Jason tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know it scares you to be there, especially when you’re alone. I know you have nightmares. It’s okay to want to feel safe, and it’s okay to let people help you.”
“You probably think I’m a wimp.”
The anguish in her eyes cut him. “No, I don’t. You don’t have to be brave all the time, Win. You don’t have to carry the weight of this. Chaska, your grandfather, Jack, Nate, me—we want to help you. Let us. I’ll stay to make sure the work gets done and gets done right.”
“Wasn’t the plan for you to spend time with Zach and then to go see the sights and camp? Helping to put in my security system can’t be what you hoped for when you set off on this vacation.”
“You want to get rid of me?” It was a joke.
She didn’t take it that way. “No! No, hardly that. I just don’t want you using your hard-earned time off dealing with my stupid problems.”
“Hey, now. Your problems aren’t stupid.”Tell her.“This isn’t a vacation. I’m on unpaid administrative leave.”
“You’re … what?”
He sat up, moved to the edge of the bed, rubbed his face with his hands. “I’ve got a disciplinary hearing when I get back.”
She sat up behind him, her hand sliding up his back. “What happened?”
He told her about Ren and the ambush and how he’d chased that son of a bitch across the border. “He turned, raised his weapon, and I fired. The next thing I knew, there were a dozen Mexican agents. They frisked me at gunpoint, cuffed me, took my weapons, badge, and ID.”
“How scary.”
“The rest of the Wolves showed up, and eventually, they released me. But they filed a complaint.”
“I don’t understand. You’re O’odham and a dual citizen. That’s your people’s land. You have a right to be there.”
“Not as a member of a Border Patrol unit.”
She rested her cheek on his shoulder, one lush breast brushing his arm. “What do you think will happen?”
“I don’t know.” Jason had done a little digging, and there’d never been a case like his. “I might lose my job. I might find myself at a desk. I might get a slap on the wrist.”
“How do you want it to end?”
No one had asked him that.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life working as a Shadow Wolf. I don’t know who I’d be without the uniform.”
She kissed his shoulder, her hand caressing his bicep. “You’ll be the man you are right now—the man who helped rebuild a summer camp for kids, who helped strangers track a poacher, and who wants to help some random woman with a security system.”
That last part made him smile.
He turned, caught her in his arms, and pushed her back onto the bed. “Hey, your taste is still in my mouth. There’s nothing random about you.”
Then he kissed her.
* * *
Winona woke first,the scent of Jason’s skin tickling her from sleep. He lay on his back, one arm bent above his head, the other around her shoulders, her cheek against his chest. The covers had slipped down, leaving them both exposed from the waist up, his chest and belly bared to her gaze, his breathing deep and slow.
She’d met him last Saturday, and it was only Thursday—and he’d already come to mean so much to her.
He’s leaving soon. You might not see him again.
The thought put an ache in her chest.
How unfair was it that life could bring Jason to her when the two of them could never be together? He had his life in Sells, and she had her clinic and her family here in Scarlet Springs.