Avoidance.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been quite so shocked that she was focusing on me and keeping the topic far from herself and what she’d witnessed and experienced today.
How would I get her to open up to me without confiding in her about me?
“Let’s see,” I said, starting the truck’s engine. “I had a nice hot cup of coffee that no one stole.” I glanced at her, and her eyes widened before she burst out laughing.
“Real smooth there, Handsome.”
I laughed under my breath, she’d caught me off guard with her compliment. “After my hot cup of coffee,” I said, finishing my thought, “I relaxed until I was called into work unexpectedly.”
Harper exhaled a loud breath. “That’s a bummer. Enough about work. Can you take me someplace we can see the stars? I live in the city, and there’s always so much light pollution back home.”
“Sure, we can do that after we grab a bite to eat. By then, the sun will have set.” I knew just the place to take her that was remote and beautiful.
* * *
We finished dinner, and I drove up the mountain pass toward my place.
I passed the road for my home and kept heading north to a clearing that I knew would be abandoned.
“You really know how to pick a quiet spot. You don’t plan on murdering me up here, right?” Harper joked.
I shut off the engine and stepped out into the darkness, leaving the headlights on for a minute while I grabbed a blanket from the backseat, and laid it out to sit on. “Have a seat.”
She stalked over to the blanket and sat down.
I killed the lights on the truck and came back in the darkness, having a seat beside her.
“This is nice,” she said, lying down on the blanket. She stared up at the night sky, speckled with stars glittering in the distance.
I shifted to lie back down beside her. My knees bent as I stared up at the darkened oblivion. “It is,” I said.
I let the silence envelop us, listening instead to the soft breaths that fell from her lips.
Several minutes passed as we stared up above us.
“I thought I might die today,” Harper whispered. Her voice was soft but crystal clear.
I reached for her hand.
I wasn’t supposed to get close to her. I wasn’t supposed to have feelings for the client. I’d met her before we were hired, but did that matter?
I gave her hand a tentative squeeze.
She shifted onto her side and curled up against me.
I pulled her close, protecting and shielding her from the world around us.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. I wasn’t going to pry or force her to discuss what happened, but if she wanted to confide in me, I would be there for her.
She chewed her bottom lip, the moonlight casting a soft blue glow over her features. “I guess you didn’t hear about the abduction from the set today. A girl was taken from the parking lot. Apparently, she was with the security team who was hired by the movie studio.”
I held my tongue, not wanting to give anything away. Instead, I held her and listened to what she had to say.
“On my way to lunch, I witnessed this guy carrying a girl to his van. It looked strange. It felt wrong. Everything about it, Lincoln. My stomach was in knots. She didn’t move. She wasn’t awake. For all I know she’s dead. He forced me into the van but I wouldn’t go with him.”
I couldn’t remain quiet any longer. “But you fought him.”