Montana Desire

Chapter 10

Grant

I heard the rumble of Cori’s truck and the lurch as she stopped too fast in her driveway. It hadn’t even been ten minutes since I’d arrived home, and I’d barely gotten my coat off.

Stepping out onto the porch, I was about to wave to her and froze.

Something was wrong. Cori was so pale, it looked like she’d seen a ghost. Or worse. The way her hands shook as she was sorting through her keys was enough to make me pause.

“Cori?”

She jumped so fast it was as if I’d set off a gun behind her. Her eyes found mine, and she relaxed. “Grant. Hi.”

“You okay?”

“Sure,” she said. “Just a long day. You know how it is. Did you need something for tomorrow?”

My instincts were screaming. She was lying. Something was bothering her, and she was scared of it. I walked down the porch steps and made sure that I didn’t look threatening in the slightest. That wasn’t what she needed. I wanted to be a place that she felt safe, no matter what.

“We’ve lived next door to each other for years, and I’ve never seen you look like this,” I said softly.

“Like what?” She didn’t meet my eyes.

I took a step closer. “Pale. Terrified. When I said your name, you jumped like you were starting the hundred-meter dash.”

Cori swallowed. “I must be more tired than I thought. I’m always jumpier when I’m tired. But don’t worry, I’ll be all set for the wedding.”

She still wasn’t looking at me. And her fingers hadn’t stopped moving, fiddling with her keys. “Cori?”

No response. Not a verbal one, at least. She shook her head a little. The only time I’d seen her even come close to this was the other night with him. I cooled the immediate anger that came with thoughts of her ex and put it aside. “Was it Joel?”

The reaction was immediate and visceral. No words, but she turned from me, heaving nothing up onto the grass. Her body shook like a leaf, and pure terror combined with rage swam through my veins. What did he do to her?

“Cori?” I leaned down and touched my hand to her back.

Shoving herself upward, she turned to me. “I’m fine. I’m okay, I promise.”

“Forgive me, but that doesn’t look true.”

“I’ll be okay.” The words were so quiet they made me ache. I wanted to touch her. Hold her. Make sure she was completely fine before ever letting her go again.

I could see red marks on her arms that didn’t look like something she could have done herself. They looked like rope marks. Some scratches that could be defensive wounds. Jesus.

“Cori, do I need to take you to the hospital?”

She shook her head, voice still painfully quiet. “No. Thankfully.”

“The police?”

“No.”

I slipped my hands into my pockets to keep myself from reaching for her. “I don’t know what happened,” I said, though I could guess enough. “But I want to help. If Joel is being a problem, then it’s easy enough to get a restraining order. Charlie knows you, and he knows that you wouldn’t lie.”

Cori laughed. “I’m sure he would give me one. But I’m not sure what good it would do.”

“Why?”

Her eyes were suddenly full of fire. “Because a piece of paper isn’t going to stop him from doing shit. And because by the time I called the police, it would already be over. And besides, how is it going to help when I literally have to go to his house to take care of the animals? There’s no other vet close enough to take over and…” Cori’s face crumpled, but she caught herself before she started to cry. “No. A restraining order doesn’t matter. I’ll just have to deal with it, I guess.”

“We can get someone to come out, Cori. You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do,” she said quickly. “It’s not like I want to be out there or anything. There’s just this horse… I don’t want to talk about it right now, but there’s a case I’m invested in, and I don’t trust another vet with it at the moment. I know it sounds stupid.”

“It doesn’t.” I shook my head. “It absolutely does not sound stupid. You care about your patients. That’s the mark of a good vet. And a good person,” I added quietly.

“Thanks.”

“I don’t know if this is an overstep, but I could come with you if you like. Whenever you have to go out there, if you don’t want to be alone, call me. I’ll go with you.”

Cori’s shoulders melted in relief. “Really?”

“Of course. You shouldn’t have to feel scared or nervous when you’re doing your job.”

“I’d like that,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. “Really.”

“When are you supposed to go next?”

“In a few days. I’ll deal with it after the wedding.”

I nodded. It wasn’t my goal to push her or attach myself to her side, but anything that let me spend more time with her wasn’t something I was angry about. And my responsibilities at Resting Warrior were flexible enough that no one would mind.

But that didn’t solve the problem of right now. Cori still looked as if she might fall over at any second. She hadn’t thrown anything up, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t. Or if she’d already thrown up elsewhere, she would need fluids. Crackers. Something to bring color back to her skin without triggering more illness.

We were taking it slow. I knew I shouldn’t ask, but the words were already in the process of coming out of my mouth. “Do you want to stay over at my place tonight? Or if you’d rather sleep in your own bed, I’ll sleep on your couch. If you want.”

The way she looked at me was full of shock. “You’d do that?”

“Of course. If it will make you feel better. But given that this is a problem with Joel, if being that close to a man will make you feel worse—”

“No.” Cori cut me off. “I can’t imagine you ever making me feel worse.”

A swell of primal pride and pleasure filled me, and I pushed it aside. The last thing Cori needed right now was my fucking bravado.

“If…” She swallowed again. “If you’d be willing to sleep on the couch, that would be good.”

“Of course.”

She turned, and I followed her up the steps to her porch, at a distance where I wasn’t crowding her. I didn’t want to make her jump again.

But her hands were still shaking. Enough that she was having trouble getting her keys into the lock. She huffed out a sigh of frustration. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah. I feel silly.”

I took the keys and opened the door to her house. Held it open for her. This was actually the first time I’d been inside her house, and though I hadn’t known what to expect, the house was entirely her.

A mixture of colored walls and comfortable furnishings, it fit her personality. Quirky and fun, just like I’d always known her to be. “I’ll be honest, just looking at that couch, I’m pretty sure it’s more comfortable than mine,” I said as she passed me.

Cori laughed, but her heart wasn’t in it.

I locked the door behind us, and she watched me do it. So she could see it was secure, I tested the door handle.

She looked lost in her own home, and that hurt. Maybe it was because they’d fought here, or maybe it was just everything all packed together. “Do you need anything?” I asked. “You almost threw up. Water? Or I can run to Arrowhead and grab you some saltines and juice with electrolytes.”

“Please don’t leave.” Cori turned so fast that she almost tripped, and she grabbed my arm. “Please.”

Slowly, I covered her hand with mine. “I’m not.”

She nodded. “I’ll get some water. I think that’s all I can stomach for now.”

“Fair enough.”

Following her to the kitchen, I watched her fill a glass with water and drain it. Then fill it again. The kitchen was a bright shade of yellow that I imagined was brimming with energy in the morning when the room would be filled with sunlight. “I like your house.”

“Really?”

There was a trap here. I saw the caution in her eyes. Something about that statement was a land mine that I had to be careful of. But I wasn’t lying. “Yeah. It really suits you. Fun. Colorful. Comfortable. You’ve made it your own. My house is boring in comparison.”

Cori smiled, and it was the first genuine one I’d seen today. It even reached her eyes, though I knew her real joy was so much brighter. “Thank you. Joel always hated it. Complained whenever he came over. I think he felt like he was slumming it.”

Ah. That was the trap. “No,” I said. “I really do like it. You should help me decorate my house. I have a bad habit of function over form. Old SEAL habits die hard, I guess.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

I grinned. “Want to bet?”

She finished the glass of water in front of her. “I…I know that it’s not really late enough for bed, but all I want to do is sleep. Please make yourself at home. Watch TV, eat whatever you want. I’m just grateful that you’re staying.”

“I’m happy to, Cori.”

She blushed and looked away.

The attraction that always seemed to sing between us rose, but there was no way in hell I was going to push that right now. Especially when she still looked pale and drained. If I ever got a hold of Joel again, he wouldn’t walk away unscathed.

Cori stood and put her glass in the sink. To get to the stairs, she had to pass me, and she paused. Breathless tension simmered in the small space between our bodies. Nothing was going to happen tonight, no matter how much I wanted to carry her upstairs and explore the depths of that tension.

But she needed more than just this. I knew it so deep that I’d bet my life on it. There wasn’t anything to say that would make her feel better, so I opened my arms. She stepped into them and let out a sigh of relief and contentment that had my blood flowing south.

I wrapped her in my arms. This was so much closer than we’d been in that little shack, and it was so much better. The tension that was left in her melted, and the way she fit against me…it was more perfect than I’d imagined. And I had imagined it.

We stayed there for long minutes. I didn’t want to let her go. If she didn’t, I’d hold her all night to make sure she knew she was safe. I would make sure she was safe as long as she wanted me to. That was the end of it.

Just like in the shack, I lifted my hand. Cradled her face. I kissed her temple. It was the only safe move I had besides taking it way too far. Cori shuddered and leaned closer before pulling away.

“Sleep well,” I said quietly.

“You too.” She looked up at me, about a thousand unspoken words in her eyes. “And thank you.”

I smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Cori looked back at me before she climbed the stairs, as if she was checking to make sure that I was real. I was very real. And like hell was I going anywhere.

Pulling off my boots, I made myself comfortable on her couch, making sure I could see both the stairs and the door. She was safe. For tonight, that was good enough for me.