AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"So you gave up your career in the Coast Guard to be there for Robyn,” Charlie finished for her.
Rhianne nodded. “And it worked. She turned herself around. I’m not saying it was easy—we definitely had our share of fights at first—but when she realized I wasn’t going to give up on her, she started to settle down. She went from saying she wanted to drop out of high school to talking about going to college. Her grades are really good now, and she’s started hanging out with a some really nice kids.” Rhianne looked down at her knotted fingers. “That’s why the fact that she’s missing makes no sense.”
“Misisng?” Charlie’s gaze sharpened. “How long has she been gone?”
“Two days. It’s not like her at all. I mean, sure, she’s run away in the past but she’sdifferentnow. My mom is convinced that she’s back to her old tricks, but I know something’s wrong. I feel it in my gut.”
Charlie studied her for a moment. “And we both know how powerful that instinct is. You came here to me, so I’m assuming the police gave you the runaround?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’d think the fact that I work at the San Diego’s Sheriff’s Department would carry some weight, but they refused to listen to anything I had to say as soon as they learned that Robyn had a history as a runaway.” Rhianne’s three years doing search and rescue with them hadn’t been enough to convince her coworkers to take her sister’s missing person’s case seriously. The officers at the local Chula Vista station had been even less willing to listen to her than her colleagues.
“It’s unfortunate that they won’t do their damn jobs. Because I agree with you. There’s something wrong,” he said.
If Rhianne thought she’d never heard sweeter words, his next were better still.
“And we’ll do what we can to help.” Charlie stood and used the intercom on his desk to call someone in, stopping her when she started to ask about fees.
“We’ll go into that later. For now, let’s get started. Here’s who I’ll put on this with you,” he said as a rap came at the door. A second later it opened, and a man came in, his chocolate-brown eyes lighting up at the sight of Rhianne.
“Hey, Coastie-girl!” The guy flung his arms wide.
Eric Cruz.She should have known. Charlie’s agency was based around the idea that former SEALs could use their skills to help people, and Eric had been in Charlie’s unit. He’d also been part of the mission Rhianne had undertaken with Charlie, but while she’d come to like and respect Charlie as a friend and leader, her opinion of Eric had been…less positive. Oh, when he was on a mission, he always got the job done. But in his off hours? Put frankly, the man was a pest. A noisy, obnoxious, class-clown-who-never-grew-up pest.
And, most annoying of all, he made it lookgood.Tall and broad-shouldered, he was more muscular now than when she’d seen him before, his crew cut grown out into carefree rusty-red waves, and his beard scruff was thicker.
Rhianne swallowed. Eric was even more attractive now…and he’d been far from hideous before. Fine, she’d admit that he was her type. Physically. But she didn’t have the patience for his nonsense in general, and especially not at the moment.
“You’ll have to come up with a new joke,” she replied, tightening her voice. “I’m no longer with the Coast Guard— Wait.” Understanding hit her, and she swung to Charlie. “Thisis who’ll be working on this?Eric?Is this the best you can do?”
That was rude, she acknowledged, but Charlie didn’t react.
“There’s no one better,” he replied.
She’d seen Eric work and knew his abilitiesandhis focus, that he was more than capable of being serious, but—
“So, what’s the what?” Eric asked Charlie before she could say anything else.
“Rhianne’s little sister is missing,” Charlie explained.
With an indrawn breath, Eric straightened, his easy humor gone in a second. He searched Rhianne’s face, his now-serious brown eyes boring into her blue ones. “I’ll do whatever I can to find her, Rhianne. You got my word on that. Come into my office and we’ll get started.”
Oh.
Rhianne blinked, her gaze tracking Eric as he headed to the door. She collected herself enough to thank Charlie for his help, then ducked around Eric to go through the door he was holding open for her.
Huh, seemed she had to addchivalrousto the list of adjectives describing the new Eric.
Rhianne swallowed again.
2
Eric’s intercom buzzed as soon as he got behind his desk. Rosa, of course. He was a little surprised he’d made it as far as his office—he’d half-expected her to accost him in the corridor for the case details to log in for their business workflow and billing.
“One second,” he assured Rhianne, who started to pace. “Rosa?”
“Mr. Cruz, I take it I should hold any calls and push anything back until you tell me this meeting is concluded?” came her question, theat which point you will fill in the new client form,andto my satisfaction, hanging after it.
Prior to this, Rosa had managed a huge law firm, almost single-handedly, Eric believed. She tried to bring the same order and method tothisoffice. But a private security firm was a business where cases tended to occur spontaneously and grow organically, often meaning unscheduled field work for their small team, all of which made managing the business…challenging, to say the least. Rosa enjoyed the challenge, though, Eric surmised.
