“It’s time for you to go, Bryce.”
* * *
Ugh. She hated the way those words sounded coming from her. Could she have worded this any worse? And the look on his face hurt her so much!
Stepping closer, she peered up into his handsome face. His silver-blue eyes and thick head of brown hair. “I want to thank you Bryce. No, wait. Those words are nowhere adequate. You saved me—so many times. I couldn’t have made it through this without you. Of that much, I’m sure. But you don’t have to stay with me now. You don’t have to protect me. Raul is heading back to the penitentiary today.”
Bryce’s intensity overwhelmed her. She let Samson pull her away with the leash and averted her gaze to take in her surroundings of the beautiful San Juan Mountains.
Her home.
This was hard. So very hard.
“Sierra I’m not sure...” Bryce didn’t finish.
“You’re not worried about his threat, are you? Raul was just saying the words to freak me out.” She paused to take in his expression. Serious. He was serious. And something more was behind his gaze.
It was that something more that she couldn’t receive. Couldn’t accept or explore. “I can’t in good conscience ask you to stay. I would need to pay you if you stayed, and honestly I can’t afford a bodyguard.”
“You should know that your dad already tried to pay me.”
“And you refused, of course.”
“You didn’t ask me to come. The way I look at it is that we’re both in this together. We went through it together before and I would never leave you to go through it again alone.”
“I can’t thank you enough.” She was repeating herself but she didn’t know what else to say.
They stood close now. Much too close. Samson was sniffing the snow at their feet. They were probably the perfect picture for a romantic postcard.
Sierra saw in his eyes that he wanted to kiss her, but she also knew that he wouldn’t.
“I’m glad you were here for me, Bryce. You’re... It’s meant so much to me. I hope you know that I’ll be there if you ever need me.”
He nodded as if finally accepting that she was right and it was time for him to go. Regret clung to his expression, but he too, knew that the moment had come for him to pack and go home.
Again she averted her gaze and this time squeezed her eyes shut. Images of yesterday accosted her. Bryce shoving himself from cover to take Raul out once and for all.
For her...
Buck’s death came back to her along with the grief.
If... If she allowed herself to care deeply, if she hadn’t lost the man she loved before to a bullet he didn’t deserve, then Bryce would be the man for her. But telling him those words wouldn’t do either of them any good. It would only lead to more heartbreak.
She’d already hurt him once.
They finished walking Samson, discussing mundane things like the future of the toy store. Bryce was also considering becoming a dog handler for SAR rescues. As they walked back to her apartment, they laughed like the two old friends they were, but Sierra sensed the sadness that lingered between them.
Right now, they were two old friends who needed to say goodbye.
Two old friends who might never see each other again.
In the apartment, he crouched and rubbed Samson everywhere the dog enjoyed. “You’re a good boy, Samson. Keep my girl safe, will you?”
My girl...
The endearment cracked her heart in a new place. Would that ever mend?
Sierra walked him out through the toy store. Bryce said his goodbyes to Jane and Dad. Sierra exited the store with him and stood on the sidewalk. Memories of their shared kiss surged through her, but she put those aside hoping she never thought of that kiss again.
Sierra stood on her toes and pecked him on the cheek. Call me sometime, seemed to be the natural thing to say, but she wasn’t sure that would be a good idea.
His blue eyes were more silvery this morning as he peered at her. “Take care of yourself, Sierra. I’m just a phone call away if you ever need me. I’m in the hotel across the street until the morning.” He winked.
Then he headed to his hotel to pack up and go back to Boulder.
Sierra stood outside in the cold letting the chill reach into her bones. Maybe it would chase the pain away.
Dad came out with her. “He’s gone now?”
“Yeah.” She shivered. “He’ll leave in the morning so he won’t be driving at night.”
“Then what are you doing standing out here like you want to make him stay? Unless of course you do.”
“No. I won’t do that to him.” Or herself. Parting ways the first time had been hard enough. A gust of wind blew cold over her along with snow from the rooftops.
Dad gently urged her back inside. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I think I’m going to turn in early.” What would she do without Dad and Jane to pick up the slack on days like today? She could trust Jane to close up the shop with Dad. “I’ll just go up to my room.”
“Do that. I’ll bring you some hot tea with your dinner in a bit.”
“That would be nice, Dad.”
Her heart throbbed along with her arm. Sierra might take one of the painkillers the doc had prescribed too.
* * *
Sierra woke and stared at the glowing numbers on the clock. Though it was still dark outside, it was already seven in the morning.
Bryce would probably wait at least until the sun came up to make that treacherous drive through the mountains back to Boulder.
Going to bed early and getting a long night of sleep hadn’t removed the pain in her troubled heart. She and Bryce—they needed to talk about it. Talk it through. She’d thought she couldn’t take the heartache of losing someone again and had pushed Bryce away. Well, she’d been right—she couldn’t take the heartache of losing Bryce. The realization had been long in coming.
Maybe she didn’t have to experience this pain. She wanted to avoid grief, the risk involved in loving someone like Bryce, but was letting Bryce walk away without even telling him how she felt any better?
Was that the answer? She thought the doubts would be gone by this morning, but they remained. Her pushing him away was definitely not the solution to regaining her peace of mind.
She had to catch him before he left. If she hurried, she could have breakfast with him and lay all her cards out there. Put them on the table.
Two old friends who potentially loved each other shouldn’t leave things unfinished.
She groaned and rolled out of bed. Pulled her hair into a pony tail and finished dressing.
Downstairs, she was careful not to disturb Samson who snored loudly next to the fire. She didn’t have time to walk him. She should probably text Bryce and invite him to breakfast. But what if he said no or put her off? She’d hurt him, after all. Better to just show up.
She entered the toy store front, more doubts warring in her mind. What if she put her heart out there and he tromped on it, told her that loving her wouldn’t be worth the risk? That...that would be worse than what she was feeling now.
Come on, Sierra, have some courage.
Sierra stood in the dimly lit store and looked at her phone contemplating a text to him.
The door jingled. Sierra froze. Had Dad or Jane forgotten to lock the door last night?
“I’m sorry, but we’re not open yet.” Sierra tucked her cell in her pocket. Never mind the text. She lifted her gaze to face the muzzle of a gun.
EIGHTEEN
Bryce woke to his alarm, though it was still dark outside. By the time he dressed dawn would be lighting the skies over the mountain roads.
He rubbed his eyes.
Today he would go home.
But where exactly was home? Admittedly while he’d stayed here in Cresce
nt Springs to protect Sierra, he’d kind of grown attached to the place. He’d actually started dreaming about a life with Sierra. Started believing she was finally ready to take a chance with him.
Because now he was no longer a cop but a private investigator and he could pick and choose his assignments and clients that wouldn’t put him in the line of fire. She wouldn’t have to be concerned about losing him like she’d lost Buck. Why hadn’t he tried harder to make her see that?
Maybe subconsciously he’d become a private investigator in hopes of winning her back one day. So far he was doing a lousy job at that. His resolve that he wouldn’t allow her to hurt him again crumbled away when he was with her. He wanted to take the risk with her.
She needed to know that, and she couldn’t know unless he told her. He should have told her yesterday as they walked Samson and said their goodbyes. Those ridiculous goodbyes filled with unspoken emotionally charged words between them.
He threw off the covers.
Yes. Bryce was willing to risk the hurt all over again if it meant a chance with this woman who he’d never stopped loving.
Admit it!
He was so done with shoving his true feelings for her to the dark side of the moon. Somehow he had to convince her they needed to try again. Just... One more time.
He would stay here for her. It would be far from a hardship. This place was beautiful and peaceful.
He quickly dressed and rushed down the stairs of the small hotel. After his conversation with Sierra he could either check out or stay longer. Or find more permanent accommodations. Though wary, afraid to hope, he couldn’t help the excitement that coursed through him. And as he pushed through the door of the hotel, dawn brightened the sky over the mountains as if reassuring him this truly was a new day and a new start for him and Sierra.
With a bounce in his step, he made his way over to the toy store. He’d planned to walk around to the back and knock since the store wasn’t open yet. But he spotted lights on, so knocked on the door as he peered through the glass.
John emerged from the toys and let him in. “Morning, Bryce.” The man had a quizzical look on his face. “What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping to speak with Sierra. Take her to breakfast.”
John frowned. “To tell you the truth, I thought Sierra was with you.”
“What? Why would you think that?”
“Well, she wasn’t herself last night. And since she isn’t here this morning, I thought she had gone over to find you and make things right between you.”
While those words sounded good to Bryce, apprehension gripped him. “She’s not here. She’s not with me. Where could she be?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she left me a note. Let’s go back to the apartment.”
“Or a text. Maybe she texted you where she’d gone.”
In the apartment, Samson yawned and lapped at his water. Samson didn’t appear concerned that his master and handler wasn’t here. Surely he would have alerted John if there had been something to worry about. Bryce relaxed. She was probably talking to the sheriff about getting back to work. John had figured it wrong about how Sierra felt about Bryce.
John palmed his forehead. “Oh. I missed it. Right here on the table. She left a note.”
He lifted an envelope and handed it to Bryce. “I was wrong. She left the note for you.”
Why would she leave a note for Bryce? For all Sierra knew he was leaving this morning. But maybe she knew him well enough to know he would want to talk to her about staying one more time. Maybe that was why she wasn’t here—so she wouldn’t have to hurt him by sending him away again when he came for her.
His heart ached. He’d been rejected again without even trying. Note in hand, he quickly opened it and skimmed the contents.
Bryce,
If you’re reading this note that means that you’re still here. Please know nothing can happen between us. Ever. I would like you to leave. If you don’t leave town then it feels like you’re more of a stalker than anything. I’m glad you were here to help me escape Raul, but that’s over. I don’t need you anymore.
“Oh.” Bryce folded the missive and stuck it back in the envelope. He didn’t want John to read it otherwise Bryce would have simply wadded it up and tossed it in the trash. Instead he stuffed it in his pocket.
“Well where is she?”
“It didn’t say. Just...she was just saying goodbye. So I’ll be on my way.” He shook John’s hand and told him to call if he needed anything.
Though John smiled, more of his frown stayed in place.
In a pain-filled daze he checked out of his hotel and loaded his vehicle. He sat in the seat and let it heat up, hurt squeezing his chest. Could she really view him like a stalker?
Why had he let himself care about her again?
He slammed the steering wheel.
I knew better!
* * *
She’d been stupid to not see this coming. She should have figured it out. Instead, she’d been caught completely off guard by her abductor—someone who hadn’t been on her radar.
Just a little more. It has to work. Just one more try.
Gasping for breath, she growled in frustration and gave up. But she’d given up already too many times. She would try again.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
In. Out. In, out, in, out, in, out.
Okay now she was hyperventilating.
Calm down. You can do this.
She had to get out of here or she would die at the hands of her abductor. Sierra worked her wrists back and forth. They were tied together behind her around the chair back. It was painful to be tied in this position for so long, especially with her injured arm. The muscles in her shoulders and arms burned as if on fire. At least the circulation still flowed. She kept reminding herself that pain was good.
Okay. Again. She tried loosening the rope around her wrist. Rope seemed old-school when there was duct tape or plastic ties, but she would be grateful for small things. Wearing down plastic ties would be a lot harder. Even with rope, her skin raw and likely bleeding by now, sharp pains stabbed with each twist to try to pull one or the other hand out. To try to loosen up the rope.
Had they taught her how to escape this in cop school? If they had, she must have missed that day.
What they had taught her, was how not to get abducted. Being fully aware of one’s surroundings and ever on alert was key. But she just hadn’t seen this one coming.
The wind howled through the cracks in the window of the creepy old cabin in the woods, making it seem haunted. Old logs that had been stacked together to form a square room sometime in the last century added to the unnerving feel. Sierra wasn’t in the market for an old cabin—she was desperately trying to escape. But someone had clearly made themselves at home here.
Was this where Raul had been staying before he’d been caught?
She shivered as cold fear wrapped around her. That and a heaping dose of chilled air as the temps dropped outside.
How many hours would she have to remain tied to the chair in this ancient, decrepit cabin? The fire had died out long before she’d been abducted and brought here. Again, she’d worked her wrists back and forth. Warm fluid spread.
Now she knew she was bleeding.
She had already tried to break the chair. That, she’d done first—to no avail. She’d merely left herself bruised and in pain and almost knocked herself unconscious. Her gunshot-wounded arm throbbed incessantly.
How was she going to get out of this?
I have to get out of here. She gasped. God, please I have to get out of here. Please help me. This can’t be it. This can’t be the end.
Because... Because more than just wanting to live, she wanted another chance with Bryce. She saw that now. Early this morning, she’d realized she should at least talk about her feeling
s with him, but now she didn’t even want to talk about them. She didn’t want to reason or analyze or discuss. The time for talk was long over.
If she ever saw him again she would run up and kiss him good and hard and convince him that she was the one for him. She’d been so foolish to push him away. He’d walked back into her life and Sierra should have seen that for what it was—a sign.
Life was much too short to live in fear of loving because you were afraid you might lose someone.
She should have told Bryce how she felt about him when she had the chance.
And now it might be too late.
She’d been forced to hurt him all over again with that cruel, heartless note. Pain lanced through her heart.
Oh, Bryce... Please don’t believe it. Don’t believe a word of it!
Still, considering the history they shared, Sierra should accept the fact there was no chance he would read the note, if he even got it, and do anything but leave town.
If Bryce read the note, he wouldn’t be coming to look for her.
And if he didn’t read the note, he wouldn’t be coming to look for her.
She’d made sure of that.
I’m going to die... But she wasn’t ready to die.
She laughed hysterically at her desire to live. When did that ever make a difference?
NINETEEN
“Look, something’s wrong, John. Please let me take Samson. He can help me find her,” Bryce pleaded. He’d driven nearly ten miles out of town, gearing up to face a tumultuous drive in the increasing winter weather when it hit him like a cold smack in the face.
“Sierra didn’t write that note. She would never be cruel like that, dismissing me as if she didn’t even consider me a friend. And the words seemed stilted.” Bryce thrust the note out for John to read.
He skimmed the contents then frowned. Did John believe the note was sincere—that this was truly Sierra’s opinion of him? That notion cut him through and through, but he pushed the pain aside. Time to care later. Right now he needed to convince Sierra’s father. But how? He scraped a hand around the back of his neck. Maybe he should go to the sheriff, except that would take more time. He was here now with Samson. If the dog couldn’t catch a scent and someone had taken her, then what would they do?
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