Page 78 of The Last Promise You Made

The men moved toward the bathroom at the back of the cabin, and I sifted through the tools spread around the site, assembling what I needed. I showed Gia how to use the nail gun, and Addy how to follow behind her, supervising and ensuring all the nails got tapped in just right.

I strapped on my tool belt and moved to grab a plank of shiplap siding to demonstrate what we’d be doing, when Addy’s little hand stopped me.

“I have?” She pointed to my tool belt.

“Well, sweetheart, I don’t have any on-site that would fit you.” Disappointment lit her eyes. “Hold on,” I said. I went to the next cabin over where we were storing most of the supplies. I found some rope and a couple of extra tools and jogged back to the women.

I squatted in front of Addy and tied some loops in the rope that would allow her to slide a hammer and a pair of pliers I’d grabbed into them. Then I knotted it around her waist. “We’ll order you one of your own, but this will have to do for today.”

She grinned at me. “That too?” She pointed to the worn brown cowboy hat I had on after leaving my nicer black one at home. This one was nicked and beat up, covered with a fine coat of sawdust from the construction work.

“You want your own hat?”

She nodded.

“I’ll get you one, sweetheart.”

“Gia too?”

I looked over at Gia, whose brows had raised in surprise. “You want a hat, darlin’?”

She huffed. “Don’t call me darlin’.”

She turned away without answering me, lifting the plank of siding I’d set down. I reached over to take it from her.

Fine, I answered my own question, I’d get her a damn hat too.

I’d get both of these women anything the hell they wanted.

The last time I’d had that feeling, it had backfired on me in the worst sort of way.

I’d lost everything. My pride. My heart. My baby.

Thank God I’d had my family and the ranch to get me through.

They’d be there for me again. They’d likely have to be once Gia took off. But I’d have Addy. I’d have Addy and a life that I’d thought had passed me by. That was going to have to be enough.

Chapter Twenty-four

Gia

SHALLOW

Performed by Danielle Bradbery and Parker McCollum

I considered myself a fit human being. Unlike other NSA analysts who never left headquarters, I spent the majority of my time in the field as part of the Special Collection Service and had to be prepared to defend myself and any team members with me. I’d been trained at FLETC, the government’s training center in Virginia, right along with other analysts and agents from multiple federal agencies. After, I’d maintained my strength by spending hours at a CrossFit gym, in a kickboxing ring, and pounding the pavement. All that to say, I wasn’t out of shape, but come lunchtime, my body was sore from running the nail gun and helping Ryder hold up plank after plank. Addy had stayed at our side, helping as she could with a quiet determination. Every time Ryder praised her, she glowed like someone had shone a flashlight on her.

By the time snow started to come down in a steady thrum, I was ready for a break. My nose, toes, and fingers were practically numb from the frigid air even as a bead of sweat dripped down my back. Addy looked just as frozen as I felt, but Ryder… He looked as if withstanding the snow gods was something he did all the damn time. He looked like he belonged in a calendar for the good ol’ boys of winter.

His cheeks had the barest tinge of red, his cowboy hat was tilted back slightly, and his dark hair curled out from underneath it. His corduroy work jacket lined with flannel was worn but not shabby, and his jeans clung to his narrow hips and muscled thighs like they were made especially for him. The well-used tool belt accentuated the fact that he wasn’t some random model but a man comfortable with hard work. Hands callused and strong. The same hands that had run along my skin and touched my breasts last night, bringing me closer to the edge in mere minutes than any man before him had when I’d been fully naked.

“Lunchtime,” Ryder said. He hollered into the cabin at the other two workers, and all five of us headed for the farmhouse.

When we got to the parking lot, Enrique was gone. I pulled my phone from my pocket with fingers that could barely move. I’d missed a text from him, reading that he was following up on a lead, but he’d be back later.

We’d just helped ourselves to huge helpings of the soup Eva had left in the crockpot and the same sourdough bread from the day before when Eva, Brandon, and Sadie walked in. The women’s faces looked sad and tear-stained, and even Brandon’s eyes looked red.

Ryder’s dad gave him a hug that was much more than a masculine back pat. This one clung on and spoke of love. It made me miss my dad and my brother for some reason, made me long to go home and hug my family and make sure they knew how much they meant to me—all thoughts I was unaccustomed to in the middle of a job where normally only the case filled my brain. Except, this case was starting to feel less and less like work and more and more like…nothing I could think of without my heart hurting.

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