Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(77)

Morgan nodded. “I have a feeling Arrow feels bad that he only has an apartment when you and Allye have houses, but I honestly don’t care. All I care about is that he’s there with me.”

“Have you told him that?” Chloe asked as they got into her car.

“Not really. He’s told me that he loves me, though,” Morgan admitted.

“Cool,” Chloe breathed.

“I already talked to Allye about this, but you don’t think it’s too soon?”

“Nope. I’m all for the guys finding love. Arrow is awesome. A bit too straitlaced sometimes, but I have a feeling you can help loosen him up.”

“The cans of food in his pantry were alphabetized,” Morgan admitted.

“They were not!” Chloe exclaimed.

“Yup. And all the towels in his closet were stacked by color.”

Chloe giggled. “That actually doesn’t really surprise me when I think about it.”

“I think it was the Marine in him,” Morgan said. “Sometimes I feel as if I’m this hurricane that entered his world and is screwing everything up.”

“Don’t. If he didn’t like it, he’d tell you. Has he said anything?”

“No.”

“Then he doesn’t care.”

Morgan sighed. “I’m so happy that I’m afraid it’s all going to disappear in a puff of smoke.”

“And what did your therapist say about that?” Chloe asked with amazing insight.

“That I’m allowed to be happy. That I should take things one day at a time, which, incidentally, is what Arrow told me too.”

“Well, there ya go,” Chloe said.

“You want to come up?” Morgan asked after they’d arrived in the parking lot.

“Sure. But just because I was ordered by Arrow to make sure you made it all the way to the door.”

Morgan rolled her eyes. “You can come in if you want.”

“And ruin your surprise? I don’t think so. Come on,” Chloe ordered, gesturing toward the front lobby.

The two women walked through the lobby, said hello to Robert, then got in the elevator. They made small talk until they reached Arrow’s door. Morgan pulled out the key he’d given her and put it in the lock.

“Thanks again for picking me up. One of these days I’m going to get a new driver’s license and get my own vehicle.”

“Whatever. I’m happy to help in the meantime,” Chloe said. “Call me tomorrow, and we’ll figure out when to do dinner.”

“Okay, when are you—” Her question was cut off when the door opened.

Morgan stared in shock at the person who opened it.

“Mom! What are you doing here?”

“Hi, honey! Surprise!”

“Surprise,” Chloe whispered from next to her.

Morgan could only stare at her mom in disbelief. If this was Arrow’s surprise, it wasn’t necessarily a good one. She might’ve said she wanted her mom the night before, but it had been a moment of weakness. Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, she’d realized that her mother wasn’t the person who could make her feel better . . . it was the man whose arms she’d been lying in at that moment. Just being close to him gave her strength. Made her feel grounded.

But Arrow was a man of his word, and since she’d said she wanted her mom, Arrow had gotten her.

Taking a deep breath, Morgan decided to make the best of the situation. If Arrow had arranged it, she didn’t want to make him feel bad.

“I’ll call you later,” she told Chloe with a smile, and turned to go inside.





Chapter Nineteen

Arrow didn’t feel good at all. He had a raging headache, and his stomach was in knots. He felt queasy and nauseous. He’d known better than to eat one of Ellie’s cookies when he wasn’t used to that much sugar, and he’d eaten not only one, but half of a second as well.

Ellie had looked so pleased when he’d made the effort, though, and he really wanted to make a good impression on the woman. She was going to be his mother-in-law, hopefully, one day.

But he was so sick now, he was on the verge of excusing himself to go to the bathroom to throw up. Maybe that would make him feel better.

He heard Morgan at the door at the same time Ellie did.

“Don’t get up. I’ll get it,” she said.

Arrow nodded, as he didn’t think he could get up without hunching over. He watched as Ellie made her way across the room toward his front door . . .

And even though he was as miserable as he’d ever been, everything clicked in his brain.

He’d seen that walk before. Recently, in fact.

On the video he’d watched several times over.

No wonder the person on the tape had seemed familiar to him—it was Morgan’s mother!

They’d been looking for a man, when they should’ve realized the perpetrator was a woman.

Her hips swayed as she walked, and she kept her head down, almost naturally.

He saw her open the door to Morgan, and he wanted to yell out, tell Morgan to run, but he had no idea what the woman would do to her daughter if he did. He didn’t understand why Ellie would attack Dave—he was having a hard time thinking straight—but he knew he needed to play things as cool as possible.