Page 6 of Guarded Hearts

“Mine.”

Chapter Two

Oaks braced his legs wider and eyed him. “You know the place?”

“You fucking know I do.” Carson was already moving to his desk and grabbing his keys.

Golden Horizon. Layne’s ranch.

“You don’t want to know the particulars?” Oaks folded his arms.

“Don’t need them.”

“You don’t even want to know who called?”

He was already storming out of his office. Oaks caught up to him at the front door.

“You might want to know the cops are staying with her until you get there.”

He sent his brother a cursory nod before running down the stairs and striding toward his black SUV parked out front. It didn’t matter if Mr. London or the housekeeper needed protection—he was here for them.

As he slid behind the wheel, he couldn’t deny that his gut was clenched with a sensation he hadn’t felt in years.

Hope.

After their last summer together, he never saw Layne again. She didn’t respond to any of the letters he sent for two whole years after he joined the Navy, but it didn’t matter to him. It didn’t matter if she had a gaggle of kids and a husband—he had vowed to protect her when they were children, and he was a man of his word.

He took the fastest route to Golden Horizon. The name they gave the ranch was never his favorite but it did fit the stunning land that seemed to glow golden from daybreak to the moment the sun sank behind the horizon it was named after.

Now night had fallen. His headlights carved a pathway through the blackness. How many times had he mentally driven this road since retiring from the SEALs? Countless.

The girl who got away had never slipped far from Carson’s mind. No matter how many times he told himself that she stopped caring about him, he couldn’t stop caring about her.

Layne had been his first everything. First true friend. First kiss.

The first woman he ever took to bed. Okay, it was a sleeping bag in a tent after she rolled up on her four-wheeler to his campsite. But he’d taken her virginity that night and had her several more times after that.

He inflated his lungs with a deep breath of air as he turned into the long drive leading to the ranch.

They must have turned on every light in the house. The log structure glowed like a candle, and out front a police cruiser had its lights on too.

He felt the shift in him as he moved into work mode. His brothers called it battle mode. They should know, considering they all served in the military too. His youngest two brothers, Theo and Denver, were still enlisted. Last Carson heard, Theo was somewhere in North Korea, and Denver…well, he was so deep undercover, he didn’t exist on paper.

Until Carson heard the scuff of his cowboy boots on asphalt, he didn’t realize he’d climbed out of his vehicle.

Carson and his brothers ran the security company, but on the side, they were involved in a program to help wounded veterans. Military men could stay on the ranch, get therapy andgain what peace they could from people who experienced similar issues.

One of the tricks the therapists suggested was to focus on their surroundings to ground themselves in the moment. Carson was using that right now—taking stock of sounds and sights. But it wasn’t connecting him to his feelings about walking in to that house and possibly seeing…

The one that got away. Layne.

Adopting a professional demeanor, he rang the doorbell. The familiar low gong raised the hair on his neck as memories flooded in.

He severed his emotions. The cop who answered the door was one he knew well from his company dealing with previous crimes in the area.

“Harkins. Thanks for sticking around until I got here.”

God, the place even smelled the same—woodsy with a hint of cinnamon, as if the occupants baked batches of cinnamon rolls just to keep the smell lingering.

---