Page 19 of Montana Rain

Cole nodded. “Yeah.” My eyebrows rose in question, and he answered it before I could even ask, because Cole’s eyes had never left mine. “I might be helping out on the ranch while I’m here so I don’t lose my mind in solitude.”

“Oh.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking at the guys and finally back at me.

Daniel gestured to me. “Rayne can fill you in if she likes. In the meantime, we’ll look into it and let you know.”

I glanced at my phone. Time to go if I was going to make a stop at Deja Brew to shut my stomach up before getting to the office and ready for my first session of the day. “Thank you. Really.”

I walked past Cole, and he followed me outside. “Rayne, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing. Just me being overly paranoid.”

“Maybe I can help.”

Despite wanting to turn to him, I didn’t. “I don’t need saving, Cole.” I didn’t need the confusion he brought into my head. I didn’t need the temptation he represented. I needed to stay clear.

He didn’t follow me down the stairs, but he was still standing there watching as I started my car and drove away. I didn’t stop at Deja Brew. Tea in my office would have to do. Seeing Lena and having her question things wasn’t something I was ready for. But telling them? Having friends who had my back?

All I felt was relief.

I parked my car around the back of my office like I normally did, leaving the curb parking on Main Street for my clients. They had enough to worry about without fighting for parking. My keys jingled, familiar and soothing.

Until I reached for my doorknob, and the door floated open in front of me.

Oh god.

I pushed the door open, and the papers on the floor told me enough. The office was a mess. The front room with all my records and the office itself. Every drawer had been emptied, and every book was off the shelf. My computer was intact, and nothing was broken. At first glance, it looked like nothing was missing.

But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. I was the last person to see a murder victim alive, and now my office was in pieces. Even I had a hard time believing this was a coincidence.

But I would cling to hope until the last possible second.

Chapter 9

Cole

I knew better than to ask the guys why Rayne was at the ranch. They wouldn’t violate her privacy, nor should they. But I couldn’t ignore what I was feeling either. Something was wrong.

My instincts were going crazy. Granted, my instincts hadn’t served me well over the last year. But when it came to Rayne? That was a different story.

I followed them into the security office, where Jude was already sitting. My eyes strayed to the screen before I could even think better of it, and I registered the word Chicago.

That was all I needed. I might be on leave, but I was still an agent. I had people I could talk to.

“So, we don’t have any problems with you helping out,” Daniel said, sitting down. “Depending on what needs to happen day-to-day. We’re still stalled on the building, but once we’re clear, we’re happy to have you there. In the meantime, we can train you to work with the animals and anything else that comes up. Especially after the new building opens, we’ll need people. But this will be a good test.”

I chuckled. “I’ll just be happy to get out of the cabin. Wherever you need me is fine. But can I start tomorrow?”

The test was something we’d already talked about. This was an opportunity to see how well I integrated into the culture here and if the rest of the guys could see me closing the gap my run of being an asshole had created. One family dinner was good, but it wasn’t enough to heal everything. Nor should it be.

Liam shrugged. “We’re not huge on schedules here. As long as everything gets done, we’re happy. If there’s something that’s actually urgent or needs to be on a schedule, we’ll let you know.”

“Something come up today?” Jude asked, looking at me. His screen was conspicuously blank now.

“Yeah,” I said. “Need to make some calls. Not sure how long it will take.”

Neither of those statements was a lie.

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