When the head lab technician told Tanner that they didn’t get a single fingerprint from the entire place, he was angry but not surprised.Steele had wiped the place down before he left.
Back at the office, Scott had assisted in digging further into Bill Steele’s identity.It hadn’t taken long to discover the ID was fake.
Again, angry but not surprised.
When they’d gotten a call of a possible sighting of Steele in Jackson County, again in the direction Gavin had taken Bree’s car, Tanner had driven there himself.If they caught Steele, he wanted to be the first to question him, before any other county decided they had dibs if his real identity came back as someone more dangerous.
But it had been a false alarm, costing Tanner three hours of his time.Time he couldn’t afford when there was both a psycho and some sinister technology organization out to harm the woman he couldn’t get off his mind.
He shouldn’t have come at all, should’ve just stayed at his place in town.But despite trusting his brother implicitly, he needed to see with his own eyes that Bree was okay.
He rubbed the back of his neck as he got to the door, then held his hand up in a wave to Noah.He didn’t bother looking around.He didn’t know where his brother was, but Tanner had no doubt he was close.
Tanner let himself in the house, closing the door behind him, and just listened.Quiet.
But not the utter stillness that normally permeated his house when he arrived.There were signs of life everywhere.A bib resting on the kitchen table.One of the car seat carriers sitting on his couch.Bree’s sweater hanging off the back of a chair.
He’d always purposely lived a solitary life.He’d known since he was ten he wanted to go into law enforcement, then had seen what it had done to his mother when his father died in the line of duty.And even before that, the long, odd hours—sometimes being called away in the middle of the night—and the general stress of this job had often placed a heavier burden on his parents’ marriage.
So Tanner had always kept his relationships casual and simple, never planning to drag a woman into this life with him.
But nothing about Bree was casual.
And very definitely not simple.
He took off his holster and out of habit—niece and nephews—set it in the small gun safe next to the door.He kicked off his shoes and planned to grab a blanket out of the linen closet and immediately lie down on the couch.
He found himself walking into his bedroom instead.
Found himself stopping and staring at Bree lying curled in his king-size bed.
Found his breath stolen at the way moonlight shined through the window, casting an otherworldly glow on her long brown hair and delicate features.
At least in sleep she didn’t have the same pinched and uncomfortable expression she’d had in all the photos he’d studied of her today.Like she would never know what it meant to fit in with other people.
Like she would always be alone.
He wanted to go to her and pull her up against him, tell her she didn’t have to look like that anymore.
He took a step closer before he could stop himself then breathed out a curse as her eyes fluttered open, afraid he’d frightened her.
“Tanner?”
“Yeah, it’s just me.Go back to sleep.I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Are you okay?”She reached out toward him, her voice soft, husky.
Sexy.
He took a rapid step backward.
Immediately a shuttered look fell over her features, slamming away the welcoming look that had resided there a moment before.“I’m sorry.Do you want your bed?I can get up.”
He recognized her tight expression right away.God knew he’d seen it enough times in the pictures today.Uncertainty.Discomfort.
Isolation.
And he’d been the one to put that look in her eyes this time.
