Page 18 of Vicious Sabotage

“As soon as we can, but we’re all pretty tied up here. Sean Gracey’s home from the hospital. His phone’s been ringing…a lot.”

Damn. That meant shit was going down on the ranch. Colton and Hunter were needed there to protect the women they loved. Forest’s sisters deserved better than to be thrown into their father’s world of outstanding gambling debt.

“Did you get in touch with Ledger?” He pictured their fellow SEAL. He bore scars of his own, maybe deeper than the rest of theirs. After all, his best friend had bled out in Ledger’s arms as he attempted to save the man’s life.

He passed a hand over his face.

“I spoke with Ledger.”

“And?”

“He’ll be on the next flight to Montana. As if you thought he wouldn’t come at your command, Wolfman.”

The nickname sent him back to old times. While they weren’t simpler times, at least everyone had been alive.

Colton’s question shook him from his thoughts. “Can you bring Livia to the ranch? If she stays here, we can watch over her.”

He stared at the entrance to the back room where she had vanished. “I don’t think she’ll agree to leave. She’s stubborn.”

At that, Colton laughed. “So you’re saying you like her. A lot.”

“I don’t tango with crazy.” Not only was Livia the most stubborn woman he’d ever encountered, but she had absolutely no regard for her own safety. He couldn’t understand her brand of loyalty to her business, her willingness to put up with break-ins from drunk guys or ex-boyfriends just to keep the doors open.

“Please, Wolfe. She’s totally your type.”

“I don’t have a type.”

“The fuck you don’t. You love a badass, sassy woman.”

“I didn’t know that was a type.”

“You love difficult women.”

It was time to end this conversation. “I hold rank, so don’t even try to argue with me, Nox.”

Colton issued a low chuckle. “I’ll get the cameras and locks to you as soon as possible. But it’s going to be a little while. We’re looking for a calf. The mom dropped a baby somewhere, and we have no idea where it is.”

The ranch life was so different from what Carver knew and even from what he was dealing with here in the small-town saloon with the stubborn—and stunning, sassy and utterly adorable—owner.

Chapter Four

It took a little elbow grease, but Badlands had been restored to normal. Well, almost normal. Wolfe still had a tall ladder out and was replacing the ruined security cameras around the room.

Livia sat on the bar, taking a break from her whirlwind morning and watching him.

Her stare roamed up and down the SEAL’s body from his work boots to his hair that had air-dried into a swoop that kept falling across his forehead when he worked.

Occasionally, he’d shake it out of his eyes. And every single time, Livia felt her fingers fold in a fist, fighting against the urge to go over and push it away for him.

“I’m glad to have new cameras—and locks too. But I still say you’re overreacting,” she called out.

He grunted and angled the camera to point toward the center of the room. Then he climbed off the ladder with a grace most big men didn’t possess.

When he started toward her, Livia braced herself to jump off the bar top. But she was no runner.

As he swaggered across the freshly mopped floor, a small flutter hit her core. If he wasn’t such a big alpha-hole, he would be good-looking. Hot, even.

Okay, really hot.

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