Page 10 of Grayson's Angel

Chapter 5

No matterhow hard Grayson tried, he couldn’t forget the brown-eyed angel on the plane. Her golden-blond hair had reminded him of a halo. Her tight white shirt had molded to her curves and accented her perfect figure. When she spoke, her husky voice had gone straight to his groin.

An image of Kara floated through his head, causing his pants to tighten.

It had been too damn long since he’d gotten laid. He hadn’t been with a woman since he’d been injured. Even before then, he’d been getting sick of one-night stands. He’d been in the hospital in Germany for three months before he was discharged. Then he came straight home to take over Lazy S Ranch after his father passed away.

Grayson was ready to find “the one.” Maybe when he got home from Wyoming, he would start dating again. No, scratch that. I’m going to set up profiles on every dating website, no maybes about it. I’m not getting any younger.

He tapped his fingers on the center console of the F150 he had rented, waiting for the traffic to clear. The fresh, crisp Montana air breezed in through the open window. The smell of lavender filtered into the truck, reminding him of the blond-haired angel. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

The sound of the phone ringing through the car speakers interrupted his thoughts. Clicking the hands-free button, Grayson answered the phone.

“Hello.”

“How close are you to Eagle Ridge?”

“I stopped and picked up a few things for the fishing trip. I should be at Oak Creek in thirty minutes. Are we heading out to the fishing cabin tonight or tomorrow?”

“Bear is finishing up a case as we speak. We were all planning to go up tomorrow. Tonight, I figure you and I could get caught up, and Sadie can’t wait to meet you.”

Grayson had met Hank ten years ago when his SEAL team worked with Grayson’s to retrieve a captured solider in the Paktika province of Afghanistan. The solider had walked away from his post at night to meet a local woman he had fallen for. She claimed her son was missing and needed help to find him. But she turned on him and led him into a trap. The solider had spent three weeks being tortured before they could save him. The soldier they rescued, Travis Carpenter, had never fully recovered from his torture and took his life a few years back.

“Sounds like—”

The door to thetruck swung open with so much force that the metal ground in protest. A puff of white shoved into the passenger seat of the vehicle. When the blond-haired angel from earlier that morning peeked through the dress, Grayson couldn’t help but stare in astonishment, but a loud gunshot soon captured his attention.

“Go!” she screamed.

The second shot hit the window and shattered the glass. Cars were coming toward them in the other lane, so making a split-second decision, Grayson jerked the wheel to the right and put his foot down on the gas. Kara let out a loud squeal when the first wheel went over the curb. In his peripheral vision, he saw her hand shoot up to the oh-shit bar.

Once all tires were on the sidewalk, Grayson laid on the horn, hoping everyone on the sidewalk would get out of their way.

He had forgotten Hank was still on the phone until his voice came through the speakers. “What the hell is going on, Gray?”

Kara startled at Hank’s voice.

“Uh, not much. Bride of Chucky jumped in my car, and then I was shot at. You know, the usual when you’re on vacation.”

Grayson thought he could feel Kara glaring at him. When he glanced her way, his assumption was confirmed. She looked wild, and her eyes burned with emotion.

“Are you headed out to the ranch so we can figure out what’s going on?”

Grayson quickly assessed the woman in the passenger seat. Her face was stained with tears, and her dress was covered in blood. Kara grasped a bloody pair of scissors so hard that her knuckles were white. She needed to be protected, and he would do everything in his power to make sure she was.

“No, but I need to go somewhere.”

Through the phone, he could hear Hank shifting in what sounded like a leather chair. He let out a long breath. “Why don’t you come out here, and we can figure out what is going on together.”

Grayson let out a frustrated breath. “I’m not bringing this to your doorstep. You have a wife and child at your house. I’m not sure what we’re dealing with quite yet. If it ends up being something little, we’ll head out to the ranch. The men shooting at us were on foot when I jumped the curb and took the corner. It looks like we lost them.”

“There is a motel ten miles north of town. It's called Hill Ridge. Get a room, figure out what is going on, and then give me an update.”

“Grayson!” she screamed in a hoarse voice.

When he glanced into the rearview mirror, he saw a black town car was close to rear-ending the truck. “Hank, I’ll call you later tonight. I have a tail to lose.” Not waiting for an answer, he clicked the end-call button on the steering wheel.

“You want to tell me what the hell is going on?” Grayson growled. “Hold on.”

---