Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Laura Scott (speed reading book .txt) 📖

small talk.” Even if things couldn’t be made right with his dad, Colt would feel better if he forgave him. She wouldn’t press him, though. It wasn’t her place.

“Subject change,” he said. “Who do you like for Jared’s murder?”

There were so many options. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe we’ll get a break and get an identified print off the watch, which will lead us to something concrete.”

“Spoken like a true detective.” His grin drew a gooey response in her belly.

Physical attraction. She could deal with that. Didn’t mean there was an emotional connection. There couldn’t be. Wouldn’t be. “Armchair detective.”

He chuckled. “Whatever you say, Sherlock. And I know we’re making light—and I get the need to at times to help with the fear and anxiety, but I don’t take your safety lightly, Georgia. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

Georgia paused, laying a hand on his forearm, the corded muscle doubling the response in her belly, or maybe it was the conviction in his words—a little of both, perhaps. “Thank you for saying that. I know I’m secure with you. My fear and anxiety—they don’t have anything to do with your ability to keep me safe.”

A sliver of relief slid into his eyes, and his shoulders relaxed. “I thought you might be triggered because you don’t feel like I can protect you.” His neck reddened.

Georgia’s specific trigger, unfortunately, wasn’t about her feelings of safety or not being safe. It was him. Or anyone she loved and cared for. Yeah, she was tempted to untie the bow to the romance box and jump all in, but she’d been there before—with Colt. It ended with fighting, her making herself sick with worry and Colt’s frustration. Even now that he knew that her fretting was more than that and tried to understand—she’d end up dragging him down and being a huge burden to him. He’d resent her and regret loving her.

“I feel the safest with you,” she whispered. But her feelings didn’t change the fear she felt concerning him or losing him if she let herself love him again.

He held her hand, caressed her skin with his thumb. “I don’t want you to feel too afraid to experience life, Georgia. I don’t want to be the cause of any of your fear.”

She swallowed hard and fought back tears. To tell him in a roundabout way he was the cause would crush him. And she’d done enough hurting him.

“I guess we’re both dealing with our insecurities.” He let go of her hand.

“I guess so.” While she ached for his touch, letting it grow cold was the smartest course.

As they headed for the orchard, she noticed his posture changed and he kept glancing in his rearview.

“Everything all right?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Her stomach knotted, and she balled her hands in her lap.

Something was wrong.

SEVEN

The afternoon sun chased away the fall nip, but the chill that came from Colt’s feeling of being watched hadn’t let up. He’d been careful and hadn’t seen a suspicious tail, but that meant nothing when his gut kept warning him. The last thing he wanted was for Georgia to worry. It was his job to protect her, help her feel secure and keep on alert.

If that meant apple picking, so be it. Even if he had to do it in a pair of khakis and a dress shirt. He’d suffer through, especially since he wasn’t the cause of Georgia’s anxiety.

Georgia had put that one fear of his to bed. When Jared had died, she’d retreated into herself, leaving Colt feeling cold, helpless and rejected. All he’d wanted was to be her safe place to fall, be her protector. After Jared died and it was ruled a homicide, Georgia had grown distant and become quiet. She didn’t want to go out, didn’t want Colt to go out or train in the athletic room. It had taken him weeks to convince her to go to the homecoming dance. He’d known he was losing her with no way to hold on.

Now, he realized it was the anxiety driving her away from him. Another person in her life that she had cared about had died, adding on to the fears she carried about the world being unsafe. Here she was, though, braving the dangerous world to fight for truth and justice. She refused to cower and cave. But something nagged him—something she held back but he couldn’t pinpoint.

He parked in a spot closest to the store entrance. For a Monday afternoon, the place was hopping. Several school buses were here on field trips, and moms were toting children across the grounds to the numerous children’s activities, like pumpkin picking, hayrides, corn mazes and fun fall photo booths.

“Remember the year we came for the nighttime hayride and corn maze? That was so much fun,” Georgia said, but her voice was shaky as they entered the barn-turned-store. The smells of apples, cinnamon and hay hit his senses and brought back the nostalgia of more innocent times.

“I definitely do.” Mostly he remembered Georgia snuggling up against him, the feel of her warm breath on his neck as they huddled under a quilt while made-up monsters popped out and scared them during the ride.

Protecting her—even from people in costumes—had filled him with confidence and a strong dose of male pride. In that moment, with her in his arms, he’d felt like a man and not a boy. He wasn’t the good-for-nothing his father claimed. He wasn’t weak or afraid. Colt could have conquered anything that night. After the hayride, they’d climbed into his first Ford truck and he’d most definitely kissed her like a man and not a boy. That was a night seared into his soul.

Was she thinking of those same moments, too? He stole a peek. Her cheeks were tinged pink, and she wore a sheepish grin that gave her thoughts away. What would kissing Georgia Jane Maxwell be like now that he was a man and she was all woman? His blood heated, and he wished