Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(16)

And probably was.

“Do you have a place to go tonight?” He winced. He probably could’ve put it in a more diplomatic way, but diplomacy hadn’t been his thing. Ever.

She went rigid. Clearing her throat, she responded, “Yes.”

Not quite a lie. “Do you have a safe place to sleep tonight? Inside your car does not qualify as sufficiently safe.”

Silence.

Deliberately, he leaned against the driver’s side door. She started to protest, but he held up a finger and pulled out his own smartphone. “Hey, Boom? You going to be okay if Uncle Brandon checks in on you?”

He and Brandon had taken turns through the morning checking in on her, but despite her request to watch television shows she’d napped a lot. Now she sounded more awake.

“You’re not coming up to the house?” Boom’s young voice came across loud and clear, and he watched Elisa to be sure she could hear.

“I’ve got a couple of errands to run if you think you’ll be okay.”

There was a pause. “Will you bring me back frozen yogurt?”

He grinned. “I will definitely bring you back frozen yogurt.”

“Awesome.” Boom sounded all sorts of better than yesterday. “I’ve got my phone right here so I’ll text Uncle Brandon if I need anything before he checks on me.”

“Perfect. You’re the best.” And he meant it. His kid rocked.

“Nope. You are. Love you, Dad.”

Ending the call, he looked at Elisa. “Let’s get you someplace safe so you can get a good night’s sleep then decide what you want to do in the morning.”

Elisa regarded him warily. “Where?”

He shrugged. “I know this place right next to the best frozen yogurt shop in the area.”

*



“How are you going to get home?”

It was a good question. Elisa was full of them. She was possessed of a detail-oriented mind and a no-nonsense practicality he was coming to enjoy. It was also fun to mess with her some more now that she’d had a chance to recover from earlier. “I could walk home. It’s only a dozen miles, give or take.”

She scowled, her hands gripping the steering wheel hard. “It’d be dark before you even got halfway home, and your daughter is waiting.”

“True.” He couldn’t help baiting her, though. He’d bet she got spunky if her buttons were pushed in the right order. Even though she was quiet on the surface, he got the impression she was a woman of passion by nature. Her controlled fa?ade was a learned behavior. “Turn right into this parking lot and go ahead and park in one of the first row spaces.”

She did as requested. Despite whatever was going on inside her head, her driving was smooth. She wasn’t heavy on the brake or jerky with the turns in response to his directions. He appreciated her slow acceleration and deceleration, too. Erratic driving set his teeth on edge, and he couldn’t take most drivers’ habits around here. He’d actually made the walk back to the kennels from here a time or two, rather than accept a ride from a driver who’d set off too many memories.

Turning off the engine, Elisa waited expectantly. She didn’t turn her head to look at him. Her posture was tense, her shoulders hunched. He got out of the car to give her space and walked around to her side to open the door.

“This doesn’t look like a hotel.” Her statement was laced with a hefty dose of wariness.

She hadn’t gotten to the point where she was ready to bolt yet, but she was close. He backed up as she got out of the car, reining in the temptation to put his hand on her lower back and guide her. She might take it as an invasion of her private space.

“No. Exactly the reason this place will be safe as a temporary fix until you can find a more secure solution.” He walked alongside her again, gesturing to the MMA school. “Boom and I train here. The owners are good people. They renovated the space above the school into a sort of studio. It’s got a private bathroom and everything you’d need for a short stay without ever having to come down to the school part of the facility.”

“Oh.” Beside him, Elisa blinked quickly a few times.

Alarm pinged in his chest. Could be she’d caught some dust in her eyes. More likely he’d bothered her somehow. “Did I say something to upset you?”

Elisa paused on the sidewalk in front of the school. “No. Not at all. I’m just…not used to immediate help like this. First you offered me a job, now a safe place to stay. It’s a lot to take in, and I don’t even know how I can begin—”

He held up his hand to stall her. “It’s not about repayment. I’d want someone to help me or mine someday if we were in trouble. Just pay it forward someday.”

Because he’d rather eat his shoe than have her feeling beholden to him in some way for doing what any decent person would do. Well, maybe not any person. But it was what people should do when someone was in need.

“Besides,” he added, “we really do need a good administrative assistant, and you’re the first person not to be driven crazy by us or the dogs in the first few hours.”

He stepped forward and pulled open the door, motioning for her to proceed inside. There was a class full of kids in session, maybe close to two dozen seven-and eight-year-olds. A tall, lean man in a clean black polo and loose black athletic pants presided over them as they went through a series of fun warm-ups while a half-dozen parents sat on benches along the wall to the right.