Then, all of a sudden, he pulled back. She let out a small gasp, not ready for it to be over yet. He dropped his hands back to his sides and drew his gaze away from her, as though looking her in the face would have ignited something he knew he couldn’t control. She stared at him, willing him to look at her again, to acknowledge what had just happened, but he didn’t.
“That didn’t change anything, did it? You still want me to go,” she demanded, her voice low. Her breath hitched in her throat as she silently begged him to respond to her. She desperately wanted him to say it was all a misunderstanding. That he needed her like she needed him. But the words never came.
Instead, he just stood before her, not saying a word. Her heart thudded in her chest and tears gathered in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not here, not in front of him. She’d shatter later, when she was alone and could process it all.
She was hoping admitting their feelings would change things for the better. They’d be able to move past this bump in the road and be together. But she got it. He couldn’t risk having a liability like her around after the way she freaked out at a patient. They had a reputation to uphold and she’d been anything but professional in her behavior that day. He couldn’t trust her.
“Fine,” she muttered. “You don’t have to say anything. I get it. I’ll go.”
And with that, she turned on her heel and started to march back toward the cabin. The tears were blurring her eyes now, but she blinked them back, not wanting him to see how much all of this had hurt her. She couldn’t let him know how long she had been aching for that kiss—or how painful it was to know that it still wasn’t enough for him to want to keep her around.
She swiped away the tears as she stepped through the door to her cabin, the pressure of that kiss still lingering on her lips. She had dreamed of kissing Lawson like that for a long time, but she had never imagined she would be reduced to tears after it happened.
Something was off around here; she was sure of it. But, right now, it wasn’t her business to stick around and find out what it was. Lawson wanted her gone? She was gone.
And she wasn’t going to waste another minute thinking about him.
At least, that was what she had to tell herself.
Chapter Seven
“You’ve looked over the files I put together for you?” Lawson inquired as he strode into the office where Xavier, Cade and Aaron were waiting for him.
All three of them nodded.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Cade admitted, as Lawson took his usual seat at the other side of the desk.
“I know,” he agreed. “But I want you to be as prepared as possible. Granger’s got a serious reputation and the last thing we want is to be walking into this situation without everything we need to know.”
“How did you even come across this case, anyway?” Xavier asked, as he leafed through the papers of the file Lawson had delivered to them that morning. He’d called a meeting with the guys, not giving many details at the time, and he was glad to have them here and ready to go. He always felt better when he had a team in place, ready to take on whatever was out there waiting for them. Especially a team like this one.
“It’s a long story, but the shorter version is Lainey,” he replied, clasping his hands in front of him.
“Lainey. As inLainey DayeLainey? This is why she contacted you?” Xavier inquired with a furrowed brow. Aaron and Cade looked at the men, waiting for more details.
Aaron spoke up. “For those of us not in the know, who’s Lainey?”
“She’s someone I partnered with over a decade ago in the CIA—we were good friends. She left the active side of the agency andwent on to become an analyst when she started a family. This came across her desk while she was doing research on a case.” Lawson rubbed a hand down his face. “It’s blown up into a big deal for her, put a target on her back, so she came here looking for my help.”
Cade’s curt voice cut in. “So she stirred up a hornet’s nest and brought it to you for us to help clean it up?”
“It wasn’t really her fault—”
“Lawson, seriously,” Xavier interrupted. “What you’re not saying is she was told to stand down for whatever reason and she kept digging, got herself in trouble.” He shook his head. “I didn’t work with her, but I remember how she did things.”
Lawson sighed. “She didn’t do it deliberately, Xavier. If something like this crossed your desk, would you ignore it? It’s missing women, trafficking young women, maybe even girls…in our backyard.”
“I’ve been thinking about this since Kieran showed us— and sent Lawson—that article last night. It made everyone at the table uneasy with possible danger so close. I think we should help,” Aaron offered. “I mean, our women drive these roads all the time. What if it ended up being one of them? You’d be kicking your own asses or worse if something happened.”
Lawson nodded his head toward Aaron in thanks. He appreciated him voicing his thoughts on the matter, because that’s exactly where his own had gone. Aaron was a former police officer and engaged to Bailey, who currently worked as a cop down in Blue Ridge. She and the other women there at the lodge traveled to town on these roads all the time. If something ever happened to any of them when the guys could help prevent it…
“What I need to know is whether or not you think you’re going to be able to handle it.” Lawson directed his comment to the other two men.
Xavier and Cade exchanged a glance. For the first time in a long time, Lawson saw some doubt on Xavier’s face.
“Problem?” he asked.
“From this file, this is a large crime ring and this guy sounds pretty dangerous,” Xavier remarked. “You sure it’s something we can handle?”
