Page 28 of The Wrangler

His grip tightened, his fingers digging into her hips, holding her there like he wasn’t ready to let go. Then, quietly, like it was the hardest damn thing he’d ever admitted, he rasped, “I’m falling for you.”

Keely went still. Her heart stopped, then restarted, slamming against her ribs. Jesse’s gaze was burning, his walls shattered, and for the first time since she had met him, she saw everything he had been holding back.

She swallowed hard. “Say it again.”

Jesse pressed his lips softly against hers, just once, before pulling back. Reality crashed back in. The dead men outside. The bullet wound he’d taken for her. They knew Nico Alvarez wasn’t finished with them yet. The fact that Jesse Bryant was falling for her.

“I’m falling for you,” he repeated. “But we have bigger problems to deal with first.”

“So, you’re saying falling for me is a problem?”

He chuckled before cupping the back of her head, pulling her close, and kissing her hard. When he came up for air, he said, “Call the office. Tell them we’re coming in…”

“We’re going to the hospital…”

“No. They can patch me up there. Tell them we’re coming in, ping them from my phone so they know where the house is, and tell them we’re going to need someone to clean up the bodies.”

“I think we should call 9-1-1 and have them send an ambulance and the cops.”

“Not your call. If you can’t do what you’re told, give me the damn phone and I’ll do it myself.”

Keely inhaled deeply, forcing herself to step back. Jesse was right, and he knew far better than she did how to handle this. She picked up the phone and did as he asked, surprised at how calm her voice sounded. After hanging up, she cleaned and bandaged the wound as best she could.

She helped Jesse out to his truck. Surprisingly, the barrage of bullets hadn’t hit it. He didn’t even protest when she helped him into the passenger side and got behind the wheel. She floored the truck, steering around the bodies and getting them the hell out of there.

This wasn’t over—not any of it.

10

JESSE

Jesse had spent most of his life preparing for war. He’d suffered dozens of wounds, leaving their scars on his body, yet nothing prepared him for the gut-wrenching fear of losing Keely. Keely handled herself better than most trained soldiers and ensured his wound received treatment.

He’d trained his body, his mind, his instincts, all with one purpose—to protect, to survive, to win. But as he sat in the dimly lit conference room of the Silver Spur Security offices, his team surrounding him, maps and weapons spread out across the wooden table, he realized this fight was different.

Because this time, it wasn’t just an op. This time, it was Keely.

They’d locked off their floor of the building so the only way up was via a private elevator they’d had installed. Someone could try to climb up, rappel down or come at them with a helicopter, but when they’d moved in, Gavin and Reed had paid to replace all the windows on their floor with bulletproof glass.

Reed stood at the head of the table, arms crossed, his face carved from stone. His eyes burned with something Jesse knew too well—rage, frustration, and fear.

“We hit them before they hit us,” Reed said, his voice sharp. “I’m done waiting for Alvarez to make his move.”

Gavin nodded, his expression just as serious. “We tracked down his last known location—he’s holed up in a compound outside of town. Security’s tight, but nothing we can’t handle.”

Jesse rubbed his bearded stubble on his jaw. “And the diamonds?”

Hawke pulled up a file on his tablet. “We’ve picked up some chatter. He knows we still have them. We think he was planning a trade before Keely ended up with the wrong suitcase.”

Jesse’s jaw clenched. “So this was never about her. It was about losing his payday.”

Dawson tapped a knife against the table. “Doesn’t matter. We all know guys like Alvarez don’t just walk away.”

Reed’s gaze flicked toward Jesse, something unreadable in his eyes. “This isn’t just another job. If we go in, we go in knowing there’s no backing out.”

Jesse met his stare. “I never back out.”

The words settled between them. The plan was simple—hit Alvarez hard, take out his men, and end this before it got any worse. But simple didn’t mean safe, and there was a myriad of things that could go wrong.

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