“How’d you guess?” She looked away from him. Time to be honest. “But it wasn’t just him. I let him and—even Caden—believe it was, but the truth is, I had other reasons too.”

“And Caden’s okay with this?”

She scowled. “Caden didn’t have any say in the matter.”

“I’m surprised he’s not camping out in his car every night.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, sorry, but I’m serious.”

He totally was.

A rap on the window made her blink. A man in his early thirties, wearing a Stetson over dirty blond hair, stood outside the car. His green eyes were serious. “I’m going to check the perimeter while you stay with her.” He reached across Gavin and held out a hand for her to shake. “I’m Travis Walker. Nice to finally meet you, Sarah.”

“You too. Thank you.”

He clapped Gavin on the shoulder. “Asher’s watching you while I check the place out. Sit tight until I give the all clear.”

“Will do.”

He left and she watched him go. “He’s wearing boots and a cowboy hat.”

“He’s from Texas. He doesn’t feel dressed without them.”

“Interesting.” She turned her attention from the cowboy and narrowed her eyes at Gavin, picking up where they’d left off. “You think I can’t take care of myself? That, in normal circumstances, I need Caden to babysit? Or you think that I need you to set up a job interview? You really think that little of me?”

“It’s not that, Sarah. I actually think very highly of you. I’ve apologized for the whole job thing—and I really meant that I was trying to help. But this is a situation where it’s about watching out for someone you love. Someone who’s deliberately put themselves in a dangerous circumstance when they didn’t have to. You’re seriously telling me this is all you could afford?”

“Of course not, but I just said I had reasons to move in here, other than just pushing my dad’s buttons. That was just a bonus.”

“Other reasons? Like what?”

“My mom used to live here.”

His lips snapped together. “Oh. What? When?”