HARPER
Ihit the bridge doing sixty, holding my breath, my heart somewhere in my throat.
The scene is chaos. Broken railing. Skid marks. My headlights catch the edge of the ravine where the steel barrier is justgone, torn away like paper.
Luke’s truck is parked at an angle just beyond, driver’s door open, engine still running.
No Luke.
“Shit.” Stopping behind Luke’s truck, I’m out and running to the railing. My hand goes to my radio to call dispatch before I remember I don’t have my uniform on.
I stop, because that’s when I see him.
Luke. Climbing out of the ravine. Soaking wet, his shirt plastered to his chest, water streaming off him in the glow of my headlights.
I blow out a breath, practically wilting I’m so relieved he’s okay. I start walking toward him, about to rip him a new one for scaring me to death.
Only then I realize he’s carrying a woman.
She’s shaking so hard I can almost hear her teeth clattering. There are zip ties around her wrists and ankles. Her face and arms are covered in bruises.
“Jesus Christ.” The words come out before I can stop them.
Luke’s eyes snap to mine, as if he heard me, though I know he couldn’t have over the roar of the water. He doesn’t look smug. Doesn’t look cocky. He looks like a man who just pulled someone out of hell and isn’t sure what comes next.
He knew she was in the van. Does he know who she is? Who tied her up like that? The van came off the access road from Emma’s Circle H—why? How did Luke know the van was going to be there? What did the text say and who sent it?
The questions pile up fast, and there’s only one thing I know clearly: I just stepped into something a lot bigger than I anticipated.
12
LUKE
Harper Garrett stands in the glow of her headlights, worry written all over her face—for me.
It hits me like a punch. She’s worried aboutme.
The realization settles heavy in my chest, equal parts warmth and regret, because she’s a cop and I’m about to do something she’s not going to like.
13
HARPER
Imove toward them on instinct, already shrugging out of my jacket. “What the hell, Luke? You could have been killed.”
He flashes a grin at me as he strides toward me, effortlessly carrying the woman in his arms. “Would you miss me?”
“Asshole.” I don’t say that I would. Instead, I move toward them. “Here, she’s freezing.”
Luke stops, the woman cradled gently in his arms.
Up close she looks even worse, because I can see the fear in her eyes. Wanting to ask her what happened but knowing she’s in no condition to answer, I make what I hope are reassuring noises as I tuck my coat around her shoulders. My hands brush Luke’s chest, which is practically naked for all the good his wet shirt is doing, and the shock of touching him makes me look up.
We’re close—close enough that I can feel the cold radiating off his wet skin. He looks at me like I just did something that mattered, and I can’t look away.
“I’ll explain everything,” Luke says, his gaze steady on mine, for once somber, with no humor. “But not here. We need to get her warm, get her in a vehicle, and secure this scene before anyone shows up. Come on.”
I look into the darkness past the railing. “Secure the scene how?”