Page 21 of A Rogue Cowboy's Kiss

It was a quick kiss, velvet-soft, and she felt like she was plummeting right into his arms.

Then he stepped back, gave her a nod, and walked back into the house.

She didn’t move, and it was only a couple minutes before she heard his truck start.

She closed her eyes as she listened to him drive away.

What had she just done? What choice had she just made?

The only one she could have.

NINE

Before Bella hada chance to congratulate herself on her immense discipline and self-love mastery by letting Falcon leave, her phone rang, startling her. Falcon? She pulled it out of her back pocket, then sighed when she saw it was Brody. “Hey,” she said, trying to sound cheerful.

“You okay?”

She frowned. “Yes. Why?”

“Where are you?”

She sat up, her heart starting to race at the urgency in his voice. “On the deck of the cottage I rented.”

“Do you have your gun on you?”

Bella tightened her grip on the phone. “It’s inside. Why? What’s going on?”

“Go get it while I talk to you.”

Crap.This was why she wanted to get off the Hart Ranch. Because drama followed the Harts everywhere. She just wanted to be normal, or feel normal, for once in her life.

But today wasn’t that day, apparently. She instinctively checked the beach as she stood up, carefully assessing everyonein sight. No one felt suspicious, so she turned and headed inside. “Okay. Going to get it. What’s up?”

“Your house was broken into last night.”

Her belly did a little flip. “Was anything stolen?”

“No, but they got in and out without triggering the alarm. Dylan is working on it to figure out how they did that, but it means they knew what they were doing.”

She pressed her lips together. “If they didn’t take anything, why did they break in?”

“We watched the video. They looked like they were looking for you, and they took their time doing it, like they wanted us to know that they knew they hadn’t triggered the alarm, and they had all the time they wanted. When you weren’t there, they left. Walked right out the front door and left it open.”

Bella’s heart started racing, and she hurried into her bedroom and grabbed her gun from her nightstand. She put on her harness and then put the gun on. Then she stood and looked at herself in the mirror.

This was her life. Walking around with a gun.

Sudden tears filled her eyes.I don’t want this life anymore.“Who was it?”

“We haven’t been able to get an ID on them. We can’t see their faces. But we’re working on it.”

“Okay.” There were so many possibilities.

“Have you seen Falcon yet?”

Oh. Falcon. “Yes.”

“Is he there?”

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