totake her home with him? When that’s exactly what the message said?”

Cash shook his head. “You know my answer to that – there’s no way I’d let them go. All we can do is play it by ear.”

~ ~ ~

Shayna stared out through the windows at the runway. Her emotions were all over the place. Of course, she was excited to see Ty again, but she was nervous about it as well. She didn’t think she’d feel nervous if it were just the two of them – but it wasn’t. Davin and Alexis had come with her, and Ty’s brother, Cash was with him. It wasn’t just that their reunion would take place in front of their families that had her nerves on edge. It was the reason that they were all there that had her worried.

She startled when Alexis touched her arm.

“Try to breathe, sweetie,” she said with a smile. “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“How do you know?”

Alexis held up her phone. “Flight tracker. They’re three minutes out.”

Shayna looked up at the sky. If they were that close the plane must be …

“That way.” Alexis pointed in the opposite direction to where Shayna had been looking. She smiled when she spotted the plane. Then her smile faded when her mind latched back on to the thoughts she’d been trying to stay away from. The man – Carey Duncan – it sounded like such a normal name, but from what Alexis had told her, he was far from normal. She shuddered, and Davin came to stand on her other side.

“You’re safe, Shay,” he told her. “We’ve got your back.”

“I know. Thanks.”

Alexis scowled. “And we’re going to get him. Soon.”

Shayna couldn’t help smiling. “If he could see your face right now, he’d leave town without a second thought and never look back.”

Davin smiled at her and nodded, but Alexis pursed her lips. “If I were close enough to him that he could see my face, he wouldn’t get the chance to leave town.”

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