Her body stills, and even the fog from her breath ceases.
Shit.
I let it hang there, cursing myself for ruining this. I want her to let me in, but not by force.
She stares out at the beauty before us. After the longest moment, her quiet voice breaks the peace.
“Too many kids think no one will ever come for them.”
I remain still, waiting to see if she’ll give me more and weighing my next move. I go for it, knowing she’s worth every risk.
“Is that what happened to your shoulder?” It’s a question I’ve held onto since the night she moved in.
She kicks at the snow with her boot, uncovering a rock, and bends to pick it up.
She rolls it between her fingers. “One night, we got a call. Not from our usual contacts at the hotels or marinas, but a truck stop employee reporting something suspicious. I headed to check it out. Tracker wasn’t far behind me, but time is everything. I watched and waited, but when the driver stepped away from the truck, I took the opening.”
She inhales and rolls her neck. “Two little girls, no more than seven or eight, half-clothed and barefoot. I untied them, helped them out, and motioned for them to run just as the transporter returned. He wasn’t real happy about me stealing his goods and got friendly with a knife.”
She glances at me, and then her gaze returns to the water. “He offered a few kind words when I snapped his leg in two.”
I try to imagine her recovering two little girls from a truck in a dark parking lot.
How many times has she done this?
Just like the hotel, she went after them alone.
“Do you. . .go in alone all the time?” I ask, only one of the thousands of questions on the tip of my tongue.
She peeks up at me out of the corner of her eye. “Not always, but sometimes there isn’t another choice.”
Just like with Matt.
She blows out a breath, fisting the rock. “He got me good, and I was bleeding pretty bad. I couldn’t make it back to my truck, and Tracker had to carry me out. I served time on desk duty. That’s how you got so lucky to be assigned to me.”
“I’m damn lucky.” It comes out forceful, and she turns toward me, her eyes locking on mine.
This woman walks into the most horrific, dangerous situations to save people. Not just people, she saves kids from circumstances I can’t even begin to fathom.
“I don’t know how you do this,” I whisper, stepping closer to her, wanting to eliminate the space.
She is extraordinary and the kind of brave that you can’t put a label on.
Her gaze drops to the ground. “There isn’t another choice. These kids, most of them are lost and forgotten. Preyed upon by those who’ll buy and sell them.” She shakes her head. “They become nothing more than a commodity.” Her head falls to the side. “They’re hopeless, thinking that is all they will ever be. I won’t let that be true.”
Was that you? Lost and forgotten.
Fire crawls up my throat, and my eyes burn. I blink it away, closing the few inches between us.
I pull her face up, forcing her gaze to mine. Three words on the tip of my tongue that I know she’s not ready to hear.
“You are. . . ” I have to look away for a second, gathering myself and my words. “You are a gift the world doesn’t even know it has. Ryder, you fight what the rest of us can’t stand to see. I can’t. . . ”
That burn crawls up my throat again, and I let my forehead fall to hers, needing her to know everything I’m feeling.
“I never knew someone like you existed. You’re so damn beautiful, not just on the outside. Ryder, who you are, beauty doesn’t even begin to describe it.”
Her hands fist my coat like she’s holding on, hoping I won’t disappear.
