Page 64 of Canyon Killer
She nodded. “I’ll be there,” Ian said.
When the sheriff and Aaron were gone, she turned to him. “You didn’t have to book a hotel room,” she said. “You could come back to my place.”
“I’m not sure your parents would like that. And before you remind me that you’re a grown woman, they own the apartment.”
“They couldn’t expect me to kick you out on the street.”
“I’ll be fine in the hotel. It’s only for a couple of days. And I don’t want to do anything to come between you and your family.”
There were times when she would have welcomed more distance between herself and her parents and siblings, but probably not the kind Ian meant—the serious, even permanent kind.
“They just need to get to know you,” she said. Sure, Ian was reserved and a little intimidating. Maybe not the kind of man they had ever envisioned her with, if they had pictured her with anyone at all. But she had recognized the soft, vulnerable place inside him that very first day in the rental office, when he’d cooed at the infant she’d held. “I know they’d love you then.”
Ian patted her shoulder with one bandaged hand. “It takes time to get to know someone. Let’s give that to them instead of forcing the issue.”
He was also sensible. Not the daredevil she had expected when she’d learned he was a mountain climber who drove a Porsche.
“You may have noticed—I’m not the most patient person in the world,” she said.
“I’ve got more than enough patience for both of us, and you inspire me to be a little more impulsive.”
“I wouldn’t call you impulsive.” But he hadn’t hesitated when it had come to risking his life to save hers. She slipped her arm in his and leaned close. “I hate that your hands are injured. Do you hurt very much?”
“They’ll heal,” he said. “And you’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
“I’m here because you saved me.”
“You would have gotten out on your own.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. The flames had come close to overwhelming her. Would she have found the strength on her own to escape them?
The door to the waiting room opened again, and Aaron reappeared. “Time to go home, Bethany,” he said.
“I have to take Ian to his hotel,” she said.
“I’ve called an Uber.” He stepped away from her. “Go with Aaron. The doctor said they’ll reduce the bandages tomorrow, and I should be able to drive again. My Jeep will be fine in the garage here until then.”
Bethany wanted to argue that he shouldn’t be alone tonight. But maybe that was being too clingy. “Call me tomorrow,” she said.
“I will.” He hesitated, then bent and kissed her. A proper kiss, too, which left her feeling a little dreamy. Cherished—there was that word again. Loved, but not overwhelmed by anyone else’s expectations. A feeling she could get used to.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Despite the pain medication that the doctor had assured him would knock him out, Ian slept fitfully that night. Dreams of Bethany, engulfed in flames, kept startling him awake. He finally fell into a fitful sleep and roused late the next morning, his hands aching and mind racing.
He ordered room service, then called Bethany. She answered on the second ring, her cheery “Good morning” making him smile. “I wanted to make sure you got home all right,” he said.
“I was exhausted. I tried to talk Aaron into running his police lights on the way home so we could get there faster, but the old stick-in-the-mud refused. Then he insisted on coming into my apartment and checking out everything before he would leave me to go to sleep in peace.”
“He’s a good brother,” Ian said.
She sighed dramatically. “He is. How are you feeling?”
“Not great, but the pain—and these awkward bandages—are more annoying than anything else. I’m going to talk the doctor into something less bulky and more manageable. After I’m done at the hospital, I’ll see about getting a new trailer delivered to the canyon. Then I’m going to drive out there and see how construction is progressing. And I have to find time to put the final touches on my presentation to the county commissioners.”
“When is the meeting about your permit?” she asked.
“Thursday evening. I just got word this morning.”
