Page 30 of Shadow Strike
The tightness in her chest loosened.She reacted before she thought about it, launching herself at him and hugging him.Her arms went around his neck, and she pressed her face against his shoulder, hard enough that he made a small sound of surprise.“Thank you,” she said into his shirt.“Thank you, CB.”
His arms came around her.
He was solid and warm and smelled like soap.For a moment, she just stayed there, and it was the first time in longer than she could remember that the weight she’d been carrying felt like it had somewhere to rest.
His hands went to her waist, and she took one more deep breath before she drew back.Her hands were still on his arms, and his face was close.The relief that had cracked her open felt raw and needy.She kissed him.
Soft.Brief.Her lips against his, barely a brush.
He went still.His hand came up to the curve of her jaw, and she leaned into it.His lips found hers and moved unhurried, certain, the same way he did everything.The bar was quiet, and he was warm.She forgot, for a moment, why this was a terrible idea.
The kitchen door swung open.
“I forgot my?—”
Lucy stopped.
CB was out of the booth before Regan had fully registered her mother’s voice.One moment he was there, and the next he was behind the bar with a towel in his hands, doing something very focused with a tap handle.
Regan sat where she was for one suspended second.
Lucy stood in the kitchen doorway with her cardigan folded over her arm and a very small, very controlled smile on her face.“Don’t mind me,” she said pleasantly.“I just came down for my —”
The front door opened, the bell chiming.
All three of them looked over.
Carl Purcell, a rancher from out on Route 9 who came in twice a month and always ordered the same thing, stepped inside, looked around the quiet bar with mild surprise, and settled onto a stool.“Slow night?”
“Carl.”Regan was on her feet, hustling behind the bar.“The usual?”
“You know it.”
She waved CB away and pulled the beer.Her hands were steady.She was proud of that.
CB backed off and rearranged a few liquor bottles on the shelf.Lucy, cardigan still folded over her arm, turned back toward the kitchen.At the door, she paused and looked at Regan with an expression that contained an entire conversation Lucy was absolutely going to finish later.
Regan set Carl’s beer in front of him and avoided glancing at CB.
CB just polished the tap handle, but out of the corner of her eye, she didn’t miss the smile on his lips.
CHAPTEREIGHT
The drive home was quiet.Lucy rode in the back.Regan sat in the passenger seat with her face turned toward the window.
CB drove through the dark, thinking about the kiss and how he’d just spent three hours standing six feet from her pretending it hadn’t happened.
At the house, Lucy kissed them both on the cheek—CB included, which he hadn’t expected and didn’t know what to do with—and disappeared upstairs with Desi at her heels.
Regan said goodnight to the middle distance and went to her room.CB checked the security app, checked the perimeter, and checked his phone for anything from Mack.
Nothing needed him.
He showered, pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants, and sat on the edge of the guest bed.The house settled around him.Outside, something moved in the tree line—deer, probably, the security app showed nothing—but he circled the house once more, out of the need to reassure himself that the two women were safe, before he returned to the guest room.
He was lying on the mattress, unable to sleep, with an arm behind his head, when he heard Regan’s door.
A soft knock.
