“It’s okay, Bax. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
When she looked outside, Carlise was surprised to see a Toyota RAV4 heading down the drive toward the cabin.
“Who in the world is that?” she asked out loud, despite knowing she wasn’t going to get an answer.
Baxter pawed at the front door and growled low in his throat.
The hair on Carlise’s arms stood up. She froze, hardly daring to breathe.
Had her stalker found her? How? And when? Had he been watching them? Waiting for Riggs to go somewhere and leave her alone?
She was working herself into a huge freak-out and was about to run to the kitchen to grab Riggs’s satellite phone when the SUV stopped, and someone got out.
Carlise stared for a moment in total shock before a huge smile formed on her face. She went to the door and gently urged Baxter aside. “It’s okay, Bax! It’s safe. That’s my friend. Be nice! No—stay!” she ordered as she slid out the door, trying to keep the dog from pushing past her legs to get outside.
She had the door shut and had turned by the time Susie reached the steps of the porch.
“Susie! What in the world are you doing here?”
“I’m hoping that’s a happy greeting and not a pissed-off one,” her friend said with a smile.
“Yes! Of course it is!” Carlise opened her arms and hugged her friend. Susie was petite, only around five feet four and skinny as a rail, but she had a personality that made her seem much bigger. Her long black hair was thick and gorgeous, and her brown eyes sparkled when she was happy. She never seemed to leave the house without a full face of makeup and the most fashionable clothes, and apparently a road trip was no exception.
She was younger by five years, and sometimes that made Carlise feel ancient compared to her put-together and sometimes-naive friend, but she wouldn’t trade her for anything.
“I can’t believe you want to stay here willingly,” Susie said with a laugh as she looked around. “You weren’t kidding about being in the middle of nowhere!”
“Right? How in the world did you find me?”
“I did a lot of thinking after we hung up, Car. I felt really bad about how I behaved . . . but I was still really worried about you. You sounded so out of character on the phone, and with the notes and stuff you’ve been getting, I just knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t make sure you were really okay. And I wanted to meet this Riggs guy. So I pieced together all the things you told me about where you were, the roads and the town, and I made my way here. I flew into Bangor and rented this SUV and . . . here I am!”
“I’m so happy to see you,” Carlise told her. “I still can’t believe you found the cabin.”
“I asked around in that small town. Apparently, there isn’t anyone else there named Riggs who works with trees and has a cabin. It wasn’t too hard to get directions.”
“Well, I think it’s great. Riggs isn’t here right now, though.”
“He left you out here by yourself?” Susie asked, her brows shooting upward in surprise.
“It’s not like anyone’s out here who would want to hurt me,” Carlise replied.
“So he doesn’t even have neighbors?” Susie asked.
“Nope. And I don’t think the animals around here count. Wait here a sec while I grab Baxter.” Carlise was a little concerned, actually, because she could hear the dog scratching nonstop at the door. He wasn’t barking, but he definitely wasn’t thrilled that she was outside while he was stuck in the cabin.
“Is he nice? He doesn’t sound happy.”
“He’s nice,” Carlise reassured her friend. “But he’s not used to people. He was starving when we found him, and I think he’d been beaten. So he’s just wary.”
She opened the door, and Baxter almost ran past her. Carlise grabbed him by the collar that Riggs’s friends had included when they’d come up with the dog food. “Hang on, Bax. It’s okay! That’s Susie, she’s a friend.”
But the dog didn’t seem inclined to give the woman standing on the porch the benefit of the doubt. He was growling, his fur still sticking up, and if dogs could glare, Susie would be getting an eyeful.
Carlise frowned. He hadn’t acted like this when JJ and the others were there. She couldn’t imagine why he was so riled now.
“How about this—I’ll hold him while you go inside, then I’ll leave him out here for a while. Before you leave, I’ll come outside, grab him, and bring him back in so you can get to your car without any worries. Okay?” Carlise asked her friend.
Susie looked petrified and nodded immediately.
Carlise hung on to Baxter as she moved farther along the porch, away from the door, giving Susie a clear path to get inside.
Once she was safely behind the front door, Carlise scolded Baxter. “You aren’t being very nice. That’s my best friend, and you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of her. I’m not leaving you out here forever, just for a while as we visit. Then I’ll bring you back inside, okay?”
To her relief, Baxter turned his head and licked her face. Carlise laughed. “Off with you, mutt. Go find some bunnies to chase and snowballs to eat.”
She let go of the dog, and to her surprise, he immediately sat instead, staring up at her.
“Oh, don’t make me feel guilty. It’s not even that cold out here,” Carlise told him.
Baxter merely blinked.
Steeling her heart, Carlise stepped to the door and slipped back inside. She turned to see her best friend peering around the cabin with curiosity.
“One bed, huh?” she said after a moment, smirking at Carlise. “You left that part out on the phone.”
Carlise chuckled. “Yeah, you already weren’t thrilled with the situation, I didn’t think it would be good to spring that on you.”
“This is literally a romance book come to life. The damsel in distress needing a place to shelter in a storm, and—surprise—there’s only one bed, so I guess you have to share it.”
Carlise giggled. “Heroine in peril,” she said.
“What?”
“‘Heroine in peril.’ I think that sounds better than ‘damsel in distress.’ Less needy. Less pathetic.”
Susie rolled her eyes and laughed. “Whatever.”
“Besides, the first three days, he was so out of it with a fever that there was nothing romantic going on, believe me,” Carlise said.
“Wait, did you have to hold his dick while he pissed?” she asked with wide eyes.
Carlise burst out laughing. “Oh my God, no! Jeez. He was alert enough to walk to the bathroom with my help, and then I left him to do his thing. There was no willy holding while he was sick.”
“But there is now,” Susie said knowingly.
Carlise couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her face. “Oh yeah, there’s lots of willy holding now.”
The two women laughed together.
“You look good for someone who was terrified just weeks ago,” Susie observed when they sat on the couch.
“I feel pretty good. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still scared of Tommy, but Riggs has promised to help me figure out who’s bothering me and make them stop.”
“How’s he going to do that?” Susie asked.
Carlise shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I trust him.”
“There’s that trust again,” Susie said, sounding unconvinced. “You don’t even know him.”
“Actually, I do,” Carlise countered.
“How can you? You met him only a couple of weeks ago.”
“It’s hard to explain. We’ve been together twenty-four seven for weeks. I know him, Suz. He’s a good man. Hardworking. Loyal. His friends are amazing. And he went through hell while he was in the military—”
“So he has PTSD and could snap at any moment?” Susie interrupted.
“Maybe he does, but I’ve seen no signs of it. And no, he’s not going to snap. He has great self-control. Lots of it.”