Page 39 of Lone Star Country Protector
Was she jealous?
“The robe belongs to my sister,” he said. “She slept over on her way to serve a warrant, got a tip her felon was about to move and hightailed it out of here so fast she forgot to take her favorite robe with her.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “It looked to be about your size, so I thought you might want to use it once you got out of the shower. But I didn’t realize—”
“Never mind,” she quipped, handing over the bundle. “I just thought something else. That’s all. No big deal.”
Well, it sure as hell sounded like a big deal to him. Or was that wishful thinking on his part?
“For the record, if you were in a relationship with someone else, it would be a very big deal to me,” he said before walking out of the living room to set the robe on top of the washing machine.
When he returned to the kitchen, the sun had begun to rise, and Blakely nursed a cup of coffee while standing in his kitchen looking better than she had a right to.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Not really,” she said. She seemed content to let his comment fly past without acknowledgment. “We should probably head to my house so I can grab clothes for work.” She issued a sigh. “Though, nothing in me wants to go back there.”
“We can always stop by a twenty-four-hour big-box store instead,” he said.
“No,” she said. “I need to face it even if I don’t want to.”
“There’s nothing wrong with giving yourself a minute, Blakely. You don’t always have to make the hard decision and push through if you need a little more time.”
She blew out a breath. “I’ve been pushing through life ever since I can remember. It got me through the deaths of my parents. It got me through the responsibility of taking care of my sibling. And it got me through both undergrad and law school. I’m one of the youngest judges seated in Texas. What if I don’t know how to take more time? What if this is just who I am?”
Dalton was beginning to realize how much the story you told yourself about your life shaped it. “I think you’re amazing, and you can be anything you want to be.”
“What if I can’t do it?”
“It might be hard, but if you put your mind to it, I doubtthere’s anything you can’t accomplish,” he said and meant every word.
“Do you mean that, Dalton?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life,” he reassured. “Plus, I’ve been told that I have a stubborn streak a mile long. Until I met you, I thought that was as far as a stubborn streak could go. You proved me wrong on that.”
Blakely broke into a smile. “How is it that you can make me laugh so easily?”
“That’s easy?” he shot back, matching her smile.
“Okay, tough guy,” she said. “You better go get dressed while I come up with a plan to get in and out of my house without incident.”
“I’ll call to let my contact at Houston PD know we’ll be heading that way so he can get eyes on the place,” Dalton said before excusing himself and heading into the bedroom to grab clothes.
He dressed in a suit since he was taking Blakely to her courtroom. Once inside, it would be difficult if not impossible for Johnny Spear to get to her. On the way in was another story altogether, but he could alert the bailiff when they got close so extra eyes could be on her when Dalton dropped her off at the front door.
Leaving his apartment caused a bad feeling to settle in the pit of his stomach. Was he being overly cautious with Blakely due to their past?
Or their present?
* * *
Whoa!Blakely couldn’tremember the last time she witnessed a man wearing a suit in the same way Dalton wore a suit. He filled out every thread of material that looked handspun by angels. What could she say? The man was perfection.
“You dress up nicely, Mr. Remington,” she managed to say through a dry-as-desert throat. Was it suddenly getting hot in the apartment?
“Thank you, ma’am,” he responded with a smile that could charm the pants off anyone with eyes. “After you.” That same smile had been good at seducing her in Galveston. She’d been drawn to him like the magnet to steel cliché. The sister trip was supposed to be a chance for her and Bethany to catch up on each other’s lives, spend some real time together. Except that Chase had gotten sick at the last minute, so Bethany had been needed at home. Since Blakely had funded the whole weekend and couldn’t get her money back, she’d saidwhat the helland gone by herself on a whim.
Okay, she’d been feeling sorry for herself. She could admit that now. She’d realized how needed her sister was and how much the opposite was true for Blakely. No one would even notice if she disappeared off the face of the earth. That wasn’t completely true. Bethany and Chase would miss her dearly. But they had each other, and they would be fine.
Sitting alone at the restaurant where she’d originally made a reservation for two had been beyond sad. Then, Dalton had walked in. He’d asked for a table for one and been told they couldn’t seat him until after nine o’clock. He’d asked about placing a to-go order and had been told that could be arranged.
