AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Every chance she could convince them to take her out to look for Connie, they would. So far, they hadn’t seen any signs of the big cat. With Nicole’s job as deputy, these outings only occurred a few times a week.
Reed held the binoculars. “There she is.” He handed them to Nicole. “Up the mountain, baby.”
She peered into the lenses and saw the big cat climbing up to a ridge. “I see her.” Connie had fully recovered, getting the vet’s seal of approval several weeks ago. Nicole and Erica had cried when they’d taken her to be released, but both of them knew it was what the amazing creature needed.
From the very first, Nicole had felt a connection to the mountain lion. Connie was wild, strong, and self-sufficient.
Suddenly, she saw the big cat stop and turn to her. It seemed like Connie’s big golden-brown eyes were focused right on her.
“Can she see me from this far?” she asked them.
“Yes,” Sawyer said. “Connie can see much farther than we can.”
Nicole gasped when she saw movement in the brush just above where Connie stood. “Oh no.” Was the creature strong enough to face another predator? Had they released her too soon?
“There’s another mountain lion,” she told them.
“It’s about time the old girl found herself a boyfriend,” Reed said.
“You think it’s a male?” She felt him squeeze her hand.
“How’s Connie acting around the new cat?”
“She doesn’t seem overly concerned.”
“Then Reed is right, baby,” Sawyer said. “Connie’s got herself a sweetheart.”
Her heart leapt for joy, watching Connie’s new mate brush up tenderly beside her.
I’m glad you got your happy ending, Connie.
Without warning, the two beautiful creatures disappeared from view, heading into the tree line.
She handed the binoculars back to Reed. “Let’s call him Charlie.”
* * * *
4:59 p.m., Friday—TBK Tower
Reed walked into the TBK building with Nicole and Sawyer. This morning they’d just broken ground on the new house they were building for Nicole—a five bedroom, three and a half bath home not far from the family cabin. It would be a place they could make new memories together with her.
Thirty days. God, had it only been a month since their first night on the back porch with the moth? He smiled, remembering how that little insect had been the thing that had sparked what had become a whirlwind romance. He was in love.
Love? A word he had always found hard to utter. A word he only said to Nicole. It was sacred. Meant only for her.
They were coming to get Erica to take her back up to the cabin. She lived in their parents’ old home in town. A change of scenery might do her good. With Eric Knight and the Texans, TBK’s new badass programmers, in Dallas trying to weed out the malicious code Kip had planted in their system for a couple of days, Erica’s workload was lightened.
Nicole had told Scott about the getaway idea for her, and he had happily cleared the rest of her schedule. Nicole thought Erica could use some girl time to work through the guilt she was still dealing with over the attack in this very building four months ago.
God, he loved Nicole. Always wanting to do her part, to make a difference. Though the town wasn’t quite over the loss of Charlie, Reed knew with Nicole as the county’s new deputy, the healing would begin.
They came to the elevators that would take them to the top floor where Erica worked as the Knights’ personal admin. When the doors opened, out came Jason with Scott Knight and Dylan Strange.
Dylan was yelling into his cell phone, which was quite odd behavior for him. Reed had never seen Dylan shaken like that. Ever. Until now.
Reed’s entire body tightened up in instant concern for the only person he believed could have Dylan reacting this way.
“I don’t care if he’s on vacation,” Dylan shouted. “Get on the fucking phone and find Cam now. Tell him to get his ass back here ASAP.”
