Page 6 of Broken-Hearted

But I’ll know it. Boy, will I know it.

“Didn’t you bring clothes with you when you came here?”

He nods. “I did. But I have a feeling this offer will expire the second I take a step out of this room.”

Definitely a smart man.

I bite the inside of my cheek to hide my smile. “Well, then you’d have the option of sleeping in your car, booking a room, or how about the most brilliant idea of all and driving yourself back to Hardin?”

“No can do.” He counts off with his fingers. “One, there are no more rooms available. Two, I can’t keep watch over you while I’m sleeping in my car. And the third isn’t happening, so I’d stop hoping sooner rather than later.”

I knew inviting him in here was a bad idea.

“Is it too late to kick you out?” I ask sweetly.

He flashes me a grin. “Yup.”

He says it so cheerfully, and the wind is getting pretty wild out there, that I can’t bring myself to throw him out like I know I should.

I turn my back on him as the sound of rustling fabric fills the room. It’s almost impossible not to imagine Nathan Blackshaw stripping out of his clothes feet away from me. I’m a little jealous of how comfortable he must be over there as my skinny jeans pinch my thighs.

Obviously, I have no interest in him. Or in going to Hardin.

Someone trying to kill him rearranged my priorities.

“What happened in Dawley?” I ask, as I listen to him undress.

“Oh, a wolf jumped in front of my car. Another swiped my tire. I thought Jackson’s packmates were playing around, so I nearly rammed into a tree trying to dodge them. Wasn’t until I realized it didn’t matter who they were. They were trying to kill me.”

Shit.

Jackson and some of the others had rushed off after Nathan’s panicked call to Regan, claiming someone was trying to kill him. I’d taken advantage of Martha’s distraction to run off. “What happened to the wolves?”

“Not sure. By the time I got out, they were gone. Jackson tracked their scents a few miles down the road, but they must’ve had a car waiting.”

“Why did you come after me?”

Mattress springs squeak. “To bring you to Hardin, and I intend to keep you safe until I deliver the package from A to B.”

“I amnota package.”

“Maybe not an actual package. But I can’t say you aren’t deliciously wrapped.”

I snort at the wall, waiting until I’m positive he’s in bed, and I’m in no danger of seeing more than I should by glancing in his direction.

Like his body.

Or the fact he has a smile that I don’t mind. Or?—

Focus, Clara.

“And your car?”

“I took it into a shop for a tire replacement. The rest of the damage was just scratches and dents that I can deal with back in Hardin.”

I’d known someone would eventually track me down. It hadn’t helped that there was so little between Dawley and Rosenwood. There was no big or even small city that Ivy could pull off the highway that I could lose myself in. Just long stretches of open road and highways.

Before I switch out the lights, I look Nathan in the eye, needing to lay out some ground rules if we’re going to be sharing the same room until he realizes I’m not going to Hardin. “If you try to touch me in the night, I’ll kill you.”

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