Page 69 of Trusting a Cowgirl

“And you wanted to? I had good reasons. He pointed a gun at you,” she said, throwing her arms in the air. “But that’s not the issue right now.”

“Isn’t it?” He let out a derisive chuckle. “From what I can tell, the biggest issue has everything to do with you and your fear of commitment.”

Her head reared back and her defenses went up. “I am not afraid of commitment.”

He snorted. “Yeah? What do you call it when one person in a relationship isn’t even willing to say they love the other? When that one person doesn’t allow their partner to meet anyone they consider important? I’ve only met two of your sisters, and I have a feeling that wasn’t something you were all that thrilled about in the first place.”

Her heart was going triple speed, and the shock that had sprouted to life in her stomach had quickly morphed into something far more poisonous. “I call that being cautious and realistic.”

“What do you have to be cautious over? You know who I am. With that folder of information Shane has on file, you probably know me better than anyone on the planet. From the sounds of it, you had zero interest in sticking it out with me.”

She sucked in sharply. There was a tiny voice in the back of her head that told her to drop it. He needed to cool down. And she needed to think about whether or not this relationship was worth it.

But then that small voice was swallowed up by a whale of desperation. She cared about him—more than she had cared about anyone else in her life besides family. And if he didn’t get this PTSD sorted out, the rest of his life would end up failing him.

Grace’s eyes narrowed and she forced her voice to remain in a constant unemotional tone. “This isn’t about me. This is about you.”

His brows lifted.

“You overstepped.”

“I—”

She held up her hand and shook her head. “Let me finish. We are in a committed relationship. You asked me about coming here, and I told you no.” He needed to acknowledge that there were boundaries he still needed to follow no matter who he was dealing with in a particular moment.

He huffed. “Yeah, because you’re ashamed of me.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

Riley waved his finger at her, then gestured toward her father. “You think I’m damaged. I’m sure your father shares that sentiment. Both of you take one look at me and see the scars and the results of trauma and war. But instead of accepting and appreciating what I did for you—for this country—you keep me at arm’s length.”

Once again, the control she had over this situation was spiraling. He’d latched on to one of his biggest insecurities and was running away with it.

“Both of you are a bunch of hypocrites. This whole planet is full of hypocrites. All of you think you can just put us in a box, throw some food, money, and therapy at us, and we’ll be okay. Guess what? We’re not. We go through hell and back, carrying all of you on our backs to keep you safe and unaware of the dangers that surround us every single day and what thanks do we get?”

Grace moved closer to him. “That’s not what I was saying at all. I should have known better. You needed more time to get to the root of your issues.”

“Issues?” he said. “I don’t have issues. I’mfine. I was doing just fine before I met you, and I’ll do just fine when I leave. I didn’t need you to prop me up because there was nothing wrong with me in the first place. That judge who sent me here was an idiot, and he didn’t appreciate what I’ve done.”

“Riley—”

“No. I’m not going to stand here while you tear me down and make me feel like this is my fault. I didn’t do anything wrong. Any man in my position would wonder why you didn’t want me to meet your family. Anyordinaryman. I’m just the poor sap who thought you could look past the panic attacks and my history to see what was beneath it all.” He stomped toward his bike and sat down. He shoved his key into the ignition and the bike whirred to life.

In no time he was down the road and over the crest of the hill. He’d disappeared.

“Get in the truck.”

Grace jumped, then spun around to stare at her father with wide eyes. “What?” At some point he’d wandered off his perch on the porch and stood beside her.

“I want to have a word with Shane.”

If possible, her eyes widened even more and her mouth fell open. “Why? Shane has nothing to do with this.”

“Shane Owens is the reason for this.” Zeke turned toward the house, gun still in hand. “Shane let this happen.”

She huffed, scrambling after her father. “Shane had nothing to do with any of this.”

Zeke shot a look at her out of the corner of his eye. “Is that so?”

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