Page 9 of Wyoming Cowboy Undercover

She didn’t know how long it took, but eventually the shaking subsided and her lungs loosened.

“Open your eyes, Mercy.”

When she did, he was crouched close in front of her. She met his gentle, concerned gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you dare apologize.”

She pressed a hand to her clammy forehead. “I don’t know what happened.”

“I think I do.” He studied her face, frowning at whatever he saw there. “You had a panic attack. Have there been any big changes in your life? Anything different going on to cause you anxiety?”

Panic attack?

Sometimes her life behind the gates of the compound felt so small. Sometimes it was hard to breathe because her very existence was shrinking, withering, under her father’s thumb. But this was the first time she had manifested any physical symptoms.

“This is my last training session.” Dread bubbled inside her, the thought of not having any future sessions withhimunbearable. She warred with her self-preservation instincts. “My father won’t allow me to come back.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Tears that she refused to shed pricked her eyes. She wasn’t a spoiled brat. She never whined. Never complained. Only complied. Like a dutiful daughter. “The point is I won’t be able to see you anymore.” She caught herself, at how that must have sounded to him. Embarrassment creeped through her. This was about Rocco more than anything else, but she didn’t want him to know that. “I mean come back to USD for training.”

Rocco cupped her face in his big hand. Something shifted between them, the air charging with latent electricity. There was no denying her attraction to him. Every time she saw him it got harder and harder to hide it.

But now she wondered if it was one-sided.

“Why do you stay with the movement?” He caressed her cheek, sending tingles through her. “You don’t seem happy there.”

Such a small question, but the answer was huge, layered with years of habit and doctrine and love. Love for her community. Love for her father, as overbearing as he was.

The Light can illuminate. But it can also blind.

She dismissed that little voice in her head that crept up in her moments of doubt. “It’s complicated. I don’t really have a choice.”

He grimaced. “Are people forced to stay against their will? I thought anyone could leave at any time.”

Anyone but her. “The others aren’t forced.”

“But you are?”

She bit her lip. “It’s getting late. There isn’t time to explain it all to you.”

“Then let me come with you to your community.”

Reeling back, she stared at him in disbelief. “Into the compound?”

“Yes.”

“Why? To be reborn in the movement? I didn’t think it was for you.” It was part of the reason she found him so alluring, so appealing. He never judged and never showed any interest in joining.

“I’m worried about you. So often you talk about your family behind that wall, but not once have I ever heard you mention any friends. It must be lonely.”

He saw right through her. Was she that obvious to everyone? Or had she simply overshared with him?

“We could continue our training classes on the compound,” he said. “Where I can watch over you. Be the friend you need.”

Their time together had become a sort of therapy. She talked to Rocco in a way that she couldn’t with anyone else. Asked him any question. No subject off-limits. No topic inappropriate. No fear of him reporting back what was discussed.

She had an affinity with him that she wasn’t ready to lose.

---