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She shivered at the thought and he pulled her in tighter against his body, tucking her head under his chin. “I escaped before my fifteenth birthday. I was supposed to start learning new battle techniques. I had no idea what that meant, but I needed out. The kids rarely got to leave the camp back then.”
“It’s still the case. Adults can come and go with more ease.”
“I hid in the back of a delivery truck. It was refrigerated and I almost froze by the time I got off the mountain and out of there.” If she thought about it long enough, she could still feel the numbness in her fingers. “The older Sheriff Carver was up there all the time, so I knew not to run to him. I hitched and got far enough away where I could ask for help.”
“That story makes me crazy.” Holt blew out a harsh breath.
She could hear the anger in his voice but knew it wasn’t aimed at her. “Why?”
“You were put in danger.” His back moved as he blew out a long breath. “The police wherever you ended up didn’t do anything to start an investigation at the campground?”
“I didn’t contact the police. If I did, my father and uncle would find me, or at least that’s what I thought.” Her only goal back then had been to get out. She didn’t really have the life skills to do much else, but her survival instinct kept her going. “I found a woman, who got me to another couple, who eventually got me to my aunt.”
“Your mom really was dead?”
“Yes.” The biggest regret of Lindsey’s life was not getting out in time to let her mom know she was safe. “I went with my aunt, who taught me what I needed to know and changed my name and hid with me.”
Aunt Chloe turned her life upside down for her without question. She made Lindsey promise not to go near her father ever again. When Lindsey lost her last year in a car accident, she’d lost her last ties to her extended family.
“A few years ago, my father died in a raid about a hundred miles away from here. The New Foundations folks stood up for some guy engaged in a battle with the FBI.” Her aunt had delivered the news without emotion. Lindsey tried to mourn but couldn’t.
Holt leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “I’m sorry.”
The sweet touch sent a new spiral of warmth running through her. That and the acceptance. She didn’t hear pity or disgust in his voice. Just a gentle understanding. “Great gene pool, huh?”
“Don’t let your father’s actions define you.” Holt’s hand slipped up higher, to just under her breast. “I think you’re pretty amazing.”
“You know I want to turn over and face you, right?”
His breath grew heavier. “Go to sleep.”
He was right and she tried not to grumble about it. “Where will you be?”
“Right beside you.”
She took that as a vow and let herself drift off.
* * *
ONCE SHE FINALLY fell asleep, the morning came fast. She woke up with her legs tangled with Holt’s and his arms still around her. When he got up to shower, she turned and buried her face in his pillow. Smelled his scent on the sheets.
He’d left a few minutes ago to run some errands for what was supposed to be his job. He said some sort of memorial service was being planned for Grant and he had to do some things for it.
That left her alone with Shane. Not exactly a hardship, since he stood in the middle of her kitchen making her breakfast. There was no end to the talents of these Corcoran Team gentlemen.
She watched him move. He had the same easy control over his surroundings that Holt had. They both stood around six feet tall. Shane was broader and more muscular. Handsome, with his light brown hair and the scruffy start of a beard around his chin.
He had a bit of a boyish handsomeness about him. Not the dark and brooding look Holt possessed. She found Shane cute and easy to be around. Holt made her hot and jumpy and ready to replan her entire life to spend time with him.
Yeah, she was in trouble in the don’t-get-attached department.
“Have a good night?” Shane glanced up at her as she took a chair at the small kitchen table. “You should see your face. It was a neutral question, I promise.”
It felt more like a test. Since she guessed Shane was like Holt in that he believed in straight talk, she gave him some. “We’re not sleeping together. Me and Holt, I mean.”
One of Shane’s eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure? Because I woke up by myself in the family room this morning.”
She ignored his grin and the lift of amusement in his voice. “I meant sex.”
He gave her a wink, then returned to the frying pan and cooking bacon. “Not my business.”
