Page 62 of Delicate Escape

“Well, I want to meet her whenever you’re ready.”

“Noted. I gotta go.”

“All right. Take care of yourself, Shep.”

“You, too. Tell my niece I love her.”

I heard the smile in Trace’s voice when he said, “She wants you to go riding with her and Arden next weekend.”

“I’ll see what I can do about that.”

We hung up just as I pulled up in front of Thea’s house. She was out front watering her garden in those damn overalls, her cat trying to attack the water as she went. The sight was beyond ridiculous, but it was somehow transfixing.

The way her hair was piled up in a bun, exposing her long, slender neck—one I wanted to trace with my tongue. How the sun hit the apples of her cheeks, making them glow. She was made for this, being in her garden and at one with the sun and nature around her.

I turned off my engine and slid out of my truck, grabbing a bag on the way. Thea’s now green gaze came to me. Something about that, how she no longer hid from me—not even the shade of her eyes—hit something deep in my chest.

A smile tilted her lips up. “Hi.”

“How was your day? How are you feeling?”

“Good,” she said. “Relieved. I think telling you released some of the pressure that was building. That and knocking down those walls.”

“I’m glad,” I said, moving closer.

Moose leapt into the air, doing some sort of flip as he tried to attack the spray of water.

I shook my head. “What is wrong with that mutant cat?”

Thea scowled at me. “Nothing’swrongwith him. And he’s not a mutant.”

“What’d that water ever do to him?”

Thea chuckled. “Could be here to do grave bodily harm to us all.”

Moose batted at the stream but seemed to know I was talking about him because he turned to look at me and hissed.

“Moose,” Thea chastised him.

The cat let out some sort of mangled meow.

I rifled through the bag and pulled out a small treat pouch. The moment I shook it, Moose bounded toward me and sat like a dog would.

My gaze shot to Thea. “You teach him that?”

She stifled a laugh. “No. But those are his favorite. He’s not above bribery.”

I opened the bag and bent to give him a couple. The moment my hand got close, Moose’s front paws latched around it, and he yanked it toward his face.

“Jesus,” I mumbled as he snatched the treats from me. “I could lose a finger.”

Thea just grinned. “I’m not going to say that’s not possible because it definitely is.”

I moved closer to her, so close I could feel her heat. The urge to kiss Thea was so strong I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself in check. Those green eyes peered up at me as she leaned closer.

One arm went around her, pulling her into me. “You really doing okay?”

As Thea stared up at me, she didn’t hold anything back. I saw the war of emotions in her eyes. “I didn’t sleep that great.”

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