Page 6 of Found By the Surly Ranger

Jace looks at me carefully, then reaches out to take my hand. "Tell me, Kara. If this guy really is a psycho, how far do you think he will go to find you?"

"I don't know," I sputter. "Sometimes he's fixated on one thing for a really long time. Other times he drops an idea after two days and jumps to another one. He's all over the place. But this time he has a bunch of other people to answer to."

His hand squeezes mine again, then he pulls back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking. "If I were to use cell service for just a minute, could you get me a photo of this guy?"

"Sure. It's all over his website."

"Even better. What's the site?"

"BradBrownTechnology.com."

He reaches over to where he left his phone charging last night. "I'm going to text a handful of people. Then it's going right back into airplane mode. Okay?"

I find it deeply touching that he clearly knows what's best, yet still asks for my permission. "Sure. Thank you."

He calls up the website and finds a photo of Brad. "That him?"

I flinch. "Yeah."

He uses voice to text to send a similar message to three different people. "Hey – go to bradbrowntechnology.com and take a good look at the photos of the guy. If you see him around, don't let on that anything's up, just tell me where he is."

His thumb flips back to the photo of Brad in his expensive suit, wearing a shit-eating office-appropriate grin. A shudder runs down my spine when I remember the way he screamed at me.

Jace smirks and scoffs. "Yeah, you're definitely safe with me, beautiful. I could take him out with one shot." He twitches slightly, as if he didn't mean to put it that way. Then his phone rings. "It's my younger brother." He presses the button and turns up the volume so I can hear. "Hey, Josh."

"Jace, what's with this Brad guy? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Not me. There's a chance he's after a woman who has information he wants. He's a scumbag, so I'm keeping an eye on her."

"Do you need help, or just a lookout?"

"Just a lookout for now."

"Got it. I'll spread the word."

"Thanks. And can you ask the others to check the trails for me? Oh, and my phone's gonna be in airplane mode most of the time, so I might be slow getting back to you."

"Got it. Oh shit – if you've been offline, then you probably haven't heard about the bridge being out from all of the rain last week, then again last night. I'll holler when it's clear."

"Thanks. Talk soon."

He disconnects, then notices my fingers are twitching. "The bridge is out?"

"It's fine," he murmurs, reaching out to cup my cheek again. Every time he touches my skin I feel sparks flying through every part of me. Certain parts more than others. I've never been so close to such a sexy man, and it's making me feel…I dunno. Like my body is starved for touch and aching for more.

"There's two roads into town: a super winding back one that's pretty dangerous, and a much safer direct one. But it has a bridge over a river that rises fast when we get more than two days of rain and sometimes washes out. Don't worry – I have supplies here for six weeks or more. It'll probably only be out for a day or three." He pulls his hand away, just as I realize I'm pressing my cheek into it. "I mean, you're hiding out anyway, right?"

"Fair." I nod. "Maybe it's a good thing."

"There you go."

My stomach lurches as I realize I'll be stuck here with Jace for a few days. He won't be off checking the trails or going into town to run errands. We'll be alone, without much else to do. My mind is already racing at the implications.

Proximity breeds familiarity.

And I already know that I want Jace to be just as familiar with me as he wants.

4

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