Chapter Fifteen

Nicole felt oddly calm as Abby handed her the glass of white wine. She was wrapped in a blanket, feeling warmer than she had before.

Before she'd realized they'd lied to her. That they'd set their dogs on her.

Kim entered the room, slipping her cell phone into her pocket. She'd been pacing on the balcony, talking animatedly to whoever was on the other end of the line. "Okay, I'm fairly certain no one's tipped off the police. I have a friend of mine monitoring their radio and communications. Don't ask. He won't get caught. He's quite brilliant at what he does. I think the Dawson brothers were telling us the truth."

"Oh, Chase would never lie." Abby sat down beside her. "Ben might, but Chase is a terrible liar. I hope Harlow's okay. She looked so upset."

"Is she in love with Josh?" Nicole had to ask.

Abby's eyes widened. "No. They've never even hinted at that. They've always been in brother-sister mode."

"She didn't seem to like me."

"She doesn't know you, sweetie," Abby said. "And she's got reasons to be on guard. Reasons her fathers seem to have forgotten. Or rather they seem to have forgotten how to handle her with any delicacy."

"It doesn't matter," Heather said, seeming to get down to business. "What does is figuring out how to handle this case. The Holloways are getting impatient with me. I talked to my husband and business partners, and we think creating a false trail might be the best way to handle the situation for the time being."

"What do you mean?" She was in such a weird place. Abby had brought her up to this ridiculous suite and wrapped her in a blanket, fussing over her like she cared. Like she really was her kid and she loved her. Now Heath…Kim was acting like she worked for her and not her in-laws. She would have believed she was dreaming, that this was a fond fantasy, if it hadn't been for one thing.

Josh had betrayed her. Grim had gone along with it.

"I mean my team can create a false trail. You did a good job of staying off the grid. I had to do serious legwork to catch up to you," Kim admitted. "It wasn't your digital footprint I followed. I had to find people you had connected with."

"She means you were smart," Abby said, giving her a pat. "You did a good job but people remembered you because of your kind heart. I think Kim wants to trick your in-laws into thinking you went places you didn't. So when they inevitably hire someone else, they'll start looking there."

"Exactly," Kim affirmed. "I'm going to lay a false trail that has you disappearing into Mexico approximately two months ago. If I can get them to keep me on the case, I'll send you further into Central America."

"It can be dangerous for a woman to travel alone," Abby mused. "It wouldn't be surprising if you died. Do you think we could fake some records with the police down there? Money isn't an object. I'll write you a check for a retainer."

"That's not necessary." Kim waved her off. "I'm happy to screw with the Holloways. They're assholes. From what I can tell Micah married Nicole because he knew he could do whatever he wanted with her. No one wiped his socials after he died, and his DMs were full of shit I can't unsee. No one outside of his family had a good impression of the man. Or rather no one who knew him in a more than casual way. He apparently was good at pretending to not be a violent shitbag of a human for a couple of months at a time."

It was a good description of who her husband had been. "I think they only tolerated me because they wanted grandchildren. I know he messed with my birth control pills. It's why I went to Portland and got the shot instead."

"That was smart of you, baby girl," Abby praised. "You did a good job, but now you need to let us help you. Now you're not alone. You have a family around you, and everything is going to be okay."

She was going to cry again. She'd thought she was all cried out. "Mrs. Barnes-Fleetwood, you need to think about this. They're dangerous, and being associated with me could cause you problems in the community when it comes out."

Abby's auburn hair shook. "You call me Abby for now, and sweet girl, I was the whore of Willow Fork when I was seventeen years old and had only slept with one boy. I loved him but his family didn't think I was good enough. Do you honestly believe I give a damn what those people think of me? I don't. I care about what happens to you. They can go straight to hell, so put that out of your mind. And I might be mad at Jack right now, but I do believe him when he says all he was going to do was talk to you."

"He didn't call the police and he could have," Kim pointed out.

"He was never going to call the police. I'm going to admit I've been worried he would try something like this, hence me getting in the truck with him when he said he needed a surprise trip to Austin," Abby admitted. "My husband can be overly protective, and we all knew you were in some kind of trouble. He wasn't patient. I told him to wait and you would tell us when you were ready."

There was a lot of that going around. "Josh didn't wait either."

"He's a lot like his daddy. I'm afraid he's more like Jack in that way than Sam and me. Josh can be as ruthless as his father." Abby studied her for a moment. "How did he handle it? Did he get mad? I know how Jared handled it, but I'm worried Josh might let his temper flash. Jared had to learn to control himself at a young age."

"Grim asked me if I did it and when I said I didn't, he said okay." Yep. There were the tears because that moment had been so sweet, and she couldn't trust it. She wasn't sure she could trust this one. Being coddled by two older women felt too much like having moms who cared about her. It felt like something she'd never once had. "Josh yelled at the twin brothers and asked me if they hurt me and talked about lawyers."

Abby's smile was completely satisfied. "That's my boy. Jared's been an excellent influence on him. They were on each other, really. I was worried he'd screwed this up, and you haven't been with him long enough to forgive him."

"He walked in and started talking like he was taking over," Nicole complained.

Abby nodded. "Yes, they'll do that. In most cases I would tell you as long as you're not in a club or a D/s setting, you fight for your place. In this situation, I think you should hand it all over to the men who have the money and connections to fight it. There's a time and place to challenge your Dom, and sweetheart, this is not it. Let them take out their swords, and you and me and Olivia will drink mimosas and watch some trashy TV under the watchful eyes of whoever Big Tag sends to guard us. I hope he sends a couple of the young ones."

"Abby," Kim said with a grin.

Abby winked her way. "I can appreciate a work of art. From a distance. And my oldest daughter Lexi is eager to meet you, Nicole. You should know she's going to ask you a million questions. She and her friend Serena are fighting over who gets to be inspired by your story."

"I say both." Kim had kicked off her shoes and seemed to be treating this like a fun sleepover. "They are very different writers. Give them the same prompt and they'll come up with two different stories."

Nicole wished this was just a fun hang with the girls. She turned to Kim. "What kind of options do I have? I can go along with the whole Nora's dead scenario, but what kind of future can I have? Should I leave the States? There's always the possibility I could run into them someday. My brother-in-law won't be easily fooled. He'll want to see a body."

"Well, I've been thinking about this, and I talked it over with my partners," Kim began. "We actually think the best solution might be you coming back to Colorado with me."

"She's not stepping foot outside of Texas," a deep voice said. "She might not step foot outside of the ranch if she's not careful."

Josh. He was here, and he'd brought his dads and Grim along. They all looked big and tough and ready for a fight. Well, Josh and Jack did.

Grim stood next to Sam, and though they didn't have a bit of blood between them, it was clear they had a connection. They were both sighing and obviously not impressed with Josh's outburst.

Grim moved to kneel in front of her. "Baby, I know you're mad, but you have to see we can't let you leave. It's dangerous."

"She's not going anywhere, and she's going to get a hell of a spanking if she tries to run again." Josh stared down at her. "Where the hell did you think you were going? You didn't even have any shoes on. You were running out into the Austin night in lingerie?"

"Oh, they're going with a good-cop, bad-cop play," Abby whispered, though everyone could hear her. "This actually could be good for you. The bad cop is usually quite nice. At least Jack is."

"Abigail," Jack barked.

If Abby was worried, she didn't show it. She took another sip of her wine.

"I know you were scared." Grim seemed intent on playing his good-cop role to the hilt. "That's why you ran. Josh and I are going to make sure you never feel the need to run again."

"I think it might be best for me to go with Kim." If she wasn't around them, she couldn't be tempted.

Kim stood, relinquishing her place to Grim, who moved in quickly. The private investigator grabbed her purse. "I think that's for the best, too. I've got a plane waiting. We can be in Bliss in a couple of hours. I've got a spare room. My cabin is pretty isolated, so anyone who comes looking for you will be noticed."

"You know what's isolated?" Josh faced off with the blonde. "A cattle ranch. Willow Fork's not that much bigger than Bliss. She's staying with us. You think I don't know what happens in that town? I've been there a time or two, and I'm trying to figure out how I've never met you."

Kim shrugged. "I was taking a calculated risk. I knew you'd been to Bliss for business a time or two, but you tend to stay at the Circle G most of the time. I was more worried about running into Olivia, though we've never been formally introduced either. You would have recognized my son."

Josh nodded. "Yeah, I've met Roman but only because we were at a couple of parties together. I didn't ask his parents' names."

"Well, I sure as hell would have known who Kimberly Kent is," Jack argued.

Kim grinned. "Jack, I passed you in the grocery store the other day. You were buying calcium supplements. I followed you for three aisles. We've been introduced twice and never had a long conversation. You can take the girl out of the Agency, but you can never take the Agency out of the girl. I blend when I want to. Like I said, I knew I was taking a calculated risk coming myself, but I thought it was worth it. Now about getting back to Bliss."

Josh's head shook. "Absolutely not. Woman goes there to ski or look at the mountains and bam, she comes out of it with two husbands."

"Yes, Willow Fork has a lot in common with Bliss, apparently," Nicole said under her breath.

"No, because they've cornered the market on crazy in that town, and I'm not sending my future wife there," Josh announced.

Nicole felt her head threaten to spin. "Wife?"

Grim gave her a grin. "Yeah, baby, where did you think this was going?"

"I told you it was going nowhere since I was leaving as soon as my car got fixed." Now that she thought about it, she had another question. "Did you have something to do with my car repairs taking so long?"

Josh's face went blank, but Grim's told the tale.

"How could you?" Her heart ached at the betrayal.

"How could I?" Josh stood in front of her, staring down with steel in his gaze. "How could I what, Nic? How could I keep you safe? How could I ensure you didn't go out into a world of predators with no protection? With no money. How much have you saved up? Where were you going to live? In your car?"

"If I have to." She stood because this was a fight that required her to go toe to toe with the man currently attempting to control her life. "And none of it is your business."

"It's damn straight my business," he countered. "Everything about you is my business. You're not going to Bliss. The only place you're going is straight back to the ranch, and if you don't want to ride all the way there with a blistered butt, you'll go quietly."

She poked her finger right against his chest. "You won't lay a hand on me, Joshua Barnes-Fleetwood. You don't scare me. You're a big bully, and I'm not having it."

He caught her hand and his expression changed, softening as he brought it to his lips. "That's right, baby. You know I won't hurt you. You know I'm not him, and that's why you'll forgive me in the end. I love you, Nicole. I love you so much I'll fight for you. Even if the person I'm fighting is you."

Manipulative asshole. He'd put her in a corner to see if she would fight her way out.

Because she could with him. She would have shut down and gone secretive with Micah. She'd shut out everyone for years, but she'd been ready to tell them.

Did it matter? Could she trust them? Or was she putting herself in a bad position again? She pulled her hand away. "I… Josh, I think we should talk in private."

She was deeply aware of how many eyes they had on them. They'd been entertaining an audience all night long.

"I think that's the best idea you've had all night." Josh was so heartbreakingly handsome it hurt to look at him. "Let's go down the hall to our room and we'll talk this out."

"This isn't the kind of thing that can be fixed with a conversation," she argued. "You broke trust with me."

"And you told us everything was fine when you're wanted for murder," Grim said quietly.

It was nothing more than the truth. "I wasn't trying to hurt you. I thought I could have some joy for a little while."

"I want more than a little while with you." Grim moved in next to Josh. "And I don't only want your joy. I want your heartache and all your sorrows. I want a life, Nicole. But you should know that even if you don't want that life with me, I'm going to make sure you have one."

"Nicole's right. She needs time," Josh offered. He turned to Kim. "Mrs. Kent, I'd like to discuss the situation with you. I don't merely want to hide Nicole. I want to get her life back for her."

"You want me to prove she didn't kill her husband." Kim nodded, looking entirely satisfied. "I'd like to do that, too. That, though, is going to require some work. I can't do it overnight, but I think it could be a fun project for me and my son."

"Or I could run again." The words were stubborn, and she didn't mean them. She was tired, and the day had been such a roller coaster. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, but I also don't think I can pretend none of this happened. The truth is I was thinking about telling you, thinking about putting all of this in your hands, but…"

"No decisions tonight," Grim said. "Can we put the heavy relationship talk on the back burner for another time and place? Tonight, let's go to bed. Separately, if that's what you need. Tomorrow we'll sit down and discuss how to handle the situation you're in. We'll go back to the ranch and wait for Mrs. Kent to figure out if she can resolve the case."

"And if she can't?" Nicole asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." His brother had the right idea. It was time to start rebuilding trust. "And I'll tell the shop to fix your car as quickly as possible so you don't feel like we're holding you hostage. I'll trust you not to run, and hopefully over time, you'll trust me again."

How could she refuse him? They were giving her everything she wanted. Time and space and maybe a way out. "All right. I'll come home with you. But I do want my car."

"About that." Jack's face had a sheen of pink.

Abby's jaw dropped. "You didn't."

"Well, I was worried she would leave," Jack said quickly. "And Al said that junker wasn't safe. She's lived in that car before. She's got pillows and blankets in it. I couldn't let her leave when she's obviously in danger. This isn't my first rodeo."

"Of course I knew that," Josh said, frowning his father's way. "Did you think I wouldn't check out her car? I wasn't going to cube it, though."

That sounded bad. "Cube?"

Abby stood up to her husband. "How could you?"

Jack shrugged. "The same way I did it to you and Sam. See, Al takes it down to the dump and there's this big machine…"

"He smushed my car?" That car was all she had.

"You can pick your new one in the morning," Josh said, sending his father a fierce stare. "We'll go shopping before we leave. Dad's paying."

"Of course I am," Jack replied like it was a forgone conclusion he would be writing a big check.

"And now Nicole's got a cube of her own." Sam wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders. "We can show you how to style it and everything."

She wanted to argue but she was getting a new car out of it. Shouldn't she be more upset about the principle of the thing? Or should she be practical? She could find a nice, inexpensive used car.

Or she could teach all the men not to mess with her. "I like Olivia's Benz."

"An excellent choice," Kim said, settling her bag against her hip. "I'm going to get some sleep. I'll reschedule my flight back and we can discuss how this is going to work over breakfast. I'm sure Jack's paying for that, too."

"Oh, I'll be paying for a while now," Jack replied.

Abby reached for his hand. "Come to bed and I'll show you how you can pay me back, Jack."

"They have zero discretion," Grim said with a shake of his head.

She thought it was sweet they'd been married for so long and still wanted each other. Still wanted to play and hold hands and explore. Still got excited about coming to the club.

Could she have the same with these men?

Should she even want it when she knew how badly it could go?

"I'm tired." She was infinitely weary, and nothing was getting solved tonight.

"Then we'll go to bed," Grim promised. "Come on. I'll carry you down."

"I can walk."

But Grim was already lifting her up into his arms. "You still don't have shoes, baby. You know as long as you don't have them, I'll have to carry you around."

Josh's eyes lit up.

"You are not cubing my shoes," Nicole protested. Although hers were kind of ragged.

"I promise." Josh leaned over and brushed his lips across her forehead. "And I'll sleep on the couch. Grim didn't want to do any of this. He wanted to wait. He wanted to be patient. I had to push."

"I let you do it, so I was involved. I take responsibility," Grim argued.

She didn't want to go to bed alone. Josh was right. This problem wasn't getting fixed with a conversation. It would take time. "Just come to bed, Josh."

He nodded solemnly and they carried her out.

When she was finally between them, she was able to sleep.

* * * *

"You can't sleep?" A deep voice brought Josh out of his brooding.

There was no other word for it. He was brooding in the dark, looking out over the Austin night. He was high enough up he couldn't hear the people milling about on the streets below as the clubs started closing and people started finding their ways home.

His home was in a bed behind him, wrapped around Grim. It had started awkward with Nicole in the middle, but at some point she'd fallen asleep and turned into Grim's warmth.

And Josh had been jealous as fuck.

He turned to his father, who stood on the balcony beside his. Between their suite and his parents, they were taking up half the floor, and the wraparound balconies met in the middle. Which appeared to be a good thing since both he and his dad were in the doghouse.

"No. I'm afraid I can't turn my brain off tonight. I thought you would be…" How did he put this? "Making things up to Mom."

His father chuckled. "I'm not being forced to sleep on the couch. I think offering to buy Nic a car helped. It's not like your momma wants her new baby driving around in a piece of crap that's as likely to explode as it is to get her to her destination. She also understands that Nicole's destination might have been somewhere dangerous. She and Olivia have become fond of Nic."

"Yeah, she's pretty easy to love." He'd started to wonder if he could say the same of himself. "But I screwed up. I don't know she's going to forgive me. It feels like she's willing to forgive everyone else but not me."

"Well, she's not real happy with me either, though I'm hoping spending an enormous amount of money on a car will help," his father admitted. "Not that I think she's a gold digger. She's as far from it as I can imagine. Now when you were seeing Alyssa I was worried."

Josh snorted. "I was never serious about her. She wouldn't accept Grim."

His father leaned against the heavy railing. He was in pajama pants and a T-shirt that proved the old man was still built like a bull. His father was still muscular and fit. Likely because he spent so much time working on the ranch. "Yeah, I could have told you that one isn't meant for our world. She's too worried about what other people think."

"And you think Nicole is?" Josh was interested in his father's opinions.

"I know I was worried in the beginning," his father allowed.

"You seem pretty worried now."

"About her safety," Dad corrected. "Not about whether or not she's going to break your heart. That girl is pure sunshine. She reminds me so much of Sam and your mom. She's been through some terrible things and her heart is still open. See, Nicole cares about the right things. Alyssa wants people to look up to her. She's thinking about her reputation all the time, about being seen with the right people. Nicole thinks about all the people in her life."

His father didn't know Nicole yet. "She's not a saint, Dad. She can tear a strip off a man when she wants to."

"Precisely why she's perfect for you. I don't know if you've noticed but you have what I like to call a strong personality. If you don't have a woman who'll stand up to you, you'll walk all over her. You won't mean to. You'll let your dominant side take over, and you won't ever figure out it's okay to sit back and let her take control."

Josh raised his brows because there was some hypocrisy flowing from his father. "Says the man who cubed my girlfriend's car."

Dad held his hands up. "I didn't say I was perfect. I'm just saying that your momma knows how to set boundaries, and that's been good for our long-term marriage. Your pops only learned how to ask for what he needed when we got involved with your mom. She taught him how to trust himself and value himself. Your momma taught me she can love me, Sam can love me, even when I screw up. I don't have to be in control one hundred percent of the time. The world won't fall apart if I take a day off."

"Or let your kids take over the business part so you can do the fun parts?"

His father turned his way, a smile on his face. "Exactly. I know I look over your shoulder more than you would like, but I'm getting better. I know I don't talk a lot about this. I don't talk a lot period, but I didn't have a father, Josh. I still worry I don't know how to do it. Abby had already raised Lexi by the time we met. She took the lead and showed me what to do. Sam is a natural caregiver. It comes so easy to him. It's why we worked in the beginning. I took the leader role. I hate that word because I feel like we put all the emphasis on being a leader when all the real work is done underneath. I could make all the decisions, but Sam made us a home. I got us the money for the ranch, but it was Sam who found Benita, who helped us do things like buy furniture that wasn't a Barcalounger or a TV. It was Sam who charmed everyone around us. Hell, it was Sam who found your mother. I wouldn't have touched her."

"Why?" His parents seemed so damn solid. It was odd to think there had been a time they hadn't been together.

"I didn't think she could handle what I needed from a woman, but the truth of the matter is I didn't know what I needed from a woman until I met Abigail Moore. Because I didn't need a woman. I needed her. I think that's how you feel about Nicole. Am I right?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah. I feel like Grim and I have been looking for a long time, and we thought we would find someone we could care about and settle in."

"Because in your mind the relationship with Grim was the primary relationship," his father pointed out.

"I missed him," Josh admitted. "I know it sounds dumb, but he was my first friend and then he was gone for so long. It's not fair but I was happy when we found him out on the range. I was actually happy his shit-ass stepfather had kicked him out and I got to have him back in my life."

"Son, you're being too hard on yourself. Of course you missed your friend. I know you don't remember this but when Grim was attending the school for the resort workers' kids, you actually told us you and he were going to grow up and find a wife."

Josh felt his lips kick up in a grin because he did know this story. "I've been told I was a precocious child and had an attachment fixation on the babysitter. Who ended up marrying my uncles. Ben and Chase don't let me forget it. I also was told I asked about Chloe before she was born."

"You knew what you wanted—a family. You were an intense kid, but you mellowed a lot. I think finding Nicole is bringing all those instincts to the surface," his father said. "So she made you sleep on the couch? Did you give it to Grim? You can come sleep in our suite. Your momma's not holding a grudge, it seems."

"Nic let me in bed but only to sleep. Though she seems to be fine with Grim."

"That's what happens when you play good cop, bad cop and you're the bad cop," his father pointed out. "I think it would be hard for Grim to be rough on her in any place but a dungeon. It's not his nature. You and Grim might not be perfect reflections of me and Sam, but the nature of the relationship is close. Until I met your mother, Sam was my priority, and then Abby became the center of our world and we had to find our places with her, too. It wasn't always smooth sailing."

"I'm not sure how to get out of this," Josh admitted. "I thought I was doing the right thing at the time."

"You were." His father sounded completely committed. "I should have come to you and told you I was worried. I should have worked with you. If I'd known you already talked to Harlow, I might not have brought her dads in, and then we wouldn't be in the situation we're in. Although I still would have cubed her car. It wasn't a good car. Whatever she paid for it, it was too much."

"I think she'll get over the car. Hell, I even think she'll get over me calling Harlow. It's the picture. I knew she didn't want her picture taken and I did it anyway." His gut clenched. At the time it seemed reasonable. Now it felt reckless. "I thought she had a stalker. And now that I'm saying the words, I'm rethinking everything. If she's got a stalker, pinging her information could bring him here."

"Harlow's partner is a smart young woman. She's not going to put anyone in danger. Ruby Lockwood has been trained by the best. I know she did an internship with McKay-Taggart, and Adam Miles is her mentor, so relax," his father said. "If Kimberly Kent thought Nicole was in danger, she would have found a way to get her out of here, and there would be nothing you or I could do about it. So relax about someone tipping off the police."

"How the hell can I relax?" Josh prayed his father had the answer because it seemed so far from him.

"You have to have some faith in the people around you," his father advised. "I looked up Mrs. Kent's team. They're a bunch of ex-CIA and ex-FBI agents who basically help people find missing loved ones. They're excellent at what they do and they know how to do it quietly. I think Nic caught a lucky break when the Holloways decided to hire her."

"She said she didn't want to take the case until her son pointed out he thought Nicole was innocent."

His father shrugged. "Then we're doubly lucky, and when that kind of providence falls into your lap, you trust it. I've already talked to my contacts and they say she's the best. We can trust Mrs. Kent and her team. We can trust Harlow and hers. We can trust Chase to make an ass of himself."

Josh had to chuckle. "Yeah, but he wouldn't have called the cops."

His father's head shook with surety. "Never. Chase would take care of things on his own. In this case even if Nicole had done it, he would have tried to figure out why. So when I say relax, I mean understand that part of this clusterfuck we find ourselves in is going to work out. You have to concentrate on Nicole."

"I don't know she wants me to concentrate on her." He felt a deep sorrow well inside. "I think she trusts Grim more than me. I think they understand each other in a way I can't."

"Of course they do. Josh, at the end of the day, you're the top," his father said with quiet wisdom. "You're the Dom, and you have to lead when it comes to something like this. She would have gone the rest of her life running. Grim likely would have kept quiet and she would have left. You forced the situation, and there's a cost. But it's one you've got to be willing to pay. She's coming home with us. You have something Sam and I didn't have."

He knew exactly what his father was talking about. "Mom. I have Mom. From what I can tell Nicole's never had a mother in her life. Not one who loved her. She was the outsider in her family and then she was the victim in her husband's."

"It's going to take a while to sort through this, and Nicole's a smart young woman. She's not going to run away this time. She knows she's in a good place, but she's been in a lot of bad places, and it's hard to trust good luck when you've had so much bad. Grim does understand. You, on the other hand, seem like you breezed through life, and I'm so proud to be able to give you a happy childhood. Pain and suffering don't make you a good person. A good person comes through it, but not having a painful background doesn't make you less of a man."

"It makes me lucky." He'd been lucky in so many ways.

"And wanting to share your luck with others, son, is what makes you a good man. So here is the hard part. You're feeling jealous right now and that's normal, but you need to adjust your thinking. She couldn't turn to you tonight. Do you want her to be alone?"

Josh thought for a moment. "When I think about it, I'm glad Grim's there. I'm glad she has him, too."

His father laid a hand on his shoulder. "Which is why this relationship can work. You're human. You'll feel jealous from time to time. Sit down. Think about the situation. Talk it out if you need to, but don't react. Act. Be the man you want to be."

"I want to give her what she needs. I want to give Grim what he needs, too. And I know that's me. I know it deep in my bones. We were meant to be together, but what if I can't convince her? Should I give them my blessing? I don't want to cost them their relationship."

"Their relationship doesn't work without you," his father said. "She's angry and scared and you're a safe place to put both of those emotions. Think long and hard. This is a woman who hasn't felt safe in a long time."

She'd felt fine yelling at him.

And he'd known he was on the right path. He'd known it when she didn't back down. He'd known it when she let him in their bed. It had only been the moment when she'd turned to Grim that insecurity had set in. Insecurity had no place in their relationship. It would fester and cause stress between them. He would let it go. He would continue to be her safe place even if she didn't turn to him.

Yet.

"I have to be patient." It would be the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. He wanted her more than anything, wanted to start their lives together.

She wasn't ready. She might never be, and he couldn't simply make it happen. He couldn't willpower his way through this.

"She needs some time, son," Dad agreed. "She needs to rest her soul in a place where she's safe, and we're going to give it to her. You need to be ready for her to not move into your house, not sleep in your bed for a while. This courtship of yours went fast because she thought she would leave. Now it's time to slow things down and do this right. She's been burned. Give her the time she needs to realize it's not happening all over again. Let your momma baby her. Let Olivia be her friend. Let me and your pops dad the hell out of her."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Josh asked.

His father gave him a weary smile. "Well, I was thinking she might like a job."

It wasn't a terrible idea. "She could work with me in admin. I can find her a job. Or if she wants to help out Grim, she could do that, too. She can explore and figure out what she wants while we wait for Mrs. Kent to decide how to best handle the situation. I want to get Uncle Lucas on this."

"Already called. He's coming to the ranch day after tomorrow," his father promised him. "If it's all right with you, we'll get up, have breakfast with Mrs. Kent, and make arrangements for extra security out at the ranch. Subtle security because I don't want anyone asking why there's suddenly a bunch of armed guards around."

Willow Fork wasn't a metropolis. All new people would be noticed. "It would start talk, and they would look Nicole's way."

His father nodded as though he understood and had already fixed the problem. "So we bring in a couple of new ranch hands who also happen to know how to spot security problems. She should be all right on the ranch. When she leaves, we'll make sure someone is with her, but I'm hesitant to make her feel like she's in lockdown. From what I can tell the only person looking for her right now is on our side, and she's smart as hell. Kimberly Kent used to manipulate world leaders. She can handle a couple of assholes from Oregon."

He had to be patient. He had to give her the time she needed.

And if, in the end, she chose only Grim, he would have to step back and be happy for the two most important people in his life.

Josh listened as his father spoke, but his mind was on the woman in bed.