Page 8 of Guarded Knight (Echo Valley #3)

Gabriel doesn’t move, and I know he won’t cave in.

His hand is still planted on the wall beside my head. His body close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off his chest, warming the intoxicating scent of his cologne, and the mint on his breath makes me part my mouth with more than another sparky word.

He patiently waits for me to give something away, like I’m a bomb and he’s the guy with the wire cutters trying to figure out which part of me explodes first so he can disarm me. If anyone knows, it’s him.

He used to watch me like a hawk. Chased me into cooperation and even occasionally into submission, though he did that as my brother’s sidekick.

Now, it’s just me and him.

I’m not scared of him this close. I’m not even surprised by his demanding nature. He’s always been that way, plus, he’s here to do a job.

But it’s the perfect chance for me to kick him in the nuts for breaking my heart, then again that would only show him, and myself, that I still care. And anyway, I’m hurt, not mad. But anger is a very strong Band-Aid for a broken heart.

Gabriel made it clear when he discharged that we weren’t happening. At first, I was understanding that he couldn’t be in a relationship. I didn’t know much about PTSD and war- related trauma at the time, but his brown eyes, once warm, were hollow when he returned.

I wanted him to work on himself.

But I thought he’d want me to help him. Be there for him at least as a friend. That he’d at least want to be near me…

But he took off. Left Starlight Canyon and me. All we had. The ground I thought was sacred to us both. And he only came back when Xander called.

The we I thought existed wasn’t real. We turned out to be me, Gabriel, and Xander.

But now that he’s this close again, every bit of magnetism is back.

He’s not cornering you for a kiss, Lara.

He wants the phone.

But I don’t know if even I’m ready to talk about what I’ve just seen. My heart pounds against my rib cage, experiencing a shitstorm from all angles. Gabriel’s gaze sears right through to my soul, and in my pocket, my cell claws at my confidence.

Cameron’s taken it further than ever before.

G’s warm breath tumbles over my nose, and if ever I took a chance for a hate kiss, this would be it. He’s still so gorgeous, his muscles rippling on either side of me. His alpha energy consumes the air around us…

But this isn’t about me and Gabriel. It’s about Cameron.

And the sooner I show Gabriel the phone, hell, everything, the sooner I can leave Echo Valley and get back to my independence and away from this instinct I have to grab G’s face and smother him with my lips.

Much as I don’t want to admit it, I do trust G to end this for me. I know he won’t quit until Cameron is out of my life. I don’t know what that means just now, but knowing my brother and G, they both want him behind bars because it’s the only humane solution.

I straighten my spine and lift my chin. “You said we’re on the same team.”

His eyes narrow slightly, cautious. “We are.”

I reach into my pocket and slide out the phone. I don’t hand it over. Just hold it between us, still managing to act blasé, even though my fingers are shaking knowing its contents.

Cameron photographed me in my sleep.

The thought of him standing next to me, in my Santa Fe home, in my damn bedroom… it’s chilling. Terrifying. And humiliating, even though I’ve done nothing wrong.

When did he do this? Why is he sending the photos now?

I’d send them to the police, but as my brother told me in his pitch for Echo Valley, Gabriel will likely sort it faster than they could. The truth in that statement is one of the reasons I was willing to come here and to work with him.

Gabriel takes the phone from my hands. His gaze drops to the screen, then flicks back to my face, then back to the phone again.

Photos. Me. Sleeping.

I’ve seen Gabriel rage in the past—when defending me, his family, or when he missed out on a purse at a rodeo by two milliseconds. Seeing a reserved man pop is both sexy and otherworldly.

But scarier than Gabriel’s rage is his silence.

His entire body goes still, like some machine going into deadly stealth mode.

I swear I can hear the faint hum of a swarm of apocalypse bees in his head.

Finally, he mutters, “We’re not doing this here.”

I blink. “What?”

“We’re not discussing this where anyone can hear.”

He walks away. Not fast. But I still have to jog a little to catch up.

I expect him to head toward the apartment, but he turns right and up Grenvista Trail, where the dead end gives way to a narrow dirt path winding into trees and the entrance to woods.

“Where are we going?”

He doesn’t answer. I follow his broad back, my tiny footsteps hardly keeping up with his war strides.

The wind kicks up around us, rustling the dry leaves along the path. My sneakers crunch on the dirt as we walk, side by side, not touching. Not speaking. The silence stretches until I can’t take it anymore.

“You’re angry?” I ask.

Suddenly, he turns to face me and his features contain thunder. “I’m focused.”

“That’s your focused face?” I keep my voice light because I’ve seen him this close to detonation before. “Because it looks a lot like the one you made when you broke Kyle Bergman’s nose in tenth grade.”

He doesn’t smile. Just steps closer. “Don’t joke about this.”

“I’m not.” My voice softens. “But…”

Emotion hits me harder than I thought it would. I need to armor up with something. Humor. Anger. I’d rather feel anything than fear and fall apart over this. “I’m just trying to keep it in perspective. This isn’t World War Three we’re dealing with. It’s a…”

“Stalker.” Vigilance simmers in his gaze. “You have a stalker. And a dangerous one at that. Call it for what it is, and we can get somewhere, Lara. I need you to stop making light of this.”

He’s right. I can’t admit it out loud, but he softens for me. He knows vulnerability isn’t my thing.

He gestures toward a bench a few yards ahead. “Come on. Sit. Talk to me.”

We sit. A patch of shade stretches over us from the low-hanging branches above. There’s dust on the tips of Gabriel’s boots. He hasn’t shaved today. His jaw’s rough, shadowed, and too damn attractive and kissable for my current level of emotional fortitude.

“This isn’t what I expected,” I murmur.

“What isn’t?”

“You. Being here. Seeing that text. And being composed. You used to go in all guns blazing.”

“I’m blazing,” he says. “Just quietly. On the inside. Where it counts.”

A dry laugh escapes me. “I can’t believe I got myself into this mess.”

“You didn’t. Cameron is the only asshole responsible for this.”

“I meant having to deal with you again,” I quip.

It’s a joke. Probably ill-placed, but I can’t help it. I’m the type who laughs nervously when things are bad.

He puts his elbows on his knees, hunches over, and stares at the ground. “Do you understand how big this problem is?”

I scoff.

He turns to me, eyes on fire—and in them, I see our past. The days when he let me know how much I mattered.

“Seriously, Lara, do you? Do you understand how hard it is to deal with a stalker who’s willing to do shit like this?”

“I told you I’ve been on Reddit.” This time I mean it seriously because there’s some solid info there.

He laughs, and though he’s exasperated, I genuinely humored him. Hearing him laugh, seeing his guard down for a split second, feels better than I want it to.

His gaze drops back to the ground, and he shakes his head. “What the hell am I going to do with you?”

My heart kicks like it did when we were younger and he used to say that.

Damn you, heart. Get a brain cell.

We fall quiet again, but this time the silence feels different. Heavier.

I pick at a loose thread on my sleeve, avoiding his eyes because they see too much. “I didn’t want it to get this far.”

“I know.”

I concede a little more. “At the beginning, I did sense it was wrong, but I thought maybe I was overreacting.” I sigh. “That I could handle it. It was just phone calls and texts.”

He doesn’t say I told you so. He just nods.

“I was careful,” I add, flicking my gaze upward to see if he believes me.

“I’m sure you were. I know how smart you are.”

His gaze rakes over me as if he’s approving more than just my intelligence and I set on fire inside.

“But we’ve got someone who knows how to get past careful.”

How true. Cameron got past careful getting into my locked home, and now that I’m having a frank conversation with Gabriel, a man who can read things for what they are; I should have raised alarm bells sooner.

Maybe Cameron would have stopped if I got a restraining order.

Maybe I could have retaliated and messed up his life if he didn’t.

Now, it’s gotten too big. Too dangerous. And I’ve had no choice but to go to my brother and now… him.

I steal a glance at G, still staring at the ground, concentrating. His dark eyebrows are pulled together. His jaw is clenched. There’s care there. Brotherly care. I’d do well to remember that when the mere sight of how damn hot he is starts tugging at something deeper.

I need to solve this and get the hell out of Echo Valley.

“What do we do now?” I ask.

He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I need access to everything—socials, call logs, emails. Trust me. I’ll figure out a way to end this, but I need info first.”

I nod slowly, then risk a glance at him. “You’re still the same.”

His brow furrows. “What do you mean?”

“Still the guy who thinks he has to fix everything.”

“Someone has to,” he says.

And I believe he’ll fix it. That he’ll stop Cameron. That if anyone can walk into my life and burn down the threat, it’s him. I hate how easily that belief slides back into place. Hate that even after I cried enough tears over him to flood the Nile, I still feel safer now with him near.

I sit back on the bench and cross my arms, sealing myself back off. Boundaries, Lara. “All right then, fix it.”

And I stand quickly to avoid falling any closer to him. I head back to the bookstore, and he follows.

He doesn’t need to know how much faith I still have in him.

And I’m sure as hell not going to say it out loud.