Chapter 4
The water runs. And runs. I resist the urge to check my watch. Really I don’t need to. I’m good with time.
She’s been in there one minute and forty-five seconds. Not unusually long, but I’m on edge.
The sooner I get River in my sight again, the better.
I have one job. Keep her safe.
When the ladies room door swings open, I get confirmation of what I suspect. River squeaks when I push her back inside and lock the door.
“What are you doing?” she demands.
I crowd her toward the sink until her back hits the counter.
She’s sputtering at me as I turn on the water and splash it onto the mirror, erasing the word, help, she’s written in soap.
“I’m going to handcuff you to me,” I warn as I wipe down the mirror with a paper towel.
“Like hell you are.”
Things are about to go from bad to worse, but that’s not going to keep me from doing my job. I look square at her and say, “You don’t have a choice in this.”
Her reply is instant and loud enough for anyone in the lobby to hear. “I always have a choice!”
“Not this time.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ll call my brother’s friends, they’ll come get me—“
“Your phone’s in your truck, and that’s currently a smoldering pile of metal.” I pull out my keys. “Let’s go.”
“No.”
“Look.” I step closer, lowering my voice, looking down at her.
“I understand you’re scared. I understand you don’t trust me.
But right now, I’m the only option you’ve got.
So you can walk out to my truck, or I can carry you.
Either way, we’re leaving, and Sheriff Baker and his men won’t say a damned thing. ”
She stares up at me, breathing hard, trapped between the wall and my body. “Who are you?”
“Someone trying to keep you alive.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t fail the people I care about. Ever.”
For a long moment, we just stare at each other. Then she pushes past me, heading for the door. “Fine. But when my brother finds out about this, you’re going to have a serious problem.”
I follow her out, biting back the response that she’s not going to like one fucking bit.
She climbs into the truck, slams the door and locks me out.
Fuck. I look skyward. God, give me patience.
I click the fob in my hand and hurl myself in the driver’s seat. “You really going to make this as hard as it can possibly be.”
Looking out the window at nothing, she says, “Yep. Now take me home.”
Ha. Right.
I start the truck, put it in reverse to exit the small lot, and turn left on Main Street. Bracing for her realization that I’m going the wrong way.
East is the opposite direction of her ranch.
There’s a thunderstorm brewing in the cab of my truck when I’m saved by my phone ringing.
Caleb Allison appears on the caller ID.
My relief is instant and twofold. One, he’s alive. Two, he can calm River down by telling her all the things I’m contractually obligated not to tell her.
“Thank Heavens!” she exclaims, practically climbing over the center console to punch the button to answer the call.
“Caleb! Oh my god. I’m so glad you called.”
“River?”
She leans closer, her shoulder brushing my bicep now. “Yes! It’s me, but obviously this isn’t my phone.”
“River? Can you hear me, I’ve got a bad connection. I’ll try to call back…”
Alarmed, she clutches the leather console between our seats as if it’s a tether to her brother. “Wait, don’t go!”
Caleb’s reply is garbled. A few seconds later the call goes dead.
“No!” River covers her mouth with her hands, breathing hard through her fingers. “Call him back. Now. I need to talk to him.”
The call fails twice from our end.
“He’ll call back, you know he will.”
She’s folded in on herself now and looking vulnerable which makes the protective side of me want to drag her over the console into my lap.
I shake myself. That can’t happen.
My attraction to River is a serious threat to being able to keep my head straight.
Ten minutes pass before the call comes in again. “Diesel,” he says, “Put me on FaceTime.”
There’s a catch in River’s breath when his face comes on the screen. For a second she doesn’t say anything and I know she’s taking in his appearance.
It’s rough.
Caleb’s eyes are hollowed out, black smudges down his cheeks. The lines that bracket the grim set of his mouth are etched in deep. The backdrop is a shadowy tent in some unknown location. He’s wearing fatigues and a plate carrier over his chest and looks fresh off a mission.
Memories of past ops hit me in a flashflood. Good ones. Bad ones.
Memories you can’t categorize.
Forcing air in my lungs, I pull to the side of the road to preserve the fragile signal because I know how precious calls like this are.
Never take them for granted.
Even if the conversation that’s about to happen is going to be volatile.
T-minus two minutes, is my guess.
River’s going to go off.
“So glad Diesel was right there when the fire broke out,” Caleb says, tone thick with emotion. Gray must have given him the details.
River is stone silent as Caleb continues. “I hope this takes some of the sting out of the fact that I hired LSS to follow you.”
Oh shit. So much for two minutes.
“Wait. Did you say you hired someone to follow me?”
I grimace as Caleb nods. “Yes, I did. Because you haven’t taken those fucking creepy flower deliveries serious enough. I had a gut feeling something was going to happen. Thankful I did.”
River’s looking at me now, scorching me with her glare. “Oh my god. Why didn’t I put all the pieces together?”
I have nothing to say to this.
She snaps at her brother, the air growing thick with her anger. “I’m furious at you, Caleb.”
Then she refocuses on me. “And you! How long have you been following me?”
Hm. This isn’t going to help.
“Four days.”
Pure murder. That’s what I see in her expression. “You’ve been stalking me for four days.”
“Observation isn’t stalking when it’s part of a protective detail—”
“Shut up. Nevermind.” She rounds on her brother. “Tell him to take me home.”
Caleb shakes his head, that stubborn look on his face that brothers get when talking to their sister. I know because I’ve worn this very look plenty of times.
“Not happening,” he says flatly. “The fire is more than enough proof for me that you’re under serious threat.”
“It was a truck fire! They happen all the time. That’s what all those black marks are on the side of the highway.”
“Come on, River,” he shouts. “Get your head out of the damned clouds.”
They go back and forth. The volume going up, until a headache starts to make my eyes bulge.
“Hey, hey.” I interrupt. “Why don’t you two take a couple of breaths?”
River turns to me, eyes glinting a reflection of the dashboard lights. “Why don’t you mind your own business?”
“I am. Both of you are my business. Now, if you’ll take a breather, Caleb and I can talk about what’s next.”
“Next!? This is what’s next. You’re taking me home and driving away.”
Caleb’s pacing, his hand is in his hair. “Can you handle this Diesel? I’ve got a lot going on here.”
“I’m on it.”
He presses his hand to his heart. “Thank you, brother. And River, listen to him. He’s the best. But don’t make him mad, he’s—”
The call drops.
I don’t give her time to react. Or maybe, I don’t give myself time to overthink. I reach for her, drag her backwards across the console until she’s wrapped in my arms. “Shhh. Just catch your breath.”
First, she twists, grumbling. But I only tighten my hold.
I’m surprised when she shivers in my hold, instead of biting me. Kicking out my windshield. Or otherwise pulling another violent fit.
I’ll take the win. No matter how small.
But River won’t look at me, and maybe that’s just as well. My expression may reveal too much. I’m going down hard for this woman.
The fire in her veins does something wicked to me.
“Don’t. Whatever you’re doing, don’t,” she whispers in a low, husky way that claws at me.
“Look. I know this is a lot. But if you can let me do what I do, then this will be over sooner.”
I should NOT bury my nose in her hair. But that’s what I do.
River Allison, my best friend’s sister, strips something inside of me raw. The pain in my chest might be fatal.
Unfortunately, River’s fine ass is cradled right in my lap. Against my cock, and being her bodyguard does nothing to stop my blood from racing downward to the most dangerous place of all.
There’s no way she’s going to miss what’s happening.
Fuck. This couldn’t be worse timing.
I shake myself mentally and my blood cools in response. Thinking about the code between men about little sisters makes the heat running through me turn to ice.
“Your brother is my best friend, River.”
Not a muscle moves in her entire frame.
After a long, crushing silence, she says, “I didn’t know that.”
“Let me give him this. Assurance you’re safe. I know I’d want the same for my little sister, even if she hated me for it.”