Page 4

His eyes narrowed. His arms crossed over his chest and muscles rippled underneath. He took two steps closer. The action triggered black spots to cloud my vision. My thumb repeated the pattern across my fingers. I could still feel my fingers. As he moved closer, I caught a whiff of spearmint. Body. Don’t fail me now. I itched to reach for the chain under my blouse to ground me, but willed my body to stay conscious. Something unrecognizable flickered across his face, but his expression hardened again.

“I don’t have a sister,” he retorted.

I had to get out of here. No one other than Talia knew exactly where I was, and she was at least forty-five minutes away. The dispatcher obviously didn’t ping the right address because something wasn’t right. Meanwhile, Connor was still running, and I didn’t know how to find him. Could a week from hell get even closer to hell? What’s worse than hell? The inner parts of hell? Standing next to the devil himself?

My eyes darted to my work car. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. My hands continued to tingle, but I tried to ignore it as best as I could. I couldn’t have a panic attack. Connor was depending on me, and I wouldn’t let him down. If only they could be stopped that easily. I continued tapping my fingers and took another deep inhale. I heard the sound of cattle in the distance. I took in my surroundings as I attempted to keep my brain from shutting down. There were three porch steps between the man and me and another twenty feet to the car.

I leveled my voice the way I do when I talk to combative kids and adults and began walking down the steps.

“There must be some confusion. She told me this was your address.”

I didn’t glance toward him as I reached the ground, mostly because I could sense the weight of his assessing eyes as though they could peer into my soul. I had walked down the steps at an angle in order to be the furthest away from him as possible. Now that we were on even footing, I could tell without even sizing him up that he towered over my five-foot-seven frame from the sheer mass of his body. My four-inch heels helped, but this man was built like a brick wall. Twenty feet to the car. I could make it if I ran fast. Although, I crossed my fingers things wouldn’t get to that place.

“Like I said. I don’t have a sister.” My eyes swung to his. “Now tell me what the hell you’re really doing on my front porch.” His voice thundered near the end. I couldn’t help my involuntary flinch, and that made me justifiably annoyed. The hair on the back of my neck still stood at attention, but my lack of sleep, hunger, and headache caused me to hit my breaking point.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Thumb to ring finger. Thumb to pinky finger. If there was anything I couldn’t stand, it was being intimidated or bullied, and this big jerk had hit my limit. I had suffered enough in my life from being bullied. I had promised my eight-year-old self that when I was an adult, I wouldn’t stand by and let it happen again.

“Look, I don’t have time for this! There’s a nine-year-old little boy out there depending on me. My friend is coming here to bring a change of clothes so I can search for him, and law enforcement is on the way.” I slung my hand out to the side. “I don’t know why that dispatcher told me this was her brother’s address, but regardless, you can stop trying to intimidate me.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “The last place I want to be is on your freaking front porch! I simply want to find this kid and make sure he’s safe.”

Unwarranted tears pooled in my eyes but I would not cry. His eyebrows shot to his hairline as his eyes widened in surprise. I couldn’t believe I divulged all that. I never let anyone see this side of me, but I was exhausted and I was channeling my inner Talia. She would be beyond proud of me because she wasn’t scared of anything.

He was stunned and frankly, I didn’t care. I wanted to locate Connor and make sure he was safe. Before he could say anything, a four-wheeler barreled into the yard, leaving a trail of dust flying. Another tall, muscular-built cowboy with whiskey-colored eyes slung his long leg over the seat and dismounted. His long, dark hair was pulled into a knot at the back of his head. A blue-and-rust-colored flannel long-sleeve shirt was buttoned across his chest. He nodded in my direction, and I saw it for what it was—good manners.

“Did she tell you the situation? Tess called Gene, and Gene called me since he’s in town. Fulton’s on his way.”

Recognition flashed across the grumpy man’s face. He regarded me again with eyes that saw entirely too much. I crossed my arms as if it were a shield against his inspection of my soul.

“Fuel up the side-by-sides. I’ll grab some supplies inside, and we’ll head out.” He said all of this without taking his eyes off me. There was a sense of authority in his voice, but it lacked the gruffness he had inflicted on me earlier.

“Sure thing, boss.” The man dipped his chin toward me again and mounted the four-wheeler, heading toward the backside of the barn.

The jerk turned toward his all-too-precious front porch without a word. I was relieved that there was someone else nearby. I walked toward my car, grabbed my can of mace, and slid it into the band of my pants since I didn’t have pockets. I wasn’t ever going to make that mistake again. My battery was at eight percent now. I couldn’t remember the last time I had forgotten my charger. Usually, in any situation, if a list could be made for it, I had one. I survived thanks to obsessive organization. Organization made me have a sense of safety and control, and being safe meant everything to me.

I spun around as I heard the jerk walking down the stairs, his scuffed leather, square-toe cowboy boots loudly thudding with each step. He was now wearing a tan Carhartt jacket. A black backpack was slung over one of his shoulders. He walked straight toward me with that same intensity as before. Did he even walk? It was more of a stalk and completely intimidating. He stopped in front of me, appearing uncertain. I realized his eyes were indeed hazel. Green and blue that faded to golden amber at the edges. I’d never seen hazel eyes like his with such vivid colors. He rubbed his hand across the shadow of scruff on his chin.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I thought . . . ” His jaw flexed and continued, “It doesn’t matter what I thought. Tess, the dispatcher, is Gene’s sister. Gene is one of my ranch hands that lives on the property. Again, I’m sorry. “

He extended his hand. “I’m Soren.” His eyes never left mine. I tentatively offered my hand. His calloused palm engulfed my smaller one, and a spark shot up my arm. I had never experienced anything quite like that, and it was a bit unnerving. More than anything, I wanted to know what he was about to say.

“I shouldn’t have snapped. I apologize. This is the third runaway situation I’ve had this week and I’m exhausted.” I rubbed my temple as my headache continued to pound like a jackhammer against my skull.

“It’s not your fault. Follow me,” he commanded, walking toward the side of the large, white-painted barn that matched the fence along a portion of the road. I tried to keep up in my heels, but he realized he’d left me and slowed his pace.

“Do you have any other shoes?” he grumbled.

“No.”

“I don’t have anything to give you,” he stated as he shifted the bag on his shoulder.

“I’ll be okay. My friend is bringing me a change of clothes if we can’t find him soon,” I explained. I hadn’t expected him to have shoes for me.

“Do you have a real jacket? It’s going to cool off soon,” he asked.

I shook my head. I hadn’t heard about the unexpected shift in weather until I was in my Jeep headed to work this morning to pick up the office car. I had been listening to the local country music radio station when the DJ had mentioned the cold front coming in.

We rounded the barn to find the man from earlier with two red UTVs that had roll bars and bucket seats. He lifted his head in acknowledgment and gave a small smile. Something about him appeared genuinely kind. He was older than me, and I had a sense that Soren was older than him by a few years.

“Alright, I think we’re ready to go. I’m Travis, by the way. Soren’s foreman.” He extended his hand and I took it.