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He gripped her jaw and gave her a hard kiss before pressing his forehead to hers.
“You take as long as you need,” he said.
She gave him a squeeze and then loosened her grip.
“I might be getting a little cold,” she admitted, and he looked her up and down, then frowned.
“You’re missing a boot,” he said. “We should get you into the car.”
“Jesus, you two,” Montgomery complained. Nita had forgotten he was there. “She fell into a hole and she’s unhurt.” Montgomery’s sharp voice through the rain.
She was about to thank him for helping her, but his comment sounded accusatory.
“I fell onto adead body. I think I’m allowed to be a little emotional about that,” she said, a tinge of hysteria in the words.
Montgomery lifted his arms in confusion.
“Right. A dead body. Nothing that can harm you. The hole wasn’t even that deep,” Montgomery said, shrugging as if what had happened to her was no big deal.
Ryder pulled her against his side, fixing Montgomery with a look.
“How did you come to be there at just the right time?” Ryder asked.
“Good question,” she added, and it seemed like Ryder’s body enlarged to twice its size as he faced the other man. He angled his stance, letting his body shield her more.
Montgomery, not a small man himself, held out his hands in a calming gesture.
“It’s not what you think. I was—” he attempted.
“Said every guilty man in a CSI episode,” she taunted around Ryder’s chest.
“Hartley wasn’t returning my calls, so I came here to find her,” Montgomery explained, then shook his head as if realizing the words sounded harsh. “To meet with her.”
“She’s out of the country,” Ryder replied, folding his arms.
“That’s ridiculous,” Montgomery scoffed. “She’s always here. She lives for this fucking place.”
His words were sharp, the lines around his mouth deep slashes as he looked up in the rain. When he dropped his gaze, his heavy brow shadowing his eyes, Nita shivered.
“We have to—” he started, then a commotion sounded from beside the garage.
“Where is she?” shouted the stocky man. Jackal.
Ryder immediately adjusted, shoving her behind him and backing toward the car.
“Who the fuck—” he started, but Nita touched his shoulder.
“That’s Jackal,” Nita said, which didn’t lessen the tension in Ryder’s body at all, although his voice was calmer.
“The former security guy?” Ryder said.
Jackal looked at all of them, focusing on Montgomery last.
“You!”
Jackal launched himself at the taller man, his hands going right to his throat and taking them both to the ground.
She heard Ryder sigh. He jerked the driver’s door open, telling her brusquely, “Stay here.”
