Page 4

STONE

I spent half the night finding any intel I could on Ilya Petrova.

He’s a Brigadier in Bratva, the Russian Mob, and seems to operate mostly in gambling, drugs, and stolen goods.

Kendall is gorgeous, so I have little doubt that he wants her for himself and to pressure her brother.

In order to remove Ilya’s threat to her, I have to take her off the game board.

If he can’t use her as leverage against Ryan, she won’t be as valuable.

My plan is simple but unhinged. Kendall would have to be crazy to go for it, which means I need a backup plan.

I could call Derek at Citadel Securities in New Orleans.

His father’s a financial genius and passed the knowledge onto his son.

Derek is sitting on millions of his own making.

He might have the cash on hand to pay Ryan’s debt.

I’m just not sure that’s the best option.

Ryan got himself and his sister into this mess.

It doesn’t sit well to let him escape with no consequences.

Yes, I’ve been trying to mend our friendship, but I’m furious with him for dragging her down with him.

I don’t believe he did it on purpose, but that doesn’t change the facts. What a clusterfuck.

It’s after 8 a.m. when I shuffle to the coffee pot and get it started. I hear Kendall moving around in my bedroom a few minutes later.

Stretched out on the couch last night, it was damn near impossible not to think of her in my bed and fantasize about being there with her. That’s when I came up with this batshit crazy plan.

She comes out of the bedroom beautifully disheveled.

Her dark hair falls in soft waves down her back and my red flannel shirt hangs halfway down her thighs, showing off an ample amount of leg.

Shit, seeing her in my shirt flips a switch in my brain.

It should not turn me on, but my heart picks up speed and my cock fills, obnoxiously tenting my sweats.

Her sleepy blue eyes land on the coffee pot, and she heads toward it like it has a gravitational pull.

A smile tugs at my lips. I didn’t peg her for a morning zombie, but it’s fucking adorable.

“Here, baby girl.” I put a mug of coffee in her hand and steer her toward the milk and sugar I laid out.

“Good,” she murmurs after her first few sips.

“Sleep better last night?”

She nods and pushes a lock of hair from her eyes. I can tell the coffee is starting to kick in. There might be life in there after all.

“I wonder if Ryan finally called?” she says when the cup is nearly empty. “Oh, I forgot to charge my phone.” She looks around, searching for where she put it.

“It’s on the counter. I plugged it in last night after you fell asleep.”

Kendall reaches over and takes my hand. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for every little thing, Kendall. I said I’d take care of you and I am.”

Her eyes meet mine and a number of emotions flit across her face. Gratitude, surprise, uncertainty maybe, and something warmer that I’m not ready to name.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Stone.”

I thread our fingers together, hoping that’s a good sign. If not, I’m about to detonate those good feelings. I take a big swig of coffee to fortify myself. “I have a plan.”

She leans forward. “You do?”

“Fair warning, it’s... unorthodox.”

“Okay.” She drags the word out, looking at me expectantly.

“We need to make you more than just unavailable to Petrova. Hiding you will only work for so long. If he can’t find your brother, and I suspect Ryan is lying low, he’ll need leverage to force him out.

If he’s the kind of man I think he is, he won’t stop until he has what he needs to put Ryan down. Maybe permanently.”

“That’s one of the reasons I ran. His interest also seemed personal.”

“Easy to see why. You’re beautiful, Kendall.”

A flush spreads across her cheeks and down her neck, disappearing beneath the buttons of my flannel. I want to peel it off her to see how far it goes.

“Maybe he won’t find me here.”

“Are you content to stay here and wait until he finds Ryan?”

“No, of course not. Despite everything, Ryan’s family. I don’t want to see him hurt.”

I squeeze her hand and stroke my thumb over her palm. “Then we have to give Petrova a very good reason to look elsewhere for his leverage and give ourselves time to either find Ryan or pay his debt.”

“What’s your plan?” She drains the last of her coffee.

“Marry me.”

Kendall chokes.

Shit, I should have timed that better. Way to go, Colter.

She wipes her mouth with a napkin and stares at me. “What?”

I did warn her that it was unorthodox. Maybe that was the wrong term.

I should have gone with outlandish or straight to insane.

“Think about it. Not only will you be off the market, but if you’re officially mine, he’ll have to bring a lot more fire power if he wants to take you from me. It won’t be worth it.”

Kendall pulls her hand from mine and goes to the coffee pot. She doesn’t pour right away. When she finally turns around, there’s a storm in her eyes.

“No. That’s not... I don’t want to just be a game piece to you—or anyone. You wouldn’t offer to marry me if I weren’t in this situation.”

I’m not sure that’s true. She’s been here less than eighteen hours, and she’s already brought life to this house. To me. Having her here feels right. “Kendall?—”

“Stone, you should want the woman you marry, and if I ever wed, the man should want me for more than a chess move.”

Is that what she thinks? That my interest is nothing more than for her protection? Pushing to my feet, I cross the distance and crowd her against the counter, caging her in with my hands.

Her slight gasp inflames me, burning right through any restraint I might have attempted.I dip my head and trace her nose with mine.

“You think I don’t want you?” I ask against the delicate shell of her ear. Then I press my lips to hers and show her how very wrong she is.

Desire singes my veins as the scent of peaches fills my senses. Her hands skim up my arms and clutch my shoulders, holding me in place. She rises onto her toes and opens her mouth, deepening the kiss. Jesus, she even tastes like peach.

A moan rumbles out of my chest, and I cup her neck in one hand, tilting her head so I can kiss her harder, deeper.

Swiping my tongue against hers until she fills all my senses.

The flannel slides over her skin beneath my other hand.

I move her closer until her hips are pressed to the hard length of my dick. She feels amazing.

I grip the flannel in my fist, tugging it up while I trail kisses across her jaw and down her neck.

“Stone,” she whispers, rotating her hips.

“Fuck, you feel good, baby girl. Let me make you feel even better.” The moment my palm lands on the bare skin of her ass, my thoughts scatter.

Only instinct remains. I lift her onto the counter, spread her thighs, and step between her legs, yanking her forward until her hot core is pressing against my sweats.

Kendall grips my hair and yanks my mouth down to fuse her lips to mine.

My heart is hammering in my chest, and every lungful of air imprints her scent into my cells. How did I go this long without her? Without touching and tasting her? Making her mine.

She pulls away, breaking the kiss.

I growl and follow her lips.

“Stone, wait. I think someone’s here.” She tenses in my arms, eyes wide as she looks at the front door.

Pound, pound, pound.

It takes a second to clear my head. Not the hammering of my heart in my ears but someone at the door.

The person knocks again, and I hear a familiar voice swear.It clears the fog of lust from my brain.

“It’s okay. Sounds like a friend.” Her shoulders relax a fraction, but I can tell she’s scared. I help Kendall off the counter, grab my Sig Sauer from the drawer by the door, then move to the side window for a look. It’s Bishop, the leader of the Hollow Point Rescue group here on the mountain.

I nod to Kendall, return my gun to the drawer, and open the door.

“Took you long enough,” Bishop grumbles. His favorite cowboy hat is pulled low, and dust covers his dark green Hollow Point T-shirt.

“Good to see you too.” I look over his shoulder at the empty porch. “Where’s your sidekick?”

“Dillon is not my sidekick. He’s my?—”

“Fanboy.”

“... intern .” Bishop says, sounding resigned. Dillon grew up in White Falls. At twenty, he knows the mountain trails almost better than Bishop. When the team leader moved here to resurrect the rescue program after a few hikers perished, Dillon appointed himself Bishop’s work-study.

I snort. “Whatever you say.”

“Fucker,” he mutters.

I wouldn’t call us friends exactly, because Bishop keeps people at bay, but he’s part of the growing group of ex-military guys who’ve moved here seeking peace. We understand one another as no one else could. “What brings you?”

“You weren’t answering your radio. When I drove by and saw your truck, I decided to check in.”

Damn, I think I left it in my truck when I returned home yesterday. I’d planned to go back for it after putting tools away, but then I saw Kendall.

Bishop’s gaze skates over my shoulder to the living room and stops. One dark eyebrow raises. “No wonder you didn’t answer.”

I glance back to see Kendall standing there in just my flannel, with her hair tousled and kiss-swollen lips. She looks like she just left my bed. I step in front of her, blocking Bishop’s view. Maybe it’s a caveman tactic. I don’t care. I don’t want him looking at her.

A grin flits across his lips. “Staking a claim, Colter? Afraid of the competition?”

I step closer. “She’s not your concern.”

He chuckles, then eyes me. “She’s too young for me.”

He’s four years younger and ribbing me for it. “She is. And way too fucking young for me, but...”

“But the age gap doesn’t seem to matter,” he finishes, and for a second, the teasing drops. Something like understanding mixed with commiseration flickers beneath his smile. Something that says me too .

I shake my head. “Did you just come to give me shit?”

“That’s a side benefit. I came to ask if you’d heard or seen anyone around this morning.

I had reports of some guys seen in the area.

Someone thought they were hikers, but the second report said they weren’t wearing any gear.

With the storm hitting in a few hours, I thought I should find them. Make sure they get back to town.”

“I haven’t, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Find your radio while you’re at it.”

I follow Bishop out and wave as he leaves, then turn to grab my radio from the truck. Kendall is standing in the doorway.

That’s when Bishop’s description clicks.

Some men in the woods with no hiking gear.

No. It’s not possible.There’s no way they could have found her so soon. Not unless...

I glance at her car, dread filling my gut. Striding forward, I skim my hand under the wheel wells, then drop down to look underneath.

There’s a goddamn tracker on it.

“Goddamn fucking hell!” I rip it off, but the damage is done.

“What’s wrong?” Kendall calls.

Once again, I missed something important. Something obvious. And once again, it could get someone I cared about killed.