Page 84 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
The crease between his eyebrows got deeper. “I’m honestly not sure how you’re going to take this.”
“Okay, you’re not making me feel better.”
He bent down and gave me a soft kiss. “Better?”
I nodded. I was always better when he kissed me.
“I think we need to make some changes.”
“Uh, what kind of changes, exactly?”
He pushed out a loud breath, then blurted, “I think it’s time for you to leave the outpost.”
It was a good thing he had a grip on me or I would have swayed off our rock and found my ass in the dirt.
This is where he’d brought me to be safe and “off the grid.” Did he want me to go into witness protection? It had only been a month since Henry Dalton’s visit. Had he already given up hope?
“Why would you want me to leave?”
His arm pulled me tighter. “I’m worried about you. Hunting season is just getting started and this whole area is public land, so anyone could stumble on you out here alone.”
“Can’t I just lie and say I’m one of your employees studying those tree beetle things?”
“It’s not just the risk of hunters I’m worried about. Winter is coming soon. We’re a lot higher up here than we are in town. You’ll have three or four times the snow a
s we do in the valley. I don’t want to chance you getting stranded up here alone.”
I didn’t have a solution to that problem. Truth be told, I despised the snow and ice. It rarely snowed in Seattle, and when it did, I called in sick to work and refused to leave my apartment.
“If the snow gets too deep,” he said, “the only way I’ll be able to get to you is by snowmobile. Too much could go wrong.”
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t the end. I needed more time. I’d been holding out hope since Henry’s visit that he’d find a way to lock up the Federovs and the Russians would lose interest in anything related to me.
But hope was foolish, just like dreams. I’d had a gnawing feeling since my meeting with Henry that things were about to get worse.
Today was the bad day I’d been dreading.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked my feet. “Go back to town and contact Henry?”
Beau’s arm jerked. “What? You’re not going back with that guy.”
My head whipped up so I could see his face. “I’m not?”
His hand came to my cheek. “The only person who hates the idea of you in witness protection more than you is me.”
My whole body sagged in relief.
“I’ve got a plan. You’re going to come home with me.”
“Home?” I couldn’t hide the excitement in my voice. “Is that safe?”
“It can be, but I’ll warn you, it won’t be fun. You’ll have less freedom than you do here. You’ll be confined inside the entire time and I don’t think we should tell anyone you’re in town.”
“Not even Felicity?”
He shook his head. “People will notice if my friend’s wife starts to visit all the time.”
I frowned. “Yeah, that would look bad.”
