Page 120

She closed her eyes. “No, I don’t suppose it is.” Her heart was racing. She’d told her dad that she was torn between being mad at him for letting her down and being worried that something might have happened to him. She dreaded to think what Ashton had said – thatthe bad men got him– might mean.

“Do you know what happened to the bad men?” Ford asked.

“Grandpa got away from them, and Uncle Cash took care of them.”

A shiver ran down Everly’s spine. She didn’t want to know what Cash’s version of taking care of people might look like.

If that hadn’t freaked her out enough, the look on Ford’s face as he turned to Tanner made her feel queasy.

“I hate to bring this up, but I’ve been wondering if there might be anybad guyslurking in the background.”

“What do you mean?” Everly asked.

Tanner blew out a sigh. “You know the other girls’ stories, right?”

She nodded. She’d been horrified to hear what had happened to each of the girls. Sierra’s fiancé had tried to kill her, Janey had almost died when a meth lab exploded, Laney and little Maya had been kidnapped, Callie had had a crazy stalker, and Shayna had been taken by a serial rapist.

Tanner reached out and took her hand. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. I’m going to make damn sure of it.”

“It’s been on my mind,” said Ford. “We’ve got your back.”

She looked at Ashton; she was more concerned about his safety than her own.

Tanner nodded. “Both of you.”

She shook her head to clear it. “But we don’t have that kind of craziness in our lives. There’s nothing…” Tanner raised his eyebrows as he held her gaze, and it finally dawned on her. There was no one out to get her, but her dad was another story.

“The bad guys wanted to hurt Grandpa, not us,” said Ashton.

“They’re not going to hurt anyone,” Tanner told him. “You heard what Uncle Cash said, he took care of them.”

“Yeah, but we need to look out for Grandpa, too.”

Everly covered her eyes with her hand. Of course she didn’t want anything to happen to her dad.

When they finally made it to bed later that night, Tanner wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to his chest.

“I love sleeping with you.”

She chuckled. “Likewise.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that – I mean it, I mean the sleeping part. Of course I love screwing your brains out at every chance we get but that was never in question. I can admit it now that I’m past it, but in the beginning, I was a little nervous about the sleeping part.”

“Aww.” She patted his chest. “If it’s any consolation, I was nervous about it to start with, too.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s been a long time since I shared a bed with anyone.”

He scowled as he pressed his forehead against hers. “Let’s leave it at that, can we? I don’t want to think about it.”

“Think about what?”

“You, sleeping with someone else.”

She had to laugh. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I never shared anything important – anything of myself – with anyone until you. I know it was different for you, that’s why I don’t want to even think about it.”