Page 19 of The Wrangler

Jesse let out a long, slow breath, forcing every muscle in his body to calm the hell down.

“Go to bed, Keely.”

She studied him for a moment longer, then nodded, turning toward the hallway. But before she disappeared, she tossed one last glance over her shoulder, her voice full of heat and promises she damn well knew she shouldn’t be making.

“You’re not going to sleep, are you?”

Jesse watched her disappear into the dark. No. No, he sure as hell wasn’t.

7

KEELY

Keely awoke to the sound of Jesse’s voice, low and lethal, just outside the bedroom door.

She blinked at the morning light filtering through the sheer curtains, her mind catching up to reality. The heat from last night still lingered in her skin, in the memory of Jesse’s hands, his mouth, the feel of his body pressing her against the wall.

But she wasn’t thinking about that now. Because Jesse didn’t sound pissed. He sounded deadly.

She slid out of bed, padding silently toward the door. When she pushed it open, she found Jesse standing by the front entrance, still shirtless, wearing only a pair of low-slung jeans that clung to his hips.

Gavin, Hawke, Reed, and Dawson were all standing nearby, their energy coiled tight, radiating danger. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Jesse’s voice came out cold and sharp as steel. “How the hell did he find us?”

Her stomach clenched. The intruder?

Keely stepped forward. “What happened?”

Jesse didn’t turn, but the other men did.

Hawke raked a hand through his dark hair. “We found a message at the end of the driveway.”

Dawson held out a photograph. “You need to see this.”

Keely stepped forward, snatching the photo from Dawson’s outstretched hand. Then her breath caught. The image was dark and grainy—taken just before dawn—but the message was clear. They had staked a wooden post into the ground just outside Jesse’s land and nailed a butchered rattlesnake to it, its blood still fresh and dripping into the dirt.

Five words were sloppily painted in red beneath it.

I ALWAYS COLLECT MY DEBTS.

Keely’s stomach flipped, but she forced her breathing to stay even. Jesse’s voice was pure gravel. “Do we know who he is?”

“I downloaded pictures from the security cameras, and we ran him through facial recognition. His name is Nico Alvarez, and we’re already digging into who he is,” said Dawson.

“He knows who you are, Keely,” said Jesse. “He knows where we are. This isn’t a warning.” He pointed at the picture. “That isn’t a threat, it’s a goddamn promise.”

Keely sat on the edge of the farmhouse kitchen table, arms crossed as the team pulled up every last piece of intel they had on Nico Alvarez.

Gavin stood at the head of the group, scrolling through a tablet, his mouth set in a firm line. “Alvarez isn’t just a dealer. He’s deep into conflict diamond smuggling, running a direct pipeline from West Africa into Europe and the U.S.”

Keely swallowed hard, but she wasn’t about to let fear seep in.

“So, what?” she asked, tilting her head. “I just happened to grab the one suitcase filled with his blood diamonds?”

Jesse’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “That wasn’t an accident.”

Dawson shook his head. “We think it was a drop. Someone was supposed to pick it up after you left the show.”

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