Chapter One
“That was one of my best boots.” Nic Maddox stooped over and snatched a black leather boot from the jaws of the two-year-old Siberian husky lying at his feet. The dog’s thick, furry tail wagged against the bed as Nic examined the frayed shoelaces and mangled rim of his favorite footwear.
“I’ve had these boots for longer than you’ve been alive, you know,” he said, trying to rub away some of the toothy indentions with the pad of his thumb.
The dog cocked his head and gazed up at Nic with one crystal-blue eye and one amber eye. Nic tossed the boot onto the end of his bed. The dog sat up and licked his chops, zeroed in on his leathery prey. “Absolutely not, Howler!”
The dog lifted his snout to the ceiling and half-howled, half-spoke his displeasure at being denied his prize.
Nic held both boots up for Howler to see. “These are mine.” He pointed to a basket on the floor holding a grimy old rope toy and a stuffed monkey that was missing an arm and a tail. “Those are yours.”
He set the boots on the footlocker at the end of his bed and turned to finish emptying his last dresser drawer. He paused for a moment before taking his Service Dress Whites into his hands. He hadn’t touched the fine Navy twill since he’d tucked it out of sight eight months ago, and he wouldn’t be wearing it anytime soon, either—maybe never again.
The dull ache in his right leg leapt to the forefront of his mind. He supposed accidents happened on the job every day. Unfortunately for him, highly trained Navy rescue swimmers were no more exempt from that miserable fact of life than anyone else.
“Knock, knock,” a female voice said, as a pair of knuckles rapped softly on his open door. “Need any help packing?” A tall, slender woman of his mother’s generation poked her head into the room. Her brown eyes squinted against the evening sun streaming in through the window. Its rays had just broken through the thick clouds filling the sky outside.
“Come on in, Kat,” he said, finally picking up his uniform. “I’m pretty much done.”
“Since when do you feed this dog boots?” The corner of Kat’s mouth turned up into a teasing grin as she pointed at Howler.
“Howler, no!” Nic delicately placed his uniform on the bed and hurried to where the dog had dragged the boots onto the ground again. “Give it. Give it!” Howler responded by shoving his snout all the way into the shoe and using his pearly whites to pull out the fabric meant to cover the padding inside.
Kat smothered her giggles with the palm of her hand. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny… but it is.”
“What am I doing, taking this dog with me?”
“He’s the one Ezra wanted.”
Nic wrestled the pair of boots from Howler and grumbled. “It’s easy to want this dog when he’s living in a different state. Alaska’s a long way from Texas.”
Kat strolled into the room and knelt next to Howler, scratching the sides of the dog’s face with her fingers. “Oh, come on. You know you love him.”
“He’s a four-legged demolition team.” Nic paused and took a deep breath while he watched Howler lean into his massage. He’d invested a lot of time and energy into rehabilitating that dog—or had Howler rehabilitated him? He’d never been able to work that riddle out in all the months he’d spent bunking on the second floor of the old Victorian home that housed the dog shelter where he worked.
There was no better way to see the futility in attempting to control the world around you than by working with a headstrong young husky. If only he’d learned that lesson years ago, he might not have sabotaged his relationship with the only woman he’d ever truly loved.
Nic was a far cry from being an amazing dog whisperer-type, as his tattered boots proved, but he couldn’t deny that both he and Howler were better off for all the time they’d spent together. He couldn’t be sure, but he had a suspicion that was the whole idea behind the Wounded Warrior Rescue—the dog shelter he was about to leave behind.
“I guess…” Nic strained against the words, still stewing about his boots. “I guess I like him.” He said the words through his teeth.
“Love him, you mean.” Kat winked.
Nic grunted and half-smiled.
“At least he’ll fit right in up there,” Kat said, standing up. “Alaska’s the perfect place for a wild heart like his—and yours.” She strode over to where Nic stood beside the bed and looped her arm through his. “I’m happy for you, but this place won’t be the same without you. All the dogs are going to miss you. I know I will, too.”
Nic looked around the room. These four walls had become his home after receiving his medical discharge. He’d gone through two years of specialized training to become one of the most highly skilled search and rescuers in the world. In all that time, it had never crossed his mind that one day he’d end up a down-on-his-luck veteran in need of a job—or that the rescue he’d visited weekly as a boy would be the place that would take him in.
“No offense, Kat, but when I first came here, I was convinced this job was a demotion from my Navy post. But now, I’m not so sure.”
Strong emotions swirled in his gut. Saving the lives of strangers was the only way he knew how to atone for failing to save his own family when he was younger. When injury pushed him out of the Navy, he would have lost himself if it wasn’t for Kat and the rescue she ran. It was more than a safe place for drifting veterans to find work.
It was a family. They were a unit that looked out for everyone in their ranks. There was something special about that.
Something comforting.
Kat bumped him with her shoulder and offered a grin, the lines at the corners of her eyes giving way to her warm smile. “We run a different kind of rescue here, but it’s important work. We rescue precious lives from drowning just like you used to. It’s just a different kind of drowning.”
She released his arm and gave his back a hearty slap. “Come on. Let’s get your things down to the front hall. Your ride will be here any time now.” She hefted a duffel bag onto her shoulder and patted her side. “Let’s go, Howler. I owe you a goodbye-biscuit or two.”
Nic couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Howler perked up and followed Kat down the stairs. Somehow that dog always seemed to understand exactly what someone meant when it came to eating. So, why was it so hard for him to catch on to the fact that boots weren’t on the menu?
He turned his attention back to the bed and tucked his uniform into a box. Its tissue paper lining crinkled when he secured the lid. He slung a bag over his shoulder and tucked the box under his arm. With one last look around the room, he shut off the light and stepped through the door—officially ending one chapter of his life and ready to begin the next.
He’d miss working with the shelter dogs, but he couldn’t deny the excitement building deep in his stomach at the prospect of starting a new job. The steel rod in his leg may have made it impossible for him to maintain his elite certifications in the Navy, but it wasn’t even close to keeping him from qualifying for a civilian rescue position.
By this time next week, he’d be the new lead man at a remote search and rescue operation in Alaska.
He followed Kat’s footsteps, down the stairs and into a wide hall that opened into a welcoming entryway. The sound of barking dogs rolled in through the large, open window at the end of the hall. The salty scent of the Gulf of Mexico filled the air as the surf crashed onto the beach behind the house.
“Those waves are starting to look pretty nasty," Nic said. "You sure it’s safe for you to weather the storm here with the dogs? With Asher out of town, you won’t have anyone around here to help if things go wrong.”
Kat joined him at the window. “They haven’t issued any evacuation orders. So, I don’t think it’ll get all that bad. I figure we’ll get some angry seas and high tides. Nothing too terrible. Hurricanes come and go, but this rescue has stood here for twenty years. I imagine it’ll be here for twenty more.”
Nic looked at the row of dog kennels behind the house, each with its own long run and bouncing occupant. These dogs had no idea that they enjoyed one of the best views in Liberty Cove—or that they were about to have a front row seat to the weather Hurricane Parker was dragging along with it.
“What are you going to do with all of them?” Nic asked, nodding toward the dogs outside.
“I’ll bring them in when the weather gets too wet. It’ll be a little crowded inside, but we’ll manage.”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel right about leaving you alone right before a storm.”
“What was that conversation we had about you not being responsible for everything and everyone in the world?” Kat folded her arms across her chest and grinned up at him. “Life isn’t something you’re meant to control.”
It was true that life had taught him to hold on too tightly to the people he cared for, but his time at the rescue had helped him learn to loosen his grip just a tad. “I’ve turned over a new leaf. I promise. But a hurricane is barreling toward shore right now.”
“Yeah, a part of the shore that is several miles away from here. Stop worrying and go live the life you were meant to live.”
“I’m not talking about giving up my job and staying here forever.” There was only one person who could tempt him to do that. Rachel. If she still lived in Liberty Cove, no job on the planet would be able to lure him away. “It would only be a few days delay to make sure everything around here is ship-shape.”
His stomach knotted at the thought of not being around to protect the rescue in such a volatile moment in time. He’d let his family down so badly in the past that he couldn’t stomach the idea of failing his new family in the same way.
Kat stared at him with her head cocked to the side, her brown eyes studying him. She tucked her silver-white hair behind her ear. “I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound a whole lot like you're leaving that new leaf turned over.”
Maybe Kat was right.
Maybe he hadn’t let go of his compulsion to try to control the world around him. But was it really that bad of a habit, when the whole point was to make sure that everyone was safe? Thick clouds of confusion pressed in on his mind as his own personal storm churned in his heart.
Would leaving the rescue that evening prove that he’d grown as a man and was committed to letting go—or would it be a reckless decision that others would pay the price for?
Sure, the hurricane wasn’t aiming for the rescue, but anything could happen when nature got riled up enough. The pit in his stomach told him he needed to be there, just in case.
“I just want to be sure that everything turns out all right.”
“Do you have a can of hurricane repellant in one of those bags?” Kat asked, walking back down the hall, toward the front of the house.
“What?”
“Hurricane repellant. Because if you don’t have any, I can’t imagine what you think staying behind will accomplish.”
“Well…” He didn’t have a good answer. Following Kat down the hall with Howler by his side, he pressed his lips together in a hard line and blew a deep breath from his nostrils.
He was at it again—holding on too tight. But that was what you did when you were used to being in command. You didn’t leave your post. Being in command was as close to being in control as anyone could ever hope to get. Maybe that’s why he thrived on responsibility that was too heavy for others to stand up underneath.
But he wasn’t in command here, and it was time to go.
A sudden, strong gust of wind rattled the windows and twisted the limbs of the tall oak in the front yard until its branches swept across the roof, clawing at the shingles. It was as if nature itself were testing his resolve to walk away and put the ultimate fate of the rescue in someone else’s hands. A moment later a beach umbrella tumbled across the lawn, driven by the same strong wind. “Kat—”
“Oh, look,” she said, peering through the front door. “There’s a car coming up the drive. I bet that’s your ride to the airport.”
Time was up.
Every cell in his brain screamed at him to throw what he’d learned over the past several months out the window and manage this crisis himself. But he knew in his heart he had to step aside and prove he could stop trying to control everything within reach.
He needed to save lives—needed it more than he needed anything in his life. But he wouldn’t be any good to anyone else if he didn’t save himself first.
“All right, Kat. If you’re sure you’ve got everything under control, I’ll leave.”
“Darlin’, ain’t none of us in control. But you go on. We’ll be all right.”
His chest constricted. No one was in control? He knew that, but it still made him uneasy to hear it said. His fists clenched and he bit the inside of his lip. He may have been about to take a three-hour drive to the San Antonio airport with a complete stranger, but that didn’t mean he was actually letting go of the rescue. Not really.
Maybe he hadn’t made as much progress as he thought he had.
He stooped over and grabbed his bags with white-knuckled fists, determined to step through the door and become a better man—one who cared but didn’t hover. One who protected but didn’t smother. One who could sleep at night because he didn’t carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
A gust of wind blew through the door when Kat opened it. “Come on in, darlin’.”
Nic’s breath hitched in his throat and the bags fell from his hands when his eyes fell on the woman standing in the doorway.
The wind had set a few tendrils of her wavy brunette hair free from the bun securing most of it at the base of her head. They danced in the air, whipping across the apples of her porcelain cheeks.
Rachel.
It was hard enough to think about leaving Liberty Cove with a storm brewing outside. But now that Rachel was here, he didn’t know if he’d be able to pull himself away when his ride to the airport actually arrived. If it was hard to leave the rescue behind, how in the world was he supposed to leave her?
His heart raced when it dawned on him that he was about to come face-to-face with the only woman who had ever mattered to him—and coincidentally, the only woman who still might not be speaking to him.
Chapter Two
Nic? No—anyone but Nic Maddox!
Rachel Stone blinked several times as Kat hugged her neck and chattered obliviously into her ear about how good it was to see her again after all these years. After about ten or so blinks, Rachel resolved herself to the fact that Nic was no mirage. Not a ghost. Not a figment of her imagination, and he was definitely not going away.
Kat released her and stepped aside, making way for her to come fully into the rescue. Rachel wasn’t sure where to look. It was obvious Nic was looking at her—every nerve in her body tingled beneath his gaze—but she wasn’t so sure she wanted to look back at him.
A younger version of herself had never expected to see him again the day she left town for flight school. And now that he was standing in front of her, she was breaking into a cold sweat. Shouldn’t he have been bobbing around in some remote corner of the ocean in a Navy tub somewhere?
She needed a minute. A moment. A something to figure out how she wanted to play this. Running into an old flame was the last thing she needed on a day like today.
A crack of thunder split the sky and rolled onto shore with ever-increasing waves of rumbles. It rattled the wood floor beneath her feet, sending a bushy-tailed husky cowering beneath the decorative table at the foot of the stairs. In his clumsy attempt at hiding from the storm picking up outside, he knocked over a picture frame and sent a vase crashing to the floor.
Nic wasn’t looking at her anymore.
Sweet reprieve!
But Rachel’s relief was that poor dog’s nightmare. Her heart pricked her when she gazed into his mismatched eyes.
She strode past Nic and squatted next to the dog. “It’s all right, buddy.” She stretched her arm out, offering the back of her hand for the terrified dog to sniff. “We won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“Poor baby,” Kat said, kneeling next to Rachel and stroking the dog’s back. “He gets so scared of storms. Sometimes I wonder if I should get him some chill pills from the vet.”
Rachel’s shoulders tensed when Nic cleared his throat behind her. “He’s been doing really good lately. I’m surprised he’s acting like this.”
Kat grunted as she pushed herself back to her feet. “It’s easy to want to buck and run when something takes you by surprise.”
Rachel stood up and Kat captured her gaze, looking deep into her eyes, as if she were reading her soul. Rachel wanted to look away, but it was almost like Kat was trying to send her some sort of telepathic message. As dumb as that sounded, she couldn’t help but gaze right back into her kind eyes, hoping the message would somehow materialize in her brain.
“It takes real bravery not to run away sometimes,” Kat said with a wink and a smile.
“He just needs to learn how strong he really is,” Nic said.
Barbs rolled up and down Rachel’s spine as her back stiffened and her nostrils flared. So, Nic was capable of believing in someone besides himself. Funny how he had no problem believing in some dog, but he hadn’t been able to believe in her when she’d most needed him to.
She spun to face him—completely ready to look at him now. Her chest rose and fell with slow, deliberate breaths, and she raised a single brow. “I’m sure it will help him so much to know you believe in him.”
There. She’d said it. If Nic couldn’t figure out where they stood after a statement like that, he wasn’t worth the breath it would take to explain it to him.
Truth be told, Nic ranked pretty high on a couple of lists Rachel kept tabs on these days, and that fact irked her more than usual now that he was standing in front of her. Not a list of men with the world’s longest lashes, though he’d rank number one on that list… assuming she cared enough to notice.
Not even the list of men with the best jawline and accompanying cleft chin. Only Superman ranked higher than Nic on that list. She’d take that fact to her grave. There was no need for him to ever know he’d made a list with Superman!
No. The lists she paid most attention to these days had to do with only two things: love and… the opposite of love.
It chapped her hide to know that Nic beat out every other guy she knew on both of those lists, even after almost a decade apart. Nic didn’t deserve so much of her attention. At least she was about to meet a man who could unseat him from the top spot on her second list.
Her new boss.
There was plenty of the opposite of love to go around where that man was concerned. She hadn’t even laid eyes on him yet, but she was already dreaming of ways to show him up and put him in his place.
She’d make sure he knew that she knew the job he’d sniped should have gone to her. And by the time she was done with him, everyone at work would know, too. Her uncle had only passed her over for the promotion to appease her father—not because she couldn’t handle the job.
It wasn’t like her to be so vocal about her unhappiness, but something inside had snapped the day she’d walked into the office only to find a note on her desk. “I’ve hired someone else for the position.” There wasn’t a name or an address, only instructions to travel to Liberty Cove and meet with Kat for more details so she could fly the guy back.
She’d been seeing red ever since her uncle had left that lame note. The fact that he hadn’t even had the guts to tell her to her face told her he’d known he was in the wrong. And now everything was rubbing her the wrong way, even Nic’s perfect face.
Silly her to expect her relations to see her as anything more than the premature baby girl who’d spent the first four months of her life outside the womb fighting for every breath she took. Not even eight years of serving on the San Antonio police department could make her family see her any differently. She'd left that job a year ago for a more adventurous but no less meaningful position, but it didn't matter. Her family didn't believe in her any more than Nic had.
“Good to see you, Rach.” Nic waved his broad hand in the air awkwardly. Rachel definitely didn’t notice the way his bicep bulged beneath his snug tee. And she absolutely did not care that the deep, rich tone of his voice was still hot enough to melt butter.
So what if he’d grown into a man’s man since they’d split up after high school. That’s what immature little boys did; they grew into big, strapping, muscle-bound men whose smiles made women want to giggle uncontrollably behind their hands.
But not her—not today—not ever.
She tossed her head as if she were sweeping her luscious mane out of her face, forgetting that it was wrapped snugly in a bun and stuck to the back of her head with about twenty-five bobby pins. “I go by Rachel these days. I outgrew that old nickname a long time ago.”
Nic’s arm fell to his side. “Right. Well, it’s good to see you, Rachel.”
She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt at the way his face had fallen at the sharpness of her words.
She’d loved him once upon a time—back in the days before he’d proven how incapable he was of believing in her. When no one else in her life had supported her, she’d counted on the guy she’d called her boyfriend since the eighth grade to have her back.
Boy had she ever been disappointed.
Instead of backing her up, he’d joined the prevailing voices trying to dissuade her from following her dream of becoming a chopper pilot for the police department.
She understood why he’d been hesitant, considering what had happened to his father. But she wasn’t his father. Not every law enforcement officer lost their life in the line of duty.
Her gut twisted as a familiar set of conflicting emotions rose inside her. Knowing why he’d been worried made it hard to be mad at him. But she also remembered how it had torn her heart out when all he’d do was tell her every reason under the sun why she shouldn’t do the job she’d been born to do. And that made it very, very easy to be mad at him.
So, there he stood, a mere eight feet away, blinking those gorgeous green eyes at her and flaunting black lashes that were much longer than any man had a right to have. It sure was lucky for Nic that she was about to meet a guy she was even more disgusted with than him.
“Well,” Kat breathed out a perky sigh and clasped her hands in front of her, “reunions sure are nice. Why don’t you kids go park it in the sitting room while I grab us a few glasses of tea.”
“Sweet?” Rachel asked out of habit.
“And iced,” Kat said. “Is there any other way?”
“Silly question. Never mind me.” Rachel’s gaze fell to the floor as a vivid memory flashed through her mind. It was beautiful and painful all at once. Her friend, Angie, was sitting across from her at a tall bistro table as the sun shone in through a floor-to-ceiling window beside them. She threw her head back and laughed way too hard at something silly as she swirled a long straw in a glass of iced tea.
Work hard. Play hard. Laugh hard.
That had been Angie’s motto. Being from New York City, she always drank her tea unsweetened. They’d become inseparable sisters-in-arms on the force, spending every free moment together when they were off duty. So much that the debate between sweetened and unsweetened tea came up on a weekly basis.
But she’d never argue the finer points of the virtues of sweet tea with Angie again. She’d never hear her laugh or see her smile again either, for that matter.
Angie was gone.
It had been a year since her best friend had been stolen from her. Yet still, there were moments like these when her mind would choose to show her visions from the past, and for a few moments, her heart couldn’t tell the difference between the illusion and the harsh realities of life.
She wrapped her arms around her body and held tight, trying to distract herself from the hollow feeling inside.
“Why don’t you go on in?” Nic said, nodding toward a pair of partially open French doors. “I’ll meet you in there once I can coax this guy out of his hidey hole.”
“Works for me.” Rachel stepped into the room and sat in the farthest chair from the couch. If Nic was anything like he used to be, he’d sprawl out on the couch with his legs stretched out in all directions and both arms splayed on the back of the furniture. She could do without sitting next to that.
She was grateful for the extra minutes of solitude she had as she awaited Kat and Nic. She gently tucked the memories of her friend back into place at the back of her mind and psyched herself up for the unsavory job she had yet to accomplish later on that evening.
There was no better way to distract oneself from grieving the loss of one person than to mask it with anger toward another. The boss-man. She’d drink a quick glass of tea with Kat—and Nic, if she had to—then she’d get the directions to where she was supposed to pick up her boss and be on her way.
Kat clattered through the door with a tray laden with drinks and a plate of butter pecan cookies. Rachel inhaled extra-deeply through her nose. “Those smell amazing!”
“And they taste pretty okay, too. Or so they tell me.” Kat winked and held the tray out for Rachel as Nic walked into the room, carrying a husky with his tail still firmly tucked between his legs.
“He refuses to walk,” Nic said, setting him on the dog bed in the corner.
“Just give him time,” Kat said. “Once the shock wears off, he’ll be glad for the company.”
Nic sprawled out on the couch just like Rachel had imagined he would. Either she had a great memory, or she’d allowed him to take up way too much mental real estate in her head over the years. She suspected it was a pretty even mix of the two.
Still unsettled at the way she’d predicted what he’d do after so many years apart, she spit out one of the first questions to cross her mind after first seeing him. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Shouldn’t you be on some Navy boat somewhere?”
Kat cleared her throat and answered with a rush of words. “Oh, Nic’s been working here ever since he got his discharge. He’s done a lot of good—a real asset to the rescue. He’s got quite the work ethic.”
Nic’s ears turned red. Same old Nic. He’d never been very good at taking compliments.
“Thanks, Kat.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and then did his best to change the subject. Classic Nic. “So, are you in town visiting family?” Nic asked her.
Rachel snorted. “I wish. No, I’m here to meet my new jerk-face boss.”
Kat choked on her tea and sputtered into a napkin. “What”—a fit of coughing cut off her words—“what makes you say he’s a jerk?”
“He stole my job. Maybe jerk is too harsh of a word. He’s probably more like a bulldozing, carpetbagging job thief.” Rachel took a sip of her tea. “Jerk-face is just easier to say. Speaking of which, I stopped by for directions. The note my uncle left said I was supposed to come here today and that you’d hook me up with the guy.”
“Yes, he said you’d be stopping by today.” Kat took a long swig, her eyes ricocheting from Rachel to Nic and back again.
Nic’s eyes widened. “You knew Rachel was coming?”
Kat nodded and continued gulping her drink as if she were in a college chugging contest. Rachel’s spidey-sense tingled big time. Kat knew more about Rachel’s new boss than she was letting on.
Rachel opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by emergency signals sounding off on all three of their phones.
“Oh, this isn’t good,” Kat said, staring at her screen. “Looks like Hurricane Parker is coming for a visit after all.”
Nic sat up straight. “It changed its course?” he asked, scrolling his phone.
“Yep. Looks like it’ll be making landfall right around here.”
“When?” Rachel asked.
“The day after tomorrow.” Kat folded her lips inward as her forehead creased.
“I knew I shouldn’t leave yet,” Nic said. “What can I do?”
Kat thought for a moment. “They haven’t issued an evacuation order yet, but I think I need to get these dogs out of here.”
“Agreed. But the question is how.”
“I could go over to Bentonville to rent one of those big moving vans tomorrow morning. The dogs should all fit. I’m sure the Colonel will be happy to bring his trailer around so we can take enough supplies with us to last a good long time.”
“Where will you go?” Rachel asked.
“My brother has a ranch up near San Antonio. He won’t have any problem with putting us up for a few days.”
“And then?” Nic asked, leaning forward in his seat.
“Then we hope for the best.”
“No.” Nic stood and walked to the window. “We don’t hope for the best. We prepare for the best. Not a single window on this place has been boarded up. The doors aren’t secured. We’ve only got something like five sandbags on the back patio.”
“I won’t have the time or energy to get all that done before taking a three-hour drive tomorrow,” Kat said.
“I never meant for you to do it,” Nic said. “I’ll stay behind and take care of everything.”
“But you’re fixin’ to leave. You’ve got a tight schedule to keep, and that job is bigger than one person can handle in a day.”
Rachel stood and walked to Kat’s seat. She rested a calming hand on the older woman’s shoulder. She gulped before opening her mouth, hoping she wouldn’t regret what she was about to say. “I’ll stay and help weatherproof the rescue, too.”
Kat patted her hand. “You kids are sweet, but I can’t ask you to do this.”
“You’re not asking,” Rachel said. “Besides, it’ll help me kill two birds with one stone. First, I get to make sure the best place in all of Liberty Cove is safe. Second, I get to stick it to my boss. He can’t leave until I fly him out of here. And I sure don’t mind making him wait.” She folded her arms across her chest and a devious grin curved her lips. “It’ll help set the tone for our future relationship.”
“Well…” Kat slowly shook her head, appearing to turn the situation over in her mind. “If you’re both sure this is what you want to do.”
“We are.” A jolt of something uncomfortably delicious hit her in the stomach at the way she and Nic had spoken in unison. They used to do that all the time—back before everything had fallen apart between them.
“Now, I don’t want to be twisting anybody’s arms,” Kat said.
“Kat, listen,” Nic said, “I’ll help you load the dogs up tomorrow morning. Then Rachel and I will stay behind and get the rescue ready for the storm while you’re heading north with the dogs.”
Kat’s face screwed to one side as if she still weren’t convinced this was a good idea.
“We want to do it,” Nic said. “We give you our word.”
Rachel nodded in agreement. “Some things in life are more important than grudges. I don’t want this place to blow away any more than Nic does. I’m in.”
Kat suddenly stood to her feet and clapped her hands, all of her misgivings seeming to fall away. “Well, that’s settled then.” She scooped up the tray and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll go give the Colonel a call and get everything set up for tomorrow.”
She stopped just before she stepped through the French doors. “It’s so wonderful to see you two working so nicely together already. Ezra was a little worried you might not get along, but you’re already volunteering to work together not fifteen minutes after meeting.”
“Ezra?” They spoke the name in unison, but this time their synchronicity didn’t have the same charm. Why would Uncle Ezra worry about her and Nic getting along?
Unless…
Her eyes met Nic’s. The knot in her stomach turned into full-on nausea when she realized she wasn’t just looking at her ex.
She was looking at her new boss.
Keep reading to the end of chapter three, your final preview chapter, to receive your special BONUS Coupon to purchase the book bundle!
Chapter Three
Nic kept a watchful eye on the road out front as he loaded supplies into a borrowed trailer. It was hitched to the moving van Kat had rented earlier that morning. Loose gravel crunched beneath his feet with each step he took. Carrying a fifty-pound sack of dog food over each shoulder wasn’t hard enough work to cause him to break into a sweat. But remembering how last night had ended?
Yeah, that was enough to have him sweating buckets.
His chest heaved, almost matching the pace of his pounding heart as he remembered the look on Rachel’s face before she’d cut her visit short. Red. That was the color her cheeks had been, and he was pretty sure it had been the only color she’d seen as she walked out the door.
As it turned out, not only was Rachel supposed to have been his ride to the airport that night, but she was also supposed to have been the pilot who would fly him to his new post in Alaska.
Obviously, that hadn’t happened. He wasn’t sure if it was going to, either. It was coming up on eleven-thirty in the morning, and she hadn’t shown up to help yet. For all he knew, she could be halfway to Alaska by now.
The job he’d thought was going to be his salvation had gotten messy in a hurry. There was a reason people didn’t work with, or even associate with their exes once a relationship was over. Complicated didn’t even begin to describe the situation he now found himself in as Rachel’s new boss.
His chest pumped hardcore as he struggled to quiet the turmoil inside.
“Take it easy there, Nic,” Kat called from behind him. “That storm isn’t going to hit until tomorrow. There’s no need to break your back hurrying.”
“I’m fine.” Nic slung the bags onto the bed of the trailer.
Kat stepped up beside him and set a garbage bag full of dog toys next to the food, tucking it into the corner. “Don’t push yourself so hard. Your chest is heaving like an old woman’s on a StairMaster.” She laid a hand on his arm and chuckled. “Don’t ask me how I know.”
“I’m fine. This isn’t hard work.”
Kat crossed her arms and cocked her head. She looked him over, taking in every detail. “Not hard, eh?”
“Nope.” Nic took a step toward the rescue, hoping to grab his next load before the conversation took on a more personal nature. If he told Kat what was really on his mind, it would only lead to more questions—questions he’d rather not answer.
Kat knew that he and Rachel had dated when they were kids—secrets like that couldn’t be kept in a town the size of Liberty Cove—but she had no idea why they’d broken up. No one did. And if it was all the same to Kat, he preferred to keep it that way.
It wasn’t easy telling people your anxieties were responsible for ruining the best thing that ever happened to you.
Kat cleared her throat, letting him know this conversation was far from over. He sighed and turned to face her.
“What’s got you breaking out into such a sweat then?”
Nic drew his forearm across his face and dried it on the side of his pants. “It’s warm today.”
One of Kat’s brows rose, and she hummed a single note to herself. “Is that the story you’re sticking with?”
A strong, salty gust of wind blew in from the gulf. He took the humid air into his lungs and blew it out again, along with as much tension as he could stand to let go of. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“I understand.” A kind smile spread across Kat’s lips. “I’m sure she’ll show up, you know.”
Nic raised his brows as if to say, I have no idea what female you could possibly be talking about. “She?” His voice cracked as it raised a single, awkward octave.
Kat paid no mind to his cheap attempt at playing dumb. “Like I said yesterday, it’s tempting to buck and run when you get a shock you weren’t on the lookout for.”
She reached up and patted Nic’s cheek as if he were still the ten-year-old little boy who used to stop by after school to pet the dogs. “I’ve known that girl ever since her mama and daddy brought her home from the hospital with all those tubes taped to her chubby little cheeks. She’s a born fighter—she had to be—and she’s never run from anything in her life.”
Kat looped her arm through his and pulled him toward the end of the trailer. “Don’t you worry, Nic. She’ll be around, and you’ll get your second chance with her.”
He stopped in his tracks. “My what?”
A second chance with Rachel? Was that really what he wanted? True, she wasn’t working with the police department anymore, but he couldn’t imagine being a search and rescue pilot in the wilds of Alaska was a whole lot safer. “I hadn’t even thought about getting back together with Rachel.”
Kat stared at him with unblinking eyes for a few moments. “I meant a second chance to make a good impression on her—you know, as the new head of operations in Alaska.” She raised her hands in surrender and shook her head. “But hey, don’t let me interfere if one of Cupid’s darts got stuck in your caboose. I make a point of keeping my nose exactly where it belongs—out of other people’s business.”
Nic caught a glimmer of something mischievous twinkling in her eyes as she started walking again. He could only see the side of her face as she doubled over to check the latch on the trailer’s back gate. He couldn’t be sure, but she seemed to be fighting back a smile.
“How’s it going in there, Jim?” she called out toward the windowless van.
A tall, older man, known to everyone in Liberty Cove as the Colonel, stepped out of the vehicle. He had a barrel of a chest and hands that could easily palm a basketball. He stood beside the van, cleaning those hands with a rag that had once been white. “All secure. Not one of those animal crates are going to move during transport.”
“You are a wonder, Jim,” Kat said, grinning up at him.
Color shot up his neck and shone through the closely-cropped hair on the sides of his head. He smoothed his palm across his blond flat-top. “Just… offering a neighborly hand.”
The sound of tires rolling up the driveway captured Nic’s attention. The world fell away. His palms grew damp when his gaze fell on the driver.
Rachel.
Kat had been right about her. Though the logical side of his mind had known all along that Rachel would keep her word and show up, a small part of him was relieved to see it.
She parked the car, and his stomach turned up-side-down when she stepped out.
Her dark, wavy hair cascaded down her back, reaching to the center in loose curls that bounced with every move she made. He’d touched that hair long ago, and he couldn’t help but wish he could touch it once more.
Velvety-soft as a rose petal and smelled just as good—that’s how he remembered it.
She’d put highlights in. Those were new… or were they? A sharp pang of sadness poked him in the ribs. It had been so long since he’d last seen her, she could have lightened her hair a week ago or eight years ago and he wouldn’t know the difference.
That wasn’t how he’d imagined their future would play out back when they were so inseparable that they regularly finished each other’s sentences. It was a tough pill to swallow, even though it was one of his own making.
“Morning, everybody.” Rachel pulled her cardigan closed and nodded at Nic. Her eyes were softer this morning. Maybe Kat would be right on two counts, and he’d get that second chance with her, after all.
“Good morning, darlin’,” Kat said. “You’re right on time. You remember the Colonel, don’t you?”
She nodded and offered a warm smile. Jim waved and offered his own version of a smile—tight-lipped and stiff.
Kat walked up beside him and patted his bicep. “This sweetheart of a man just finished getting all the dog crates secured in the van. I don’t know how he did it, but not a one of ’em is going to jiggle or jostle on the way. Isn’t he just the best?”
Jim's face turned a deeper shade of red as he cleared his throat. “How’s that brother of yours doing, Nic?”
Kat chuckled softly and leaned toward Rachel. She spoke behind her hand, but her voice was still loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’ve gone and embarrassed him, and now he’s trying to change the subject. He doesn’t like compliments all that much, but I’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”
“I ran into your mother in Bentonville the other day.” The Colonel focused all his attention on Nic. It was easy to see he was straining to shift the focus of the conversation away from himself. “She said your brother hasn’t decided if he’s going to reenlist at the end of the summer.”
“I haven’t heard from him in a while,” Nic said, hating to admit how much he’d dropped the ball with his little brother again. “Mom would know more about what’s going on with him than I would.” He could only hope the Marines had succeeded where he’d failed at putting his little brother on the straight-and-narrow path.
The Colonel nodded as his brows knit closely together. “If he’s managed to keep himself from getting kicked out of the Corp this long, I’m sure he’s doing all right.”
“Pete’s a Marine?” Rachel’s eyes widened. “I never would have pegged him as someone who would enlist.”
Nic shot the Colonel a tense look, unsure if he should give out the details, even to Rachel. Nic and his family owed a much larger debt to the Colonel than they’d ever be able to repay. He’d shown mercy on Nic’s much younger—and stupider—brother Pete, when he could have had the book thrown at him. If it hadn’t been for the kindness the Colonel had shown on that dark, moonless night, Pete would still be rotting in prison.
The tension in Nic’s chest mounted as guilt from the past crushed in on his heart. If he’d been half the big brother he should have been after their father had died, Pete wouldn’t have gone off the deep end, and he wouldn’t have nearly thrown his life away.
Rachel looked at each of the men in turn. Her eyes narrowed with curiosity, but she kept her questions to herself.
“Pete decided he wanted to make something out of his life, and I suggested the Marines,” the Colonel said, shooting a quick glance in Nic’s direction.
Nic had been handed an easy way out of a difficult conversation and found himself needing to thank the Colonel, yet again. He did so with a subtle nod of his head, the quiet signal of acknowledgement preferred by both men.
The wind picked up, rustling through the leaves overhead. The stars and stripes flying from the tallest flagpole in front of the rescue flapped as the rigging clanged against the pole. The tri-colored flag stood up against nature with a pride all its own, making Nic stand a little taller.
“Looks like the weather’s starting to pick up,” Kat said. “We should probably load the dogs and get on the road.”
“I’m all for that,” Nic said. “I’ve got a lot of work to do this afternoon.”
“Don’t you mean, we’ve got a lot of work to do?” Rachel asked, her hair whipping around her face.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Nic said. Ever since the first gusts of wind that morning had knocked over a row of potted plants on the back patio, he’d been wondering if it was a good idea for Rachel to stay behind.
The thought of watching her climb a ladder to board up a second story window in wind like this made him physically ill. No. He couldn’t let himself imagine that. This was definitely not a job fit for Rachel.
He cringed at his own thoughts. He was heading down the same path that had swallowed him up years ago. The wrong path. The one where his need to control all the variables drove his blood pressure up.
This wasn’t Alaska, and he wasn’t in charge. Rachel’s choices were hers and hers alone. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t do everything in his power to try to influence those decisions.
“I’m sure I can handle things here on my own,” he said. “It’s a long way to San Antonio. It might be nice if you helped Kat drive up there. I mean, there are too many dogs for one person to manage.”
“No need to worry, Nic,” Kat said. “Jim here already volunteered to drive the van for me. I hate pulling a trailer. It’s a win-win. I don’t have to drive, and Jim gets to meet the family.”
The Colonel’s cheeks, which had just managed to recover some of their natural color, instantly reddened at Kat’s words. He cleared his throat and walked to the driver-side door. “I’ll get the engine running and the AC turned up.”
“Poor man,” Kat whispered. “I can’t seem to do anything but embarrass him today. I just want him to meet my brother—not propose marriage.” There was laughter in her voice, but something more in her eyes that Nic didn’t have time to unpack before Rachel spoke up.
She crossed her arms over her chest and pinned Nic with a serious gaze. “You weren’t trying to get rid of me just now, were you, Nic?”
“What?” He gulped down his surprise and went directly into damage control mode. “Why would you think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you literally just said it would be a good idea for me to drive away.”
He had no answer for her. He couldn’t lie right to her face, but he also wasn’t ready to admit the truth about why he’d suggested the change in plans.
“I already said I’m staying behind to help weatherproof the rescue,” she said. “And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Nic flinched at the tone in Rachel’s voice. It was the same one she’d used back in the day when they’d argued over their career paths. There would be no arguing with her today. She was going to stay behind to work with him, and that was final.
His abs clenched instinctively, as if he were preparing for a sharp jab from an opponent. But Rachel had never been one to throw punches. It was a good thing too because he’d always done a good enough job of beating himself up for the both of them.
“Well,” Kat said with a forced smile, “I’ll go ahead and let you kids finish getting reacquainted while I hurry Jim along.”
“So, where do we start?” Rachel asked.
Nic shifted his gaze to the rough waters crashing ashore behind the rescue. His gut twisted into a knot. The only protection they had from the storm heading their way was a narrow barrier island—that and a few plywood boards he planned to screw over the windows in a few minutes.
Not good.
He ground his teeth at the thought of how completely exposed and vulnerable they were. Having Rachel around only amplified those feelings. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being around her. Even seeing her angry face was better than not seeing her at all.
But he was supposed to be the one who took all the risks. He was the protector. He was the one with a past to make up for and a vow to never fail the people he loved again.
He was also the one who was behaving the exact same way he had just before Rachel left him.
For the first time in almost ten years, he understood just how right she’d been to walk away. He should have changed in all that time; he’d thought he had.
But he was wrong.
His Navy career had only masked his issues. All the work he’d done to learn to let go of things out of his control since arriving at the rescue was coming undone one thread at a time the longer Rachel was near.
“Nic?” Rachel snapped her fingers. “Earth to Nic.”
He suddenly became aware of how long he’d stood there like a bozo in a trance, worrying about things he couldn’t control. There was no way he should break out into a cold sweat at the thought of her sticking around town for a few extra hours. He knew he needed to chill but didn’t know how.
People got hurt when he didn’t manage risks well. He couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he allowed her to be hurt.
“Sorry,” he said. “I was thinking about something. What were you saying?”
“I’m staying. What’s the first item on the agenda?”
His stomach contorted as his mind worked in overdrive to find the most innocuous job on the property. “I guess we follow them.” He pointed at Kat and the Colonel who were walking around the side of the rescue. “First things first. We have to get the dogs out of here.”
“Will do.” She walked away, following Kat to the kennels.
He forced himself to look away from the hypnotic sway of her hips as she pressed on through the unrelenting wind. Her dark-wash jeans hugged her curves just right and reminded him that she was no longer the high school sweetheart he’d said goodbye to before enlisting.
She was all grown up.
He glanced at his leg, remembering the scar that stretched from his kneecap to his ankle. He knew firsthand just how dangerous rescue work could be.
If he couldn’t handle Rachel sticking around for some rain and a little bit of thunder, how was he supposed to send her flying off on dangerous rescue missions in the dead of an Alaskan winter?
His shoulders fell even as his own personal storm clouds gathered over his head. He had some big decisions to make in the coming days, and he wasn’t overly fond of any of the options in front of him.
Seeing Rachel again had changed everything.
Don't Stop Now! Things Are Just Getting Interesting!
Rachel's ex is her new boss. Nic is already slipping into the same overprotective habits that drove her away. And Howler? He's terrified of thunder, and there's a hurricane heading straight for Liberty Cove!
Can Nic learn to trust Rachel before he loses her all over again? And what will he do when Howler runs down the beach and straight into the raging storm?
Oh, wait… you didn’t know Howler went looking for his previous owner at the worst possible moment? Alright, I’ll be quiet. No more spoilers from me—I’ve already said too much!
***
A Special $5 Thank-You, Just for You!
As a thank-you for giving Mending His Heart a try, I'm giving you an exclusive, one-time-use $5 coupon toward my already-discounted Wounded Warrior Rescue PLUS eBook Bundle!
You'll get 7 Wounded Warrior Rescue stories, 3 sweet billionaire romances, and a bonus Reader's Guide—all for just $29.99 instead of $34.99!
***
Ready to See What Happens Next?
Finish Nic and Rachel's story, then fall in love with the rest of Liberty Cove's wounded heroes, the women who hold their hearts, and their unforgettable rescue dogs.
Your Wounded Warrior Rescue Plus eBook Bundle is Waiting for You!
Your exclusive coupon code: TRYB4UBUY5OFF
Author Kristen Iten
Wounded Warrior Rescue PLUS Bundle
Share
