It went against everything she stood for, but she stayed put, watching through the side mirror as Cal loaded bag after bag, his movements becoming more labored.
“All set,” he finally called out, limping toward her window. He held out a clipboard with the receipt and a pen. “Just need your signature.”
She rolled down the window and reached for the pen. But as Cal handed it to her, it slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground.
“Dammit.” He started awkwardly backing up. “Sorry, my hands are cold.”
Willow looked at the pen lying in the snow between them. Cal was clearly struggling, his leg probably killing him, and she was sitting in a warm truck watching him suffer.
“It’s fine, I’ve got it.” She opened her door.
She hopped out of the truck, the cold air biting at her face as she bent to retrieve the pen. As her fingers closed around it, she heard the snow crunch as Cal moved closer.
“Here you go—” she started to say, straightening up.
But she didn’t get to finish.
Something pressed against her face.
Cloth.
Chemical-smelling.
Suffocating.
Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. She tried to scream, but the cloth muffled everything, and whatever was on it was already making the world spin.
Not Cal. He was a nice guy. Someone else. Someone else must have been lurking by the loading dock.
Her legs buckled as the chemical smell filled her lungs. Darkness crept in to blacken the edges of her vision. She tried tofight, tried to remember the self-defense moves her brothers had taught her, but her body had stopped responding to her orders.
The last thing she saw before everything went black was Cal’s face, close to hers, and the look in his eyes wasn’t pain or apology.
It was satisfaction.
Then nothing.
* * * * *
The ranch came into view as they took the final turn, and Decker felt something in his chest loosen for the first time in eighteen hours.
Somehow, the ranch had become more than a safe haven, a place to heal. Because of Willow, it became his home.
He was home.
The mission with Gray had gone smoothly. Working with his new team, moving in sync with men who trusted him and each other, had left him exhilarated in a way he hadn’t felt since his SEAL days. It reminded him why he’d loved this work in the first place.
But all of that paled compared to what he felt now, pulling into the ranch yard and knowing that Willow was waiting inside. He couldn’t wait to see her, to pull her into his arms and breathe in that scent that belonged only to her. To cup her face in his hands and kiss her until they were both breathless.
He headed straight for their room, already imagining her reaction when he walked through the door.
The door swung inward, silent.
Empty. The room was empty.
He stood in the doorway, his excitement deflating into something colder. Could there be some emergency with one of the horses? Maybe she was in the barn. Or she might be working late in the security office.
“Decker?” Juliette’s voice came from behind him, and he turned to find her holding Navy on her hip. The toddler brightened when she saw him, reaching out with grabby hands. “Do you know where Willow is? I’ve been looking all over the place for her. It’s her turn on the schedule, and I missed violin practice.”
