“You’ve been distracted since the day she showed up here,” he says in defense while looking at Mav for his agreement.
“And?” I stand back and cross my arms over my chest. “Did anyone complain about the job I did during this last guide?”
“No.” He frowns. “But that’s not the point.”
“So what is the point? I didn’t plan on Cybil showing up. I didn’t know her before this trip. But I gotta tell you, man, I will fucking walk if you try to make me choose between her and this place.” I startle myself with that statement, but even as freaked as it makes me, I know it’s true. No one has ever made me feel what she has in the short time that I’ve known her, and as much as I love the people I consider family here, they are not mine, and if I’m right about Cybil, she’s going to be that to me—my family.
“You don’t even know her.” His nostrils flare, and his fists clench.
“The point is, I want to keep getting to know her. Fuck, man, you know me.” I shake my head, disappointed as fuck and pissed the hell off. “You’ve known me for years. You should know this is something else, and the fact that you want to act like I’m thinking with my dick is fucked up and complete bullshit.”
Blake looks at Mav once more.
“Sorry, man, but I gotta agree with Tanner on this.” Mav steps back so he’s no longer between us. “I’m not saying I’m happy that Cybil is a client, but I know Tanner would not go there unless he felt like there was something between them.”
When Blake doesn’t say more, I sigh. “If we’re done here, I need to get Cybil to eat something so she can take her meds. And in the morning, I’m heading to my place with her. If you need me, you know how to get ahold of me.” Then, without a backward glance, I head inside and straight to Cybil.
“Is everything okay?” she asks as I carry her down the hall to my room. When we built this place, we knew we’d each want to have a space of our own to crash after a trip, or when we had to be here early before a guide. So we built a separate wing at the back of the lodge with three small studio apartments away from the guests, which is nice after coming off a long week.
“All good.” I set her on her feet when I reach my door, then quickly type my code into the lock and let us in. “I’m going to go get your suitcase from your car and something for you to eat,” I tell her as I help her over to the couch in the corner of the room. “The TV works, and the password for the internet is Livelifeadventures, all one word with a capital L, in case you want to go online.” I grab my laptop, which is still on the bed where I left it the last time I was here, and hand it over to her.
“I can go get my bag.” She starts to stand but stops when her eyes meet my narrowed ones. “Okay.” She lifts her hands. “I won’t go get my bag, but something seems off with you. Is everything okay?”
I close the distance between us and take her face between my palms. “Everything is good.” Really, it’s better than good, even with the bullshit. It feels right having her in my space, having her with me. “I just want you to eat something, shower, and take your pill so you can rest. It’s been a long fucking day.” I brush my lips across hers.
“I really am okay.” She leans back to look me in the eye.
“Liar,” I say quietly, seeing the pain she’s trying to hide. “I’ll be right back. Relax.” After she nods, I take off, first going to her Bronco to get her bag, then stopping in the kitchen to pick up a tray of food. When I get back to the room, I find her curled up on the couch, watching some history documentary on the television.
“Did you know that the first chain saw was invented to help make it easier for doctors to remove babies from women?” she asks as soon as I enter the room.
“No.”
“Well, it was. How horrifying is that?”
“Pretty fucking horrifying,” I agree, carrying her food and a bottle of juice to the couch and handing her the plate. “Eat, so you can take your pill and shower.”
“Please.” She raises a brow.
“Sorry.” I smile. “Please eat, so you can take your pill and shower.” I sit next to her with my own plate of food.
“I know you said everything is fine, but I noticed that you, Blake, and Maverick talked, and since then, you seem to be on edge,” she says when a commercial comes on. “Do you want to talk about it?”