by Em Petrova
But… letting down Sully, Linc and Lennon, Cav and Jess… hell, even Colonel Downs, was a difficult thought to touch on even for a second. Who would ever step into Shaw’s shoes? The idea of Ranger Ops rolling on without him on their sixes…
Suddenly, she lifted a hand and waved. The path widened, and Shaw guided his horse beside her to see his father at the barn, watching them ride in. It hit him—what would his father say if Shaw asked his opinion on that life choice?
Once upon a time, he’d urged Shaw to take a leap—to let Atalee know his feelings. But in this matter, Shaw wasn’t certain what his father’s advice would be.
He reined up his horse and slid from the saddle. When Atalee followed, he was there to assist her, letting her slip through his hands to the ground. As they began to care for the horses, his father helped out to tuck them up with some hay, and they talked of the ranch and how it used to be.
His father looked over the field that used to be filled with livestock.
“Do you miss it, Dad?” Shaw rested a hand on his father’s shoulder.
He was still a moment, then finally shook his head. “It was good for that time of life, but now I’m happy where I am. The work I have keeps me busy and better food on the table than my social security would provide. The horses I have left give me enough enjoyment.” He smiled at Shaw.
Squeezing his father’s shoulder, he moved to Atalee’s side. “We’re headin’ down to the market for those steaks. Atalee’s mother will be here soon.”
“I’ll make her welcome if she shows up before you’re back. I’ve got that bottle of brandy.”
“Thanks, Woody.” Atalee leaned in and kissed Shaw’s father on the cheek. When they walked away from him, he was still smiling.
“I think you made his day.”
She laughed. “I know I made yours.” After crawling out of the water, they’d drunk their root beers and she’d given him a show of sucking on the long-neck bottle—and then blown his mind by taking him in her mouth.
Shaw’s bones still felt melted from that experience, and he planned to return the favor as soon as he had her all to himself again.
They got back into his classic car. The market was only a few miles up the road, a small business that remained alive out of necessity to the neighbors who didn’t like to make longer trips into town.
“This place is so quaint.”
“Got about ten aisles and two checkouts but the best cuts of steak around. C’mon.”
They walked up to the front door, and he held it open for her. But the instant he did, the air hit him, charged with danger. If Shaw knew anything, it was that feeling.
Swiping his arm outward, he shoved Atalee behind him and scanned the scene before him.
Two guys wearing black bandannas over their faces old-Western robber-style had both cashiers at gunpoint.
As Shaw reached for the weapon he always carried concealed along his spine, he caught a small movement of one cashier as she pressed a fingertip into the screen of her phone.
Dialing 9-1-1.
His hackles raised. “Step back outside, Atalee. Slowly.” When she didn’t immediately move, he growled out, “Now.”
Feeling her body heat move away from his back sent relief tingling through his veins. But he still had an issue to handle right in front of him.
“What’s the trouble, guys?” He kept his voice nonchalant but the warm steel of his pistol grip felt good in his hand.
Both guys shot a look at him and then darted their gazes back to the cashiers. Judging from their appearance, they were young, twenties at best, and looking for some quick cash, even if there couldn’t be much in those register drawers.
One’s gun wavered, moving between the young woman behind the counter and Shaw as he sauntered over. “Stop walking! Stay still!” the guy barked out.
Shaw stopped.
“Let me see both your hands!” the kid called.
Shaw was aware of the crunch of tires on gravel outside the establishment. Either another customer was about to walk into this shit, or the state troopers had arrived. He hoped to hell Atalee was safely out of range.
“Guys, you don’t want to do this. Believe me, prison is not as great as it seems on TV and once you’re in the system, it’s hard to be taken seriously even if you want to get out.” Shaw kept talking as he moved up closer to the counter where he could protect the cashiers. The one closest to him was shaking so much that her sundress seemed to shiver in an invisible breeze.
“Put down the weapons and we’ll end this, guys. You’ll walk away with small-time sentencing and you’ll still have a lifetime ahead of you to live.” Shaw kept up his dialogue in slow, measured words, his gaze drinking in everything about these men right down to the set of their boots on the old wooden floorboards.
“Stop moving or I’ll shoot you!” one guy yelled.
The door suddenly exploded inward and both men swung toward the commotion. Troopers stormed the space with weapons raised, barking orders. Shaw caught one’s eye and noted that he recognized him. The trooper sliced a look behind Shaw where he held his weapon at the ready.
“Get back or we’ll shoot these girls!” the other robber demanded.
Things happened too fast. The troopers surged forward. Shaw lunged at the women, knocking them both to the floor and out of firing range.
The troopers sent a volley of orders to drop the weapons and the boys refused.
And then he found himself standing between the troopers and the young kids, both arms flung outward.
“What the hell’re ya doin’, Woody?” The state trooper who’d recognized him pinched his brows together.
“Let’s just calm things down here, okay? These young guys, they don’t really want to lose their lives for a misstep like this. Do ya, boys?”
No response but he heard their labored breathing behind him. Before him, the troopers kept their weapons raised but with Shaw between them all, they weren’t liable to shoot.
“Now everybody lower your weapons on the count of three and we’ll discuss this like grown adults.” He looked right, then left, at the faces of the young men, their eyes wide above the bandannas covering their faces. “Ready?”
One jerked his arm, and the state trooper yelled, “You try anything and I’ll shoot you between the eyes! Set down your weapons!”
Shaw’s gut clenched, and the sweat began to roll out from under his hat to drench the back of his neck. All at once, he was back in Mexico with a young person who’d made a bad life decision facing the loss of his life for his crime.
“Let’s give them a chance to make the right decision.” Shaw looked at them over his shoulders again. “All right, guys? On three. One, two…”
“Three,” the trooper finished for him.
Two weapons rattled at Shaw’s feet. In a lightning-swift move, he swiped them out of range, shoving them toward the troopers. Then he whirled on the guys, and he and the troopers converged on the criminals, taking them down to the floor in a blink and cuffing them.
Shaw’s breathing came fast and rough. He’d done it—he’d fucking done what he’d failed to do back in Mexico and given these guys a choice. That kid Shaw had shot—he hadn’t gotten one and Shaw would most likely remember that forever and hopefully continue to offer opportunities when possible.
That moment in Mexico, there hadn’t been any choice. This time there was.
* * * * *
Atalee thrust her shaking hands under her arms and huddled around the side of the building. When she’d heard the shouting, her heart had stopped beating for what felt like a solid minute. Then it had restarted with a painful jerk in her chest.
Shaw. Please come back to me, Shaw. Please, God, don’t let anything happen to him. I love him too much and I can’t lose him.
Her pleas for his safety continued for long minutes after the troopers pulled up and stormed inside the market. And to think, they’d only come for steaks. If they’d been a minute sooner or later, they mig
ht have missed it all, but then again, Shaw wouldn’t be in the thick of it.
Right where he wants to be, she realized. He was trained for events like this, and it was clear he was in his element.
His actions touched so many, kept so many safe in this world. Without him in the position he was in, how many would die? What atrocities would befall them?
She swallowed hard and brought one fist to her lips, fighting back the urge to scream his name and bring him running to her side. She knew if she called out for Shaw, he’d be with her in seconds and they could hurry away.
But that was the cowardly way, and he was no coward. So she had to be strong too, be worthy of him.
And she could not ever suggest he leave Ranger Ops, the job he loved, in order to find some alternative peace of mind, because fact was, the only peace of mind he could ever have was by fighting for what he believed in.
She loved a man who did dangerous work, and that was part of Shaw she couldn’t ask him to abandon. She would take him as he was and love everything about him.
When the door banged open, she peeked out from her hiding spot to see the troopers bundling two men out of the market and Shaw right behind them. He glanced around for her, but she didn’t step out. He’d only get angry with her for exposing herself to dangers before the men were securely locked in the backs of the squad cars.
She drew a hitching breath and let out an equally uneasy sigh. God, the things that might have happened to Shaw.
She looked at him again. He wasn’t bleeding, at least. Something to be grateful for—she wouldn’t be called upon to patch him up once they returned to his father’s place.
The trooper closed the car door and turned to Shaw, hand out. Shaw gripped it hard and then the other man’s as well.
They talked for a moment, but she couldn’t make out their low, rumbling tones above the pounding of her heart. Shaw stepped away from them, and she emerged from her hiding spot. The moment their gazes locked, relief hit her like a tidal wave.
In a few steps, she was in his arms, and he held her shaking body tight to him, one hand cradling the back of her head. “Are you all right, baby doll?”
She nodded. “Are you?” She let her hands roam over him, feeling for blood she might have missed upon initial inspection.
“I’m fine. Oh shit. Hold on.” He let her go and walked back inside. When he came back out with two big packs of steaks, she felt as if she’d cave in with relief.
Shaw caught her by the hand and led her to his car. On unsteady legs, she got in and waited for him to as well. He set the steaks behind his seat and looked at her. “Just a regular day in the life.” He shrugged.
“I’m beginning to see that,” she said in a whispery tone. She wet her lips. “Shaw, if you hadn’t been there at the right time, who knows what could have happened!”
He rested a hand on her thigh, pinning her in the warmth of his touch. “I’m sorry, baby doll. That’s the second time someone’s had a weapon drawn around you, and I can’t have you in danger.”
“Neither time was your doing.”
“It seems like trouble is drawn to me.”
“Or you’re drawn to trouble.” She reached across the console and cupped his jaw, stubbled with beard. “Shaw, I was wrong to bring up the option of you leaving Ranger Ops. It needs you—you need it. I can’t ask you to stop being you because I have selfish reasons. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with it. I love you so much, and I can’t ask you to change for me.”
“I would, though.” His eyes burned as he covered her hand with his strong one. “I love you enough to quit it all, Atalee.”
She shook her head in awe. “I won’t let you…”
He leaned in to brush his lips over hers, a quick meeting of mouths that spoke of promises to come. “I love you more for it, baby doll.”
“We’ve been gone a long time,” he said. “Our parents will think we stopped off for some roadside fun.”
She half groaned, half giggled. “They’ll think we’re making up stories.”
“At least we got the steaks. And…” He stopped, looking at her.
“What happened?” Her heartbeat picked up again when it had barely calmed enough.
“I think my reason for coming to you in the first place, Atalee… I’m pretty sure I’m past it now.”
Searching his eyes, she understood. She took his face in her hands and brought him in for a kiss. “I’d like to take credit for helping you, but we both know it’s not the case.”
His lips, inches from hers, enticed. She stared at his mouth as he spoke. “You did help me. I owe you everything, and I plan to show you how much I appreciate you every day of your life. Starting with a big rare steak on the grill.”
“Um… medium?”
“Damn, you know how to ruin a steak by overcooking.” He flashed her a grin and started the engine, but her cylinders were already firing just from that smile he’d given her.
Chapter Ten
Atalee looked up from her computer screen at the rap on her door. Before she could get up to answer it or call out, her colleague came in. “Dr. Norman.”
“Don’t get up, Franklin. I’ll have a sit down instead.” He offered her a smile and sank to the seat opposite her desk. “I wanted to continue our discussion that was abruptly cut short the other day.”
“Oh yes.” She twisted away from her screen and gave her superior her undivided attention.
“How is your friend?”
“Um… He’s actually a friend of a friend, but I hear he is being given top care.”
He bobbed his head. “Good to hear. Troublesome, his injuries.”
She dropped her gaze to her folded hands. “Yes, it is.” Shaw had not told her much more about the entire mission and what exactly had happened to Linc, but he’d woken in the night and when she’d cuddled close to soothe him, his heart had been tripping hard and fast. The only thing he’d said when questioned was, “Linc. I got him out.”
“Yes, you did,” she’d responded, rubbing slow circles over his tense spine. Eventually he’d drifted off again, but it had taken her longer—it was easy to analyze ways to help him stop feeling responsible for every detail of everyone’s lives.
Dr. Norman cleared his throat, and she gave him a pleasant smile. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“As you know here in the city, we have an extensive homeless problem.”
She nodded.
“And many of the homeless are veterans.”
“Of course. It’s a heartbreaking notion that the people who fought for our freedom can’t find a place in our society.”
He nodded, white hair gleaming under the office lighting and his expression grave. “I’m a vet myself, as you know. These are my brothers, and I want to help them.”
“What can I do?” She leaned forward.
“I’m starting a group therapy, particularly for the homeless veterans, and I’d like you to assist me in running it.”
Surprise washed over her, and she smiled in response.
“You like the thought,” he commented.
She nodded. “I’m honored to work alongside you and learn even as we help these men and women. What are your thoughts on location?”
“Something centralized, accessible and comfortable enough that it isn’t intimidating. We want these people to actually come in to talk about their problems and not feel judged or unworthy of stepping through the doors because they haven’t showered and their clothes aren’t clean.”
An idea popped into her head. “Maybe we help with those things as well. Maybe by finding and partnering with a local YMCA or a gym that has showers and a room to meet in.”
His eyes lit up. “Fantastic idea. I knew I wanted someone young with fresh ideas on this project. Now…”
For another half hour they brainstormed and exchanged ideas. The budget for the entire project was small, but she refused compensation for her time on this, feeling she was giving to the people who most deser
ved her time and all the hard work she’d put into her degree.
When they parted, Atalee felt hopeful about so much. Her professional life was following a path she was ecstatic about and she had the best thing going with Shaw, when she never believed she’d find a love like that.
Over steaks on the ranch, she and Shaw had talked and joked with her mom and his father, all of them enjoying the good food and wine. Bringing the people she and Shaw cared for together had made for such a fun afternoon, and she’d left feeling even closer to him.
Thinking of her momma reminded her that they still had some work to do on the room. Since Shaw would be wrapped up with Ranger Ops at a meeting, she was on her own.
She reached for her cell phone and dialed her mom. Slipping her hair over her shoulder, she brought the phone to her ear and waited for her mother to answer.
“Mom.”
The line sounded with background noise.
“Hi, honey.”
“Are you driving?”
“Yeah, I’m in the car. The traffic’s heavy because they routed us around construction.”
“I hear that. I was thinking I have time tonight to come over. Maybe we can finally finish your room.”
“Oh, I’d like that, honey, but I’m on my way to someone else’s house.”
“Which friend?” Atalee shuffled paperwork to the side into a neater stack. Maybe she was finally finding some organization for herself—her desk no longer looked like an explosion had taken place in a paper factory.
A beat of silence followed, and Atalee said, “Mom?”
“I’m here. I’m going over to Woody’s house, actually.”
Atalee felt her eyes go round. “Shaw’s dad?”
“I don’t know of any other men named Woody, do you?”
She knew the Ranger Ops team called Shaw that, but no, she only knew one. Her mind tripped over their dinner the other night, backtracking for hints that something was happening between their parents that neither had caught on to, probably because they were both so in wrapped up in each other.