WADE WALKED FASTER toward the kitchen, forcing himself not to turn back. He needed a minute away from Bess. Time to get himself together.
It had been almost impossible not to kiss her.
For the first time Wade was seeing the side of Bess he’d suspected was there that first night.
He’d never fallen for anyone as hard and fast as he did Bess and this was the reason.
She’d seen him in a way no one ever had. Been able to see right through the walls most people didn’t even try to peek over.
That was also why he had to leave her behind. She was too smart. Too intuitive. Too easy to be with.
Maybe it was because they were so much alike.
It’s why he knew the panicked look in her eyes when he told her he wanted to take Parker so she could rest. Loss of control was about the worst thing anyone could do to him.
As long as he was in charge, he knew shit would go right. Because he would make sure it did.
It was a stubborn streak he knew she had, even if it didn’t show the night he met her. Now it was on full display. It was there in the way she held herself. The way she refused to be broken by the past year of her life.
The anger he’d been fighting since walking into cabin five threatened to push through. Wade tamped it down, pulling Parker a little closer. “That momma of yours is something else, Buddy.”
Parker babbled a little in response, the string of nonsense starting with one, very obvious word. “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mm.”
“That’s right, Buddy. We’ve gotta take care of her.” Wade grabbed the high-chair beside the long table set between the kitchen and the great room and hauled it to the row of barstools set along the island. It was where he preferred to eat when he was stationed in this cabin. It also made a great make-shift office with plenty of space to spread out.
Which is what he was going to do now.
As soon as he figured out what in the hell babies ate.
Wade looked at the child in his arms. “Are you even still a baby?”
Parker shook his head until he started to fall back. Wade angled him back upright. “Didn’t think so.” He opened the fridge, hoping Shawn had done at least a little shopping. A stack of yogurt cups with a baby on the front sat on one shelf. “These yours?” He sorted through them, checking the flavors, settling on blueberry. “You like blueberry?”
Parker grabbed the container and started chewing on it as Wade grabbed a spoon from the drawer.
His experience with babies was limited. Greatly.
He’d never held one until today. Until this baby that might be his.
Might. Wade snorted as he worked Parker down into his highchair, getting his first good look at Bessie’s son. He was a cute kid. Had his momma’s wide eyes and straight nose.
But the rest looked real damn familiar. “I think you might be stuck with me as your dad, Buddy.”
Parker didn’t look too worried about the idea of having someone like him as his paternal donor.
At least one of them wasn’t concerned.
Wade stopped peeling back the foil lid on Parker’s yogurt, leaving it half-opened.
Is that all he would be?
A fucking donor?
The thought bothered him on an uncomfortable level, especially considering he’d had no intention of ever fathering a kid. It wouldn’t be fair.
It’s why he was always so careful, and Wade was absolutely sure he’d been careful that night with Bess.
He never wanted anyone to go through the things his mother went through. Never wanted any kid to live the same kind of life he had.
But here he was. Stuck in a sick cycle of history repeating itself. Getting a woman pregnant and then leaving.
Except he left of his own volition.
His eyes lifted to the room where Bess was probably working hard to handle her son being out of her sight, instead of relaxing like he told her to. Was that all she would want him to be? The guy who knocked her up?
And then left.
“I fucked up, Buddy.” Wade went back to the yogurt, opening the container the rest of the way and scooping out a bite for Parker before holding it out to him. “I shouldn’t have left your momma.”
It was old news. He’d regretted walking away from Bess immediately.
Leaving her sleeping in his hotel room was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but Wade was convinced he had to do it.
And he’d stuck to that belief until about an hour ago.
Now he knew it was as fucking wrong as it felt. Every day it got worse. The memory of her had only gotten stronger with each day that passed.
And Bess was everything he remembered her to be. Better maybe.
Motherhood had rounded her hips and her breasts, adding a little more curve to her small frame. “I probably shouldn’t be noticing that, huh?” He held out another bite for Parker. “Those are your territory now.”
He let out a sigh as Parker started blowing blueberry-yogurt-laced raspberries and banging his hands on the tray to his high-chair. “What in the hell am I going to do?”
It was an easy answer. As simple as it should have been two years ago.
But back then the execution would have been much easier. At that point he didn’t have a crazy ex and two years of unknown abandonment to overcome.
Wade grabbed a towel from the drawer and ran it under warm water before using it to clean up Parker. Taking care of him was a whole lot like taking care of a lot of the people he was hired to protect.
Only this baby was much more agreeable.
Wade was just pulling Parker from the high-chair when the hair on the back of his neck lifted.
Someone was watching the cabin.
He’d done this for enough years that it didn’t take eyes on the enemy for him to know they were there. Wade tucked Parker close and crossed to the large armoire in the great room, opening the doors to reveal the bank of small screens hidden in the piece of furniture. He flipped the switch, turning them all on at once. It took him seconds to locate the source of his unease.
Sitting at the end of a service road crossing behind the property was a snowmobile with two riders.
Could be nothing. Someone out for a ride in the fresh snowfall.
Wade watched as the two masked riders stared toward the cabin, their heads moving slightly as they spoke to each other.
Maybe he shouldn’t have made Brock leave. If his partner was here he’d be halfway to where the snowmobile sat by now.
“What are you doing?”
Bessie’s voice made him jump. He spun to face her.
She shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on him like that. “Nothing.”
One pale brown brow lifted. “That doesn’t look like nothing.”
She leaned to peek around him and he stepped along with her, blocking her view of the screens. “I was just making sure all the cameras were working.”
Bess narrowed her eyes. “What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
“So this is how it’s going to be?” She stepped closer, bringing the deep dark scent that owned a place in his brain along with her. “You want to keep lying to each other?”
Wade tried to come up with a response, but was at a loss. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“How about the truth?” Her eyes snapped to a spot just over his shoulder and the color drained from her face. “There’s someone on the camera.”
The fear in her expression sent his adrenaline spiking. If this was anyone else he’d be on the phone with Brock right now, calling for backup.
He couldn’t let his desires outweigh what was best for Bess and Parker and that’s exactly what he was doing.
It looked like the privacy he wanted to have while sorting this out with Bess would have to wait.
Wade glanced at the spot where Bess was staring. The two riders were off the snow mobile now, creeping through the bank of trees between the service road and the cabin, each taking a different path, both moving lik
e they’d done this before.
“Take Parker and go to the closet in your bedroom.” He shoved the little boy into his momma’s arms. “Bolt the door and don’t unlock it until you hear my voice.”
“You’re voice?” Her feet didn’t move fast enough as he pushed her toward the bedroom.
“It’s a safe room with an intercom. Stay in it until I tell you to come out.” Wade pushed her harder, needing Bess to get to safety so he could get outside and deal with the pricks fucking up his plans. “Go. Now.”
He expected her to buck at the command. Instead she gave him one final look over her shoulder, eyes wide, skin pale, before doing as he asked and rushing into the bedroom. Wade waited for the sound of the lock clicking into place before grabbing his phone and racing to the back of the house. Brock answered on the first ring.
“What the fuck was that all ab—”
“I need you to get here now.” Wade pulled on one of the white overcoats and knit masks in the back room. “We’ve got two in the back.”
“Fuck.” Brock shuffled on the other end of the line. “You can’t go out there without backup, man.”
“I can.” Wade pulled his gun from his waistband before zipping the coat. “Get here fast.” He hung up on Brock and set the phone on the bench beside the door before silently slipping outside.
What he wouldn’t give to have Dutch in his ear right now, telling him where the bastards were. Wade moved toward the tree line, staying low, trying to keep as close to the ground as possible. The coat and mask meant his upper body blended in with the snow-covered surroundings, but the jeans covering his lower-half would stand out until he was in the woods. That meant he had to risk moving fast in favor of gaining cover.
The first shot caught him by complete surprise, but the second one he was ready for.
Wade dropped to the ground and rolled against a bank of snow shoveled from the back deck of the house, using it as cover. He was well off to the side of the house, but could still see the back of the building and all the windows that encompassed it. Their reflective surfaces gave him a full view of the woods. Wade held his breath. Waiting.
They couldn’t stay hidden forever, and soon the two men who were enjoying their last minutes of life would make a move.
And he would end them.
Killing was usually a last resort. One even Team Rogue tried to avoid under normal circumstances.
But these circumstances were anything but normal.
Nothing shifted in the shadowed scene on the glass. Not so much as a whisper carried on the air around him. Everything was silent. Still.
Until it wasn’t.
Tires crunched hard and fast up the icy driveway to cabin five a second before doors opened and boots pounded the frozen ground, racing through the snow as they surrounded the house and spread through the woods. Almost a dozen men raced over the property, their white gear making them blend in as they ran, guns drawn.
The biggest of the group came straight toward Wade at a full sprint, barrel trained right between his eyes.
Wade didn’t even flinch. He wouldn’t give the ass the satisfaction.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Brock flipped up the knit mask covering his face. “You pull some shit like that again I’ll kill you myself.”
“I got something.” Nate’s voice carried from deep in the trees.
Brock glanced toward the woods. “Be right there.” He shoved one hand Wade’s way. “Get your ass up.”
Wade took his partner’s hand and let Brock heft him up from the snow. “I couldn’t just let them get away.”
“That’s what you fucking did, though. If you waited we could have been here and taken them down as a team, dick.” Brock led him toward where Nate stood at the access road they sometimes used to smuggle people in and out of cabin five.
Nate was in a crouch, taking pictures of a set of tracks with his phone. “These are big. Probably both men.” He stood, placing one of his own boots next to one of the prints in the snow before taking another picture. “You get that?”
Wade glared at Brock until his friend pulled out his own earpiece and handed it over, yanking it back just as Wade reached for it. “I expect to know what the fuck’s going on.”
“Fine.” He snatched the lifeline away and shoved it into his ear. “Dutch, it’s Wade. What do you have?”
Dutch was the team’s tech guy. He was everywhere and nowhere. All from the comfort of his office at headquarters. He watched all their cameras, listened to all their lines, and dished out intel while sucking down espresso and shining his fucking shoes.
“What the actual fuck, Wade?”
“Come here and say that to my face.” Wade carefully stepped around the tracks in the snow, studying the familiar-looking tread pattern.
“One day I’ll kick your ass just to prove I can so you’ll shut the fuck up about it.” Dutch made a loud sipping noise on the other end of the line in Wade’s ear. “I bet it’s fucking cold out there after being on the beach, isn’t it?”
“Fuck off.” Wade tipped his head to one side as he continued staring at the print. “You lookin’ at the shots Nate sent?”
“Of course I’m fucking looking at the shots Nate sent. You think I just sit around drinking hot coffee while you freeze your ass off?”
“That’s exactly what I think.” Wade tipped the boot he was wearing to one side, comparing the pattern to the one punched in the snow. “It looks familiar.”
“That’s because it’s from a tactical boot.” The sound of Dutch’s fingers flying over one of the keyboards in his office carried into Wade’s ear. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those weren’t just some dudes taking their new sled out for a ride.”
“Wade!” Abe stood on the deck leading to the main part of cabin five, his arms lifted in the air. “Your girl won’t come out of the fucking closet.”
Your girl.
It was a term he’d never heard directed his way before. It didn’t sound as foreign as he would have expected. “I’m coming.”
He pulled the piece from his ear and handed it back to Brock. “Tell Dutch I’ll get with him.”
The warm air of the cabin was more welcome than he cared to admit. Now was not the time for him to go soft on the cold. He had to be at the top of his game for Bess, and already he’d shown she made him anything but.
Abe was standing at the speaker outside the closet when Wade walked into the room. “I swear he’s here. You can come out.”
“No.” Bessie’s answer was short and sharp.
Abe shot him a look over one shoulder as he released the button on the intercom. “Don’t look so happy. You need to talk to her. She has to listen to all of us. Not just your smug ass.”
“I told her she could only come out when I said it was safe.” His finger hovered over the button.
“That’s not what will keep her safe and you know it.” Abe stared him down. “I don’t know who she is to you, but she will be safer if we can all protect her. Not just you.”
Brock and his big fucking mouth. “I’ll take that under advisement.” Wade punched the button just as Brock walked into the bedroom with Nate on his heels. “Bess.”
There was no answer for a minute. Finally the sound of an open line came over the speaker.
“Who’s Abe?”
Wade glanced at the man beside him.
Every fiber of his being wanted to be the one to keep Bess and Parker safe.
To be their protector.
But Abe was right. “He’s one of the guys I work with.”
“How many guys do you work with?” The way she said it made him pause. He’d admitted more to Bess in the past hour than even his own mother knew about what he did for a living. “On my team there are ten of us.”
“Your team?”
He held the button with more force. “Come out and we can talk about this.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
Wade sta
red at the speaker for a second. “How the fuck do I make her come out?”
Abe shook his head. “Got me man.” He lifted one shoulder. “Maybe offer to take her shopping?”
Wade shook his head. “This woman isn’t like the normal type we deal with.”
The offer of a shopping trip would only piss Bess off. If he was right all those nights ago about who she was, then there was only one way he could get her out of that room right now. Wade stepped closer, hovering right in front of the speaker box as he pressed the button, hopefully for the last time. “The men on the sled were here for you, Bess. I don’t know who they are yet, but I will. And when I know, you will be the first person I tell.”
Wade released the button and waited.
“Why in the hell did you tell her that?” Brock stepped closer. “You’re going to scare the shit out of her.”
Wade shook his head. “Not her.”
A second later the bolt keeping him from her clicked open. He immediately pushed the door open and caught Bess as she fell into him. “Shawn said he wouldn’t be able to find us.”
Wade pulled her close, pressing his face into her hair as he held her and Parker in his arms. “I know, Sweetheart.”
She rested her forehead against his chest and barely sniffed. “I’m so freaking tired of this.” Bess took a deep breath and stepped out of his embrace too soon. Her chin lifted and she looked into his eyes, her gaze was steady and solid, burning with an inner strength he’d have to be blind not to see. “I’m fine.”
Wade nodded, easing back, even though all he wanted was to pull her and Parker close again.
The second he moved, Brock took a step forward, one hand out. “I’m Bro- holy shit.” His eyes locked onto the baby in Bessie’s arms for a second. His brows slowly came together. “Wade?”
He shot Brock a glare. “Shut it.”
CHAPTER 4
BESS LOOKED FROM Wade to the man beside him. “What did you say your name was?”
The other man seemed to recover from his shock, shoving his dark hair back with one hand while reaching the other out to her once again. “Brock. I’m this asshole’s partner.”
“You can’t say shit like that, man.” The man who must be Abe, based on his unmistakably deep voice, nodded to Parker. “She’s got a baby.”
Loss Recovery (Alaskan Security: Team Rogue Book 1) Page 3