Back inside the lodge, Bailey headed in for a quick shower. There was dirt all over her from the flowers, and she needed to clean herself off before she helped out with anything else. More importantly, she needed a minute to herself, because she was starting to feel all kinds of flustered about what was going on with her and Aaron.
She closed her eyes as she stepped beneath the rush of the warm water, letting out a breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding. Her mind drifted back to their first kiss. The feel of his fingers skimming across her skin, the way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her like she meant so much to him.
She had craved that from him for so long. Craved his touch, craved his approval, craved those precious words he had spoken to her. But it was all so wrapped up in their messy past, she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to make it out the other side in one piece. Could she really forgive him? He had sent her away, and he had left those corrupt cops in the department without telling anyone. Even if he had had his reasons, even if it had been to protect her, it still didn’t seem right.
But if she could end this—if she could expose those men, and bring a close to their reign of terror over that department—the past wouldn’t be such a problem any longer. The problem rightnow was that they were still out there, and the danger was hot on their heels. Neither of them could relax and focus on the moment.
Well, maybe once. When they were lying in bed together the other night, she’d looked over at him and it had been like she was seeing him with clear eyes for the very first time. Like all their history had just vanished, and all that mattered was the man lying beside her—the man gazing at her like she was the most beautiful thing in the world. She couldn’t think of anything that mattered more than the feeling in her heart right then, the warmth of it flooding her whole body.
She sighed as she stepped out of the shower. She wished she could go back to that moment, just for a second, just to feel the way she had felt then. One day, she would be able to. But for now? Until they could make their move on the dirty cops who had done this to them, they were stuck in this strange limbo, and she wasn’t sure if she could handle it much longer.
Chapter Fourteen
“I think you should sit down,” Xavier told Aaron, nodding to the seat on the other side of his desk. On either side of him, Cade and Lawson stood, flanking him like they were in formation.
“Yeah, thanks.” Aaron sank into the seat and tried to gather himself. He had come here for a reason, and they were as aware of it as he was.
“So, what’s going on? Why did you want to see all of us together?” Xavier asked, clasping his hands on the desk and giving him a serious look.
When Aaron had asked for a meeting with the other men earlier that day, he had known they could tell that something was up. He never tried to spend extra time with anyone here. Not that he didn’t like them, but it just seemed safer to keep to himself.
But he needed their help. More importantly, so did Bailey. They had some serious skills if they were former military, then also adding Lawson and Xavier’s former CIA experience. They could probably make good use of them in their quest to bring Ziegler and his crew to justice.
“I’ve been talking to Bailey,” Aaron explained. “And we…a lot went on in our past. I already filled you two in on some of it.” He nodded between Lawson and Xavier, and then looked to Cade. “To keep it short and simple, Bailey and I worked together before. I was a police sergeant for a town similar to here in Blue Ridge, and Bailey was a rookie at the time—training under my supervision. We were in a small department with a handful or soof other guys. We handled mostly small-town stuff, nothing too serious for the most part, but we kept on top if it.”
Lawson and Cade exchanged a glance when he paused.
Xavier nodded at him to go on. “And?”
Aaron filled them in on the rest of the story, how he had discovered some of them were corrupt, and they had beaten the hell out of him, and then threatened to come after Bailey if he didn’t leave. The report he had written to get her removed, and the six years they had spent apart in the meantime. How she had come back, only to be faced with the same betrayal he’d been through all those years ago, and how she was determined to take them down.
The men fell silent for a moment when he was done, taking in the enormity of what he had just told them.
“That’s why you’ve kept to yourself all these years.” Cade hit the nail on the head with that one guess.
Aaron nodded in agreement. “I was really messed up from everything when I first got here, and just wanted to forget about it. Plus, I thought if I talked about it to anyone, I might end up drawing them to me somehow and something worse might happen. It just felt safer to stay out of the way and keep my head down.”
“Now, I’ve heard a lot of stories from people who’ve ended up here,” Lawson remarked, finally. “But that has to be one of the wildest.”
Xavier chuckled, and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help with it,” he replied. “Bailey’s been leading the charge so far, right?”
“Trying to…so far,” Aaron replied. “I’ve tried to get her to slow down, but she wants to finish this.”
“I can’t say I blame her,” Cade chimed in. “Sounds like she’s committed her life to the force, so of course she wouldn’t want to let that corruption go.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to be involved in this anymore,” Lawson added.
Aaron raised his eyebrows. “You don’t?”
Good luck telling her that.
She had never been good at hearingno, especially when it was a case she felt personally connected to. And this one was about as personal as they came.
“She’s got too much on the line not to get distracted,” Xavier agreed. “And besides, if she does want to get back to work eventually, she’s not going to want to have a history of working with people off the books.”
Aaron grimaced. He hadn’t even thought of that. Bailey was so focused on dealing with this in the immediate, she hadn’t thought about how it might impact her career in the future. She had so much potential, even after being stuck behind a desk for so long, and he didn’t want her to risk putting all of that on the line.
“You’re right,” he agreed.
