6. Val
SIX
VAL
The hot stranger had saved my life.
I still couldn’t believe it. I knew his name was bullshit as soon as he’d spoken it. Stuffy, too formal, and obviously a canned answer. If he had a chance of pulling off a new identity, Evan Walker was going to have to work on that.
Despite my suspicions, I never would have guessed that the man at Redemption Ranch was the same man who had taken a bullet to the back—who had stepped in front of a gun— for me .
It didn’t make any sense. Why would he do that?
I had a thousand more questions for every limited answer Agent Brown gave.
I sat for more than an hour going through the same information over and over again.
She didn’t have all the information, but what she could tell me was that Evan and his family were part of a well-connected branch of a crime syndicate in Chicago.
“It still doesn’t all make sense.” A dull throb formed behind my eyeballs. “Why was he there? Why did he step in front of that gun? He didn’t even know me.”
“Evan is exacting. I’m certain he had his reasons. None of which he has ever shared with me. ”
The way he’d croaked out the name Gemma told me there was definitely more to that story.
Gemma.
I was so relieved that she was real. I had scoured the filed police reports, and not a single one mentioned a young woman being there.
A dozen police officers had been questioned, and not one mentioned seeing her with me.
More than once I’d worried that maybe I was losing my mind or had invented her completely, but I knew in my heart she was there and was the central reason that it had all gone south that night.
“Evan is providing testimony that has the potential to dismantle a very powerful entity in the city of Chicago. Nothing that’s discussed here can leave this ranch.”
I nodded. “Why did Agent Walsh suggest I come here?”
Ma’s features softened. “Redemption Ranch is the only place of its kind. He knows that it lives within my very soul. He wouldn’t have sent you here without a reason.”
“So blind faith? I’m supposed to move forward with the blind faith that I’ll pass whatever kind of test this is in order to get my life back? That’s ridiculous.”
“Many people who’ve walked through these gates have found themselves. I have a feeling you’ll be one of them. But remember this—when someone is accepted to be here, their past is left behind them. Can you do that?”
Agent Brown’s question looped on repeat in my head. Could I leave Evan’s past in the past? Could I leave my own?
I knew the answer was no when I’d spent forty minutes wandering around the ranch, looking for him. Finally, a cattle roper had taken pity on me. He spoke broken English, but after a series of hand gestures—big shoulders, grumpy face—he’d pointed up a path toward the edge of the pine forest.
“Up that path? In the woods?”
His single nod sent me on my way.
Out of breath and feeling the breeze cool my damp skin, I trudged up the dirt path.
At the top of a small hill, hidden from the main path, an all-terrain side-by-side vehicle was parked.
With his back to me, Evan placed a large chunk of wood on top of the widest stump I’d ever seen.
With quick, efficient strokes, he lifted an axe above his head.
In a single swing, the wood split in half and went flying.
Without stopping, he grabbed another piece with one hand and centered it on the stump.
Thwack. The echo of his axe matched the pounding in my chest.
With his back to me, I could truly appreciate how spectacularly built he was.
His back was broad, and sculpted muscles were evident, even through the white cotton of his shirt.
Suspenders— Who knew those were so freaking hot?
—trailed down his back in a V to narrow hips and the best ass I’d ever seen on a man.
It wasn’t flat, but rather muscled and round, and his work pants hugged his delicious curves.
A brief thought of grabbing his ass and pulling his hips into me sent a sizzle of desire straight between my legs. I shifted quietly as I stared at him.
“I know you’re there.”
I was ripped from my inappropriate thoughts by the sound of his deep, penetrating voice.
I cleared my throat and took another step toward the path. “Sorry. I don’t mean to bug you.”
Evan cast a glance in my direction but kept splitting wood.
I stood like an idiot, staring at his muscles and then looking around while I searched for my voice on the forest floor.
He didn’t look anything like the man who’d slumped across me in that darkened courtyard.
Granted, his hair was longer, the thick strands teasing the bottoms of his earlobes, and he sported short scruff now.
Plus, at the time, his face had been swollen and bloodied.
My mind raced to piece together the events of that night and fit them with the man standing before me.
At a total loss and giving up for the moment, I needed to move.
I thought better when I moved. I stepped forward and began stacking the pieces of wood Evan had split.
A small pile had been started, so I mirrored the stack.
Evan paused, looking at what I was doing, but besides one small hmmph , he didn’t speak another word.
After a torturous few minutes of not ogling him while I stacked wood, he finally took a break.
Leaning the ax against the stump, he bent to grab his water bottle.
My eyes tracked his movements, and I watched as he brought the bottle to his full lips.
The column of his throat was sinful, and my mouth went bone-dry as he chugged the water.
It immediately felt twenty degrees hotter.
The spring air did little to cool my tacky skin and quiet the hum that formed between my legs.
Crisp pine air floated between us and carried his deeply warm and manly scent—laundry and wood and good-smelling man assaulted my senses.
Evan didn’t seem to care that I was eye-fucking him. Rather, he seemed amused. “Did you need something?” Humor danced in his eyes.
I pulled my ponytail loose, letting my dark hair tumble down before I raked my hands through it. “I don’t understand any of this.” I paced between the stack of wood and the ATV. “How are you here? Why are you here? What does it mean? Who are you?” The questions stacked on top of each other.
Evan stepped in my path. His large, rough hands wrapped around my biceps, and I swallowed my words. I could feel my face flush at his closeness. His piercing blue eyes peered down at me under his dark brows, and the sounds of the forest faded away.
“There’s a lot I don’t know.” His voice was low and rough. His eyes flicked to my lips, and I swiped my tongue along the bottom.
I felt breathless, but I had to know the one question that I couldn’t let go unanswered. “Why? Why did you step in front of the gun?”
His hands squeezed my arms gently. I could feel my body sway toward him as though an invisible tether pulled me closer. “You saved my sister’s life when I couldn’t.”
As soon as he spoke, Evan sidestepped and went back to chopping wood and ignoring me.
Did he feel the spark between us when he touched me? Have I lost my damn mind? This man is a stranger. A criminal. He is everything that you stand against.
Disgusted with myself and how easily I was charmed by him, I fled.