“You’re big and tall and you’ve been putting on weight. Nobody will notice ifI’msneaking around a parking lot.”
“Are you calling mefat?”
“I meant muscle.” She poked my side. “You’ve been training so much. You’re like a solid brick wall.”
Good thing it was dark, because I was probably blushing.My damn pale skin, even though I’d picked up my usual warm-weather tan.
Way back when I’d first returned to town, I’d set up an outdoor obstacle course on my property. I ran it religiously every morning, then spent several rounds with a heavy punching bag I’d suspended from a tree branch. Keira still wasn’t allowed to run or do anything too physically taxing, but since she’d moved in, she’d joined me outside for her physical therapy exercises and stretches.
It just so happened I usually stopped for a water break during her stretch times.
Keira waved a hand at the club’s entrance. “You could go inside. See the local sights.”
“I’ll pass, thank you.”
“Getting shy on me, Reynolds? You’ve never been to a strip club before?”
“Didn’t say that,” I chuckled. “But it’s not my scene.”
I’d been a Marine enjoying my time off-base in my younger days. But that was a while ago.Longbefore I’d met her.
“Were you seeing anyone in Switzerland? The ski bunnies at those resorts must be gorgeous.”
I tilted my head, studying her profile. “Is this morefriendstalk? We’re sharing secrets?”
“This is you entertaining me. Stakeouts are boring 90% of the time.”
“Fair point. No, I wasn’t seeing anyone. I haven’t dated for a while. What about you? Boyfriends?” My fingers clenched into a fist, and I forced them to relax.
“No dates. No boyfriends.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged.
There were still people lingering outside the bar’s entrance, and someone walked out onto the gravel of theparking lot, talking on a phone. Too much activity for us to make our move.
“Want to know what really made me want to join the Protectors?” she asked.
I glanced at her profile again, lit up in bright colors from the neon sign. “Tell me.”
“I’d wanted to join pretty much since Owen told me about them. But after you left Colorado, I gave up for a while. I was kind of…down, I guess.”
Guilt and shame reared their heads. Like always. I kept my mouth shut and waited for her to go on.
“Then I was out on patrol one night on a quiet road, and a woman ran out into the street, limping and bloody. She’d been beaten within an inch of her life.”
“Geez. That’s awful. What happened?”
“Her name’s Hadley. She’d reported her brother to her local police department for stealing their mom’s disability checks. Hadley was sure her brother was into other stuff, too, but she chose to mind her own business until it involved her mom. Unfortunately, the brother got a tip-off somehow about his arrest warrant. He skipped town. To get back at Hadley for betraying him, her brother sent his friends to punish her. She was too scared to press charges or even tell me their names. So, after she got out of the hospital, I took her to Last Refuge.”
“They helped her?”
Keira nodded. “Aiden and Jessi made sure she had a place to stay and meetings with a therapist. I met with Hadley every week, too. We became friends. After a while, Hadley and her mom moved away and started fresh with the Protectors’ help. I’d brought other people in trouble to Last Refuge before that, but Hadley was the one who got to me the most. I was so proud of her.”
“You should be proud of yourself too.”
Keira rested her arm on the passenger door. “I was. I decided I was going to become a Protector no matter what. Being a deputy has been an honor, but as Deputy Marsh, I couldn’t do as much for Hadley as I wanted. With the Protectors, I could.”
