Fragile Sanctuary (Sparrow Falls Book 1)

I stood at the back doors, looking at the beautiful garden Rho had created and taking in the landscape beyond it. The sharp mountain peaks, the intricate rock faces. It was beyond stunning. But it was more. Somewhere along the line, it had started to feel like home.

Arms wrapped around my waist from behind as Rho pressed her cheek to my back. “Hi.”

My mouth curved as I covered her hands with mine. “Hi.”

We stood like that for a long time, neither of us needing to say a word. The comfort was in the easy silence.

Finally, I twisted in Rho’s hold, wrapping my arms around her, as well, and dropping a kiss on her forehead. Then I really took her in. God, she was gorgeous. Her mahogany hair fell in waves over her shoulders, but she’d taken pieces on either side of her head and braided them into a delicate crown.

She wore a hint of makeup. Rosy cheeks. Something that made the green in her eyes pop. And a gloss on her lips that had me wanting to nip the bottom one.

“You’re beautiful.”

Rho’s expression softened, a tender smile pulling at her mouth. “It’s rare for me to get cleaned up these days.”

“Maybe we need to find a few more excuses to do that.” Hell, I hadn’t even taken Rho on a proper date.

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, and I reached up to gently tug it free. “Don’t.” I toyed with a strand of her hair. “What’s got you worried?”

“Is this going to be too much?” Rho asked softly. “I don’t want to push. Too much. Too quickly.”

I pulled her tighter against me. “It’s not too much. I want to get to know your family better.”

She winced. “We’re a lot on a good day. Maybe you should do one or two at a time instead of all at once.”

I chuckled. “You sound like I’m going to be fighting to the death, not attending a family dinner.”

“You never know. Battles have occurred over mashed potatoes before.”

I skated a thumb up and down her back. “I want to go. I may not be good at it, but I want to try.”

Socializing was a rusty skill that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to sharpen, but I didn’t want Rho to feel like she had to compartmentalize her life either.

She stretched up onto her tiptoes, brushing her lips across mine. “I like you just the way you are. Broodiness and all.”

I grinned against her mouth. “Even if I never wear color?”

“One day, you’re going to rock the hell out of a pink shirt.”

I grunted. Not likely.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket, and I tried not to stiffen. Releasing Rho, I tugged it free. Helena’s name flashed across the screen, but I couldn’t quite make myself hit accept.

There’d been no news from her for the past week, so we’d lived waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe it had.

“Answer,” Rho whispered. “I’m right here.” She slid her fingers into my front pocket as if to link us somehow.

I tapped the screen and pressed the phone to my ear. “Hunt.”

“We’ve got another one,” Helena said. “Just over the border into California.”

I frowned. That didn’t make any sense. Montana, then two in Idaho. Washington or Oregon should’ve been next. He should’ve been closing in on me. “You’re sure?”

“It’s him. Note’s a match. Woman found at a campground just off I-5 southbound.”

“So, he…what? Drove right past where I am and kept on going? That doesn’t seem likely.”

A door shut on Helena’s end of the line. “I think there are two possibilities. One is that he feels us closing in. We know his usual hunting grounds—near freeways and highways. Always snatches young women alone. We have more manpower looking for him now. Maybe he got spooked. Moved along.”

“The other?” I asked.

“He doesn’t know where you are. Doesn’t have access to your tech. Maybe there was another stressor in his life that got him killing again. You know these guys don’t just stop.”

That much was true. Unsubs with the psychological makeup of The Hangman couldn’t turn it off. Killing was a compulsion. He might be able to shut it down for a while or change his M.O., but he’d never be able to stay away forever. Just like he couldn’t stop playing the game.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“Sit tight. We’re running everything now, but the ME’s best guess is that she was killed yesterday. He’s likely still close by. Maybe we can get him.”

I wasn’t holding my breath, but I also wasn’t about to shoot down Helena’s hope. You needed it in that kind of work. “Thanks, Helena. Stay safe.”

“You, too. If anything tweaks you, call.”

“I will.” I hit end and shoved my phone back into my pocket.

Rho looked up at me with expectant eyes. “So?”

“He killed someone in California.”

“Poor woman,” she whispered.

I pulled Rho into my arms again. “Helena thinks he may not know where I am. That another stressor got him killing again.”

Her brow furrowed as she stared up at me. “What do you think?”

“It’s possible. I think it would be really hard for someone like him to keep his distance if he knew where I was. The temptation would be too great.”

Rho’s muscles eased beneath my hands. “I’m glad. Maybe that makes me awful because he’s obviously going to keep killing until someone stops him, but I don’t want him to know where you are.”

I brushed my lips across her temple. “That doesn’t make you awful. It makes you human.”

Rho burrowed into me. “I can call Nora and tell her we can’t make it. She’ll understand. I could use a quiet night in to finish my book anyway.”

I arched a brow at her. “You mean read until the second to last chapter?” Rhodes had read countless books in the past few weeks, but I hadn’t seen her finish a single one.

She stuck her tongue out at me. “It’s my process.”

I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into me. “I know, but we can save the non-finishing for another night. Family dinner is exactly where we should go.” Just saying the word family was a struggle. I hadn’t been a part of one in years, and the idea of letting those sorts of relationships grab hold had a familiar weight settling in.

Rho looked up at me. “Should we have a code word in case you want to leave?”

My lips twitched. “Code word?”

“You know, like…fuzzy pink bunny. Or the eagle lands at noon.”

I barked out a laugh. “How am I supposed to work that into casual conversation?”

“I don’t know. You could get creative.”

“How about I just squeeze your hand four times if I need out?”

Rho laid a hand over my heart. “I guess that works, too.”

“Come on, let’s go. I’ve been eating lukewarm Nora meals for a year and a half. I’m dying to have one hot out of the oven.”

We took Biscuit out one more time before leaving him with a bone to gnaw on, then climbed into my truck and headed for Nora and Lolli’s. I could feel Rho’s nerves. It was also evident in the tap of her fingers against my thigh, and the slightly increased rate of her breathing.

I laid a hand over hers as we pulled up to the massive ranch house. “I’m going to be fine.”

Rho looked over at me. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “Know how I know?”

“How?”

I weaved my fingers through hers. “Because you’re with me.”

Rho’s eyes glittered in the low light of the evening. “I worked very hard on this makeup, and if you make me cry right now, I’m going to be really mad at you.”

I chuckled. “Never.” I kissed her quickly as I released her hand. “Let’s go.”

Sliding out of the truck, I rounded the hood to open Rho’s door.

“Such a gentleman.”

“Sometimes,” I said, taking her hand.

She sent me a mischievous smile. “Oh, trust me. I know how wicked you can be.”

My dick twitched at the husky promise in her words. “If I have a hard-on walking into dinner with your family, I’m going to spank your ass.”

Rho only smiled wider. “Promises, promises.”

“Hell,” I muttered.

She tugged me toward the farmhouse, a skip in her step that came from knowing she was torturing me. The little witch.

I tried to focus on the house itself. It was huge with white siding in immaculate condition. A porch wrapped around the entire building with countless rockers and two porch swings. It looked like the house out of that old show The Waltons. Picture-perfect with sprawling pastures surrounding it and a barn.

Just as we reached the top step, the door opened to reveal Lolli. She wore a billowy dress with an accompanying shawl made of so many colors I couldn’t identify them all. Necklace after necklace looped around her neck, and I was pretty sure one of the chains had a pot leaf dangling from it.

Her blue eyes sparkled as she took in our joined hands. “Finally, someone is testing out the brooding god’s goods!”

“Mom!” Nora shouted from inside.

“Oh, hush, child. Don’t ruin my fun,” Lolli called back. She turned to me. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist my Rho for long. Now, I hear you were a Fed. Please tell me you aren’t one of those anti-marijuana sticks-in-the-mud who thinks missionary position is the only way anyone should ever have sex.”

“Lolli!” Her name was shouted by at least three people at once, including Rho.

Fallon appeared then, wrapping an arm around the older woman. “I’m so sorry, Anson. You’ll have to excuse Lolli. She’s going a little senile.” Fallon gave her a stern look as if to punctuate the point.

Lolli just made a pfft noise and waved her off. “I’m not going to let my granddaughter be stuck in missionary position for the rest of her life.”

“Do not talk about Rho and sex in the same sentence. Please,” Trace said with a shiver. “It’s just wrong.”

Lolli rolled her eyes as we followed her and Fallon into the house. “How did I get stuck with such a prudish family? Sex is a natural thing.”

Kye shot her a grin from his spot on an overstuffed chair. “Not all prudes, Lolls, don’t you worry.”

“At least I raised one of you right,” she harrumphed.

Rho burrowed into my arm, trying to stifle her laughter. “If she only knew what you can do with a bullet vibrator and a determined tongue.”

Fire swept through me. “I’m going to make you pay for putting that image in my head right now.”

Her laughter came free and easy. “Well, welcome to Colson chaos. I always knew it would be a hell of an introduction.”

One of the doors at the back of the massive living space swung open, and Keely raced inside, Arden following behind her. “We rode for a full hour! We even galloped!” she cried.

Trace sent Arden a warning look. “You said no galloping.”

Arden winced. “It was more like a fast canter.”

The little girl ran right past her dad and skidded to a halt in front of Rho and me. Her eyes went wide as she took me in. “You’re not Supergran’s boyfriend, but are you Auntie Rho’s?”

Shep choked on a laugh. “Not sure you call someone a boyfriend when they’re thirty-five, Warrior Princess.”

Her brows pulled together as she frowned up at me. “Man friend? Grown-up friend?”

Kye started coughing from his spot in the corner. “That’s what I’m going to start calling it now.”

“How about you just call me Anson?” I asked the little girl.

“I gots to call you Mr. Anson because my dad says that’s having manners. But you can call me Keely,” she said easily.

Rho leaned into me, patting my chest. “I don’t know, I’m kind of partial to grown-up friend.”

I sent her a scowl and mouthed the word spanking.

The ringing of a phone cut through the air, and Trace stood, pulling his cell out of his pocket. He frowned down at the screen. “Sorry. Give me a second.”

He disappeared down the hall, but my sixth sense was already tingling.

“Anson,” Nora said, crossing to me. “I’m so happy you could make it.” She didn’t waste a moment, simply pulled me into a hug.

I patted her back awkwardly, not used to the easy affection. “Thanks for having me.”

She smiled warmly as she released me. “You’re welcome any Sunday and whatever other days we manage to get together.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“We’ll just ignore the fact that you rejected my offers for the past year and a half,” Shep goaded.

Rho stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t be jealous that I have the touch.”

Shep shook his head. “Don’t think Anson is interested in my touch.”

“Jesus,” I muttered. This family was sex obsessed.

“What does that mean?” Keely asked, full of innocence.

Nora gave Shep a glare. “Nothing, baby. Want to come help me finish dinner in the kitchen?”

She nodded easily, following her grandmother out of the fray.

Just as they disappeared, Trace strode back into the living room. I recognized his expression instantly. The hard set of his jaw, the tight grip on his phone. Whoever had been on the other end of the call, and whatever they’d said, it wasn’t good.

Rho saw it, too. “What happened?”

Trace strode toward us, his face warring between pissed off and gentle. “That was the station. We got a call about a dead body.”

Rho sucked in a sharp breath. “Who?”

“I’m sorry, Rho. It was Davis.”