Page 51 of Deserving Cora
“I don’t think he has. She was seen at that restaurant, remember?”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “But I still don’t understand what he’s doing. It doesn’t make sense, and that worries me too.”
It worried Pipe too. “You’re going to go crazy if you try to understand everything right this second. Put it aside, if only for a few hours. Tomorrow, we’ll head straight to his estate and see what we can find out.”
“And if he won’t let us see her?”
“Then we’ll go to Plan B. And then Plan C, Plan D, and Plan E.”
“Wehaveall those plans?” she asked.
“Nope, but we will. One thing you should know, us special forces guys are used to changing things up on the fly.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” Pipe agreed. “You hungry?”
Cora shook her head.
“Right. You want to go see Chuck and the others at the barn?”
She shook her head again.
“What do you want to do?”
“Stress. Wonder what Lara might be going through. Figure out how to get her home.”
Pipe couldn’t help but smile down at her. He’d hoped she’d stop worrying, but like the true friend she was, she simply couldn’t do it. “All right, how about this…we’ll go back to my cabin, I’ll make us some lunch, we’ll sit on the roof and you can tell me more about Lara. About what you guys like to do back in DC. About your job and the kids you work with. Yeah?”
She looked up at him. “You’d do that for me? Let me bore you to tears by telling you yet again how awesome Lara is?”
“I think I’d do anything for you,” Pipe told her honestly.
“We don’t really know each other,” she replied.
“We know each other,” Pipe countered. “We know the stuff that counts.”
He didn’t think she was going to respond, but she finally nodded. “Yeah.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, satisfaction coursing through his veins.
“Maybe we can do some more of that kissing thing?” Cora asked with a small smile.
“I think that can be arranged,” he said.
“Pipe?”
“Yeah?”
“When this is all said and done, I want to get a tattoo. Will you go with me?”
“I’d be honored.” And just like that, a new design began niggling at his brain, despite years of no interest in getting another tattoo.
A skeleton key…because keys open things, and it felt as if Cora was slowly entrusting him with the key to understanding who she was, deep down. Not only that, but she was working her way through his shields, as well.
He envisioned barbed wire around the key, symbolizing how he’d guard it with his life and wouldn’t take advantage of her trust. He wanted to incorporate a wolf somehow too, as the animal was known for its loyalty. Maybe the key would be around the wolf’s neck, or clenched in his teeth.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
