Page 5 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

Maybe Delaney could help. She was a girl. She knew how to talk girl. She might even have a job for Reece.

My eyes moved back to the woman in question as I leaned back to get a view of her through the open door. The bruises on her face were a pretty clear sign that she was in some kind of trouble. From the way she favored her side, I’d say her injuries extended further than her face as well.

I couldn’t send her to Trace and Delaney’s doorstep if that trouble was going to follow her there.

Which meant that Reece was my problem, at least for now.

“Do you need any help in there?” she called out from the living room, sounding nervous.

She probably thought I was preparing some kind of poison for her while I was lurking out here. It would at least be the first sensible thought she’d had since I’d met her if it was.

“No.”

I winced at the gruffness of my voice. Damn it. This was a traumatized woman. I could at least try to be passably nice at first.

“No,thank you,” I stressed, trying not to grit my teeth as I did.

“Aww, did that hurt, big bear?” she asked, her voice sounding like it was directly behind me, and I was embarrassed at just how much it made me jump.

So, because I was trying to be nice, I turned around and just glared at her rather than saying what I really wanted to say.

I nodded to the kitchen table. “Sit.”

She moved without question and then sat down and watched to see what I’d do next.

I should have left her in the dark living room because sitting on that chair in front of the window, her long blond hair glistened in the sun as she watched me curiously with those warm chocolate eyes, I could feel my heart thump in my chest.

I grabbed the coffee I’d been procrastinating over and moved to the other side of the table, hoping the wooden furniture would block the view of all the curves her sweater did absolutely nothing to hide.

Unfortunately for me, the vision of her was already burned into my memory, and I was feeling like a creep for even having looked.

“So,” she said after an uncomfortably long pause. “What exactly is this job that you want me to do? How much does it pay, and for how long do you expect it to last?”

I could feel my lips twitching in amusement as she tried not to squirm in her seat and project the picture of a confident job prospect instead.

This was the point where I was supposed to answer her. The thing was, I didn’t want to talk about that. I wanted to know who the hell had done that to her face and demand that she tell me where I could find them.

So I did my usual and reverted to my usual attitude instead.

“Come on.” I lurched out of my seat and headed to the back door, leaving the coffee untouched on the table.

It was cold anyway. I’d spent far too long hiding in the kitchen for it to be worth drinking now.

Val jumped out of her bed and trotted to my side like she always did.

“Erm, okay.” She followed a few steps behind me as I jogged down the back porch steps and headed to the old bunkhouse.

“This used to be where the ranch hands bunked back in the day,” I told her as I opened the door and then stepped to the side to let her go past.

Reece’s eyes widened in alarm at the dark interior, and she hesitated.

Finally, the woman was making a sensible decision for the first time today and questioning her own safety.

I reached around the doorframe and switched on the lights, illuminating the interior. Reece’s eyes widened in surprise as she cautiously took another step closer.

“We had it changed into a cottage last year. The ranch hands were happy to get an updated bunkhouse further back on the property, away from the main house. Don’t feel like they’re being watched over all the time then,” I added, so she’d at least know that she’d be safe out here even if she was on her own.

Reece smiled and walked inside, looking around at the cozy little living room and kitchenette that had been added.

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