Saving Her (Her Protector Book 2) Read online

  Slowly, I turned and sucked in a deep, quick breath at the petite, raven haired beauty standing stock still behind me. Her dark green eyes were enormous as she stared up at me, her red lips quirking up into a shaky smile as she raised one hand and gave me a small wave. It hit me like a punch to the solar plexus, knocking the wind right out of me

  “Hi there. I’m Zoe Brown, your new assistant.”

  4

  Zoe

  “My new what?”

  “Your new assistant?” I tried to say it less like a question and more like a statement, but I couldn’t help the little lift at the end, not with him staring at me with those intense grey eyes. Like a wolf. And with his shaggy dark hair and several days growth of beard shadowing his sharp cheeks, he did look rather wolf-like.

  “I heard what you said, I just don’t…I’m not sure…” He stopped for a moment, wiping one massive hand over his face and suddenly he didn’t look like a wolf anymore, well, not as much. He just looked tired. And overworked. “Beth.”

  “Your sister, right?”

  “This has Beth written all over it.”

  “Um, she did hire me, but she said you were looking for help here and…” I trailed off as he turned to stare at me, no expression on his face at all this time. He held that stare for a long moment and I had to swallow back my panic, waiting for whatever he was going to say next. Because whatever his sister had told me, it was obvious that he hadn’t been looking for, or particularly wanted, any help.

  “She hired you.”

  “Yes, she hired me.” I clicked my teeth shut on the rest of the worlds that wanted to tumble out of my mouth. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I didn’t know your sister lied to me. I’ll just go now, thank you very much.

  But I didn’t say anything. Because the truth was, I needed this job. Even more that was the realization as Beth drove me here through rolling grassy hills, the silhouette of the mountains rising on the horizon, I was even more surprised that…I wanted it.

  In the open plains and under the endless summer blue skies, I felt like I could breathe, for the first time since I had left California. There was enough space here. I could actually breathe.

  Without looking over my shoulder for some monster from my nightmares. Without feeling that pang of regret for Elliot and the life I had left behind.

  I could breathe, and it felt wonderful. And I needed it, as much as food or a place to sleep at night. I needed…this.

  “It’s impossible.” He said, and I came back to reality with a thud.

  “But, she hired me.” I said again, repeating myself as if this time his reaction would be different. It had to be different.

  “Look, I’m sorry, I really am, but whatever my sister promised you, I can’t…” He trailed off, still staring at me as if he was trying to decide whether to chase me off or eat me. “Damn, I’m going to kill her. I swear it. This time she is dead.”

  I would have worried but there was much love in his voice as he spoke of his sister that it was impossible to take him seriously.

  “She said you’ve been running this ranch by yourself since your father died two years ago. I’m sorry, by the way,” I swallowed but my mouth was suddenly so dry it didn’t help any. It didn’t matter. I was so tired of being scared. I was so tired of running. I was so damned tired. It was time to fight for what I wanted. And I wanted this, here, the open land. The freedom it offered.

  I wanted it more than I had wanted anything in such a long time that I had forgotten how much it could hurt. How desire could grow like an ache in your chest until you couldn’t breathe.

  “Beth said the ranch is in debt,” I said, stepping towards him, pleading with my eyes, my words, “A lot of debt. And that you’ve been working yourself to death. She said you needed help with paperwork, book keeping, phone calls. Dealing with customers. I’m good with customers.”

  I noticed the way his eyebrows rose at that last one. I hadn’t worked with customers since waitressing in college, but you didn’t forget customer service. Smile, give them what they wanted. The customer was always right. I could handle that, no problem.

  “I can help you here, and I won’t ask for much, I swear. Whatever the pay is, I’m sure it’s fine.” God, I hoped it was. Whatever it was, it was more than I was making now.

  “The pay,” He snorted, shaking his head, “I’m sorry, but–.”

  “Please!” The plea tore from my throat, ragged and desperate. I knew it, and I didn’t care. I was desperate. For the first time I found a place I felt safe and I didn’t want to lose it. Not now. “Please, I…I need help. I really need this job.”

  He stared at me again, sharper and somehow softer all at the same time. He was looking like a wolf again. A giant wolf. Who wasn’t sure what to do with his prey. After a long moment, he threw his hands up, turned and walked out of the tiny shack of an office.

  “Wait, what…” I let the words fall away. There was no one there to answer my questions anyway. Foremost among them was, what the hell?

  But I’d made the decision to fight and that was exactly what I was going to do. I wasn’t about to give up that easily, even if the man was gruffer than I expected. And larger. And all around less…civilized.

  It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the opportunity I saw in front of me, if only I could convince him that it would be good for him too, for his business.

  I chased after him.

  “Hey, wait a minute!” I shouted, having to practically jog to keep up with his much longer strides. “Now, just wait a minute, okay? I told you I could help you. I’m good with numbers, I always have been. I’m good with people. I could really help you turn this place around. You don’t have to keep doing everything for yourself. I can answer phones, place the orders, do payroll,” I’m sure I could figure that one out, right? “I’m telling you, you need me.”

  “Listen, what was your name again?” He didn’t stop, just tossed the question over his shoulder as he kept walking towards a dilapidated looking old farmhouse.

  “Zoe. Zoe Brown.” I felt a twinge of guilt at lying about my last name. Not really a lie. It was my mother’s maiden name. I just didn’t want to risk anyone using my real name, or recognizing it. I didn’t think I needed to worry about it out here, but I had gotten so used go going by Zoe Brown, I’d almost forgotten my real name.

  “Alright, Zoe Brown, listen to me. I’m going to show you around the house first, you can stay there if you’d like. It’s more of a barracks than a house, I’m afraid but it does just fine for us. The stable hands use it sometimes but with the money situation being what it is, I’ve had to let most of them go so it’s empty at the moment.”

  “I…can stay?” I said softly, and it took him a few moments to realize that I had stopped. He had to backtrack several yards to where I was still standing, frozen in shock and a small spark of hope that I nearly didn’t want to let go of. “Are you saying…?”

  “I’m saying you’re hired, Zoe Brown.”

  “Oh my god. Oh my god, thank you. Thank you so much,” I rushed forward and shook his hand, holding on longer than I needed to, blindsided by the wave of electricity that zapped up one side of my body and down the other at the slight contact.

  I drew my hand away, cradling it behind my back because it still tingled with aftershocks.

  “I can’t pay you much. A hundred a week to start off with, but you can stay at the ranch so you won’t have to pay for rent, or food.” One side of his mouth tilted up in a wry grin, the first time he’d smiled since he’d slammed into the office ranting and raving. That small smile did funny things inside me. Made my stomach to a summersault and butterflies take wing. “Fair warning, I’m not a great cook. Any chance you have any talent in that department?”

  “Why, because I’m a woman?” The question popped out of my mouth before I could stop it and I felt a blush stain my cheeks, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

  “No, It’s alright. And for your
information, no, not because you’re a woman. But because my entire repertoire consists of scrambled eggs and tacos and I was hoping for a little variety.” His smile grew, and so did the butterflies.

  “Well?” He said after a moment, and I was so distracted by the small dimple that had appeared on his left cheek that it took me longer than it should have to answer. What the hell is wrong with me? Stop looking at his dimple!

  “Um, yes. Absolutely. That all sounds perfect.” Better than perfect, I thought to myself, unable to put into words how much this meant to me. This chance at a new life. A new job.

  “Alright then. Come on, I’ll show you around the place.”

  I followed after him, walking into the three-story farmhouse that had definitely seen better days but there was a rough sort of charm about the whole place. A lot like its owner, actually.

  “You can take any bedroom on the third floor. They’re all empty now so just make yourself at home. I’m on in the den just past the kitchen on the first floor, if you ever need anything.”

  A spark jolted through me at the thought of him sleeping under the same roof. Stop it right now! I have so many other things to think about, he is definitely not one of them. I tugged my wayward thoughts back to the farmhouse as he gave me the grand tour.

  Most of the furniture looked like it had been moved in when the house was first built, at least from the fifties or sixties, and just as dated. But it all looked beautiful to me.

  “I guess you’ll have to go back into town to get your things.”

  “I have them.” I said, and he gave me an odd look as if waiting me to say more but after a moment shrugged it off.

  “Okay then. Here’s the kitchen, just mind the…” He gestured up to the hole in the ceiling, the slow drip-drip-drip of water, and finally the big blue bucket in the middle of the floor. “There’s a leak.”

  “I can see that.” I said softly, thinking I should probably be more worried that the old farmhouse was falling down around us but I had caught a glimpse of something out of my eye. It drew me towards it like a siren and I was helpless to deny its sweet call.

  It was old, as old as everything else in the house, and more than likely out of tune. But the wood had been polished with love and time to a honeyed sheen and it was obvious that someone had cared for it.

  “Oh, that old thing. It was my mother’s. She never did learn how to play, but every few months she would sit down in front of it and hammer out some god awful noises. I won’t call them songs.”

  He said with a fond chuckle as he walked up beside me, but my eyes were glued to the upright piano. It reminded me of the first piano I’d learned to play on, at my old neighbor Mrs. Magney’s.

  My fingers loving traced the keys, not pressing hard enough to make a sound, just enough to feel, to caress.

  “Do you play?”

  His question startled me. “I used to.” I answered after a long moment, staring down at the piano to hide the sorrow in my eyes. I couldn’t hide it from my voice though and I could feel the questions burning in the air between us. Questions that I didn’t want to answer. Questions that I couldn’t.

  I forced myself to shake it off. It was in the past now. This was the present. A whole new life, a new place. A new job! And a new start, if I’d let it be. I closed the lid to the piano and turned towards him with a forced smile.

  “I just realized I never asked your name.”

  “Jake. My name is Jake Gallagher.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Jake Gallagher.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Zoe Brown.”

  I drew in a deep breath, still trying to shake the cobwebs of the past from my thoughts. “Alright then, tell me where I can start.”

  He blinked down at me with those dark, mercury grey eyes of his. “You sure you don’t want the rest of the day to settle in? Get a feel for the place?”

  The idea of wandering around the old farmhouse with nothing to do but think about that piano made me feel more than a little bit crazy.

  “I’m sure! I’m sure.” I clear my throat, giving him another smile, “I’m ready to work.” Ready to leave the past where it belongs, and maybe, ready to finally find a new future. A better future.

  That spark of hope grew a little bit bigger inside me, and for the first time in nearly a year, I drew in a deep breath, and let it go. I was here now, in my new home. In the last place my monster would find me. In Solace, Utah.

  5

  Jake

  I looked down at the handful of papers clutched in my hands, but I didn’t really see any of the numbers there. They all blurred together and faded away and the only thing I could focus on was Zoe’s voice.

  “…so you see, if you look at the records from five years ago, and believe me, it took me a long time to find anything in there. I swear it’s like those filing cabinets have never been organized. But if you look right here, you’ll see it.”

  She leaned close, close enough for her midnight black hair to brush across my arm and the unique smell of her perfume, like lilies and moonlight, wash over me sending my thoughts into yet another downward spiral.

  “Uh huh. See it. Sure.” I muttered the words. At least I hoped they were words. I hoped I wasn’t just standing there with my jaw hanging open and drool dripping down my chin. I had to get it together, damn it. She was just a woman. Just another woman. Then why are you so distracted by her?

  Shut up. I tried to tamp down my inner thoughts, but Zoe’s closeness made it more than difficult. She made it damn near impossible.

  “You do see it, don’t you? Here, and here. Look!” She leaned over my arm to point and I had to grit my teeth against the urge to do something incredibly, irrevocably stupid.

  “They are scamming you.”

  That finally cut through the red haze of lust had been plaguing me. A little anyway.

  “Scamming me? What are you talking about?”

  “They’re charging you for five times more than they deliver. I’ve checked myself. I’m going through the records now but it looks like it’s been happening since…” she cut off, looking away and I let out a sigh.

  “Since I took over?”

  She bit her lip, nodding her head and looking up at me with those forest green eyes. I lost myself for only a moment before shaking my head. I forced myself to take a step back, and another. It was the only way I could think straight.

  Zoe had worked at the ranch for three weeks, and already she’d made a much bigger impact than I ever would have guessed.

  It had just been too much for me, running the day to day goings on of maintaining and looking after the ranch, and to handle all the office work, the papers, the bills. The stuff I’d never been interested in so was more than happy to just sign on the dotted line when told and stuff the receipt in a box at the back of the office never to be looked at again.

  I didn’t realize just how bad I had let things get. Another thing I took after my father, I guessed. But Zoe was sharp, smart, able to see the smallest details and put together the missing pieces.

  Truly, it was a blessing in disguise the day that Beth dropped her on my doorstep, even though I wanted to strangle my sister at the time.

  Zoe was a miracle I didn’t know I needed. For the business, the thought shot through my mind. Of course. Just for the business.

  I watched her as she walked back towards the office, her dark brows furrowed as she stared down at the stack of papers, grumbling to herself.

  She looked better, I thought.

  When she’d first arrived, I could have sworn she hadn’t eaten well in a month or more, and there was a haunted look in her dark green eyes. She didn’t look all skin and bones anymore, no thanks to my cooking, and some of the shadows had receded. Some, but not all.

  I could still see them there, when she thought no one was looking at her. Sometimes, she’d get this far away look on her face, and I would swear that she was seeing something awful, like a nightmare, play out in front of her.

&nbs
p; I couldn’t deny the chemistry between us, it was there in spades, but I could tell that she was still hiding a lot.

  It was there in the way she jumped at the smallest sound. The way she was always looking over her shoulder. And sometimes, I would catch her staring at the piano in the old farmhouse with so much longing in her eyes that it made my chest ache.

  It made me want to wrap my arms around her and ask her what had happened, to keep her safe, to tell her that she was safe here and that nothing would happen to her. That she didn’t have to be afraid here. That I would keep her safe from whatever was chasing her.

  I wanted to protect her, and that impulse shocked the hell out of me. Maybe it was just because she was so much smaller than me, looked so much more fragile. Even though I had learned over the past three weeks that she was anything but fragile. There was a fire inside Zoe that still burned bright and strong, calling to me like a moth to a flame.

  “Hey, Bro!”

  I turned at the sound of Beth’s voice, watching as she tromped her way across the field in her big black boots. She waved, and I waved back, waiting for her to catch up to me.

  “I thought you were supposed to be here earlier.”

  She just shrugged, uncaring, “I got caught up. Here, I bought these for Josie. How’s the old girl doing?”

  “Better, I think. It was rough there for a few days but she’s getting back to her regular cranky self.”

  “Good.” Beth nodded, “How are things going here, besides Josie?”

  “The Calhoun’s are causing trouble again.” I answered with a sigh and her face blanched, “Don’t worry, it’s just stupid things. I keep getting my mail stolen, Howard harassing me, spreading lies and rumors to my customers. Those Calhoun boys getting up to their dumb ass shenanigans.”

  “They’re not boys, Jake. Ian and Lucas are my age, and Wil was in the same grade as you.”