She pulled back. “I’ve got to get dressed. I imagine there’s going to be another video session this morning.”
“Actually, no. I was going to let you sleep a little longer, but I talked to Spencer about an hour ago. It’s a go for the high school. Pageant practice resumes this morning.”
“I didn’t think Selina or the pageant board were going to give us Sunday off, not when all we’ll have for the next three weeks are evenings.” She was actually sorry that the pageant was only going to be for a few more weeks, with the final festivities at the end of the month. It meant she had only three weeks with Holden, before he went back to his life in Phoenix. Back to being an FBI agent, far away from Mustang Valley.
“You can ask for another agent to guard you if you want, Bella. You don’t have to be tied to me for all three weeks.”
“But you won’t let anyone else have the final say in my safety, will you?”
“No.”
“And we’ve gone past the point of acting as if we don’t share more than this pageant and wanting to catch the killer. Right?”
He nodded. “Right again.”
“Then I’m fine with you staying here. There’s nowhere else I can go without bringing the threat with me, be it a hotel or even Rattlesnake Ridge Ranch, if I were ever invited there.” She heard the self-pity in her voice and resolved to do whatever she had to do to erase it. Martyrdom had been Aunt Amelia’s gig, not hers.
“I know it’s scary. But you’re right—wherever you go we’d have to start over again as far as your security.”
“Then let’s leave it as it is.”
“I won’t distract either of us again, Bella.” His level gaze wasn’t entirely convincing as there was a flicker of heat in its depths.
“It’s a two-way responsibility, Holden. You didn’t make or even convince me to do anything I hadn’t wanted to since just about the time you opened my bag to check for contraband.”
His color deepened and major dimples formed on either side of his mouth but he didn’t widen it into a grin.
“We’re only going to hurt one another in the end.”
“I agree.” She shifted on her feet, knowing she needed to get dressed or at least get a large mug of coffee. But she couldn’t bring herself to walk away. As if it would truly mean the end of anything personal with Holden. “But, we can both agree that we’re friends of a sort, can’t we?” The plea in her tone made her cringe on her behalf but it didn’t stop how she felt.
She needed to know Holden was her friend.
A flash of white in the dim hallway reassured her. “There’s no way I couldn’t be friends with my buddy’s sister.”
So she was back to being Spencer’s sister. At least that meant they were still talking, and back on neutral territory. Away from the heated desire that threatened her heart as much as the killer threatened her life.
Except unlike her wish to see Holden apprehend the murderer, she didn’t seem to care if her heart was on fire.
* * *
Holden knew he was being a jerk. No question. He’d just brushed off the woman unlike any other he’d ever known. But it was for her safety, the security of the entire investigation.
And the tightness around his heart every time he remembered why he was here, to catch a killer, served as a reminder that he was getting too close to Bella.
While Bella got dressed he took a cup of coffee out to the patio and placed a call to Spencer to pass on some information MVPD needed for the ongoing investigation against AAG. It was already hot, even in the shade of her terra-cotta-tiled roof, but he needed to be outside, to see the desert wake up.
“You’re up early for a G-man.” Spencer’s teasing was a welcome relief after drawing the grim boundaries he needed with Bella.
“Don’t worry, man, I’m going back to bed after this.”
Spencer’s silence had him replaying what he’d just said. “Oh, geez, Spencer, I didn’t mean with your sister, for heaven’s sake.” Guilt slapped his conscience silly.
“It’s pretty apparent that there’s something going on between you two.”
“I promise, I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“I know that. I trust you, always have.” Spencer paused again and in Holden’s line of work, he had learned that pauses were where trouble lay. “Bella’s not had a lot of luck with guys, Holden, and I don’t want to see a broken heart when you go back to your job in Phoenix.”