Page 71 of The Bodyguard's Fall

A smile brushed his lips, but by then we were ready to check out. Tate set our ice cream on the conveyor belt and pulled out his wallet.

Once back in his truck, instead of heading toward the Walker farm, he surprised me again, driving us down a winding dirt road near his home. We passed hay fields and rustling trees before he parked the truck underneath a canopy of limbs that had grown together. Before us, shining in the moonlight, was Leeland’s pond. A floating boat dock meandered slowly across the shimmering water. The place was deserted.

Tate killed the engine, leaving us in the dark. Immediately, panic began to crawl up my spine as I frantically searched for the lock button on the door.

“Whoops, sorry,” Tate mumbled as the truck rumbled to life again. “That was just a reflex.” He looked over at me and probably saw the blind panic and said, “Sorry, we can go back if you’re not comfortable here. I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t want to take you to the ridge, and I thought you’d like it. My brothers and I used to swim here all the time.” He looked once more at me. “Do you want to leave? I wasn’t planning to get out or anything, just to sit and eat our ice cream.”

By this time, my heart rate had dropped considerably, and Tate looked so adorably out of tune that I probably would have done anything he asked to get that furrow out of his brow.

“Why don’t you want to take me to Make-Out Ridge?” I teased, trying to bring us back. “Isn’t it good for our cover?”

He gave me a look. “You couldn’t handle the ridge with me. Do you want to go?”

“To Make-Out Ridge? Sure,” I supplied with a smile.

“Rawlins. I’ve noticed you getting a little more feisty lately, which I like, but you need to start thinking about something else besides how sexy I am all the time.”

I laughed.

“Are you good here?” he asked again.

“Yeah. I think. I…get jumpy in the dark sometimes. I keep my phone flashlight on all night because I’m scared of the dark now. Like a little kid. So that’s fun for me.”

I cursed myself for saying that. I tended to ramble when I was nervous, but my confession made me sound like a child. And sure enough, my face burned as I felt him study me for a long moment before he rustled through our bag and handed me a spoon and my ice cream. And then, to my surprise, he put his arm on the seat behind me and began backing up the truck.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“We’re leaving. It’s creepy as hell here.”

A laugh burst from my mouth. Our ice cream was getting soft as he wound his way back up the driveway to his parents’ house. He parked his truck, opened my door, and led us to a swing on the corner of the porch. He motioned for me to sit, and as soon as I was comfortable, he settled down beside me.

I pointed toward the tree that stood right next to my room. His old window. “Is that the cause of all your broken bones growing up? That’s a pretty tempting escape route.”

He followed my gaze and smiled. “Nah, sneaking in and out of the bedroom window was more Ben’s style.”

“How did you get hurt so much?”

“Crashing motorcycles, misjudging the space between the dock and the water at Leeland’s pond, fights, football…that kind of stuff. Jax tried to beat my record of broken bones, but he couldn’t quite pull it off.”

“Your poor mother is a saint.”

He nodded in agreement. For the next few moments, we rocked quietly as we focused on our ice cream.

“Coleson said you saved his life?” I ventured slowly.

Tate stilled, and the rhythm we’d gained swinging together became momentarily disrupted before he got us back on track.

He huffed out a bitter laugh. “If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have needed his life saved.”

“What happened?” I asked, the sweetness from my strawberry ice cream feeling out of place with our discussion. “Is it really classified?”

He smiled slightly. “Most of this stuff is in the news now, so I can tell you that at least. But they should be wrapping everything up in a couple of weeks, I guess.”

“Ok, so…what happened, then?”

He hesitated slightly before he said, “It started as a normal drug buy.”

“What does that mean?”