He’d been the best thing to happen to her since her father died. Aunt Mercy was great, but with Cade she felt beautiful and special. He’d bought her a gold necklace for her seventeenth birthday, lessening the pain of her first birthday without her father. He was tall and gorgeous and kind. When his brown eyes looked into hers, she felt like the only woman in the world.
She jogged faster, the icy air invigorating her.
Aunt Mercy will kill me.
But she didn’t care. She was happy and energetic around Cade, and she’d do whatever it took to spend more time with him. He worked twelve-hour days on a ranch far out of town. At first they’d simply texted and FaceTimed in the evening, but soon it wasn’t enough. Nights were his primary free time.
She spotted his old Toyota pickup parked up ahead, and elation raced through her.
She’d kept the relationship quiet, unsure what her aunt would think of her having her first boyfriend. Especially one who was three years older. Her father had told Kaylie that his sisters hadn’t been allowed to have boyfriends in high school. Would Mercy continue that legacy? She didn’t seem like the type to look down on young love, but she did preach self-sufficiency. And Kaylie felt as if she couldn’t breathe without Cade.
There was nothing independent about that.
It was enough to make her keep her mouth shut. Mercy had her own romance going on. Kaylie knew Chief Daly had spent the night a few times in their apartment. He was always gone before Kaylie got up in the mornings, but she knew. Her aunt always seemed more introspective those mornings. Quiet and content. A small smile on her lips.
Kaylie dashed up to the driver’s window and knocked, laughing as she made Cade jump. She ran around to the passenger side and climbed into the warm truck. They leaned toward each other and kissed, his hand running through her hair. She’d worn it down because he liked it that way.
“Hey, babe,” he said in his low, sexy voice, stroking her cheek, pressing his forehead against hers. The smell of his cologne made her heart race. Simply put: he made her feel alive. When she wasn’t near him, it felt as if she were moving through a fog, simply biding time until they could be together again. She was addicted.
“What do you want to do tonight?” she asked. “I shouldn’t stay out more than two hours. It’s too hard to get up for work in the morning.”
“Your aunt didn’t hear you, right?”
“I don’t think so. She seemed exhausted when she got in this evening and went straight to bed.”
“Good.” He kissed her again. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” she said between kisses.
“Landon and Jason want to hang out. They said they’d be at the gravel pit off Lincoln. Finn will probably be there too.”
Her heart fell at the news that they wouldn’t be alone. At first she’d been excited to meet Cade’s friends, but once she’d spent time with them, she’d found them to be full of themselves and immature for twenty-year-olds. Cade wasn’t like that. He was mature and thoughtful while his friends tended to be loud and obnoxious. Especially when they’d been drinking. Someone always brought a case of Coors or Budweiser to every gathering. Kaylie would accept one and nurse it. She didn’t care for the taste, while the guys liked to see how fast and how many they could drink at one time.
“Sounds great,” she said with a smile. “You won’t drink, right? I need to be back on time.”
“I promise. I have to get up for work too.”
“Text me in the morning and I’ll have your coffee ready when you stop by.”
“Deal.” They drove toward Eagle’s Nest with her sitting in the center of the bench seat and his arm around her shoulder. He cranked up the heater, although the cool of the night didn’t bother her. Nothing bothered her when he was near. Every cell in her body worked overtime when she was with him; she was never cold.
Cade steered with one hand on top of the wheel, smiling as he frequently glanced down at her. He turned off the main highway and weaved down a few back roads. Kaylie had a general idea of the location of the gravel pit but was mildly lost by the third dark turn. Cade drove with confidence.
“I haven’t actually been here,” Kaylie admitted. “I think I drove by a time or two with . . . my dad.” The words stuck on her tongue. She’d learned her days passed easier if she didn’t spend time thinking about her father. Every evening she spent a few minutes looking at pictures of the two of them and telling him about her day. It sounded weird, but it worked for her. After his death, at first she’d felt guilty if she didn’t think about him every minute of the day. Mercy had taken her to a therapist, and together they’d worked out a system whereby Kaylie could move on with her day because she knew she’d spend time with her father’s memory in the evening.
“It’s a cool place.” He took a sharp left, and the truck lurched as he guided it down a steep gravel road. Kaylie spotted three other pickups at the bottom. They were parked side by side with their headlights on. Three guys stood in the headlights, and she spotted a rifle in the hands of one of them. Another tipped his head back as he took a long drink out of a silver can. The headlights reflected off the can, sending a flash of light at her and Cade. The figure smashed the can in his hand and threw it to the side.
She straightened and Cade’s arm slipped off her shoulders as he parked, adding his truck to the line. “What are they doing?”
“If they’re at the gravel pit, it means target practice,” Cade said. “It’s a good place to shoot because it’s deep.”
“In the middle of the night?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“Isn’t this private property?”
“No one comes out here at night.” Cade opened his door and she slid out his side, wishing they’d gone somewhere else. Alone. Cade’s friends ambled over and greeted them, thrusting beers in their hands. Jason was the tallest, but he wasn’t fit like Cade, and even though he was only twenty, Jason had a beer belly.
Landon gave her the creeps. He always stared a little too long and sat a little too near. He was whipcord lean with hawklike eyes that were set close to his long narrow nose. She’d heard he’d flunked out of high school.
Finn was the follower and people pleaser, always anxious to do what everyone else wanted. Kaylie figured Landon kept Finn close at hand to stroke his ego and so he’d have someone to order around.
Kaylie handed back her beer. “I have to work in a few hours.”
“Same here,” said Cade. He tossed his to Finn. “Some of us have jobs.”
“I prefer to sleep in,” said Landon. “Especially on the weekend. Why in the hell would you work at a job that made you work weekends?” He took a long swallow of beer and studied Kaylie over the top of the can as he drank. “That’s right,” he said directly to Kaylie after wiping his mouth. “You’re still in high school. I don’t miss that hell.”
She looked away, discomfort curling in her stomach.
Cade claimed his friends thought she was cool even if she was young. But every time they hung out together, one of them said something about her school, as if to remind Cade that he was dating someone beneath him.
“You’re up.” Landon handed a rifle to Cade. “Five bucks says you can’t land them all in the head.”
Kaylie spotted several paper targets on the tall, sheer rock wall. Her dad had taught her to shoot, and she was the best out of all her cousins, but she didn’t want to show off to this group. Landon was excellent. She’d learned that weeks ago when she and Cade had stopped by his farm. Landon had taken them out back to a shooting range he’d built. Hay bales had dotted the field, labeled with their distance and targets. When Kaylie’s father taught her to shoot, she’d aimed at bull’s-eyes. These guys used huge images with real faces—not the standard faceless human form. It was creepy.
“I haven’t shot in weeks,” Cade said. “Not since the last time we were at your place.”
“Forget the bet then, loser. Just shoot.” Landon stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit it with the flick of a lighter. He caught Kaylie watching him. He blew out a giant breath of smoke, holding her gaze as he toyed with the lighter, making it flame over and over.