Page 19 of Ghost

Ghost bunched hishand into a fist as he stormed across the walkway toward his cabin.He upended the mug of coffee.The hot liquid ate through the pristine snow like acid.

He hated himself for giving her the coffee in the first place.

What the hell was the matter with him?He was wasting time.Wrapping her in a blanket, for fuck’s sake?Feeding her coffee?All right, so her pulse had concerned him.But it shouldn’t have.

He wanted to believe he was concerned because he needed to know everything she was hiding, but he wouldn’t lie to himself.Tearing into the house, he dropped the mug in the sink with a clatter then went to his room and yanked off his clothes.

After stepping into workout shorts, he made his way back downstairs to the sunroom turned gym.He’d been planning to convert the shop into a huge workout space, but now that idea was fucking tanked.

From here on out, all that shop would remind him of was big blue eyes, high cheekbones, and the curve of her ass.Killing her in there would only taint the space even more.

“Goddammit!”he bellowed, driving his fist into the dangling punching bag.

It bounced on its chains and swung toward the mirrored wall behind it.He huffed through his nose, letting out a growl and bunching his fists.Normally he’d put on his sparring gloves.

Right now, he wanted the pain.

His hands in front of his face, he beat into the bag.The rattling of chains filled his head, washing out the memory of her haunting, raspy voice.He ducked and dodged, working himself into a sweat.

Finally, swiping his forearm over his face, he fished his phone from his pocket and brought up the footage.Anna sat up with the blanket wrapped around her.

Indecision fired up his blood once again.After propping his phone on the nearby shelf, he went back to his workout.This time, he drove kicks into the bag.

Twenty minutes later, he hit the weights then jumped on the treadmill, which was near the window.Thankfully the sunroom faced the east side of the property, so he had a view of rolling snow and pine trees instead of the shop.

He did an hour of cardio, took a hot shower, and changed into clean jeans and a long-sleeved gray shirt before making himself toast and sausage.At some point he’d have to drive into Missoula to grab more groceries, but he needed to get his head straight before he left the cabin.

His cell phone rang as he was finishing his meal.He swiped to answer Taschen’s call.“’Sup?”

Taschen was one of the guys he worked alongside at Backcountry.He was a good guy, but annoying as hell sometimes.“Hey, I heard what happened.”

Ghost grunted.“Did Rami tell all you fuckers?”

“’Course,” Taschen said with a laugh.“I mean, damn.A woman came after you?None of us saw that coming.”

“Neither did I,” he said wryly.

“She talk yet?”

Ghost pushed his plate away.“Nope.Won’t say a fucking word.”Other than calling him an asshole, but he kept that shit to himself.

Taschen cursed.“Maybe she doesn’t know anything.”

He circled the tip of his thumb over the edge of the table.Leave it to Taschen to echo the thought circling his mind.“It’s a possibility.”

“How, uh, persuasive have you been?”

Ghost scoffed.“The fuck are you asking me?”

“I’m asking if you’re as fucked in the head as we all suspect you are,” Taschen countered, nonplussed.“Seriously, we’ve got a bet going.”

Amusement chased away the annoyance.“That so?Let’s hear it.”

“Rami seems to think the highest of you.Said he doesn’t think you’ll go full interrogation beast.”

Ghost smirked.“What about the rest?”

“Shockingly,” he said with sarcasm, “Zain and August think you’ve already worked off her fingernails.”