Page 71 of Montana Heat

Since I’d grown up with my parents who had doted on me and treated me like a third little adult in our trio, hearing about Jensen’s years of neglect and some outright abuse had been hard. No wonder he’d learned to keep as quiet as possible. Nobody had ever wanted to listen to what child Jensen had to say.

But those sad stories just made experiencing the contrast of his life as an adult even more rewarding. Whether he could see it or not, the people in Garnet Bend, particularly from Resting Warrior,lovedhim.

Yeah, they were all big former military guys, so nobody was throwing around the l-word out loud. But it was obvious in their actions.

How Noah and his fiancée Kate were helping Susanna out in the garage while Jensen was here with me.

How Evelyn and Lena had brought us food twice in three days.

How Jude and Daniel were still consistently working on my case with Charlie and Detective Watters. Not necessarily for me, but because I was Jensen’s, and they would do anything for their friend. No. Not their friend, theirbrother.

I was Jensen’s.

I looked over at him now, carving a jewelry box over near the fire. He’d been carving or working on something in the cabin almost every moment we hadn’t been wrapped around each other.

Watching him work, the small box held so carefully in his big hands, humming almost silently, I felt something click in my heart.

I was falling in love with this man.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. He was someone I’d never expected from somewhere I’d definitely never wanted. Yet, here we were, with me not being able to imagine my life without him.

“Any luck?” he asked without looking up from his carving.

I returned my focus to the laptop in front of me that Danieland Jude had brought over yesterday. I’d gone through all the male hotel employees and vendors, but when those had all proven to be a dead end, we’d switched to the females to see if any of those images would jog any memories.

“Honestly, no. Some of these people look vaguely familiar, but I’ve lived in Denver a long time and work with hundreds of people a week. So, I may have met them, but I don’t remember anything of significance.”

“You doing okay about Alan’s upcoming release?”

That had been the other reason for the guys coming over. Watters had been unsuccessful in stopping Alan’s parole. He would be out sometime next week.

“Yeah. He’s the least of my worries. I’ll deal with the bigger psycho in my life then go back to worrying about the littler ones.”

“Part of his upcoming parole agreement is staying away from you, your family, and your acquaintances.”

Hopefully that would be enough to truly get him to leave me alone. “Let’s hope that works.”

“Good.”

“Speaking of, my parents want to meet you when this is over.”

That got him looking up from his woodwork project. “You told them about me?”

“Yep. My friends too. Is that okay?”

He lost some of his deer-in-headlights look. “Yes. Actually, I like that.”

I liked it too. My parents would love Jensen. Mom was Mom and had never met a stranger. She’d be able to coax even someone as quiet as Jensen out of his shell. My dad would talk all things mechanical with him. Computer science wasn’t the same as car repairs, but I recognized that nerdy sort of analytical intelligence in both of them.

“Wait until you eat some of my mom’s cooking and then see ifyou still feel like you like it. My mother is many things, but great in the kitchen is not one of them.”

He grinned at me. “Apple didn’t fall far from that tree, did it?”

I threw a pencil at him. “Watch it, buddy.” But he wasn’t wrong. I wasn’t much of a cook.

He looked back down at his project. “Will your parents be disappointed that you’re…dating a mechanic?”

There was a lot to unpack in that question. Like the fact that we hadn’t actually dated yet, except for a couple meals in town. Less dating and more that Jensen had become my personal guardian angel from the moment I’d pulled into town.

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