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“I can’t tell you what the man thinks, but I know the way our life is. We never stay anywhere. And he is worse than most. He’s always been a loner. He must have figured you wouldn’t want that kind of wandering life. You would want the lawyer, a normal life.”
“Bullshit!” she yelled. “We talked about it. I told him I-I would go anywhere with him!” Tears rolled down her face.
Walker looked sympathetic as he stepped over and embraced her. “He’s not the marrying kind, sis. Not—”
She pulled away. “He is all I want!”
Walker sighed. “Well, you will never find him.”
Her chin rose up. “I found him once and I will again.”
“Sis, he’s a ghost and I mean for REAL!”
“Well, I am going up to the mountain. I will find some clue.”
Walker shook his head. “The man wouldn’t leave any. Training remember?”
“I don’t care. If I can’t find anything, I will wait till he returns.”
“Are you nuts?” Walker threw up his hands. “Fuck, what am I thinking? Of course you are!”
She scoffed as she grabbed her suitcase and a bag. “Grab those boxes and that other bag, big brother. I have a dammed mountain to climb!” She stomped out to the living room. “And you are gonna be my cab to the rental office.”
“Riley!” he called after her.
No, she wasn’t listening. She had a ghost to track down.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A month later…
Noah looked out at the jungle landscape below. Entirely different than…the cabin in the snow. He shook his head. Again, with the dammed mountain, with Ridge. He should’ve forgotten her by now. No, he realized she would stay with him for a long ass time.
Brazil was pretty, but god dammed boring. He thought about maybe hunting, but it was too much to take down a powerful cat or some other magnificent animal that deserved to remain free and alive. They already had too many predators.
This set up with his Brazilian villa was similar to the one in the woods, except the perimeters went off all the damn time. Too many wild animals and Brazilians that wandered in and out. Then there was no snow of course. The height was great, but it just wasn’t the same. Yes, there were flowers, fauna and some god dammed glorious torrential rains that cooled the place off a little. But there were too many bugs and some were the size of your fist.
He had full central air and all amenities here so he didn’t give a good God damn, but he missed that fresh mountain air.
Yes, he thought about returning to the mountains. Like every damn day. But he just couldn’t face it. It would drive him insane being there where he’d spent that week with her. He’d almost been to the point of stark raving mad, just a few days after she left in the helicopter.
Hell, she was better off. She had a life before him. He kept telling himself this same thing over and over. Still, he wondered if he should have waited for her.
Okay, so he ran. God dammit, he did. He was in love with someone for the first time in his life and…it scared him. He wanted the best for her and he, the bastard that he was…wasn’t it.
Adam Groves would be the perfect guy for her. Smart, rich and fucking normal. Oh, yes. He had checked him out. Not that he didn’t believe Walker. Just to be sure himself.
It was for the best. For Ridge. But God dammit, he missed her—her scent, her smile that sass. Her body, her laugh.
FUCK!
He whirled around. He would have to get drunk again to even sleep for a few hours. His nightmares had stopped but not the dreams of her. The odd thing was that they’d replaced the nightmare. Her face, those big blue eyes full of questions and curiosity gazing up at him in awe.
Haunted, he was a ghost, haunted.
The way she’d looked at him when they had sex. Like he was a god. He’d felt like one. Yes, other women adored him as they acted excited, thrilled and wanted to worship him, but it never pierced his tough skin. She had. She’d gotten under his skin and crawled right into his heart while he hadn’t even known it. Then he just sent her off with the damn lawyer. Gave up like a pussy.
He growled. He should just go and get her. Punch GQ in the fucking face, pick her up and fly her back to that mountain. Lawyer be dammed.
But that would be selfish…
He knew his life was hard. Well, not now. Apparently, he was retired. Especially, after speaking to the general. He hadn’t had to kill him, the man had bled to death a few minutes after he got into the holding room. He’d gotten him with the second shot, as he must have hit an artery. Faulkner knew he was going to die, so he told him everything. It had been Blade. Blade, one of the team members. He was selling off secrets. Noah didn’t believe him, but he didn’t get to find out either way. The man died a few minutes later.
