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Straightening, she turned toward Ben. “I’m so grateful, President Blackwater, for all you’ve done. But I think it’s best if I leave so my personal issues don’t endanger anyone here.”
“Gia—” Zach started.
Their grandfather silenced him with a lift of his hand. “You’re safer here. And our clinic is short-staffed. You have a twelve-week contract, and we need you for every one of those weeks.”
His gaze cut to Caleb. Calculating. “My grandson’s job is protecting people. Perhaps he’ll stay until we know the threat has passed.”
“I don’t work for you.” “We don’t need him.” Caleb and Zach tripped over each other’s protests.
Their grandfather’s eyes darkened in rebuke.
But what made Caleb’s gut twist wasn’t that—it was the hurt flashing across Gia’s face. The pink dusting her cheeks.
The stew turned to lead in his stomach.
He was being an ass.
Maybe if someone had stood up to his father, offered his mother a way out, she wouldn’t have spiraled into addiction. Maybe she would have had choices. Opportunities.
If he’d stayed in Phoenix, instead of chasing freedom in the Army, he could have helped her. She wouldn’t have died alone, abandoned by everyone she once loved.
Including him.
His fingers curled into his palms.
Maybe it was too late for hisamá, but he could damn well help Gia.
Protecting people was his job. One he had a particular set of skills for. Could he look his Dìleas teammates in the eye if he didn’t help? Lachlan, Nathan, and Ryder had all put their lives on the line at some point to protect a woman.
And had ended up married or soon to be married to those women.
Moisture beaded on Caleb’s hairline. This wasn’t the same situation, of course. He shifted on the sofa cushion, avoiding the gaze of the woman seated next to him, the smooth skin of her thigh inches from his.
“I’ll stay another day or two,” he kept his voice neutral, “to help Gia figure out the safest path forward. Then I need to get back to my job.”
And the life he’d made for himself that wasn’t here.
Gia had told the men who attacked her that she was just a stranger passing through, but Caleb didn’t trust that her ex—whoever he was—wouldn’t ferret out where she lived and worked, if he hadn’t already. Until Caleb conducted a more thorough threat assessment and gathered intel on her former fiancé, he couldn’t recommend she upend her life without solid reasons and a clear plan.
The Navajo needed her medical skills, and she had a contract he could tell she wanted to honor.
He carried his bowl to the kitchen.
“If you’re ready,” he said to Gia when he returned, “I’ll take you home.”
“So you’ll stay?” Ben asked Gia.
She drew in a breath. “Yes.”
But Caleb could see thefor nowin her eyes.
Ben turned to him. “Will I see you before you leave, Grandson?”
Caleb hesitated. The weary hope in his grandfather’s voice twisted something deep inside him. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Guilt prickled under his skin. He hated how easily these people had slipped beneath his armor.
“If Gia stays,” he added, “I’ll draw up a security plan. Zach can help her implement it.”