“And that’s a bad thing?”
Levi paused, looked like he was thinking. “Not unless she hurts you.”
Judah laughed, but it didn’t feel like the kind of laughter that came when Piper said something funny. He’d laughed more yesterday than he had in years, and she didn’t even try.
He’d spent time thinking about that last night, too. At first he’d assumed her sunny disposition was who she was. Then he’d thought it was a mask to cover the hurts she’d endured. Now he realized it was all just Piper, a woman who had come through some darkness and still had light and hope left in her.
She was special. And he didn’t like how it felt to stand here talking to Levi about her. Had he discouraged Levi’s relationship with Adriana?
Oh. Well. Maybe he had. But he’d just been concerned about his brother.
Which was probably why Levi was being nosy now.
“Listen, I’m glad you...you know...worry about me or whatever.” Judah cleared his throat. It still felt weird to have these kinds of talks with Levi instead of just barking at him. But he was trying. “But I’m fine.”
Levi nodded. “Okay.”
A door creaked and Judah stepped out into the hallway, where Piper was coming toward him.
“Morning.” Judah smiled in her direction.
She looked surprised, either at seeing him or his smile, Judah didn’t know, but she grinned back. “Good morning. You’re here early.”
Judah shrugged, and unless he was imagining things, Piper’s cheeks blushed a little. Part of him was amazed that even this morning, in the light of day, he still didn’t want to apologize for that kiss last night. He’d worried that when he was fully awake he’d regret it, that all of his conviction about staying out of a relationship and staying unmarried would come rushing back.
Now? All Judah knew was that Piper was the strongest, most interesting, most beautiful woman he had ever met. And if God had placed her back in his path like this, Judah wanted to pay attention, make sure that all his determination not to date hadn’t just been him being afraid or taking on responsibilities that weren’t his. It was an honorable thing to not want someone to get hurt. But he couldn’t give guarantees. It was never supposed to be his job to do so.
Maybe that was part of what relationships were about. Taking the risk to love someone.
He swallowed hard at the L-word’s appearance in his mind, focused back on today and the plan.
“I have a favor to ask,” he said to Piper, wondering how anyone could be so beautiful and distracting in a pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie. She was on her way to the kitchen, so Judah followed her in there. Levi had disappeared, for which Judah made a mental note to thank him later.
Piper started pouring her coffee.
“I could use your help today.”
Piper took a sip. Then another. “I let the SAR team know that I needed some time off. I figured you wouldn’t want me going out to do rescues.”
“I appreciate that.” It had crossed his mind, but he hadn’t wanted to push. Part of what he liked about Piper was her independence and he hadn’t wanted to step on that in any way. But the idea of her continuing to go out and perform rescues, especially when it seemed like someone was targeting her because of those, didn’t sit well with him. He’d wrestled with himself about that in the car on the way over today, and he was thankful she’d reached that conclusion without his input.
“I did tell them to call me if it was absolutely necessary and I’d come in.” Judah did his best to keep his expression level, since it almost looked like she was trying to decide how he felt about that.
“I don’t love it.” He shook his head. “But I understand it.”
Relief flooded her features and she took another sip of coffee.
“I need you to take me to the sites of the rescues we thought were suspicious.”
“What?” Piper blinked, like that was the last thing she’d been expecting. “I think I have you figured out and then you surprise me. Especially after... I mean...” She blushed again. Had he ever noticed how easily she did that? Judah liked it. Frankly, it made him want to kiss her again, but there was a difference between a spur-of-the-moment kiss and familiar kisses in a kitchen.
She wasn’t really his to kiss that way.
Judah blew out a breath. “I get what you mean. Yeah, I’d rather lock you up somewhere and keep you safe, so you’ve got me figured out there.”
She laughed a little.
“But honestly I don’t know how long this case will drag out and I’d like to keep this investigation as short as possible. To my way of thinking, the fact that someone is after you is what’s most important. Since we have no other ideas as to why you’d be a target, we’re working with my theory that maybe you’ve interrupted some murders by rescuing people.”
“Why would someone go to all that trouble to kill people, though? I mean, murder doesn’t make sense to me anyway. But if they want someone dead, why not just shoot them?”
“If someone had shot the people we put on that list of suspicious rescues yesterday, how much investigation would have happened?”
“A lot,” Piper answered immediately. “Ohhhh.”
Judah nodded. “And because it was assumed that these were normal backcountry rescues, they weren’t investigated at all.”
“That’s really...wow, that’s more involved than I would have thought. So, definitely premeditated murders, if we are right.”
“I agree. And possibly murders someone has been hired to commit.”
“What?”
Judah shrugged. “Just another hunch. It’s a very clean way to murder people. Multiple people have died or almost died, even if we are still looking into how... It’s an option I’m considering. It could also be a serial killer.”
“I still don’t know how you do this.” Piper shook her head.
“You’ll be okay helping out for a short time, right? I know it’s not what you prefer to do with your time.”
Piper was nodding before he was even done talking. “I don’t like it, Judah, but that doesn’t mean I’m the type to stick my head in the sand. As long as me helping you with the investigation is making it go faster and getting me out of danger, I’m willing to help how I can. You want to go to the sites of the rescues, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.” She glanced down at her bare feet. “I’ll put some shoes on.”
“You can eat breakfast.”
Piper waved him off. “I’d rather hurry up and get started. I’ll be right back.”
Judah was left alone in the kitchen. She’d reacted fairly well to the plan, he thought. But he was still concerned about her, and the toll an investigation like this would take.
He’d asked her if she would help and she’d said yes. He needed to respect the fact that she was making her own decisions. If she said she would do this, she meant it.
It didn’t stop the feelings of foreboding from pressing down on his chest or the panic that so easily rose in his throat. She was in danger, could be in more because of him.
But they needed whoever was after her stopped. Which meant figuring out who it could be. And why.
* * *
Piper’s thighs burned from their hike. They’d decided to start with the last case she had found that looked suspicious, the one where the hiker had ended up on a narrow ledge and needed to be rescued. The spot wasn’t too far from where she’d been attacked the other night, but it was a different cliff, different victim. To get to the ledge, they’d hiked to the top of Riverview Point, then rappelled down to the ledge. There was some climbing on that wall, but it would take more time than they had. Judah had broached the idea of climbing, but that was something she had good memories of doing with Judah. She didn’t really want to mix business, investigating this case, with pleasure.
Of course, she reminded herself arou
nd deep breaths, wasn’t that exactly what they were doing? She’d managed to push thoughts of herself and Judah to the back of her mind for most of the morning, but now, on the quiet hike, with nothing but the sound of the leaves in the trees and the occasional call of a bird to distract her, Piper found he was on her mind again.
What had made him decide to try again? Or were they even doing that? Maybe he still wanted to be friends at the most and the kiss had been an anomaly?
If that was true, though, it was a heck of an anomaly. Piper could still feel tingles on her lips. It felt pretty likely she’d remember that kiss forever.
Almost to the top, she told herself in an attempt to stay focused on what they were doing and not let herself be distracted by thoughts of Judah. It would be easy to do, and it was critical that she keep her focus out here, for her safety.
Judah was keeping close to her, in case the threat resurfaced. Much as Piper might want to protest because she did like being independent, she knew she needed him. Last night had been too close a call. She had bruises on her as a reminder, and it wasn’t like she needed reminding. That had been too close. Piper hated feeling like a victim or like she was in danger.
They made it to the top and geared up, pulling on their harnesses and tying off to the rope. Judah took care of the anchors and got them all set up.
“Ready?” he asked her.
“Ready.”
Piper belayed down to the ledge first and Judah followed.
“He was right about here.” Piper could remember the scene. The man had been heading toward hypothermia, having been out on the ledge all night. In Alaska, it wasn’t far-fetched to assume that before long he may have died from exposure. Or starvation, if he stayed on the ledge long enough. The rock below it was climbable, but not easily, especially without a rope. An inexperienced climber would fall almost immediately.
“What do we know about the guy?” Judah asked.
Piper pulled out her phone. She’d snapped a picture of each of the files that had caught their attention yesterday. “Jay Jones, thirty-one-year-old male. According to the call, someone saw him and it was assumed that he fell while hiking on the trail above the cliffside.” Piper frowned as she reviewed the notes. She’d read this yesterday but it hit her even harder today.
“It says the hiker didn’t remember falling.”
Judah frowned, too. “That is odd.” He looked up at the expanse of cliff above them. “Isn’t it? You probably know more about the medical side of things than I do, with your rescue work.”
It warmed her to see how capable he thought she was. One of the things she’d learned from the whole situation with Drew was that not every man liked that in a woman. She would never again take for granted someone appreciating her for who she was.
“It’s possible, especially if they sustained a head injury.”
“Do you know if he did?”
Piper shook her head. “Our files are pretty limited. There’s not a lot of follow-through. We find people, then we pass them on to the hospital if necessary.”
“But we could talk to him.”
“We could.”
Judah looked at her for a minute longer.
“Let’s look at the other locations first.”
Piper nodded. “You’re the boss.”
Judah smiled. “Hardly. You’re just helping me out. Which I appreciate.”
“I appreciate you being willing to do all this.”
“It’s my job.”
“Oh. I mean, I know.” She smiled at him, did her best to keep it light. “But...”
“It is more than that. This time.” He stepped toward her, admitting out loud what Piper had already suspected.
Again, she felt the energy between them, something that went so much deeper than just the word chemistry could convey. It was more than physical attraction, although Piper felt plenty of that. This felt scary, like it had the potential to change her entire life.
What would it be like to love Judah Wicks without holding herself back?
Piper stepped forward, too, lifted her face almost without thinking.
Judah brushed the slowest, softest, most perfect kiss across her lips, then just stood there. His hands had come around her waist and she hadn’t noticed till now as he stared into her eyes.
He was the kind of man she never would have imagined she’d fall in love with. After the abuse she’d suffered at Drew’s hands, she had always expected that she’d have one of two problems with romance. Either she’d only be attracted to men with no leadership qualities, that she could walk all over, because that was safe. Or that against her will she would keep falling for men who were abusers, because it was an easy cycle to fall into and a difficult one to get out of.
Instead she’d done neither. She was falling for a man who was a leader, but who cared about her. A man who was probably stronger than any man she’d ever been interested in, but who treated her with the care of someone wanting to keep her safe above all else.
She liked it. She felt...cherished.
But oh-so vulnerable.
Piper cleared her throat. “We should go to the next site.” Her voice was soft and low.
Judah nodded without breaking eye contact. “We should.”
And somehow Piper knew if she stepped forward again they wouldn’t leave, at least not yet. They could stay right here, just spend the day kissing and talking and forget about the case. Piper ached for it, for a day that was normal, without the constant anxiety hanging over her. But wishing for it wouldn’t make it any more real, and it certainly wouldn’t help her face what her actual reality was.
The only way through a crisis like this was through it. Piper didn’t want the kind of easy-come-easy-go relationship that only distracted her from reality. She wanted the kind of love that would walk through the hard times and help her through it, not pretend they weren’t there.
“We need to.” Piper looked away from him, double-checked her harness and knots. “Ready to head back up?”
He checked his harness, too, and they went back up the wall. When they reached the top Piper was breathless from exertion, but she still wasn’t sure if her elevated heart rate was entirely due to that or if it had something to do with Judah. Probably both.
To keep herself focused, she talked about the case on their hike down. “There are two more sites. There is the lake where a man was canoeing and had an accident because he was under the influence, but that lake is really close enough to the road that we could drive right past it.”
“Did they test his blood alcohol, do you know?”
Piper shook her head. “I don’t know details like that, but I will tell you he seemed drunk. It wasn’t difficult to believe he’d gotten himself into the mess he was in.”
“You don’t always think that, though, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Only that I’ve mentioned that before, the idea that sometimes people get themselves into trouble and then you guys are expected to rescue them, and you seemed pretty strongly like you didn’t agree.”
Piper couldn’t believe how observant he was. Was it a police officer’s intuition, the kind of thing that would make him really good at his job, or was it that he paid extra attention to her, to her feelings and reactions?
“I think...” she started, wondering if she was really going to go into this with him. But she could trust Judah. He wouldn’t use information to hurt her or hold against her. Judah didn’t use closeness as a weapon. He wasn’t the kind of man who ever would. “I think that it’s because of my own past. I’m sure there are some people who would say I got myself into the mess I was in by choosing to date Drew.” She took another deep breath. “When really the reality is that sometimes people make choices and don’t realize they are bad ones until much later. It’s that connection that makes me have more compassion w
ith people who end up a little deeper than they meant to be or in a bad situation when they were so sure they had planned for all contingencies.”
Judah nodded slowly and his expression said he was thinking over her words. “I can see why that makes sense,” he finally said. “Thank you for telling me. You’re an amazing woman, Piper.”
She felt her cheeks heat. Amazing. Judah thought she was amazing.
Forcing her attention back to the case, Piper reminded herself that while whatever was developing between them was exciting, she still had to make sure she didn’t entirely lose her focus. Because right now someone would like to ensure that they didn’t have a future together.
Because someone still wanted to make sure that Piper had no future at all.
TEN
After that conversation, they’d turned to other topics, like the case. Judah decided that they would just drive by the lake, but also that they would look into all three instances at the police department, in case there were further records they could follow up on.
“I also want to go talk to the survivors, and maybe the family of the woman who didn’t make it, if we can.” Piper admired the way he worked a case, the way he seemed just attentive enough to it without being stressed. It seemed to come naturally to him, trying to save the world, and Piper loved him for it.
Or could. Maybe. One day.
It was too soon to consider that word, really. Wasn’t it?
“We can do that.” She agreed with him, trying to keep her mind on a businesslike track.
Whatever. She was trying to stop remembering how it felt to kiss Judah Wicks; that was the honest truth.
They hiked back down to Judah’s car fairly quickly.
“So...the police department and interviews, or the last scene?” Piper asked as they climbed in.
“Honest, I’d like to see where you recovered the woman’s body.” Judah looked at her like he was gauging her reaction. “Is that okay? If it’s too much for you, I can see if someone else will take me there.”
Piper shook her head. “Not a lot of people are going to be comfortable navigating a boat on that stretch of Fourteen-Mile River. That was part of why I was involved in that rescue.”
Alaskan Mountain Attack Page 9