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I didn’t know how she had the energy to be conscious because I was dog-tired, and I wasn’t recovering from a gunshot wound.
I got into bed next to her.
She was shot! Ben almost died. She almost died. The horses could’ve been hurt. So much could’ve gone wrong. And suddenly, I couldn’t fucking do this anymore.
I leaned against the headboard and closed my eyes. “You said Knox was giving you a job near Austin?”
“Huh?” I looked at her. Her hands were under her cheek on the pillow. She looked young and fucking exhausted.
“Take the job.”
“Huh?”
I growled. “Elena, you need to go…just get the hell outta here as you’d planned.”
She blinked, then let out a short, humorless laugh. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I clenched my jaw, preparing for the fight. “Pack your things. You’re getting the hell out of here.”
Her eyes narrowed.
She sat up, the covers falling off her. She looked like a warrior, bruised, battered, her hair wavy around her gorgeous face, her breasts heaving under the tank top she usually slept in.
“You’re out of your Goddamn mind if you think I’m leaving.”
“Elena—”
“No.” The word cracked through the air like a whip.
I dragged a hand over my face, frustration and fear tangling in my gut. “It’s not safe here. Someone’s trying to hurt me, and you?—”
“You think I don’t know that?” she snapped, movingcloser, her eyes flashing with fire hotter than the Goddamn barn had been. “I was the one who got shot, you dickhead.”
I let out a short, irritated exhale. “Then why the hell are you still here?”
She stared at me, anger flickering in her expression. Then, softly, dangerously, she demanded, “Why are you?”
I stilled.
She leaned closer and put her hand on my chest. I could feel her heat and the lingering smell of smoke in her hair.
“You could’ve sold this place. Could’ve washed your hands of all of it. But you didn’t.”
“Elena—”
“I know why.”
I swallowed, my throat tight.
She tilted her head, her gaze piercing right through my damned soul. “Because you love the land.”
“The land isn’t going anywhere,” I managed to choke out. “But you are.”
She cuddled into me then and drew my arm around her, resting her head on my shoulder. “I thought we were done being afraid.”
I breathed out slowly. She wasn’t asking to hear what she already knew. She was asking if I had the guts to say it. I stroked her shoulder, avoiding the bandages that were still there.
“I can’t lose you.”