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I ron stole a glance at the woman seated beside him in the back of Silver’s SUV, trying his damnedest, and failing, to stay objective. It had been a hell of an evening, but she’d held her own. They’d been questioned at the scene and again at the closest precinct. She was still wearing her dress under his T-shirt which swamped her much smaller frame. He liked seeing it on her, but he did his best to push that thought to the back of his mind. There was too much of an age difference between them to be thinking that way, not to mention she’d just escaped one relationship. He was going to do his best to help her, not mess up her life even further. There was so much more to the woman than a beautiful face.

After a draining two hours of questioning, she could have been complaining about her predicament or own exhaustion, instead she asked if she could take a taxi to the hospital to see Hannah.

“Hell no,” Silver barked as he slowed at a red light. If he could be certain the car wouldn’t crash, he’d slap Silver upside the head. He knew his friend was joking, but she didn’t. Vee, which he’d taken to calling her in his head, stiffened beside him.

“What he means is a taxi is not necessary. The hospital’s our next stop.” He shot Silver a scathing look in the rearview mirror.

Vee looked warily at him. “You must be tired. You’ve both done so much for me today. I don’t want to burden you with another task.” He didn’t like the way she dropped her voice and looked down at her hands.

“Vee.” So much for keeping the nickname to himself.

Her head snapped up and she met his gaze with a surprised expression.

“You don’t ask us if you can go somewhere.” The words came out as a growl, and she flinched back. Okay, so maybe he was an idiot just like Silver. They were both scaring the shit out of her.

“What do I do?” Her guileless eyes, so fucking blue, searched his gaze like he held all the answers.

Christ. She was killing him. “You go.”

She gave a quick nod and looked away.

“Silver, pull over at this Walmart, yeah?” Without a word his friend put on the directional and took a right into the busy parking lot. By a stroke of luck, he found a space near the front of the store.

“I’ll run in.” Silver exchanged a look with him in the rearview mirror. One that conveyed an understanding that Iron would want to stay in the car with her. They were both concerned that Vee’s parents or her asshole fiancé were looking for her. The reception hall was locked down, and he assumed that’s where her parents and fiancé were being questioned.

“Is there anything specific Silver can grab you?” Iron leveled his gaze, studying her profile. She’d raced out of the rehearsal dinner without a single item. That, combined with the stark fear in her eyes when she exited the building told him she’d been desperate to get away.

“No, thank you,” her Southern drawl was polite as she continued to stare out the window. She’d been through a lot, so he wasn’t surprised that she’d yet to realize all she had were the clothes on her back, her tiny purse, and the ridiculously high heels on her feet.

“The essentials.” He didn’t need to explain himself further.

“Got it.” Silver got out of the car and jogged across the lot to the store. The gentle hum of the air conditioner amplified the silence between them.

“Vee, I’m not the best with words. My employees are constantly telling me I’m going to scare away the customers. That I’m too grumbly and grumpy to work with people. If I upset you when I said you don’t ask us if you can go somewhere, I’m sorry. I’ll try to work on my delivery. I can be abrupt.”

She tore her gaze away from the window, angling her body to take him in. “Please don’t do that. You’re real. It makes me comfortable. I was only thinking how stupid I must sound asking your permission, like a child would. My parents and Scott, they—”

“Are assholes.”

She looked alarmed at first, then dissolved into laughter. “See? That’s what I mean. I like that you don’t pretend. I feel safe with you.”

Her words filled him with satisfaction and then he remembered no one should ever assume they were safe with him. He told his teammate that he’d have his back in the field. That he’d make sure the young man returned home to his bride to be. He’d failed Scooter and he’d failed himself.

Hearing her laugh resonate through the SUV, and now the weight of her soft palm on his elbow, made him long to be the kind of man who could pledge to protect her from the world and know with absolute certainty he wouldn’t fail to keep that promise.

“What is it?” Her voice was filled with concern.

It blew his mind that she was once again showing empathy toward him. Before they’d set out on this journey, he’d scoured her social media accounts to develop a picture of the woman he was going to help. She had millions of followers, campaigns with luxury brands, photoshoots at exotic locations. Everything online pointed to an entitled woman who cared more about the next designer purse than asking a stranger if something was wrong. “I’m not a great bet when it comes to being a protector.”

“That’s silly. You were there when I stepped out of the reception hall scared to death. And then when I ran into the woods. Instead of being mad that you were following me, I only felt relief. Not to mention you saved my life. That police officer said the bullet would have gone straight through me if you hadn’t knocked me out of the way.”

“And he should be fired for it. What an asinine thing to say after someone’s been shot at.”

“I don’t think he meant any harm by it.” Her full lips tilted upward, and her eyes lit with humor. “Your voice is grumbly, and you don’t smile, but on the inside, I bet you’re all soft.”

And how the hell he was supposed respond to that was a mystery to him. The car door opened saving him from trying to formulate an answer. Silver got behind the wheel, tossing the large bag onto the passenger seat.

“Do you want to change first or go straight to the hospital?” He still wanted to ask although he was sure he already knew what the answer would be.

“Hospital, please.”

Despite not being close with her sister, Vee was loyal, and her first thought was for her Hannah. The drive was short, but quiet. Iron couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking about. It wasn’t easy what she’d done. Stepping away from a life that was familiar to her, standing up to her family, taking a big risk. It was a helpful distraction to think of Vee and not himself when they arrived at the hospital. The scents of bleach and filtered air never failed to take him back to a dark place. There wasn’t an empty threadbare seat left in the waiting room, not that he wanted to sit. All these people in one place made him squirm. Someone was yelling into a cell phone over the murmur of patients in distress, still waiting to be seen. Vee was speaking with the receptionist, when a teenager in the waiting room mentioned her in a not-so-quiet whisper.

“That’s Vivienne Day!”

“I want her autograph,” another voice chimed.

“Hermès paid her like two million dollars for that YouTube campaign.” The lobby began to buzz with excitement, simultaneously activating all his protective instincts. He crossed the room, moving directly behind her in line. She was asking about her sister, oblivious to the stir she’d caused.

“She’s been given a room. One of the nurses will meet you at the door and bring you back,” the receptionist told Vee. Iron had picked up on the vibe in the ER waiting room and stood like a sentry in the space between the overcrowded rows of chairs and the desk. Vee turned, and he caught the scent of her hair. Something fisted in his gut as she bumped into his chest.

“Sorry.” Her voice squeaked. He watched in utter fascination as a deep blush saturated her cheeks. “I didn’t hear you come up behind me.”

“We’re going to walk straight to the doors. Don’t stop, okay?”

Her nose scrunched in confusion, but she started to nod. Something behind him had caught her eyes, and he angled his body to follow her gaze to the growing crowd closing in on them.

“Not now,” she said more to herself than him. Her expression changed from confusion to fear when the chime of cell phone pictures being captured became audible.

A surge of protectiveness rose up fast and hard. Fear had no place on Vee’s face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tucking her against his side. “Head down, sweetheart. Silver will take care of the crowd.” They began walking toward the back of the room, his body blocking hers. His eyes were locked on the people who presented a threat, but he didn’t need to look at Vee to feel her panic. Her heart was beating fast. So fast he could feel the pulse of it against his arm. “A few more steps. You’re doing great.”

“Those pictures…if they post them on social media, Scott and my parents will find me.”

“I’m not going to let anything touch you.” The gravity of his own words slammed into his gut, turning his stomach to lead. Fuck. He had no business saying that shit. He’d made that empty promise before and a damn good SEAL was dead because he didn’t follow through.

They reached the back door, and he held the buzzer to be let in. The vibration of the lock being disengaged gave him a sense of relief, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. He was also concerned that those photos would end up public and be used to track her. He ushered her through the door first and closed it tightly behind him.

“You’re going to room 136A,” the nurse said before rushing back to her post at the desk.

Even though they were away from the crowd, he kept his arm snug around Vee. She was shivering and her face was too pale for his liking. He wanted to reassure her again. Promise nothing or no one would get close enough to touch her, but the words died in his throat leaving behind a painful wedge of guilt and shame. No, there was no way in hell he could make that promise. She’d be better off going with Branch and Silver. Men who were still on the Teams. Ones who were at their peak physically and mentally. And damn if that shit didn’t hurt, but he wanted this woman safe at all costs, even if he was too weak to do it. They moved down the maze of halls, a blur of white and gray walls, with the thick scent of hot food mingling with bleach.

“This one,” Silver murmured behind them. His friend quickly navigated the crowd in the lobby and joined them just as they approached the patient rooms.

He knocked lightly on the ajar door before entering. Hannah was in the middle of a hospital bed, her top-to-toe freckles and rich red hair a welcome contrast to all the white in the room. He wasn’t surprised to see her smiling. Branch was sitting by her head looking more stressed out than Iron had ever seen him. Collin jumped up from the side of the bed. The teen, who towered over his mom and was nearly his height, bounded across the room and nearly knocked him back. Shit, he’d grown to love this kid.

His business sponsored Collin’s unified baseball team, but over the past couple of days, he’d gotten to spend time with him while Branch and Hannah were occupied with her fucked-up family. He couldn’t ever remember having so much fun, especially using their comm devices around the hotel.

“Jordan Iron Holt,” Collin sang, wrapping his arms tighter. “Archer Silver Ross,” he said moving from Iron to embrace Silver. It was endearing to be called by his full name. The kid was like an encyclopedia when it came to people and pizza. “Aunt Vivienne Aurora Day.” He hugged Vee more gently. “You saved Mom.”

“You saved her, honey,” she whispered in his ear. “My brave and bright nephew with his trail of cards.”

“Do you like UNO?” Collin asked, suddenly sidetracked. “I played UNO with Iron and Silver at the hotel. Then I played UNO with Branch when we were waiting for you and Mom at the rehearsal dinner. Your dress is white. White like marshmallows, clouds, onions. Now you’re wearing Iron’s shirt over the dress. It looks good like that.”

Iron couldn’t agree more.

“Hey bud, why don’t you let our visitors in the room. Okay?” Hannah’s voice always softened for her son.

Collin moved back, letting them in, and started pacing the room, quietly scripting a pizza recipe.

“Hanni, I’m so sorry.” Vee broke away from him and crossed the room toward her sister’s bed and sat down in a nearby chair. “I got you all into this mess. Has the doctor come in and checked your knee? Does it hurt?”

“I feel great now that I’ve got that morphine drip and Regina is locked up. And yes, the doctor and orthopedic surgeon came in. They’re going to need to do a bit of work to repair my leg.”

“Like surgery?” Vee’s voice was high and pained.

Going to her side, putting a hand on her shoulder was as natural as breathing to Iron. She cast those huge, gorgeous eyes on him and held his gaze. He shouldn’t get used to her seeking him out for comfort. That would be reckless on his part.

The women spoke quietly for a moment, discussing what had happened and why. You couldn’t find a crazier scenario in a book. A family forcing an arranged marriage for political and economic gain and then the oldest sister Regina taking the plan to another level by attempting to drown Hannah in a lake and make it look like an accident.

“Vivi, I wanted you to fly back with us, but I might be grounded here for a while. I’d feel so much better if you went with Iron and Silver.”

She bit her full bottom lip. “Go where?”

“Back to Virginia Beach. Even if we’re only delayed by a few days, I’d feel better if you were far away from Texas. You can stay at our place. Branch will give you the key, and you can come and go as you please. If you’re not comfortable staying alone, I know one of our friends would be happy to stay over with you. There’s Brynn, Sam, and Addy. They won’t make it weird or awkward. More like a sleepover.”

“I doubt they’d be happy. They’re going to hate me for what happened to you. Not that I’m blaming them. You wouldn’t have been in Texas to begin with if it weren’t for me.”

Branch took Hannah’s hand. “We don’t feel that way. You are family. We wouldn’t have left you behind. Trust me, Hannah has always felt the loss of the family that rejected her. You are the one good memory she has from her childhood. She told me if it weren’t for your parents being the way they are, you might’ve remained close friends. Now, because of you, the woman I love more than anything has a chance to redefine that connection. She’ll heal a hell of a lot faster if she knows you’re safe,” Branch stated openly before pinning Iron with a pleading look.

Hannah might feel better if Vee was tucked away, but ultimately that was her choice. After seeing what went down that afternoon, he could only imagine the hell that was Vee’s life.

Some people might say she grew up in luxury. He’d say she’d grown up a prisoner. There was no way in hell he was making any decisions for the woman standing next to him. Too many choices had already been taken from her. Maybe he’d only spent the afternoon with her, but he didn’t need to know anything else to understand she could hold her own. She had a brave spirit. Ran toward danger instead of away. Had stood strong, voice unwavering as she’d faced Regina.

Instead of looking at his prosthetic with pity or disgust she just looked curious. Without hesitation, she reached out and touched him, not bothered one bit that she was touching a mechanical device rather than the flesh and bone that should be there. Seeing her fingers curved along the metal and fiberglass frame shifted something inside him.

Vee’s gaze had drifted back to his. While he might like the way she looked to him for comfort, he’d never be the type of man to tell her what she should or shouldn’t do. “Your decision. You want to stay here? I’ll extend our hotel room at The Ritz. You want to drive back to Virginia Beach? That’s what we’ll do.”

Her eyes widened in shock, like she had no clue what to do with the information he’d just given her. She contemplated for one moment, then another. “I think it’s best if I leave Texas.”

Pride swelled in his chest. Yeah, she sure as hell could stand on her own.