Tennyson nodded, and without a word, started off on a path that was parallel to the scar cut into the earth that was the grow field. She took careful steps, making sure she didn’t break branches or kick any rocks that would alert to anyone who might be lurking around to the fact we were sulking through the woods.

“There’s a big rock outcropping up on a ridge about twenty minutes this way. The rocks are big enough that they’ll offer cover if we get fired at and they’re far enough away that no one will be able to find us right away after that first flare goes off. I just hope they set up operations close by, so I can direct the guys to the camp.” She was whispering, but even that sound echoed loudly in the vast quiet of the forest surrounding us.

I swatted at a pinecone that fell when I brushed against a branch and made sure to step around it so that the brittle texture didn’t crunch under my boots. “They can’t be that far. We wouldn’t have heard Em screaming if they were too far away from the field.”

She looked at me over her shoulder and frowned. She snatched her hat off of her head and tossed it to me. “Put that on. I didn’t realize how bright your hair was once the sun was out. It’s like a damn beacon and there’s no telling how close they are. Sound carries for miles and miles.”

I snorted a little bit while trying to shove as much of my hair under her ugly hat as I could, which had her lifting her brows questioningly. “I learned that lesson the hard way. I may have accused Cy and his brothers of not being cowboy enough for this business when we first met. I didn’t think anyone could hear me and I was very wrong.”

She rolled her eyes with a snort of laughter and turned her head back around as the trees started to thin out, as the terrain got rockier and rougher to traverse. “Cy can cowboy up when he has to, but he’s always hated that label and the stigma of what life on a ranch should be. I’ll deny it if you ever tell him I said it, but I think a lot of his reluctance to own up to being a cowboy comes from the fact his mom never stuck around and stood by his dad. Boyd Warner was cowboy through and through. I always got the impression that Cy believed if he could be all the things his dad wasn’t, then maybe he would find a woman who wouldn’t leave.” She shrugged and looked at me over her shoulder. “He tried to be something else but that man was born with the ranch and the west in his blood. He couldn’t outrun his heritage and he found a woman who couldn’t deal with how deep his roots ran. She did her best to cut them but they’re dug all the way in. He ended up with a woman who couldn’t love a cowboy, just like his sorry excuse for a mother. The strong survive out here and the tough flourish. They don’t come much stronger and tougher than Cy. He needs a woman who appreciates that.”

I couldn’t stop my hands from curling into fists at my side. The familiar and intimate way she talked about the man I was going to have to walk away from burned like acid and fire.

“Are you trying to tell me you’re the woman who appreciates those qualities in him?” I didn’t want to sound snippy and jealous, but I did.

She shook her head and lifted the pale fall of her hair so that she could tuck it into the collar of her shirt. “Those are the qualities that make it impossible for the two of us to spend more than a few hours together without one of us wanting to strangle the other. Cy’s a rock, or maybe he’s more like a goddamn boulder since he’s so big. So am I. I’m just as hard as he is and can be just as immovable. All we do is knock against one another until one of us ends up with a headache. Out of bed, that isn’t any fun and wastes both our time.”

I hated that she had so much history with Cy, that she didn’t have to rush through her time with him.

“If he’s a rock what does that make me?” I wasn’t easy and malleable enough to be the stream that coursed around the jagged rocks that broke through the surface. I wasn’t soft enough to wear the rough edges of stone away after a lifetime of gentle pressure.

She stopped so suddenly, that I almost ran into her back. I stumbled and put out a hand to keep myself from falling as she turned to face me. She let her jade colored eyes rove over me, and when they finally met mine there was a spark of humor in the jeweled depths.

“Well, Sunshine,” her lips twitched when she tossed out the cutesy pet name Cy had stuck me with. “I’d say you’re the only thing on earth that can warm stone up. You’re the sun and the shine. You’re the warmth that chases out the chill all the way to the middle. If rock gets hot enough it can explode.”

I cocked my head to the side and exhaled a long breath. I didn’t want to like this woman, mostly because she had the ability to pick Cy’s dick out of a lineup and I selfishly wanted to be the only one with that ability. But her honesty and her quirky way of looking at things tugged at me and made me feel like I could trust her. She didn’t seem to have any artifice or even like she was in the slightest bit concerned with the impression she made. What you saw was what you got with Officer McKenna and I appreciated that she wasn’t interested in having a pissing contest over the man we both had spent naked time with.

“Are you speaking from experience?” Cy said she didn’t talk about where she went or what brought her back home, so I wondered if her sunny day had clouded over.

Her teasing expression closed off and the glint went out of her emerald gaze. Her mouth, which was the perfect shade of carnation pink without a drop of lipstick, twitched into a frown that changed her lovely face into something harsh and almost ugly. “Even rock can break if you find the weak point and hit it hard enough. It’s even easier to chisel off pieces if you know what you’re doing.”