The decision to stay or go was complicated while Best was in the trailer.Waiting meant Cassie would get farther away, and he might never find her again.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to Best before sprinting toward the last place he’d seen Cassie standing.
As he entered the thicket, he saw a glimpse of her yellow shirt as she darted through the trees.
“Hold up,” he shouted, pushing his legs a little harder.“I’m a jerk.Hear me out before you disappear.”
Hudson had an advantage.His legs were longer than Cassie’s.It wouldn’t take long to catch up to her, except that he wanted her to stop on her own accord.So, he slowed down.
“Please,” he said.That word must’ve struck a chord because she stopped, bent over, and pinched her right side.
“I have food.Thought you might be hungry after being out here on the land for a couple of days.”He held up the lunch bag.“What do you say?Eat something and then leave.”
Cassie spun around on him.“No more questions?”
Hudson didn’t want to agree to the term but realized pretty quickly that she would bolt if he didn’t.Charming his way into getting information would be lost on her.She would see through it the minute he tried.Plus, he probably wasn’t any good at that tactic anyway.
“No more,” he conceded.“But we have to get back to Best.”
She cocked an eyebrow.
“My horse.”
“Okay.”She repositioned her rifle underneath her armpit with the barrel over her forearm, like she’d held it before.The barrel pointed downward toward the ground, a welcome relief.Accidents with firearms caused far too many deaths.He had no plans to be a statistic, not today or any other day if he could help it.
It occurred to him that he’d almost become a rare one if the mountain lion had had its way earlier.He owed Cassie a thank you bigger than words.
As they walked toward the truck, he tried to come up with a good way to show his appreciation for the fact Cassie had saved his life.
Once back at the trailer, he held up a finger.“Give me a sec.”
Her weary gaze wasn’t exactly reassuring.He figured out that she didn’t like surprises with that one look.
“I promise this will be good,” he said before going to work retrieving Best’s blanket.He shook it out to get rid of as much horse hair as possible before spreading it out on the bed of the pickup.The rain had stalled, and the clouds rolled through, leaving patches of sunshine.There was enough food to last Cassie two meals if he let her have at it, as he intended to do.After setting a club sandwich the size of a small football on top of the bag and placing a banana and a bag of chips down, he said, “Come on up.”
Panic gripped him when he didn’t hear her footsteps.For a split second, he feared she might have pulled another disappearing act until that wheat-colored hair appeared, and then her heart-shaped face with a pair of hazel eyes that glittered like emeralds.
Hudson swallowed to ease the sudden dryness in his throat as Cassie climbed into the bed of the pickup.Sitting opposite him, she crossed her legs and studied the meal.
“You aren’t eating?”
He shook his head.“As you can see, I have a flat tire.I need to circle back and delay my trip a few hours.I can make another sandwich later.Besides, I ate before I left home.”When she didn’t pick up the sandwich, he motioned toward it.“Go ahead.Eat.”
It didn’t take much encouragement for Cassie to dig in.She cleared the food in a matter of minutes, devouring the meal like she hadn’t eaten in days.
“When’s the last time you—”
She stopped him midsentence with a shake of her head.“No questions, remember?”
“You’re holding me to that one, huh?”He cracked a smile, trying to ease some of the tension.If he could get her to relax, it was possible she would open up to him.
“A deal is a deal.”
Tension still thick, he tried a second attempt to lighten the mood.“I wouldn’t be going back on my word if you decided to open up to me.”He winked.
Cassie tensed.
Hudson put his hands in the air once more in surrender.“No offense intended.I was just trying to break the ice.”He leaned back against the glass divider of the truck cab.“I meant what I said.The food comes with no strings attached.”