Sully can be so protective, so at times it’s surprising that he leaves some of these keys hanging here. Then again, who is stupid enough to try to steal from him? I open my hand and stare at the necklace in my palm with the ring still on it. I pluck the truck keys off the hook and replace them with the necklace, the ring sliding to the bottom to hang.
I grip the keys tightly in my hand as I close the small metal door. I turn, running into a solid brick wall.
“Petal.” Sully’s voice is filled with warning, but it’s different than when he speaks to others. It’s laced with a softness but still firm. A thrill rushes through me, my mind going where it shouldn’t right now.
“I was only kinda like stealing?” My teeth sink into my bottom lip as guilt starts to take over. Sully’s head drops to the side. In the darkness, it’s hard to see his face, but I swear a small smile pulls at his mouth.
“You’re good at that. Stealing things.”
“Wait, what?” I ask, confused and not sure what he meant. What else did I steal?
He reaches past me, opening the box and plucking my necklace back out and stuffing it into his pocket.
I don’t think I’m going anywhere. At least not without him.
7
SULLY
“Drink.” I push the cup of hot chocolate into Orchid’s hands.
“Thanks.” She wraps her fingers around the cup and inhales. “This smells so good.”
I take the seat across from her at my kitchen table as she looks around. “Your house is always so neat. Mine’s a mess.”
“Yours is more creative. Like you. Nothing wrong with that.” I glance at her cat, Orion. He’s sitting in his carrier and giving me a doleful look. “You can let him out if you want.”
“Orion?” She shakes her head then takes a sip of her chocolate. “He’d scratch all your stuff.”
“It’s just stuff.” I lean down and open the door for him, and he steps out and stretches, then prances off like he owns the place.
“Be good,” she calls after him as his tail disappears down the hallway. She takes a bigger drink of her chocolate and makes an mmm sound. “Don’t tell Dixie, but I think this is even better than hers.”
“I won’t say a word.”
“That’s the thing about you, Sully. I believe you. You’ve never once led me wrong.” The trust in her voice makes some deep, dormant part of me thaw.
I let her drink in peace for a while, her nerves settling as she relaxes back in her chair. The edge of worry I saw in her eyes fades, and she seems at home here with me. I hope she knows I won’t let anyone hurt her. As long as she’s with me, nothing can touch her.
Once she’s finished her hot chocolate and I’ve refilled her cup, I settle in. “We need to talk about what happened at the diner.”
Her face falls. “I’m sorry you had to get involved.”
“I’m not.” I would’ve happily done a lot more to those bastards.
Her eyes meet mine. “Really?”
I nod.
She takes a sip and slurps up a few of the marshmallows, which leads her to blush. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you enjoy it.”
She wipes her mouth and returns her fingers around the coffee cup. “Those men …” She takes a deep breath. “Those men were my father and Jeremiah. I come from … I come from a place where my father is in charge, and he wanted me to marry Jeremiah.”
Just the thought of that slimy little shit getting anywhere near my Orchid makes violence rise in my blood. “But you didn’t want to?”
“No.” She shakes her head vehemently. “I didn’t want that life. And I definitely didn’t want Jeremiah. So I ran. I came here and tried to start fresh. Got a job, got Orion, got a new outlook on life. And I was lucky enough to meet you.” She looks down into her cup. “And that was the best luck I’ve ever had.”
Yep, that thawed part of me is warming like ice under the sun. All because of Orchid. She’s always made me melt.
“But they want you back?” I put my hands beneath the table when they clench into fists.
“They think they can take me back, make me marry Jeremiah as his first wife.”
“First?”
She bites her bottom lip as if she regrets speaking.
“Hey.” I pull my hands up and reach across the table to take hers. “You don’t have to be ashamed of where you come from. Just because you grew up in that life doesn’t mean that’s you, all right? You’re your own thing, bright and warm and beautiful. Don’t doubt that.”
She meets my gaze, her eyes watering. “That’s what you think I am?”
“That’s what I know you are.” I squeeze her hands in mine.