the last bit of distance between them and wrapped her in a hug. Probably too tight, but he couldn’t really help himself. It had been far too long since he’d seen Jill. Even longer since he’d held her.
She still fit him. Far too perfectly. His arms slid around her back and he pulled her close. Her scent wrapped around him and reminded him of all that he’d missed. Too many years away from Jill.
Too many mistakes. And—
She was hugging him back. A quick tightening of her arms around him as if she were just as glad to see him. His heart thudded in his chest. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe he hadn’t screwed things to hell and back between them. Maybe—
She stopped hugging him. “Let me go,” Jill said, her voice soft.
He did. The same way he’d let her go before, ten years ago. She’d been nineteen. He’d been twenty-one.
His hands slid away from her. “Still as beautiful as ever.”
She frowned. Right, Jill never liked to be told she was beautiful. It made her uncomfortable.
“Am I supposed to say that you’re still as handsome as ever?” Her head cocked and her gaze swept over him. “You are. But I’m sure plenty of women tell you that.”
No other woman was Jill. His Jill.
“Mr. Navy SEAL.” She smiled, but the smile was just a twist of her lips. No gleam appeared in her eyes and her expression didn’t lighten. He’d always worked so hard to make her give him a grin—worked even harder to hear her laugh.
“Shouldn’t you be out defending the world? Working those secret missions?”
Actually... “I’m not active duty any longer.” He’d given ten years of his life to service. Now...now he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the years he had left. “I just bought a house here in Hope.”
He heard her quick exhale. Ah, so he had surprised her.
“And here I thought you liked traveling the world. You wanted to see everything, remember?” She turned away. “But now you’re back here.”
He reached for her hand. “And I thought you wanted to save the world.” No, he knew she’d wanted to save children, kids who’d been just like her.
Taken.
Stolen.
“So what’s a hotshot FBI agent like you doing in a small town like this?” His index finger slid along her inner wrist, a careless caress.
Or maybe a very careful one. Even he wasn’t sure about that.
“Hiding.” And this time, her smile broke what was left of his heart. “Because I’m really not so much of a hotshot.” She looked down at their hands. “I’ve got too much blood on me.”
Alarm pulsed through him. “Jill?”
“Let me go,” she said once more.
Another caress, a gentle touch right over her rapid pulse point, and his hand slid away from her.
“I need to head home,” she said, then seemed to catch herself. “Head to the cabin. I rented a place on the beach. The beach is supposed to be good for the soul, right?”
He wouldn’t know. The only thing that had ever been good for his soul...well, that was Jill. She’d changed him, though he didn’t think she realized just how much. He didn’t think Jill even realized how influential she’d been in his life.
She’d always thought that he’d saved her.
Oh, baby, that could not be further from the truth.
She slipped by him and started walking toward the parking lot.
“Jillian West.” Her name pulled from him.
She hesitated.
“We’re not kids any longer.”
Jill glanced over her shoulder. “I haven’t been a child since I was thirteen years old.”
No, she hadn’t been. He knew that. One terrible act had changed her world.
“I came back to Hope for many reasons,” Hayden said. Maybe she deserved that warning. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
“So soon? Why expect to see me at all?”
Ah, now that was just cold. “Do you ever think about us?”
She faced the front again. “I try not to.”
He took that hit straight on his heart. “Really? Because I pretty much think about you every single day.” Though the nights were the worst. When he’d been fighting, when he’d been in one hell after another, memories of Jill had always come to him at night.
But a memory wasn’t walking away from him right then. No memory, no ghost.
He’d watched her walk away before, but this time, things were going to be different. This time, he was fighting for Jill.
She just didn’t realize it yet.
He wasn’t the town troublemaker any longer. Wasn’t the boy who’d never been good enough for Jillian West. Now he was back in Hope to prove himself to the person who mattered the most.
To you, Jill. For you. I’m back for you.
* * *
HE’D NEVER BELIEVED in coincidences. His life didn’t work that way. Everything that happened was part of fate.
So when he saw the redheaded woman walking off the pier, the light glinting in her hair, the sunset hitting her just right...
He remembered another time.
A girl, not a woman. A girl who’d been walking alone. Who’d been coming right to him.
He’d had such plans for that girl. So many grand, wonderful plans.
But she’d left him. Ran away. Escaped before he could enjoy himself. Such a shame. In all of his years of hunting, she’d been the only one to escape.
His one failure. The failure that had changed everything for him.
* * *
THE REDHEADED WOMAN was coming closer to him, nearing the parking lot, so he cranked up his Jeep and drove away. As he left, he saw two young girls riding their bikes. So many kids enjoyed riding their bike in that area. There were many trails. Tons of paths.
So many places to vanish.
One of the girls had blond hair. The other had dark brown locks.
Pity one of them doesn’t have red hair. Because, quite suddenly, he was seeing red in his mind. The red hair of a victim.
The red
