Page 38 of Hunted Hearts
Slowly, Theo shifted, rolling just enough to ease his weight off her without breaking the cocoon of his arm around her waist.
Silence filled the room, but it wasn’t the awkward kind Juliette had known with others. It was warm and steady, a blanket of calm wrapping around them. She could hear the slow beat of his heart under her ear, and for the first time she could remember, the quiet after didn’t feel like emptiness.
It felt likepeace.
This was the kind of silence that had a music of its own.
Chapter Seven
Theo left Juliette’s bed after she drifted to sleep. He didn’t look back. He didn’t trust himself to.
The image of her as he slipped out was hard enough to walk away from, her dark hair spilling over the white pillowcase, a tantalizing length of bare thigh peeking from the sheet.
This feeling was already dangerous enough, settling somewhere deep in his chest where he didn’t want it to live.
What the hell was he doing? He wasn’t supposed to blur lines like this. She was hisward,for fuck’s sake. His responsibility, not…whatever she was now.
The weight of what they’d just done lingered on his skin, a ghost of warmth and softness that he hadn’t felt…well, ever. And with it came a gnawing confusion in his gut, because this was not who he was.
Who was he supposed to be these days?
In the military, he knew. Every role he was ever given, he executed to the best of his ability, which often resulted in overachieving thanks to the Malone perfectionism. There were rules, schedules, missions.
He’d barely scratched the surface of a new routine here on the ranch. Didn’t have a role here other than to pitch in where he could. Then before he could figure that shit out, he was whisked off on a family trip to Tahoe.
The past few days came with another shift. There were more choices to be made, and to a man who spent his entire adult life living with outside structure, choices felt like chaos.
He stepped inside his room. As kids, he and Colt shared this space until his kid brother decided he preferred to bunk with Oaks. Theo never minded being on his own, but more often than not, he’d wake to find Willow asleep beside him after some nightmare she had.
The ranch had been their family’s summer home. When their father—bastard that he was—died, the first thing they did was sell everything in Texas and move to Wyoming. Here, they had fewer ghosts to haunt them. Here, they started over.
But he didn’t have a damn clue where he stood now. Not with his family, with Juliette…or in this world.
He raked his fingers through his hair and hurriedly dressed in jeans and a casual shirt. After a moment of thought, he unzipped his go-bag and grabbed two condoms. He shoved them deep in his pocket.
Turning to the room again, his gaze landed on his jump rope uncoiled on the floor. The simple equipment helped ease the nightmares he was left with. It helped him forget all the things he could have done better for his SEAL team.
He wound it neatly and placed it on a shelf. His gaze drifted to the items that sat there since before he joined the Navy—remnants of another life entirely. A jagged, quartz-flecked rock he’d pocketed during a hike with his brothers as a kid—a reminder of home. A broken leather horse rein from the day he’d been thrown, pitched forward when the strap gave way. He’d hit the ground so hard he thought he’d snapped something…but he jumped up laughing, unscathed. Back then, he’d thought he was invincible.
Now? He wasn’t so sure.
A soft knock pulled him out of his head. He turned to see Willow leaning casually against the doorframe, her hair in amessy ponytail and legs bare beneath shorts that didn’t look like they belonged on a crisp morning in the mountains of Wyoming.
Theo scowled. “You should go put some clothes on.”
She rolled her eyes and spread her hands. “These are averyacceptable length, thank you very much. I didn’t come here for fashion policing. Besides, Colt already gave me the lecture. I don’t need another.”
He exhaled through his nose, turning back to the shelf. “What do you want, Willow?”
“A package just arrived.”
He froze, every muscle locking tight. Slowly, he turned his head. “For who?”
“Juliette.”
The word hadn’t even finished leaving her mouth before he bolted past her, the doorframe rattling as his shoulder skimmed it. Willow’s startled squeak followed him down the hall as he crossed the house in swift strides.
He reached the front door and whipped it open to a blast of cold air. A quick sweep of the area revealed a couple guys from the veteran therapy program walking to the barn, their voices carrying on the wind.
