rest of the story.”
“No, but it sounds right. He wasn’t the typical thug one would run into around here.” Or anywhere else. Nor was he a backwoods drug runner. Clearly she was involved in something high level. The only thing that wasn’t certain was whether she was lying about being an innocent victim—but his gut told him she was telling the truth.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye.” She opened her door and stepped out.
“Wait a minute.” Cooper jumped out and ran around the vehicle. Stepping in her path, he held out his hands like he tried to calm a skittish mare. “Where are you going to go? You can’t run from this on your own.”
“What do you suggest I do? Wait for the sheriff? This is above his pay grade.” Hadley started pacing, the dim light from his apartment above lighting her path. “I didn’t ask for any of this.” She stopped and stared at him. “And neither did you.”
Her curly, strawberry-blond hair askew, weary didn’t begin to describe her. She appeared fragile and yet he’d seen her combat skills firsthand. Knew she was physically strong. Believed there had to be something strong inside, too, that had kept her alive. She’d said her father had taught her the skills. He must have suspected this day might come. What had he done that resulted in this happening to his daughter?
“I’m sorry about your father,” he said. “He obviously loved you. Wanted you to be safe.”
She hung her head. “Thanks.”
“What do you do for living, Hadley?”
“Why does that matter?”
“I’m forming a plan. Just work with me.”
“I’m an artist—a painter. I have a following on Etsy that pays the bills. I’m slowly building my career with exhibitions in small galleries and museums and a few commissioned pieces. But this coming Friday I have an exhibit that will propel me onto the national scene. I’m making my big debut, you could say. Or I was, until all this happened.”
An artist? He hadn’t expected that. The news left him unsettled. Disturbed.
Cooper squeezed his eyes closed, remembering. His brother Jeremy had been an artist before he committed suicide. Cooper caught himself. Now wasn’t the time to relive the horror or wallow in the guilt. He focused back on Hadley.
Were those tears shimmering in her eyes? She blinked them away. Back at the cabin, before daylight had faded, he’d noticed the greens and golds swirling in her irises.
Cooper had to stay on task.
If only something about Hadley and her situation didn’t tug at his heart, tipping it a little bit in her favor. He gently pushed the feeling back. He was nowhere near ready to let himself care about someone. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t help a person in trouble, especially this kind of inescapable deadly trouble.
He was all over making sure she stayed safe. Who was Cooper Wilde if he couldn’t protect someone in her position? His business, Wilderness, Inc., would mean nothing.
“I was thinking you could stay in the apartment. Work in the back office, if you want. Was hoping you’d say you were a bookkeeper.” He tossed her an apologetic shrug. “That would keep you safe and out of sight until we can form a plan.”
Find the source of this contract and end it for good.
“You’d want me to stay long enough to work here? That’s crazy. Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said? I can’t stick around here when someone’s after me. What if something happens to you because of me? I can’t be responsible.”
“Let me worry about myself.” Cooper was all for justice. Unfortunately he wasn’t sure Hadley was going to get it the usual way. There was no one else he could trust with her safety, not even the authorities.
He thought back to her story about the official-looking man who burst through the door of her apartment, weapon drawn, before the police even arrived. Then how she’d seen him speaking with the police when she left, confirming to Hadley the man worked in some official capacity. But the fact that he’d mumbled to himself about taking care of loose ends raised the hairs on Cooper’s neck.
No wonder she was scared to trust anyone, even the police. And if the CIA was involved, all bets were off.
She watched him now, waiting on him to lead on if he meant his invitation. The night closed in around them, and Hadley shivered. What kind of guy was he to keep her out here waiting? And what kind of guy was he if he didn’t use every resource he had to help her?
“I have connections. Someone who can help me find out who is after you.” Someone he didn’t want to contact. He’d wait until there was no other choice.
Hadley studied him.
First things first. “Let me show you the apartment. You can crash there, and make a decision in the morning, if you’re not ready tonight.”
She sagged. “Honestly, I can’t think straight. I haven’t eaten. I’ve been running all day. I’m fried.”
Cooper didn’t want to say he was counting on that. “Let me show you my humble abode.”
He grabbed her backpack from the Jeep, locked it up—as if that mattered much—and together they hiked the outside stairs up to the apartment. He shoved the door open. It hadn’t been locked. He’d never had a need to lock the door.
Until today.
She eyed him before walking into his apartment. He’d left a light on in the corner. Hadley stood in the middle of the small efficiency apartment and looked around.
“It’s not much,” Cooper said apologetically.
Her gaze landed on a painting of old-town Gideon, then drifted back to him. “Thank you,” she barely croaked out.
Cooper had the sudden urge to reach out and grab her, draw her to him. Hold and comfort her. He fisted his hands against the unwelcome emotions, preventing them from acting out his desires.
No. No, no. He wouldn’t let her crawl under his skin. He was just doing his job as a good person. One who knew something of the world. “You’re welcome. The shower and bath are through there. I’ll see if I can find something for you to eat, and then I’ll crash in the office downstairs.”
“My father told me not to trust anyone, Cooper. Anyone. And here... I’m letting myself trust you.”
He swallowed the knot in his throat. Determination filled him to see this through with her. To the end. He was nothing if not committed to his missions, if not loyal to his assignments. He might try to think of Hadley as just an assignment, but she was much more. She was a person who mattered. A beautiful woman who had fought an assassin and survived. And Cooper would listen to the alarms resounding in his brain and stop his heart from connecting, nip this attraction before it started. Keeping her safe was what mattered. He could do that and keep his heart in line at the same time because he had the training.
De opresso liber.
Liberator of the oppressed was the Green Beret motto. Never mind he hadn’t been able to save his brother from his internal
