by Diana Gardin
After finally drifting into a restless sleep, I wake in the morning with a throbbing tension headache behind my eyes and a feeling of foreboding that my life is spiraling out of control. The smell of coffee guides me, still in my leggings and oversized T-shirt, toward the kitchen.
“Morning.” Ryder leans against the kitchen counter, and I fully appreciate the view.
Thorn Ryder, dressed in nothing but black sweatpants, barefoot, ripped torso on display. Two days’ growth of blond stubble dusts his jaw, and his intense blue eyes are focused exactly where I don’t need them to be—on me.
I clear my throat and head for the coffeepot, which happens to be right beside the hulk of man oozing nothing but sex appeal. “Good morning.”
“How’d you sleep?”
Lie. “Good.”
Ryder eyes me over the top of his mug as he takes a sip. “Glad you did. I sure as hell didn’t.”
My hand shaking slightly, I pour creamer in my mug first, then douse it with steaming black liquid. “Oh? Why’s that?”
Ryder doesn’t move, and his gaze doesn’t lose any of its intensity. “Likely because I wasn’t in that bed with you where I wanted to be.”
I take enough steps to take me across the kitchen and away from Ryder, giving me a healthy distance. Both of my hands wrap around my warm mug, and I shake my head, causing some of the hair from my high ponytail to come sliding down around my face.
“Ryder…yesterday was amazing. It was exactly what I needed. But right now what I need is a clear head. And I can’t have that if we’re…you know. I want space.”
More lies. Space is not what I want. In fact, what I want is to toss my mug on the counter and throw myself into his arms. I want to climb up his body and ravage him, force him to make me feel the exact same way he made me feel yesterday. Safe. Secure.
Loved.
Even if it’s false, and temporary.
I don’t want space from Thorn Ryder. But if I’m going to keep my wits about me, and keep my baby girl’s best interests at the forefront of my thoughts, then I need that space. Getting closer to Ryder might make me spill my secret. Eventually, the truth about Dove will have to come out. But I’m not ready for that day to be today. I’ve carried the secret around with me for so long, I don’t know how to let it out. Keeping her a secret has meant keeping her safe. Divulging her to the NES team might mean telling the authorities about her, and I just can’t take the chance that Eli might find those records.
“Space.” Ryder turns the word over in his mouth like it leaves a bad taste, a frown trailing lines in the middle of his forehead. “You sure that’s what you want?”
He lifts a brow and scans my body, and I know that every second of what we did yesterday is running through his mind. Every place on my body he touched with his magical fingers, every place he tasted with his very capable tongue. I almost burst into flames from that heated glance alone.
My voice tremulous, I nod. “Yes. That’s what I want.”
He swallows, and my eyes watch his throat work.
Jesus. Literally every inch of this man is sexy. Every. Single. Inch.
“I’ll do that, then. I’ll give you space. Until the exact moment you beg me not to.”
He tosses those words back over his shoulder as he strides into the living room, his long legs making the journey a short trip, and my toes curl on the hardwood.
Placing my mug down, I press my hands on the counter and take five deep breaths to steady my hammering heart and calm the heat now throbbing between my thighs.
I find some yogurt in the fridge and cut a banana into a bowl, scooping the yogurt on top. Adding some granola from the pantry, I bring my bowl to the dining table outside the kitchen and sit, watching Ryder out of the corner of my eye where he stands in what seems to be his favorite spot: at the window overlooking the ocean crashing against the shore below.
“Since you seem to be having trouble staying in the condo…” Ryder doesn’t turn when he begins talking, but my spoon pauses midway to my mouth.
He continues. “I’m taking you out today.”
I drop my spoon. It clatters against the white ceramic of my bowl. “Out where?”
Still not turning, Ryder shifts his weight from foot to foot, like he’s stretching those long leg muscles. “We have a meeting to attend with our contact at the WPD. You remember Sergeant Russ Walker? He was Indigo Stone’s supervising officer when she was a detective, and a part of the task force that was originally put together to bring down Eli’s car theft ring.”
My head bobs as I recover my wits. “Yeah. Why are we meeting with him?”
“We’re meeting with him and my team, along with Indigo—who you know consults for us now—because we want to know what the hell is going on in the manhunt for Eli and how close they are to finding him. They’re staying pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing, because there’s still a jurisdictional battle going on as to who’s going to get to collar him when he’s finally brought in.”
I roll my eyes and bring my spoon back to my mouth. “So everyone is pulling out their measuring sticks to see who has the biggest one, and whoever wins will get to arrest the bad guy?”
The thought of it pisses me off, and it doesn’t bode well for the fact that my daughter is out there, waiting for me to come and deliver her from this whole mess. They quicker they catch Eli, the better off Dove and I will be. It isn’t a game for me, and it shouldn’t be one for them, either.
I haven’t planned what I’ll do once Eli is in prison. I know that I can’t keep Dove a secret forever. If he’s caught, I’ll be able to bring her out of hiding, but then I also run the risk of him finding out about her through the grapevine. He could file a request to see her and ask for proof of paternity. It could become a big mess, and it’s the last thing I want for my daughter.
She’s my best-kept secret, and she’s worth it.
“Russ thought it’d be safer for you if we all just met here.” Finally turning to face me, Ryder keeps his expression shuttered. Unreadable. “But I told them we’d come to them. So we’re going to meet at Lawson and Indigo’s house, which is halfway between here and NES.”
I continue eating, and when I’ve swallowed the last bite of my yogurt, I stand and rinse my bowl. Entering the living room again, I avert my eyes from the bare chest and rippled ab muscles on display and head for the hallway. “I guess I’d better go get ready, then.”
An hour later, Ryder and I are headed down one of Wilmington’s main roads in his BMW. Ryder looks delicious in worn, washed-out jeans and a sky-blue V-neck that brings out the color of his eyes. One hand rests on the gearshift while the other maneuvers the steering wheel.
“So.” He easily moves the sleek car around a slower-moving vehicle in front of us. “Tell me what you miss most while you’re in protection, other than nursing.”
My baby girl. “My boxing class at my gym.”
He glances at me, his gaze invisible beneath mirrored aviators. “Your what?”
Twirling a piece of blond-and-pink hair around my finger, I smirk. “That’s surprising? Why, because I’m small? I have two guns, Ryder. If I’m in a situation where I can’t get one out fast enough, what am I going to do then? Or what if my gun jams? I need to be able to defend myself. So I take classes to make sure I can.”
Ryder shakes his head. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t be. You keep throwing me these curveballs. I should expect them by now.”
I stay quiet, watching the road in front of us.
“It’s really smart, though.” The deep rumble of his voice travels along my skin, raising the hairs along my arms.
“What is?”
“Making sure you can keep yourself safe.” He glances at me again, this time with a small quirk of his full lips.
Not just me. “I told you I never wanted to be in a position again where a man has that kind of physical power over me. I meant it.”
He grunts his acknowledgment. “No
ted.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re pulling up in front of the curb at Lawson and Indigo’s Kure Beach home. Excitement at seeing my friend again fills me. Indigo and I hit it off the moment we met, back when I had no clue she was an undercover police officer and she and Lawson lived in the apartment next to mine.
Ryder opens the gate on their little white picket fence, and as we’re walking up the sidewalk the front door swings open.
“GoGo!” Running the last few steps, I wrap my arms around my taller friend’s tattooed shoulders. Pulling back, I smile up at her. “Engaged life agrees with you. You look gorgeous.”
Her long, dark hair hangs loose around her shoulders, her makeup is flawless, and the camouflage-print swing dress she’s wearing is paired perfectly with black peep-toe ankle booties.
“I missed you.” She scans me from head to toe. “Are you hanging in there?”
Pulling me inside the house, she smiles when I offer her a nod. Ryder follows us in, and the three of us turn into the open-concept family room where Russ Walker and the rest of the NES team already wait.
The room is big enough that everyone is able to find comfortable seating on the sectional leather couch and oversized chairs. Indigo offers everyone fresh sweet tea to drink, and I settle onto one of the chairs closest to the window.
Instead of finding his own seat, Ryder takes up a spot standing just beside my chair, his arms folded across his chest, tattoos visible.
Ben McBride tosses me a wink from his spot on the couch, and I offer him a smile in return. He’s such a nice guy, definitely the most lighthearted of the crew. Lawson and Ryder both bring high levels of intensity to their team, in different ways. While Lawson seems to be like a dog with a bone who won’t stop until he gets to the bottom of whatever he’s trying to figure out, Ryder is more of the lying-in-wait type. He processes everything at once, it seems like, taking snapshots and holding them in his memory until he formulates a plan—and then he attacks.
Sitting on the other end of the couch from Ben, Bain wears his usual stony, indecipherable expression. Even though I’ve been around him more than a few times now, he still scares the shit out of me. If he’s the team’s sniper, I feel sorry for whoever is set in his scope.
“We called this meeting today,” Jacob begins, leaning back in his chair and looking at Russ, “because we need more information on the Ward case. We want to know what progress has been made, whether or not he’s been spotted, how close you all are to finding him.”
Indigo, sitting beside Russ on the couch, stiffens. Russ has been her mentor since she was a teenager, and I can almost see her hackles rising.
“Russ is doing the best he can,” she interjects. “He’s caught in the middle here, between several agencies. Everyone wants a piece of this case.”
Lawson places his hand over hers, a gesture of comfort rather than restraint.
Jacob nods. “And we understand that. But we only have one job here. And that’s to keep Frannie safe. We can’t do that if we’re missing pieces of information. You understand that, don’t you, Sergeant Walker?”
Russ leans forward, lacing his fingers together as he rests his elbows on his knees. “I do understand that. And Ms. Phillips’s safety is a priority for us as well.” He glances at me before looking back at Jacob. “But there are certain items in our investigation that we can’t share. That’s for Frannie’s safety just as much as it is for the sanctity of our investigation.”
“Bullshit,” mutters Ryder. He steps forward. “You can say more than you’re telling us. You’re just choosing not to. Why?”
Russ throws his hands in the air. “Because this is a high-priority investigation that we’re being pushed to solve immediately! If anyone understood the kind of pressure we’re under, I thought it’d be you guys. My back’s against a wall here.”
Silence cloaks the room, so heavy I can feel the tension coating the back of my neck.
“Listen.” Russ rubs the side of his nose with an index finger. “I’ll tell you this. We’re getting all kinds of calls about potential Ward sightings, but no leads are coming through from any of them. He’s like a ghost. So he’s either found a way to get out of the country, or he’s damn good at hiding.”
Every instinct in my body tells me it’s the latter.
“He hasn’t left.”
Every pair of eyes in the room swivels to look at me. “I’m what he wants. He won’t leave until he has me. And he’s smart, cunning, and pure evil. So yes, he’s damn good at hiding. You’re probably looking in all the wrong places.”
There’s sympathy in Russ’s voice. “Ms. Phillips, I understand that you’re scared. But I promise you we have our best on this. And the feds are all over it, too. Which, in my opinion, slows us down rather than helps, but whatever. It’s going to get done. He’ll be found. And when he is, he’ll be brought to justice.”
“Did you hear what she said?” Ryder’s tone carries a razor-sharp edge. “She said you might be looking in the wrong places. Don’t you want to know where she thinks you should be looking?”
“No.” Russ’s answer is flat.
Indigo turns to face him, her shock evident. “Russ—”
He shakes his head. “No, Indigo. She’s not like you. She’s not a cop. I want this investigation to be left to the professionals. Ms. Phillips can stay safe and secure under NES’s protection as long as we feel like she’s actually being protected there.”
Ryder steps forward. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I think I hear an actual growl come from Bain.
“It means you’ve been doing your own withholding. We have no idea where you’re keeping Ms. Phillips, or the conditions she’s living in. We don’t know for sure if you’re doing your jobs.”
I’ll give it to Russ. He came to this meeting with some big brass balls. Because at his words, four huge men stand from their seats. Only Jacob, Indigo, and I remain sitting.
“What the fuck are you trying to imply? That we’re not good at our jobs?” Ben’s face is growing red, and I realize now that I was wrong to think that he’s always lighthearted. His breathing is coming fast, and his hands are clenched into fists.
“She’s my first priority right now. My only priority. She’ll be safe as long as PD can manage to get that asshole off the streets.” Ryder’s jaw is clenched, his words shot like arrows toward Russ.
Lawson’s expression is just as angry as his teammates’, but he glances back and forth between a confused and upset-looking Indigo and the men who are like his brothers.
Jacob’s usually rough voice has gone deadly quiet and calm. “We haven’t informed you of her safe house location because we don’t have to. Our assignment is to keep her safe, and that’s what we will do. Your job is to apprehend the man hunting her, and you’ve failed at that, haven’t you? It’s been nearly a month. Where is Eli Ward? How much closer are you to finding him?”
Russ holds up his hands, placating. “Calm down, boys. I didn’t mean to insult you. I was jus trying to point out the fact that exchanging information isn’t always as easy as it seems. Case in point: We’re following a trail to Eli based on the testimony of his cousin, the mechanic, and we’re digging into some of the leads we’ve found through his old contacts. We’ll get to him. He’s underground, lying in wait somewhere dirty and seedy, and we just have to dig deep enough to pull him out.”
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
“You know what?” I lean forward, suddenly intent on making myself heard in this conversation. “I know Eli, and if there’s something he doesn’t do, it’s underground. It’s just not his style. He’s the kind of man who would hide in plain sight, and laugh at you for not realizing it.”
The room is silent as everyone’s attention shifts toward me. Russ just nods at me before glancing away. “I hear what you’re saying, and we’re covering all our bases where Eli is concerned. I promise you that.”
Russ rises to his feet. “And another thing. The WPD and the feds
agree on one thing. This isn’t an NES job. Finding Ward isn’t your assignment here. Protect Ms. Phillips. Leave Ward to us.”
Bain growls again, and Indigo leads Russ quickly to the door.
After it’s closed behind him, the men of the Delta Squad explode.
12
FRANNIE
“Are you shittin’ me?” Cowboy paces back and forth through the living room, hands clenching and unclenching by his side. “He has the balls to question whether or not we can do the job of keeping Frannie safe? When he damn well knows that if given the chance we could have found Eli by now?”
Jacob steeples his index fingers together. “Not our job right now. I’ll use my connections in the WPD to find out exactly what’s going on in that manhunt, because Russ clearly isn’t sharing. I get the impression he doesn’t want us stepping on any of the investigators’ toes.”
Lawson nods, looking toward Indigo, who stands just inside the front door. Her arms are folded across her chest, a small frown wrinkling her nose. “He’s not telling us everything. You see that, right, Indy?”
With a deep sigh, she slouches into the room and falls onto the couch. “Yeah. I just don’t get it. Russ is one of the most genuine, sincere guys I know. So he must be getting pinched from the top, or by the feds. It’s not his fault, you guys.”
Bain speaks up. “He’s an ass. Ain’t got time for bureaucratic bullshit. I want to find that bastard and bring him in myself. Just say the word, Boss Man.”
Jacob stands, placing the throw pillow he’d dropped on the floor back onto his chair. “The time might come for that, boys. But for now, we stay the course. Let me get as much intel as I can on my end.” He aims a stern look in Ryder’s direction. “Wolf’s got Frannie, and nothing will happen to her on his watch.”
Ryder lowers his chin in acknowledgment, his expression serious.
“And for now, that’s all that matters.”
After that, Indigo grabs hold of my arm and steers me firmly into the kitchen. She pours us two more glasses of sweet tea, and then we escape onto the back porch.