Charming Hannah (Big Sky #1)(17)

“I hope so.”

I laugh and nod. “Okay. Give me the grand tour.”

There’s a white and gleaming stainless steel kitchen, living room, and three bedrooms, one of which has been made into an office. The master bedroom is spacious enough for his king bed, a dog bed for Sadie, and a sitting area. French doors open to a patio in the backyard.

The master bath is what dreams are made of with marble floors and countertops. There’s a huge walk-in shower, and a large, free-standing soaking tub.

“I could swim in that tub.”

“Be nice and you might get the chance,” he says with a wink. He carries me back to the living area, but rather than set me on the couch, he walks out of another large set of French doors to the backyard, and my mouth drops.

“Okay, this is my favorite part of the house.”

“Mine, too,” he says with a grin and lowers me to an outdoor sofa. He kisses my forehead, then turns and walks back into the house.

The patio is covered, with a fireplace in the corner. It’s truly an outdoor living space, with plush cushions and a dining room table, along with a grill and outdoor kitchen on the opposite side.

A waterfall runs behind me, making me sleepy.

“Did you do all of this landscaping yourself?” I ask when he returns with a towel and a bag of ice.

“Most of it,” he says. “Jenna helped some. She has the green thumb. I like to be outside in the summer, and I wanted a beautiful outdoor space.”

“Well, you got it.” He rests my foot in his lap and covers it with the towel and ice. “Oh, that’s good.”

“You probably shouldn’t have hiked the rest of the mountain.”

“I’m going to be fine,” I assure him. “I’ll rest for the weekend, and be good as new in a couple of days.”

“Have you always had anxiety?” he asks, throwing me off.

“For as long as I can remember.” I nod, keeping my eyes on my foot. We said we’d always tell the truth. “I can remember waking up in the middle of the night as a little girl and needing to throw up. I wasn’t sick. And once I did that, I’d go back to sleep and feel better.

“My dad wasn’t mean. But he liked to drink, quite a lot actually. No one likes to be around a drunk, even if he is happy go lucky.”

“No, they don’t.”

“I used to call it stress. I can stress out about stress that hasn’t happened yet. I over think. I imagine the worst.”

I always think that I’m going to die.

“But sometimes, it’ll just come out of the blue, and I freak out. It doesn’t last long. Are you scared off yet?”

“Should I be?”

“I’m a mess, Brad. I worry about things that aren’t happening.”

“You’re not a mess. You have anxiety.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes it feels like they’re one and the same. So if you want to take me home and forget all about this, I’d understand.”

“I’m a cop,” he says and massages my calf. “I work all the time. I see shit that no one should ever see, even in a small town. I’ve been known to have an occasional night terror. I’m not prince charming, Hannah. We all have shit that we’re dealing with.”

“Yeah. We do.” I reach out and take his hand in mine, squeezing it hard. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay,” he says. “It could be a lot worse.”

“Do you have night terrors all the time?”

“No, but often enough. You should know that if we move forward because I don’t want to scare the piss out of you. I’ll never hurt you. But I might yell. Get restless.”

“What helps?”

He stops and looks at me as if he’s confused.

“What helps calm you down?”

“I don’t know.”

I nod, understanding completely. Until this afternoon, I didn’t know either.

“So, the same goes,” he continues. “If you’d like to go, I get it.”

“I can’t walk very far,” I reply. But I let the ice fall to the floor and scoot into his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’m not going.”

“Thank Christ.”





Chapter Five


Brad

IT’S THE END OF the work day and I’m ready to head out. I have a date with Hannah that I’ve been looking forward to all day, but just as I’m about to reach for my keys, I get a call on the work cell.

I send it to voice mail.

And then twenty seconds later, I get a call on my personal cell.

“Hell,” I mutter and answer.

“I know you’re done for the day, Chief, but I think you’re going to want to know about this,” Officer Thomas, a long time friend and cop says.

“What’s up?”

“I need you to come down to the city beach.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

I hang up and hurry out to the truck, calling Hannah on my way.

“Hey there,” she says with a smile in her voice.

“I might be a little late,” I say. “I’m sorry, I just got a call.”

“If anyone understands, it’s me. Just keep me posted. Do you want me to go look in on Sadie?”