Tara felt her entire body tense.
“Why? Because they let a stranger stay on their land?” she asked.
“No.” Colt shook his head. “Because they…” He shrugged. “They did tell you the whole story about fighting off gods, right?”
She relaxed slightly and took a deep breath of the sultry autumn air. She’d spent most of her life in California and in the northern states. She’d never been somewhere where at ten o’clock at night it was still so warm outside. Not to mention all the humidity. She found she kind of liked it.
At least she wouldn’t have to run the space heater in her van tonight. Actually, she might even open the windows and let some of the scent of the flowers planted around the garage soothe her to sleep.
“Yeah.” She waved him off and started walking around her van to pull out the folding chair that she used to enjoy the outdoors. She had two of them and since Colt didn’t show any signs of leaving soon, she pulled them both out.
“That doesn’t concern you?” he asked as he helped her set them up.
“No.” She shook her head and reached inside to grab a couple of cold sodas from her fridge. She handed him one and sat down and enjoyed the view of the fireflies playing over the dark field beyond the barn. “You’re forgetting, I just showed everyone I could lift a piano and fly,” she added dryly, even though she was still reeling inside from letting out her secrets to strangers. But part of her trusted that they wouldn’t call in the government agents and have her hauled away. She hoped. “Besides, over the past years I’ve learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth.” She smiled. “Or a free spot to park and stay with hookups.”
He sat next to her and sipped his soda. “Right.” He frowned into the darkness.
She could tell he was debating asking her something.
“What?” she asked after a moment. When he looked at her, she shrugged. “It’s obvious you want to ask me something.” She waved her hand. “Shoot. It’s not like I didn’t just open myself up completely in there already.”
“Right.” He shifted in the chair, then set down his drink on the ground next to the chair. “Have you always had the abilities?”
“No,” she answered quickly.
“When did they come to you?”
“Shortly after my sixteenth birthday,” she answered easily, trying to push aside the memoires of her childhood, of everything she’d lost. “Who did you come in town to work for?” she asked, turning the tables on the questioning.
He was silent for a while before answering. “I didn’t come to town to work for someone in Hidden Creek, specifically.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re here for me, aren’t you?” She’d thought about it since the moment he’d mentioned what he did for a living. Her gut had told her he was after her the instant he’d mentioned that he found people, spied on people. Something just hadn’t sat right. Besides, it was too much of a coincidence to run into him in the gas station that morning and then see him at the coffee shop more than a hundred miles away.
Instead of answering, he stood up and walked over to the wood fence a few feet away under a dim light that hung on the corner of the garage.
Moths danced in the beam of the floodlight, and the crickets’ chirps were almost deafening. She moved to stand next to him.
“Why me? I’m nobody,” she asked.
He turned to her. “I thought that at first.” His eyes ran over her. “Then you lifted a piano like it was a feather.” He sighed. “Oh, yeah, and flew.”
She nodded. “Okay, who is your client, then? Someone from my past? I mean, I’m careful not to mess up, but I’m not perfect,” she admitted as fear spiked through her. Was he going to turn her in? Part of her was screaming to pack up and drive away at that very moment. Still, the way he was looking at her, the kindness and concern she saw in his eyes, had her leaning against the fence and watching him.
“So someone else knows what you can do?” he asked her.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” She thought about it. About all the times she’d slipped up in the past. When she’d lifted something that would have been way too heavy for someone her size. Or the time she’d jumped a little too high to reach the top shelf in the store. Not to mention the time she’d poured hot liquid on her skin and walked away without even a red mark.
“Can you think of anyone in particular?” he asked, as if he wasn’t even sure who his client was himself.
Sighing, she shook her head. “Don’t you even know who hired you?”
He glanced away and shrugged. “I have a name, but…” She chuckled and he turned back towards her. “What?” he asked, turning those sexy dark eyes towards her again.
“Don’t you find people for a living? Surely you know who it is that hired you by now?”
He looked away again, and she felt weariness flood her.
“Can I have their name?” she asked.
His eyes narrowed, and he shook his head slowly. “Not… yet.”
“Are you going to tell your client where I am?” she asked after a moment of silence.
He turned his entire body towards hers, and she realized just how close they were standing to one another. Her breath hitched while her heart pounded in her chest. Why did this all feel so familiar? While his eyes ran over her face, she waited, trying to figure him out.
“No,” he finally answered. “Not yet. It’s like you said, I find people. It’s about time I found out who I’m working for and why. Then…” He dropped off and balled his hands into fists, as if he was trying to hold something back. “When and if I let my client know where you are, I’ll let you know first,” he said, shocking her. “That’s a promise.”
She felt her heart settle in her chest.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“I’ll let you get some rest.” He turned to go but stopped and looked back at her. “Something tells me you can do far more than you showed them.” He motioned to the now dark house. “Just so you know, I plan on doing a lot more research into…”—he nodded towards the house again— “everyone. I’ll let you know if I find anything you should be concerned about.”
“Why?” she asked before he had a chance to walk away.
He flashed her a smile that made her knees go weak. “Call it intuition.” He surprised her by lifting his hand and running a finger down her long hair. “Or maybe your powers extend to controlling others,” he joked.
She smiled. “If I had that power, I wouldn’t have to move around so much.”
“Right.” He nodded. “Goodnight.” He turned and climbed into his truck, and she watched his taillights disappear down the long driveway.
She stood outside for a few moments, enjoying the peace and quiet, hearing only crickets. Glancing up at the sliver of the moon in the dark sky, she wrapped her arms around herself and felt a shiver race down her spine.
She might have been okay showing Xtina and her group some of her tricks, but there was one secret she doubted she could trust anyone with. Something so shocking about herself that she knew no one would ever understand.
She was going to be the reason everything disappeared. She’d seen it in her dreams more times than she could count. She would bring the darkness. The end of the world. Whatever was coming, she knew she had to prepare. Which is why she’d come to Hidden Creek. She needed help if anyone was going to survive the apocalypse she’d foreseen. But before she trusted them completely with the future, she wanted to make one-hundred percent sure she could trust them. Only then would she let them in on her visions.
The following morning, almost two hours after she clocked into her new job, Colt walked through the door of the Coffee Corner. It didn’t surprise her when Jess had placed his order moments before he arrived, since the woman had been calling out people’s orders all morning.
At first, she’d believed that they were regulars who came in at the same time each day or that Jess just knew everyone’s schedules. But then one of the women had said she was in town on an unexpected errand, and still Jess had her order ready.
She figured it was part of Jess’s powers and made a note to ask her about it when they were alone. Did all witches have the ability to see how everyone liked their coffee?
After Colt walked in, she stopped questioning Jess’s abilities and just went with it.
She had to admit, it was nice working again. Keeping busy kept her mind from… things. Until Colt walked in. Then her mind was consumed with him. And it wasn’t just worry about why someone had hired him to find her. Her main thoughts were about how damn sexy he looked in his worn jeans and tight T-shirt. The weather had turned in the middle of the night, but not even the light jacket he was wearing could hide how good he looked.
She’d slept with the windows open and had to shut them sometime after three when she’d woken chilled. She liked fall weather, but it was the first time she’d experienced colder weather in the south. Somehow, with all the moisture in the air, it made her feel even colder than being in two feet of snow and ice in Montana.
“Morning,” Colt said as he stepped up to the counter.
“Morning,” Jess had said cheerfully. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine.” His eyes moved past Jess and landed on hers. “You?”
She knew the question was for her, but Jess answered cheerfully. “Like the dead.” She chuckled. “Ever since Reed started sleeping all through the night, we get a full seven hours, uninterrupted. Tara has your coffee ready.”
He frowned down at the cup, then his eyebrows shot up as he looked at Jess.
“It’s a talent to know everyone’s orders before they walk in,” Jess said with a shrug. Then she turned to Tara. “Why don’t you take a break? It’s finally slowed down enough for you to enjoy your complimentary breakfast.”
Jess set two massive cinnamon rolls on individual plates and handed one to Colt and one to her. When Jess gave her a look that clearly said not to argue with her, she took the plate and made herself a cup of her favorite morning drink.
Since Jess was watching them, she followed Colt to a table and sat across from him.
“Something tells me you couldn’t have gotten out of that if you’d tried,” Colt said under his breath.
Tara chuckled. “I was thinking the same thing.” Then she leaned closer to him. “Did you do your research?”
“I did.” He took a bite of his cinnamon roll and his look showed that he was impressed with it, so she bit into her own and instantly agreed.
“And?” she asked.
“And so far, everyone is who they say they are. Xtina’s real name is—”
“Christina,” she supplied with a smile. “Yeah, I already knew that.”
“Okay.” He nodded and took another bite. “So you know what she went through a little over a year ago? Her parents’ death and the kidnapping from the cult?”
“Yes.” She nodded and said in a low tone, “The reason I’m in Hidden Creek is because of that article Brea wrote.”
His eyebrows shot up again. “You came here… for them?”
She nodded and could tell that he was thinking about it. “Because of… everything last night?” he asked, glancing around. She nodded again as she took another bite of her roll.
He was silent for a while as they both enjoyed their food and coffee.
“Why?” he asked after a moment.
She looked deep into his brown eyes and figured there wasn’t any use hiding anything more from him. At least not about this.
“I think they might have some answers as to where I came from,” she answered, figuring to keep the darker things for after breakfast.
“Before Seattle?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said softly and watched as recognition of what she was admitting crossed his face.