None of them were boys by her definition. As far as she could tell, Alex was a couple years older than she was and Brandon was around the same age as Alex. That put them in their mid-thirties if she was guessing right. She hadn’t met Cruz yet, but she’d gotten the impression they’d all served together in the military sometime in the past before they’d reassembled at the kennels.
But both Gary and Greg looked to be in their late forties, with an equal amount of laugh and worry lines around the corners of their eyes and mouths. The men of Hope’s Crossing and the owners of Revolution Mixed Martial Arts Academy had seen things. All of them. She’d have to be blind and deaf not to get a sense of the life experiences each of these men had had. Each of them had gone out and lived.
Leave your mental baggage at the door.
She shivered at the memory of her first night in a motel. She’d driven for as long as she could manage to stay awake. Long enough to refill her gas tank at least twice. And she’d given in and gotten a room only because she might have fallen asleep at the wheel. As tired as she’d been, she’d lain awake for hours listening to every sound in the dark. Certain her ex had found her. Or that some other predator was planning to mug her or worse.
She had her own issues, for sure. And she was very much hoping those wouldn’t catch up to her here.
Her ex had a knack for finding her. The knowledge that he could do it repeatedly, consistently, but not knowing how he was doing it had been driving her progressively insane. He was a man with a temper and a whole lot of patience. He wanted to make her regret having left in the first place, and every time she managed to escape him was only adding to the eventual payback. Of that she was sure.
But she didn’t plan to ever be under his control again. Five years had been enough. Once she’d gotten a clear understanding of the special projects he was overseeing, investing in, she’d decided she didn’t want any part of the life he’d arranged for the two of them.
The last six months had been a constant effort to get away and build a life of her own.
The important thing right now was to get some rest, think clearly, and plan her next steps. Hopefully she’d be able to come up with something unpredictable.
So far, her attention had only managed to stay focused on Alex Rojas and his incredible generosity. Okay, and she sort of wondered if the tennis ball was still in his pants pocket. As random thought processes went, she was going to need to go for more constructive stuff.
Standing, she groaned. Today had included a good mix of sitting, standing, and even some walking, but she’d done a lot of driving in the days prior. Her hamstrings were tight and aching and no amount of stretching so far had made the soreness disappear completely. Maybe she needed to get into better shape.
Staying above a mixed martial arts school was already influencing her mindset.
She reached for her overnight bag and pulled out a clean tee and pair of soft sweats. They were comfortable to sleep in and perfectly reasonable to roll out of bed and drive out of town in.
As she was pulling her current shirt over her head, a knock sounded at the door.
She jerked her shirt back down to cover her breasts and belly, reining in a moment of panic. “Who is it?”
“It’s Alex.”
Oh. Her hands shook as she opened and closed them a couple of times to get them to quit clenching by default. Trying to ease off the rush of adrenaline, she focused on who was on the other side of the door.
It wasn’t her ex. And Alex hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to take her back to her ex, either.
In fact, his gruff tone had returned and she was starting to realize it came out when he was about to do something nice and felt awkward about it.
He was really sweet, in a super rough and ready kind of way.
“You okay in there?”
The man gave good voice. She wondered whether he knew it and if he was the person who usually answered the phones at the kennels. It’d explain a lot of disappointed-sounding callers with very ridiculous questions from this morning.
“Can I come in?” He sounded uncomfortable.
“Oh!” She hadn’t realized how long she’d kept him waiting for a response. Crossing over to the door, she unlocked and opened it, backing away as she did.
“For you.” Alex held out a small container. He had a bag dangling from his other hand, presumably with Boom’s frozen yogurt.
She took the container and her mouth watered at the sight of the pristine white swirl of frozen yogurt inside. Abruptly, she realized how insanely hungry she was. One problem. “No spoon?”
He fished around in the bag and came up with a plastic-wrapped utensil. “Got one.”
The man thought of everything. He might be heaven sent. She could dream about him with wings later.
“How much do I—”