“How long did you serve?” Nash settles against the cushions, but his eyes never leave mine.
“Ten years. I missed him too damn much to stay in another day longer. By then, he’d taken over the ranch, so we ran it together. We were happy—doin’ what we loved every day, even tried to start a family.”
“You wanted kids…?”
With a nod, I snuggle back against his side. “A whole mess of them. But we both had some…issues…and cattle ranchin’ ain’t a rich man’s game. IVF was too expensive, so we made our peace with it bein’ just the two of us.”
Nash’s warmth, his scent, the way he holds me like I’m the most precious thing in the world…everything’s easier with him. Even talking about Brooks, who was once my everything, with the man who’s becoming all that and more.
“The night he died…” I shudder, and Nash tightens his arm around me. “The storm was a real toad strangler. Pastures flooded, and one of the fences came down. He was fixin’ it while I rounded up the herd. I didn’t see him get hit. Thunder spooked his horse and I was chasin’ him down. By the time I got back to Brooks, he was barely breathin’.” My tears spill over, and I don’t try to stop them. Not this time. “He died in my arms.”
I don’t know how long we stay locked together. Long enough for me to stop crying, for my eyes to burn. For the gaping wound in my heart to scar over.
“I thought I was doin’ fine here,” I say quietly, tipping my head so I can look him in the eyes. “But I was wrong. What I feel with you…for you…it’s like I’m livin’ again for the first time in years.”
His rough hand cups my cheek, his fingers sliding into my hair as he leans down to claim my lips. The kiss is tender, gentle, and everything I need in this moment.
“There’s a difference between living and being alive,” he murmurs. “I’m not sure I realized what it was until I met you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nash
South Seattle is full of warehouses like this. Big. Gray. Nondescript. Some have stripes of color. Others…nothing but broken, boarded-up windows and weeds poking through cracks in the asphalt.
Hidden Agenda fits right in. Paint peeling in spots, more than one of the dozens of windows along the roofline covered in plywood, and most of the white lines in the parking lot worn clean off.
Raelynn takes my hand, and I wonder if she’s as nervous as I am. Or if she’s worried I’m going to bolt.
“We’ll keep you safe,” she murmurs as we approach the door. “It’s what we do, and we’re damn good at it.”
More than once last night, I woke to find her staring at me in the darkness. Every time, I told her I wouldn’t run, but what if I don’t have a choice?
Inside, I stop short. “Whoa. This is…”
Every inch of the place is sparkling clean. A climbing wall stretches all the way to the ceiling directly in front of me, with a boxing ring, a complete set of free weights, and two pull-up bars next to it.
In the far corner, three men and a woman banter in a kitchenette with stainless steel appliances and shiny black counters, while a dozen feet away, a petite redhead leans against the biggest man I’ve ever seen, his hands spread across her very pregnant belly.
Almost as one, they turn toward us.
“Welcome to Hidden Agenda,” Raelynn says quietly. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
I clutch my backpack tighter. Bandit, my cell phone, and five hundred dollars in cash are tucked safely inside. She doesn’t know about the cash. If I have to run, I have what’s most important to me.
Except Raelynn.
She’ll stay here. With her family. Where she’s safe.
It’s obvious who’s in charge. The massive, scarred man who looks like a mountain with an attitude problem. But every single one of the men and women standing in front of me look like they could kick my ass. Even the pregnant redhead.
“Nash.” West steps forward, offering me his hand, and though he should be a friendly face, all I can think about is how I lied on the dojo’s intake form.
“Hey.”
The big, bald one stares me down, and between that and West’s iron grip, I’m starting to think this was a very bad idea.
Raelynn starts with the introductions. “Inara,” she says, gesturing to a woman with short black hair and pale gray eyes. “Then there’s Graham, and Tank, out here from Boston.”
