Forever Hunted

by Kathleen Brooks

  “I’m going to get home and eat. I’ll see you guys later.” Cy and Marshall gave him a little wave and Carter drove home, wondering what Cy’s reaction really would be if he found out Carter considered Reagan something more than a friend.

  6

  Reagan looked across the table at the steakhouse in downtown Lexington and smiled at her handsome boyfriend. Months had flown by, and while it was stressful keeping their relationship a secret, she didn’t regret it once. When they were together, it was like they were living on a private island and she got Carter all to herself.

  Carter paid the check and stood, pulling out her chair for her. She was about to stand when she heard a laugh from someone coming through the front door—a very familiar laugh. Her eyes shot to the door as she saw what she feared. Her cousin Layne Davies was laughing as Aaron, the second therapist at Layne’s PT clinic, escorted her inside.

  Reagan squeaked and dropped to the ground, sliding under the black tablecloth. “What are you doing?” Carter hissed as he reached for her. “Are you okay?”

  “Layne,” Reagan whispered, urgently slapping Carter’s hand away from her.

  “Rea, she’s your cousin. She won’t tell anyone. If anyone would understand your supposed need to keep this from your father, it’s Layne. Miles is just as bad as your father when it comes to her dating.”

  “Carter?”

  “Please,” Reagan begged as she pulled the tablecloth down to hide her.

  “Hi, Layne.”

  Reagan heard him answer from where she clutched her knees to her chest and bent her head under the table.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Just finished dinner and heading home. You?”

  “I’m Layne’s partner,” the cocky man said, holding out his hand. Reagan rolled her eyes under the table. Aaron had met Carter before. Twice.

  “Carter Ashton. And you are?”

  Reagan snickered under the table.

  “Aaron Ornack,” he said, placing emphasis on his last name. A last name that only dreamed of being as famous as the Ashtons, who, ironically, didn’t care one bit for the fame attached to it.

  “Did we interrupt a date?” Layne asked, drawing attention to the two plates on the table.

  “No, it was business. You?” Carter asked. Reagan leaned her ear closer to make sure she could hear. Layne had sworn she wasn’t dating Aaron, but here they were at the fanciest restaurant in town.

  “Business.”

  “Date night.”

  Reagan heard Layne and Aaron answer at the same time.

  “Well, I’ll let you two figure that out over dinner. See you soon, Layne,” Carter said, completely ignoring Aaron. Reagan wanted to cheer. Aaron was always so cocky, and it got on Reagan’s nerves.

  The tablecloth lifted and Carter’s face, tight with annoyance, came into view. “You can come out now.”

  Reagan smiled sheepishly as she took his offered hand and crawled out from under the table. “Thanks, Carter.”

  “Let’s not make this a habit. I’ve already hidden under your bed, in your closet, and had you run to hide in the pantry too many times to count. I know you like this secrecy thing, it’s exciting and all, but at some point we’ll need to come out of hiding.”

  Reagan nodded. She knew that, but in her mind what they had was still new and it was wonderful and she wasn’t ready to give that up yet. Or more specifically, have it yanked away by an overprotective father.

  * * *

  Carter once again found himself watching Reagan from across the dance floor at a wedding. Only this time it was her sister’s wedding. And he was pissed. Matt Walz had faced Cy down and asked for permission to marry Riley, all the while Reagan begged him to keep their relationship a secret. Was Carter ready to get married? No. But he was damned tired of hiding his relationship. Even if that meant he had to take a punch to the face or have his balls threatened. Both of which had happened to Matt.

  Carter tossed back a bourbon and pointed to have it refilled as Cy strode up to the bar with his jaw clenched tight. “Congratulations,” Carter said, trying to hide the annoyance from his voice. Reagan had reminded him of how great their relationship was and that all of that would change if they became a public spectacle, which they would. He begrudgingly gave her that point.

  “Fuck congratulations, just give me the bottle,” Cy grumbled as Carter handed over the bottle of Rock Hill Farms Bourbon to him.

  Cy tossed it back and chugged straight from the bottle of expensive bourbon. “Do you know how hard it is standing here pretending I didn’t just lose my baby girl? To know that you’re no longer the person responsible for her?” Cy took another long pull from the bottle. “Your dad said it was bad, but it would get better. Riley said I gained a son. Well, I can tell you, I want to tear Matt limb from limb. So I don’t feel very fatherly toward him at the moment.”

  Carter reached out and pried the bottle from Cy’s fingertips and took a drink of his own before handing it back. He was going to do it. It would be like ripping off a Band-Aid. “Mr. Davies, Reagan—”

  “Reagan,” Cy scoffed. “Thank goodness she’s still single. I don’t think I’d be able to contain myself if she brought a man here. Do you know how embarrassing it would be to have my own brother arrest me for murder?”

  Carter made a noncommittal sound as he decided to reevaluate his idea of telling Cy. Maybe in a month or two when Cy had calmed down. He looked up and his eyes instantly found Reagan. She looked over Aniyah’s head and blinked. Aniyah was Riley’s assistant and one of the newest residents of Keeneston. Then she blatantly looked outside the reception area. Her meaning was clear. A second later, she smiled her excuses and walked out.

  Cy was still grumbling so Carter left him with the bottle of bourbon and followed Reagan a short time later. He found her waiting for him under a tree outside the reception looking around nervously.

  “What were you talking about with my dad?”

  “Just told him the wedding was nice,” Carter grimaced and hoped she couldn’t see it in the dark.

  He felt her hand trailing down his chest to his suit pants. “What are you doing?” he whispered, not trying to stop her at all.

  “You know weddings get me feeling amorous.” Carter felt her lips on his neck, and he finally touched her. She was beautiful as the maid of honor. Her hair was perfect, and he had to be careful not to mess it up when all he wanted to do was run his fingers through her hair and kiss her into next week.

  “I do know that,” Carter whispered against her ear as she fumbled with his zipper. He looked around and noticed the tree provided quite a bit of cover, but at the same time they would be at great risk of being caught. But then Reagan freed him from his suit pants and pulled a condom from her bra, and he figured the risk of getting caught was worth it.

  “We have to hurry. My sister will be cutting the cake soon.”

  Carter was already pushing up her dress and pulling her panties down her legs. Something he’d learned over the past months of dating Reagan: they were combustible together. Their friendship only seemed to heighten their sex lives. As he picked her up and slid into her, Carter thanked his lucky stars for making a move on her because she’d ruined him for other women. Not only did they spend time wrapped in each other’s arms talking, or racing each other on horseback as they laughed, they also connected on a level he never knew existed when they made love. Even now, knowing they could be caught at any moment, they were completely in sync and lost in each other.

  Breathing hard and resting his forehead against hers, he finally told her what he’d known for a while now. “You mean everything to me, Reagan.”

  Reagan was quiet for a moment, her legs still wrapped around him as he held her off the ground. It was then he noticed the small tear in the corner of her eye. “Oh, Carter. I never want to leave this perfect bubble we have together. Thank you. Thank you for making me so happy.”

  “Cake?” they heard someone say in the distance. Reaga
n’s eyes went wide as Carter hurriedly set her on the ground.

  “I’ll meet you inside,” Reagan leaned up and kissed his lips as she shoved her dress down and moved to hurry inside. Carter cleaned himself up and took a deep breath as he looked up at the stars. She was so damned happy. If he had told Cy, he would have ruined everything. She was right. He had to keep quiet . . . for now.

  Carter took a step away from the tree only to pause when something caught his eye. It was a light green scrap of fabric on the ground. Reagan’s panties. Carter bent down and picked them up, stuffing them into his pocket. Phew, it was a good thing he didn’t leave those behind.

  * * *

  “Where are you going?”

  Reagan rolled her eyes at her father. Her new house was almost finished being built, and it wasn’t going to happen soon enough. She loved her parents, but after Riley got their house blown up, she’d been stuck living with her parents. One week and she’d be moving into her own home again. Only this time, she’d be by herself. Well, kind of. She wondered how often Carter would spend the night.

  She’d been staying with him every chance she had. She’d even resorted to telling her dad she had a flight only to leave her phone and car at the airport and have Carter pick her up so she could spend some time alone with him.

  “I’m going over to see Sophie,” Reagan called out as she let the door close behind her. She needed space, badly. She knew her cousin needed her girls tonight, and maybe she’d pick up some advice on how to handle her Carter situation. She loved being with him. But since Riley’s wedding, he started dropping hints that he wanted to bring their relationship out of the shadows, and she needed to shut that down. After living with her dad, there was no way in hell she was going to have a public relationship.

  Reagan pulled up to Sophie’s and was met by all her cousins. They crammed into Sophie’s room like old times and talked and laughed. She listened to Sophie talking about Nash, Ahmed’s mentee who had disappeared for a while on an undercover operation for the King of Rahmi, and how she’d had a secret relationship with him that went south . . . until now. Now she was in love with him and didn’t know how to tell him. And all Reagan could think about was Carter.

  * * *

  “Don’t ask me,” Carter said with a sigh. “They’re as clear as mud.” Gabe had it right. Women were so confusing. They were supposed to be helping Nash understand Sophie, but Carter couldn’t focus on it. He was thinking of Reagan. Nash said he should have fought for Sophie. Was that what Carter needed to do? But in that case he’d be fighting Reagan herself, since she was the one wanting to keep their relationship under wraps.

  One thing he knew, he needed to see Reagan. Now.

  * * *

  Carter stumbled from the café after their guys’ night and paused on the sidewalk. Crap, he was too drunk to drive. He was staring at the keys in his hands when he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Can I drive you home?”

  Carter turned to see Andy Dinkler, Deputy Dinky’s son. His carrot-red hair stood out in the night as he looked up at Carter. Like his father, Andy was slightly below average height, below average or average in everything except for his heart. He had the biggest heart Carter had ever seen. All he wanted to do was help people.

  “Yes, Andy. I do. But I’m not going home. I have to see a woman about a horse.”

  Andy raised an eyebrow as he unlocked his truck. “A horse?”

  “No, not a horse,” Carter sighed. His head was swimming. He’d had too much of the Rose Sisters’ special ice tea. The drink had seemed to be mostly bourbon that night. And all of Nash’s talk about longing and mistakes and secret relationships had sent Carter down the rabbit hole of thoughts and feelings about Reagan. “A woman. I need to see a woman.”

  “Any specific woman?”

  “I can’t tell you. In fact, I can’t tell anyone.” Carter sighed before directing Andy to drive him to Cade and Annie Davies’s house where Reagan was having a girl’s night with her cousin Sophie.

  “You don’t have to talk to me about it, but why can’t you tell anyone?” Andy asked, full of concern.

  “She doesn’t want it getting around we’re together.”

  “Are you using her for sex?” Andy asked aghast and ready to defend the woman’s honor.

  Carter shook his head. “No. I think I might love her. It’s complicated.”

  “It’s not complicated if your intentions are clear.”

  Dammit, Andy was making way too much sense. And that sense was exactly what was making it hard on Carter. Because deep down, he was like Andy—a good guy. He wasn’t like Nash, who was used to being undercover and hiding his feelings. Carter was a good man who wanted a good woman to love. And he had her. Now he just had to convince her to trust him enough to always be by her side, no matter how much her father overreacted.

  Andy dropped him off at the end of the driveway leading to Cade and Annie’s house with a wave and an offer to talk if Carter ever wanted to. Carter ducked behind the bushes when he saw the first headlights coming his way. He watched as Layne drove away and then Riley. Piper’s car followed shortly after, then he saw his mark. He stepped out of the shadows and hit the car window when Reagan stopped at the end of the driveway before pulling out onto the road.

  Reagan jumped, and he had a gun pointed at him in a blink of the eye before recognition set in. Reagan unlocked the door and put her gun away as Carter jumped in right before headlights appeared from behind them.

  “What are you doing?” Reagan hissed. “Sienna’s right behind me.”

  “I want us to be a couple,” Carter told her as Reagan shoved him down in the seat.

  “We are a couple.”

  “A public, real-life, for-all-the-world-to-see couple,” Carter told her.

  “No. I don’t want to go public. My dad held Matt up against he wall in a chokehold because he put his arm around Riley at dinner.”

  “I can handle it, Rea,” Carter told her from where he was bent over in his seat.

  “But I can’t!” Carter looked up and saw a tear streaming down her cheek. “You mean too much to me, and the pressure and negativity my dad will put on us . . . It’ll ruin this wonderful, perfect thing we have going on. I can’t risk losing you.”

  Carter’s heart sank. “Okay, Rea. We’ll keep it secret a little longer but not forever. I won’t keep you a dirty secret because what we have is beautiful, and it’s not something to be hidden away.”

  7

  “Reagan,” Carter called out with a grin, “did you forget something again?”

  Reagan looked down at her shirt. Nope, her boobs were in place. Then she looked back to Carter who was dangling a pair of panties in his fingertips.

  Reagan rolled her eyes and went to snatch them from his grasp. “I have a whole drawer filled of panties you’ve forgotten,” Carter laughed. But Reagan heard something, and she covered his mouth with her hand.

  “Oh, Sugarbear,” Aniyah purred from nearby in the Desert Sun Farm garden. The spontaneous engagement celebration between Walker Greene, a SEAL Team Six member, and Layne Davies was in full swing after the town banded together and brought down a murderous traitor. “You know what gunfire does to me.”

  Carter and Reagan had slipped away from the celebration and into Dani’s gardens behind the Ali Rahman family mansion for a little alone time. Apparently State Trooper DeAndre and his girlfriend, Aniyah, had the same idea.

  “It sounds like they’re on the other side of the hedge,” Carter whispered into her ear.

  “I love you, baby,” DeAndre said smoothly between the sounds of kissing.

  “I love you too, Sugarbear. Hey—” she said suddenly. Carter and Reagan held their breath as Reagan had visions of Aniyah poking her head through the hedge and finding them. “What are these panties doing here?”

  “The panty dropper,” DeAndre said in wonder. “The one thing I haven’t been able to find out.”

  Reagan’s eyes widened as s
he looked at the panties in her hand to make sure they were hers.

  “One thing you haven’t been able to figure out? You’ve been holding back on me. What other things have you found out?” Reagan didn’t need to see Aniyah to know she was standing with her hands on her curvy hips and staring her boyfriend down.

  “Now, baby, you know you’re not any good at keeping secrets. I’m sure Reagan doesn’t want you telling everyone whom she is dating, or Father Ben wanting everyone to know why he joined the church, or who is pregnant. Shoot, I don’t even know if they know at this point that they’re pregnant and it would just be rude to spoil their happy news,” DeAndre said as if he were trying to calm a wild horse.

  “Someone’s pregnant?” Reagan whispered to Carter.

  Carter rolled his eyes. “That’s what you got out of it. Not Father Ben’s past life or the fact DeAndre knows about our relationship?”

  Reagan stuck out her tongue and Carter sucked it into his mouth, silently laughing as she looked shocked. “Stop distracting me. I want to listen. How does he know all this stuff?”

  “DeAndre Drews,” Aniyah sounded pissed, “you know all that and won’t tell me?”

  “I’m sorry, baby, but you wouldn’t be able to not say anything. It’s one of the things I love about you. You would be so happy for the couples that you’d hug them and congratulate them in the middle of the café. And like I said, I don’t think Reagan wants anyone to know, and I don’t even know if the other couple knows they’re pregnant yet,” DeAndre said soothingly.

  “Then how do you know?” Aniyah challenged.

  “Baby, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. It’s a gift. John Wolfe is trying to find out too, but he’s working with antiquated equipment, so to say. But here I stumble upon the panty dropper, the one case I can’t crack.”