Page 2 of Lone Star Protector

Yeah, he was loud enough to give away his location to a killer, but he’d already done that with his not so quiet approach. He wasn’t going for stealth here. He was racing against the clock to save her.

“Caroline?” he shouted again.

There was still no answer so he used his fist to pound on the door. And pound. When that got him no response, he moved back, ready to ram into it until it gave way. Before he could do that though, the door opened.

And there she was.

Caroline.

“What the heck do you want?” she snarled before she even got a look at him. “I’m working.”

Her face was beaded with sweat, and she had a red bandana headband holding back her short blonde hair. Her amber eyes were narrowed to slits.

Nash could see now that she was indeed working. Or better yet, he could feel it. The furnace she used to melt glass was chugging out a blistering heat that rushed right out at him. But something else rushed out at him, too.

Relief.

God. So much relief.

Nash nearly grabbed her and hauled her into his arms. Not the first time he’d had that urge, but those other occasions had been when he’d wanted her so bad that it’d hurt. But now, it was all about seeing that she was alive, that she hadn’t been sliced to pieces by a killer.

“Nash,” Caroline muttered, and some of the annoyance and anger slipped from her voice and her expression when she no doubt noticed the look he was giving her. “What happened? Why are you here?”

Both good questions, especially since he didn’t make a habit of visiting her. Or being around her.

Too much temptation.

After all, she was the boss’ daughter, and that made Caroline the kind of forbidden attraction that could get his ass fired the hard way. Even though there’d been times when he would have risked that if… well, just if.

The stars definitely weren’t aligned when it came to Caroline and him.

Since he knew Ruby would be more than eager for an update, Nash fired off a quick text to let his boss know that he’d made it to Caroline’s and, more importantly, that she was all right and that there were no signs of a killer.

Ruby’s response came within seconds. “Stay with her until you hear from me.”

While the text seemed composed enough, Nash figured Ruby was having her own extreme relief reaction right now.

Caroline glanced at his phone, then she took out hers from her pocket. Peering down at her screen, she no doubt saw the missed messages and texts. Obviously, she’d either silenced it or simply hadn’t responded since she’d been working.

She locked gazes with him. “Just say it fast,” she insisted. “Is it my mother? Did something happen to her?”

“It’s Bodie,” he managed to say once he got his throat unclamped.

She flinched. Of course, she did. Flinched and dropped back a step. That’s when her gaze slid to his hand.

To his gun.

“He escaped from prison?” she asked.

Nash nodded. “Yeah, Bodie escaped.”

He couldn’t use the term, my brother, but that’s exactly what Bodie was. An asshole bastard who happened to share some DNA with Nash.

But Bodie was a whole lot more than that.

He was also the man who’d left Caroline for dead nearly eighteen years ago when she’d been a college freshman, ready to start her adult life.

A life that Bodie had come so damn close to ending.

---