Guardian Ranger (Shadow Agents #2)(53)

His lips took hers.

A knock sounded at the door. A knock that he was very, very glad hadn’t sounded about one minute sooner.

But Veronica’s eyes still widened in alarm and her cheeks stained more with that lovely red. “Oh, no, do you think—”

“I think you should stay exactly where you are. It’s just Logan or Sydney, coming with some extra clothes for you.” He’d forgotten all about them until that moment.

He rose from the bed, pulled the covers over her and bent to grab the clothes that he didn’t even remember ditching.

But Veronica was already hopping out of the bed. “I’m not staying here naked! What if they know—what if—”

Oh, they knew, all right. He was pretty sure that Logan understood the hungry looks he’d been shooting at Veronica.

Unless he was very, very bad at reading people, there’d been a whole lot of desire and longing looks passing between Gunner and Sydney for months.

His team understood lust.

As for him, he was starting to understand love.

He headed for the door. After he checked through the peephole, he pulled it open. Because he didn’t want to embarrass Veronica any more, he only opened the door a few inches.

Logan lifted a brow even as he also raised a small paper bag. “Some fresh clothes for your lady.” The guy’s voice was carefully expressionless.

Jasper tried to remember if he’d been...loud. Had he bellowed Veronica’s name?

Logan’s knowing look said, yep, he had. “Not a word to her,” Jasper growled. No one would insult Veronica.

Logan nodded. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” But then his face hardened. “Sydney just got a hit on the deputy’s cell phone. It turned on near Cale and Veronica’s ranch.”

The deputy must have doubled back. Maybe he was still looking for the evidence Veronica had taken from Reed’s computer, hoping that Veronica didn’t have it on her.

Too bad. The EOD has the files.

“We’re going hunting.” Logan cocked his head. “You in with us?”

Jasper looked over his shoulder at Veronica. She had belted the robe around her body again. She stared back at him with wide eyes.

“No,” he said slowly as he turned back to face Logan. “I’m staying with Veronica. I don’t want her alone.” Not until he was exactly sure what they were dealing with. Deputy Jimmy Jones had looked like a scared kid the few times Jasper had seen him.

Jimmy had been at the police station the night it was torched. Wyatt had said the kid was in the back, and the flames and explosions had first started back there. And when Wyatt went looking for him, Jimmy had been gone.

Gone because he’d been outside, killing witnesses?

It sure looked that way.

And Jimmy looked like a scared kid.

“I thought you might say that.... Wyatt’s inside the TH.” Temporary Headquarters. Jasper knew the lingo. Logan continued. “He and Gunner are going to stay behind with Cale. Veronica could go there with them. She could—”

“No,” Jasper said. He wasn’t leaving her.

“Yes,” Veronica responded at the same time. She grabbed the bag of clothes from Jasper’s hand and pulled the door open even wider. “If you need backup, then Jasper’s coming with you.”

Logan glanced between them.

Her hand brushed against Jasper. “This is your job. You make sure that Jimmy comes in alive—he can come back and clear my brother.”

Because proving her brother’s innocence was the one thing that mattered most to Veronica.

“Logan has backup,” Jasper said, still not willing to leave her. “Sydney’s damn good at her job and—”

“It’s a whole lot of land. It’s a guy who knows the area,” Veronica said, “and you’re tracking him through a storm. If Sydney’s found a link to him out at my ranch, you can’t waste time. Go find him.”

Because it was what she wanted, he nodded.

“We leave in five,” Logan said as he stepped back.

Five minutes. Not long. Jasper shut the door. Pulled Veronica against him. “When I come back, you and I are gonna finalize some things.”

She frowned up at him.

“The EOD.” Jasper heaved out a breath as he tried to find the right words. “It doesn’t have to be the only thing for me.” He’d had another dream, one that had whispered through his mind for years.

The picket fence. A family.

Someone he loved.

“Finish this job,” she whispered to him. “Come back, and we start fresh.”

Sounded like one fine idea to him.

He kissed her and knew that he wouldn’t, couldn’t fail on this hunt.

*

HE WATCHED THE EOD agents leave. They thought they were so smart. Tracking him. Closing in. They didn’t realize their mistake.

He’d been the one to turn on the cell phone so they could do their GPS tracking. He wanted them out on that ranch.

Because while the EOD was away, it gave him plenty of time to play.

He smiled and checked his weapon. Perfect.

They could search that ranch all night if they wanted. It would give him the chance he needed to take care of business.

He glanced down at his chest. At the stupid star near his heart. People acted as if that star was supposed to mean something to him.