Page 40 of Hero Unbound

It’s going to be so good.

She wasn’t sure which of the two of them had said that, but heat still coursed through her body every time she thought about it. She both desperately hoped Theo would make good on the promises he’d made to a drunk woman basically throwing herself at him and desperately hoped he would just laugh it off.

He wasn’t laughing it off.

He’d given her a little space for two full days, probably because she’d been so quick to dart away, but today, they’d rounded some sort of corner. She’d known it as soon as she met his eyes that afternoon across the barn.

She didn’t know if that meant they were going to talk about the conversation they’d had on Becky’s porch or act on it. Or both. All she knew was that Theo wasn’t going to let her run anymore.

The only thing that had saved her today was the big storm rolling in. Linear had a lot of animals and equipment that had to be secured. It was all hands on deck; everyone had jobs that needed to be handled before the storm hit.

But tomorrow, Eva knew her reprieve was over.The storm was about to hit—literally and…all the other ways.

But right now, she needed to worry more about the physical storm. Sleeping at Becky’s after their night out had been heavenly. A bed, a roof. No cramped positions in her car and police officers telling her to move along.

But the last two nights, she’d been back out in the shed. She’d be there tonight during the storm—wasn’t looking forward to that.

She was tempted to tell Theo what was going on. Or at least a version of it. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she asked if she could stay in the big house on the property that he would let her. But she couldn’t figure out a way of bringing it up without having to lie to him about her homeless situation.

Which would just lead to more questions about all the rest.

But somehow, she’d figure out a way to work it into the conversation tomorrow. Throwing in a need to stay at the house in the middle of the big sex talk would probably work.

Or else it would make it seem like she was trying to encroach on his space.She forced herself not to bang her head against the wall at the thought.

She led Wildfire into her stall and closed the outer door behind her. Encroaching into Theo’s space was the last thing she wanted to do. Maybe she wouldn’t bring up her living situation in the middle of the sex talk.

Maybe there’d be no talking at all. Maybe there’d just be sex. She was okay with that too. She was surprised at how much more than okay she was.

But she wished she’d not announced that Mrs. Mackay’s cowboy boots were going to get both of them lucky.

She was finishing making sure Wildfire and Ember would be completely protected from the storm in their stall when Theo walked into the barn and strode toward her with a definite purpose.

It took all her strength not to dive into the stall to get away from him.

“Do you need any more help here?” he asked, only stopping when he was a few feet from her. “We’re getting calls from Reddington City. This storm is getting bigger. They’re reporting hail and flash flooding.”

“No, I’m set here. All the animals are secure.”

He nodded. “Callum Webb called, and I’m going to help him get a few elderly couples out of potential flood zones and into town. Do you want me to give you a ride into Oak Creek? I want you situated at the hotel before this storm hits. Driving will become pretty dangerous.”

“No, I’ll drive myself.” Just not to the hotel.

He looked as if he didn’t like it very much, but he nodded. “Go soon. Everything is handled here. Can I put my number in your phone so you can call me if you need me?”

“Uh, yeah.” She pulled out her phone and turned it on.

He tilted his head to the side. “Most people are glued to their phone. Yours isn’t even powered on.”

“Yeah. I, uh, don’t want to take a chance on startling the animals.” She handed the phone to him.

“Eleven missed messages?” He raised an eyebrow. “You’re pretty popular. Better keep your phone on more.”

“Yeah, popular.” Her stomach clenched. Those were just in the past few hours. She’d finally turned off her phone at lunch when Gareth had basically started calling nonstop.

She didn’t know what had caused this uptick in attempts to contact her, but she didn’t want to deal with it.

He handed back her phone. “The Mayor’s Inn is on high ground in town, so you’ll be fine there. Grab some food and just plan to camp out. I’ll call you if we need something for one of the animals. Otherwise, don’t try to come back out here—we can have all sorts of road wipeouts and small avalanches on property.”

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