Chapter 12
T he next morning after breakfast, Cole walked Regan out to the cabin. It was in better condition than she’d expected. Everything about it looked sturdy. The log cabin had a porch held up by four-by-fours and two rocking chairs sat to one side of the door.
Cole held the door open for her to enter.
The interior was quite cozy. It was one great room with a double bed along one wall. Across from that was a table with four ladder-backed chairs, and on the wall behind the table was a small kitchen with a sink, microwave, and mini-fridge.
“This is a nice little place.” Regan stepped farther into the building. “I’m surprised it doesn’t have a loft.”
“I didn’t see the need for one. Do you?”
She shook her head. “No, it was just a comment.”
“When do you think he’ll show up?”
“Today. Tomorrow, at the latest. I need to stay here and pretend to be you.”
“And just exactly how do you propose to do that? We don’t look anything alike, even if they didn’t notice you’re a woman.”
She shrugged. “I figured I would stay inside.”
“How would he know you…or I…am here?” Cole closed the door, leaned against it, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I should be the one who stays.”
“Why? He’ll be confused by me being here when he expects you. That will give me the time I need to take him down and end this.”
Cole pushed off from the door and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t like you being in danger.”
“It’s my job, remember?”
He closed in on her and gripped her arms. “Maybe I don’t want you to do your job anymore. I know I offered you the position of my permanent bodyguard but that’s not an option any longer.”
She widened her eyes. “Are you firing me?”
“What? No. Yes. Dang it.” He pulled her close and lowered his head, taking her lips with his.
She hesitated and thought about pushing him away but the sensation was too much…too good. Regan gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck.
When he pulled back, she followed him, unready for the kiss to end. “Cole,” she whispered.
“Regan.” He met her lips again.
This kiss knocked her socks off. Nothing about it was gentle.
He was fierce, taking her lips with a growl, his tongue dueled with hers, taking, tasting, owning her mouth.
His hand cupped the back of her head, holding her to him, yet she knew she could pull away and he would let her.
She didn’t. Instead, she tightened her hold around his neck.
Finally, he released her, and they came up for air, both breathless.
“I’ve wanted to do that since I first met you,” she admitted.
Cole smiled and took her hands in his. “Me, too.”
“What are we doing, Cole?” She relaxed her arms and stepped back. “What? Am I your bodyguard? Are we starting something more?”
“I don’t want you because you’re my bodyguard. You’re kind and smart, and you can kick butt better than any man I’ve ever met. As I’ve gotten to know you, I am more amazed by you. I don’t know where we’re going, but I want to find out. Don’t you?”
Regan swallowed hard and nodded. “I do. You’re not what I expected.
I thought you’d be a cold, calculating man, like so many rich men I’ve met.
But you’re not. You care…about your family…
about your friends, and about your employees.
I can’t be with you and work for you. But I can’t leave you, either. What kind of fool does that make me?”
“You’re not a fool because I feel the same way. Stay, and let’s find out what we have. Please.”
She thought about all the things that were wrong with this situation and all the things that were right. Cole was right…for her. She knew it in her heart. But she had to finish the job before anything could happen between them.
“I’ll stay until this job is finished, until we have Sykes in custody for not only your attempted murder, but the attempted murder of all those people on that platform.
Things could have gone very wrong if your people hadn’t been on their toes and knew their jobs.
They stopped what could have been a major catastrophe for that entire region. ”
“He did and they did. I’m glad they were on top of their jobs. I’ll have to give them bonuses.”
“Good idea. They worked well together to get it stopped. You need to have your PR department emphasize that it was sabotage by a certain individual and not an inefficient or dangerous running of the oil platform. You should also explain what your company has done so far?—”
“That’s already happening. Now, let’s work together to get you from being my bodyguard. to us being something more.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want? I don’t want to be your latest plaything. I couldn’t stand it.”
He frowned. “I don’t have playthings. I never date a woman more than three times. I don’t make promises. You, however, I will promise to care for you and keep you as safe as you keep me.”
“I want your love, Cole. I can’t be with you if this is going nowhere.”
“I don’t want it to go nowhere, either. Trust me. Can you trust me?”
She looked up at him, then rolled to the balls of her feet and took his lips with hers in answer. Kissing him hard, telling him without words, she trusted him.
Suddenly, the door opened. “Well, if this isn’t a pretty sight. Looks like I can eliminate all my problems.” Jerry Sykes stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the morning sun at his back. In his right hand, he held a .38 revolver.
Cole tried to shove Regan behind him.
She stood beside him, refusing to be shoved away. “You’re early, Jerry. I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow. But I’m glad you’re here. We can get this cleared up in no time.”
He lifted a brow and graced her with a cocky smile. “You’re right…Regan. We can.”
She didn’t show any surprise that he knew her name. “Why don’t you tell us why you want Cole dead. What did he ever do to you?” She needed to keep him talking. Get him to relax so she could take him by surprise. She could only hope that Cole, being a former Seal, would understand her ploy.
“He killed her. All she wanted was your attention.”
“Who’s she?” asked Cole.
Good. Cole is doing great. He’s playing along and keeping Sykes talking
“My sister. When you wouldn’t give Jasmine the time of day, she went into a deep depression and ended her life practically before it started. She was only twenty-two, and you destroyed her.”
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
Sykes shook the gun at him. “Don’t lie! I know what you did.”
Cole straightened his shoulders and stood tall. “Your sister was…delusional. I never led her to believe there was anything between us. I didn’t even know who she was until she started stalking me.”
Jerry shook his head violently. “No!! You…you destroyed her. You had to have. Jasmine wouldn’t have killed herself otherwise.”
Cole softened his voice. “Jerry. I didn’t do anything to entice your sister?—”
“Jasmine. Use her name Jasmine. Or can’t you bear to say it?”
“I never did anything to entice Jasmine. I understand she worked for my company in the Denver office, but I never met her. I’m sure I would have remembered.”
“No! You’re lying.” He raised the gun and braced his left hand on his right wrist.
Regan didn’t wait. She shoved Cole and then, with Jerry momentarily confused, she lowered her right shoulder and ran at him.
Hit in the stomach, he fell out the door onto his back.
Cole came from behind her. He dropped to the ground next to Sykes and grabbed his wrist, squeezing, trying to get him to release the gun.
Jerry hit Cole in the jaw and then tried to kick him. He used his body to try and shake Cole’s hold on his wrist.
Cole didn’t relinquish his hold but seemed to squeeze harder. He leaned his body on top of Sykes’ and dug his elbow into the man’s stomach. Sykes finally released the gun and it dropped into the dirt.
Taking Syke’s left arm, Regan pushed it over his head and then forced him to turn over to his belly.
Cole helped roll him over. “What do we do with him now? Do you have something to tie his wrists together?”
“Hold him. I’ll be right back.” She ran inside, found a steak knife in the kitchen, and then went to the bed, pulled back the blankets and, after slicing into the sheet, she tore off a long strip. Then she ran back outside.
Sykes cried, in great wracking sobs. “I just wanted justice for Jasmine. That’s all. Justice.”
Cole sighed.
The man lost his sister and, though he’d tried to kill him, Regan saw Cole’s sympathy.
She wondered if Cole was imagining if he’d lost his sister to suicide or anything else, for that matter.
She understood the deep grief he would feel.
She would be the same if she lost either of her sisters or her brother.
Maybe especially Randy, because he was her best friend, too.
Cole’s voice was soft. “There is no justice, Jerry. She committed suicide. We can speculate why, but in the end, only she knew her reasons for doing what she did.”
Sykes continued to struggle. “No. It was you. She wouldn’t have done it if not for you.”
Regan tied his wrists with the strip from the sheet.
Cole climbed off Jerry and stood. Then he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911.
After that call, he placed one to Mason.
“Get your men to the cabin on the Castle Pines ranch. We have Jerry Sykes. I’ll explain later.
” He ended the call and slid his phone back in his front pocket.
Then he helped Sykes to his feet and into the cabin, where he sat him at the table. Cole sat next to him.
Regan placed Jerry’s gun safely on the kitchen counter and then sat across from him. “You’re going to prison for a long time, Jerry. You know that, don’t you?”
Jerry sniffled. Then he straightened in his chair. “It would have been worth it if I’d been able to complete my plan and had killed you.” He looked directly at Cole. The tears that dirtied his face were gone and only belligerence remained.