Page 45 of Colton Family Bodyguard (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“I wouldn’t have been with you had I thought you’d turn me away the next day,” she said at last.

Where had that notion come from? “I didn’t turn you away.” Was she the cuddling type? He used to be.

Evie’s father must have really done a number on her. Was Callum another mistake to her?

“You seem different this morning,” she said.

“I don’t mean to be.” He wished she wouldn’t push the issue.

“Are you okay with us?”

He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Evie fast asleep in her car seat. No wonder Hazel was talking so freely. Now he had to answer, and he hesitated because he had to be honest.

“I take it by your silence that you aren’t. I’m sorry for making such a big issue about it, but I need to be sure about how to handle this going forward.”

He heard sincerity in her voice. She didn’t like asking all these questions. She just felt she had to. “Everything is going so fast between us. I haven’t had time to process it. Have you?”

She breathed a laugh of relief. “No. We can slow it down. Is that what you want? I have Evie to think about. She’s already so fond of you. I worry about her when it comes time to part ways—if that happens.”

“I don’t ever want to hurt Evie, so I’ll do whatever you think is best when it comes to her.”

“What about me? Will you do what you think is best when it comes to me?” She said it lightly, but he sensed she actually needed to know.

“It isn’t my intention to hurt you. I’m trying t

o be honest with you.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m a little disappointed in myself for not thinking this through better. We rushed into this and now I wish I hadn’t.”

They had rushed into sleeping together. Could they have done anything to prevent their attraction? He couldn’t blame her for being regretful or concerned. They barely knew each other. About the only things they did know were a little background information and that they had a hot physical chemistry that was apparently uncontrollable.

“I don’t regret last night at all,” he said. “In fact, that’s what has me in such a conundrum today. I have never had such an amazing time, except maybe my first time.”

She averted her head, propping her elbow on the door frame and curling her fingers against her chin. “That has me in a conundrum, too.”

Her quiet, soft tone revealed her vulnerability. He reached over and covered her hand with his. “We’ll cool this off for a while. Get to know each other more.”

She looked at him as though having serious doubts as to whether either one of them could cool this off.

Suddenly, the glass of Callum’s window shattered as a bullet flew past him and went through the passenger window. An instant later, he realized someone had shot at them, narrowly missing him and Hazel. “Get down!” he shouted, looking in the back at Evie, who had slouched enough in her sleep to be below the door frame but now began to wake.

As he took out his pistol, his heart pounded as he urgently searched for the shooter. An SUV had fallen back in the other lane but sped up as Callum had done the moment the bullet had penetrated.

He weaved in and out of traffic, putting more distance between them and the shooter.

“Call 911,” Callum said to Hazel, who had already taken out her phone.

He slowed enough to make the next turn, trying not to frighten Evie more than she already was. She had begun to cry. Cars ahead blocked his way. This wasn’t a movie—he couldn’t drive up onto the sidewalk.

Hazel finished talking to the dispatcher.

The gunman began to gain on them. Callum’s fear that Evie would be harmed intensified.

“Callum.” Hazel sounded terrified. “Evie.”

“I know.”

He tried to veer out into the oncoming traffic to get around a car. He had to steer back into the lane. The car passed and Callum would have tried again but the gunman was beside them in a big black SUV. The shooter aimed. Callum pressed on the brakes. The other man did too and then rammed into them.

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