And then he took a deep breath.Reality was a gut punch.Cassie was about to walk out of his life.Forever.Leaning on her would be a mistake because what would he do when she left?What then?
For the first time since Adina, he could see himself opening up to someone and letting them see all the layers of himself.
It would be a mistake to think she would be around.
“It’s almost sunrise,” he said.“We should get our day started.”
Cassie dropped her hands and took a step back.He didn’t dare turn around to look at her.He wouldn’t be able to stomach staring at a hurt or disappointed look on her face, especially since he was the one who’d put that look there.
The next thing he heard was her feet padding out of the kitchen and down the hallway, no doubt to get dressed.Rather than follow, he put on a pot of coffee and started making breakfast.He scrambled eggs and made toast.After plating the food, he called for Cassie and was met with silence.
Should he check on her?
Yes.
He should definitely check on her.
Hudson turned and started toward the guest bedroom where she’d left her clothes last night.Halfway down the hallway, Cassie emerged.She was fully dressed, hair pulled back from her face.
One look into her eyes, still glossy from fever, stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Can we take the food to go?”she asked.
Was she done with him?
It took a second to get his mouth to work again.“Yes,” he said, fighting against all the protests rising inside him.“We can.”
“Good.I’ve been in your hair long enough.It’s time for me to get back out there on my own.”There was no enthusiasm behind those words.No passion.They were robotic.There was no glimpse of the person she’d been a little while ago.
“All right then.”He should probably tell her not to go, but he’d already done that more times than he cared to count.If she wanted to leave, so be it.Hudson sure as hell had no plans to stop her.
“In fact, if you want to drop me off before your day gets started, that’s cool, too.”
Did she mean that?
“I can.It’s up to you.”His heart told him to speak up, but logic said to detach.This woman wanted to be around him about as much as a mouse wanted to be tossed into a snake’s enclosure.
Fine.
“Let me grab my keys, and we’ll head out right now.”
8
This is for the best.This is for the best.This is for the best.Repeating the mantra three more times didn’t make it ring true.
What choice did Cassie have?Stay around much longer, and she feared she would open up to Hudson.Bare her soul.That couldn’t be allowed, no matter how much she trusted him.
Taking slow, deep breaths, she steeled her resolve as they packed up breakfast, made a pair of to-go cups of coffee, and then piled into his truck.
Not twenty-five minutes later, he stopped at the exact spot where they’d met.
“This is you,” he said.The sudden stiffness in his tone was the equivalent of a punch.For a split second, she let herself miss the intimacy they’d shared hours ago.And then she opened the passenger door, grabbed her rifle from the floorboard, and took off toward her encampment.
Tears welled, threatening to fall with each step away from Hudson.This is for the best.
Her camp wasn’t too far off the road.The couple of days and nights she’d spent here had felt like a safe haven.Now that she knew people were hunting a possibly still-injured mountain lion, searching for its next meal, she was far more freaked out.Her one-person tent wouldn’t exactly hold up against a lion attack.
Sheer dumb luck was most likely the reason she’d escaped its path so far.