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“You’re not fine.” Twisting his big frame toward the nightstand, he gathers a roll of gauze and antibiotic cream. “Give me your hands,” he orders.

I obey.

He’s quiet as he cleans the marks on my wrists, red and raw, from the handcuffs. As he wraps gauze around each wrist, his gaze stays with me. My entire body aches, but it’s nothing compared to the shock of what’s just happened.

After Cole’s finished, he assesses the rest of my injuries. He gently runs his big fingers over the bruises on my arms. My jaw. A calloused thumb sweeps over my brow. Every bruise he sees causes his face to contort in fury. A sudden current sears through my trembling body. His rough touch calms, soothes, steadies.

If he hadn’t come for me today, god knows where I’d be right now.

Then, from his back pocket, he pulls out a flash of gold.

“My lucky locket.” I sit up. The heart-shaped locket hangs bright and bold, while the chain is kinked and soldered where it had been broken.

“Found this before we impounded the van.” He reaches out, his big hands clumsy, but he affixes it around my throat. “Tried to fix it for you the best I could.”

I grasp at the heart, the preciousness of his gesture, holding it to my chest. My heartbeat. “Thank you, Cole.”

His dark brows draw together. “Don’t thank me. Don’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“You should sleep.”

“No. We should talk.” I don’t want him to go.

He dips his head to stare at his hands, large and calloused, stained with blood. His palm marred with that long, jagged scar.

“I’m not an angel, Delilah. I’ve done bad things.” His square jaw flexes.

Hassie’s words from the day I met her come back to me. These cowboy whiskey tycoons who have half the town in their pocket. River’s and Warren’s and Cole’s cool expressions as they chained Dino in the barn. It’s not the first time these cowboys have exacted revenge.

“For your family, right?” I swallow.

“I’m dangerous for you.” His tone is flat and numb. I’m not prepared for it, and it stings.

“No, you’re not.” I shouldn’t, but I say it anyway. “You’re perfect for me.”

His silence tells me all I need to know. He thinks he scared me. He thinks he’s bad.

I won’t let him push me away. Or punish himself. Cole didn’t scare me today. It was everything else. The attempted kidnapping. Melly. Dino’s cryptic words. The blood. It all had my mind racing and racing until I found my world blurring and myself falling.

But I knew Cole would catch me.

I have always been alone in my grief, my sadness.

Until him.

“You’re a good person, Cole.” His throat jogs with words he doesn’t say. His body’s a live wire, thrumming with tension. “You are. You saved me today. No one else would have done it. No one else ever has.”

I rest a hand on his thigh, and his haunted gaze moves toward me. I urge him to take it. To pull me against his strong chest. Instead, he stands with more force than necessary and straightens, before turning away from me.

His silence urges me to slip from the bed. “I can handle you, cowboy. Your past. Your dark. If you just let me try.”

I’ve always trusted my gut when it comes to bad men. Maybe it’s time I trust my gut when it comes to the good ones. When it comes to Cole.

Standing, I go to him, slipping my hands over his wide shoulders. He tenses. “Get back in bed, Delilah.”

“I’m fine.”