Unconstrained

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Maybe I wanted you to look at it first. Maybe I like you taking care of me.”

He scowled at me.

“I don’t know when the doctor will get here. You wanted to take a look, and I knew you’d be nervous about it all day if you didn’t.”

He tilted his head for a moment as if thinking something through. “Wait. You’re staying here all day?”

I let out a slow breath. There were several ways I could answer that. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I also didn’t want to make him think things were going to go down differently than they were. I was leaving once he was safe, no matter how badly that would hurt.

“Someone needs to be here with you just in case Trigger or his men come back. I’ll be here until I get the all clear from the Theriots.”

“And after that?”

I could tell by the resignation in his tone that he already knew the answer. “I’ll head out to make trouble somewhere else.”

“You know you could…” He shook his head. “Never mind. You’re never going to settle down, are you?”

“Not sure it suits me.”

“Driving around looking for trouble does, though? That’s your plan for the future?”

“Just because you’ve got a nice job and everything all worked out…”

“Don’t you want something more?”

“I want to be free of constraints.”

Leland took a step back from the bed. He was nearly as pale as he’d been when he’d first seen my injury. I’d hurt him when I was trying not to. Wouldn’t staying here ultimately hurt him even more? “Leland—”

“It’s fine. You do what you need to do. I’m going to clean this up.”

He picked up the old bandage and other supplies. My chest ached as I watched him walk out of the room, and I wished things were different.

Leland was making me want things I’d never wanted before. I longed to pull him back into bed, wrap myself around him, and hold him tight. I wanted to tell him how I felt, but I couldn’t trust my feelings. There was no way I’d fallen in love in one day, was there?

I should have just done as Beau said and kept my hands off him, but even before I’d touched him, I’d wanted to make him mine. There was something about Leland that called to me. That sounded so foolish, but it was true. We just fit. I had no doubt Leland had enjoyed what we’d just done as much as I had, but would he like dealing with me day-to-day? I doubted it.

What would I do if I stayed anyway? Beau knew I never stayed in one place long, and he’d forbidden me to touch Leland, so I couldn’t exactly tell him why I might consider staying. Beau might be okay with me sticking around to help out at the shop for a little while, but I wasn’t going to pretend Leland wasn’t mine, and I doubted Beau wanted me mixed up in his mostly legitimate business.

My stomach rumbled, and I reached for the sandwich on the nightstand. At least hunger was a problem I could solve.

Leland did make breakfast for us because, despite eating the sandwich, I was still starving. I sat in Beau’s kitchen watching him cook, and Leland made me drink glass after glass of water. I didn’t mind his high-handedness because he obviously knew what he was doing in the kitchen, and he was so damn beautiful I could watch him all day.

He dished up pancakes and bacon and put a plate in front of me. It smelled heavenly and tasted even better. “This is amazing.”

Color infused his cheeks. “Thanks. It’s nothing special.”

“It is to me. I’m lucky if I don’t ruin Ramen noodles when I make them.”

Leland laughed. “You can’t be that bad.”

“I promise you I can.”

“I would cook for you if…” He looked away as his words trailed off.

I loved imagining him cooking for me every day. “It’s okay. I make do.”

“You probably don’t get much decent food if you’re on the road all the time.”

“I don’t always travel. I usually find a place to stay for a while, long enough to get some work done.”

He raised his brows. “By work you mean some kind of criminal operation.”

“Yeah.”

“Where do you stay? Some cheap motel?”

I smiled. “Sometimes. If I don’t have a kitchen, I can’t be expected to cook. I eat out and get shit from vending machines.”

Leland shook his head. “How did you end up being a… drifter?”

He smiled. “I grew up moving around while my old man ran cons. He died when I was eighteen, and my mom took off with another man. Most people would say I should have worked my ass off at some shit job and tried to save money to go to school and get a degree so I could work for someone for the rest of my life. That didn’t appeal to me. My father was an asshole, but I enjoyed the freedom he’d given me as well as the easy money.”