Page 51 of A Lonely Road
“I don’t need a babysitter, Jake. Your sister doesn’t need to keep me company and I really don’t think I evenneedsecurity cameras. I’m not helpless or a child or some kind of weakling.”
My voice rose toward the end as my careful composure began to crack, and I covered my face with my hands.
“Nora,” Jake said gently. He didn’t touch me, just leaned his elbows on his knees and waited until I finally dropped my hands to look at him again. “Believe me, I know all of that. You know I do. I’m sorry if I made it sound like I thought you needed a babysitter, but I promise it was not my intention. Sam has been texting me nonstop all day, that’s what made me think of it. That’sallthat made me think of it. You’re the strongest person I know. I have absolute faith in you, okay?”
“I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” I whispered, suddenly feeling so sad, so lost. If only I’d built a stronger foundation before it started crumbling under my feet.
He opened his arms in invitation. I stayed quiet for a long moment before I stood and wrapped my arms around his neck. The position placed his head level with my sternum, and he pressed a warm, sweet kiss to my collarbone.
“You are an absolute badass. A smoking hot badass, at that. Wanna come pick out a new door for your badass apartment with me? Letting me loose in a hardware store alone is a dangerous and generally expensive prospect, so you’d be doing me a favor, really.”
“Yes. Let’s go hardware shopping.”
“I’ve never been more turned on in my life,” he said lightly, blue eyes lighting up at my laughter as he stood and took my hand.
I dropped my head to his shoulder as we left the restaurant. When we reached the truck, Jake sighed softly.
“I wish I could shield you from the world.”
I could see in his expression that he knew, even as the thought crossed his mind and slipped past his lips, that I didn’t want someone to shield me. I wanted someone to fight by my side, to have my back, someone who respected just how strong I was and wouldn’t try to shove me into the background for the sake of chivalry or macho pride or whatever happened to be at stake.
Before I could respond, though, he hugged me tight to his chest and shook his head.
“I know. Believe me, I know that isn’t what you need from me, Nora. Whatever you do need, I’ll give it to you, be that for you. No matter what.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jake
Asitturnedout,Nora was the best hardware store shopping partner I could have asked for. We picked out her new front door first, one with a peephole instead of a window. When I teased her gently about it being more difficult to peek out at me in my driveway, Nora simply cocked a brow and asked what I thought the security cameras were for if not to spy on me.
After that, we wandered the store side by side, her hand tucked around my elbow as I pushed the cart. We admired light fixtures and flooring samples, paint colors and power tools. Nora not only knew her stuff, she also had some amazing design ideas.
“Well, that does it, Cassidy. I’m putting you in charge of remodeling the rest of the second floor,” I told her, then kissed her there in the plumbing aisle.
She laughed. “As long as you’re funding my grandiose plans and providing the manual labor, I’m in.”
We left with the new door, some security cameras, new locks, and an area rug that Nora insisted I needed in the Dude Lair. The fact that she used my term for the room sold me on it immediately and led to another dramatic kiss, old Hollywood style, in the middle of the store. A few bystanders even applauded when I swung a flushing, flustered Nora back onto her feet.
I executed a tidy little bow to the onlookers and then added the rug to the cart. Nora might have been more interested in the color scheme, all streaks of blues and greens, but it was also thick and impossibly soft—all I could imagine was Nora’s lush body sprawled across it as I teased and tasted her.
All in good time.
I forced those graphic images from my mind in order to quash my immediate reaction to that particular fantasy. While I loaded our haul into the bed of the truck, Nora returned the heavy lumber cart to the corral. As she started back toward the truck, squinting toward me in the sunlight, she froze.
I followed her line of sight over my shoulder and saw a tall, fair-haired man in dark sunglasses staring straight at her from a couple rows over. In that instant, I had to make a choice—run toward him and risk the bastard circling toward Nora before I could get there, or get my ass directly to her side.
Images of a panic attack striking, of Nora struggling for breath, made the decision for me.
As fast as I could, I took off toward her, calling her name, but she was still rooted in place, her lips parted without any words coming out. Just before I reached her side, she pulled her phone from her pocket and snapped a picture. I glanced back to see the man turn and vanish between vehicles in the parking lot.
By the time I grabbed her shoulders, Nora blinked up at me, staring numbly even as her hands clenched in my shirt.
My voice low and urgent, I said, “Talk to me, Nora. Was that him?”
“It was him,” she confirmed hoarsely, pointing now as she couldn’t before. “The guy from the outlet mall. By that white Toyota.”
I gave her a squeeze. “Get in the truck and lock the door. Go!”
