FIFTY-SIX
No idea who?” A stunned expression on his face, Jack kept her pinned with his gaze as he listened to Nathan. “This just gets better and better. Keep me updated. I’m getting out of here soon.”
He ended the call and handed the cell over to Terra.
She moved closer and wrapped her fingers around it. “What is it, Jack? What did he say?”
“Someone shot and killed Leif.”
What? She let the shock of that news roll over her. She hated to think it, but that almost seemed a fitting end. Still, she gasped and tried to step back, but Jack stood and gently grabbed her wrist, then reeled her in. He urged her even closer until their foreheads touched.
Being so near, especially when she wasn’t sure she had control over her emotions, scared her. She tried to back away, but he held her in place. He was much stronger than she imagined he would be after his injury.
“What ... what are you doing?” Her voice came out breathy and revealed far too much emotion. She didn’t know if she could hide it anymore. Hide behind the facade of professionalism that had been required to work this case with him.
Did he know how he affected her? Did he understand how deeply she cared for him, despite her efforts to move on? Jack had been her world back then. And if she wasn’t careful, he might become her world again. She could see it happening so easily, feel it happening when he held her like this.
“I’m holding you close, that’s what. I’m holding this moment close. I almost lost you out there. I can’t let that happen ever again.”
“Me? You were the one who was shot. If anything, you almost lost yourself. What happened to you? I mean, before you came back to Montana. Don’t hide it from me. I saw how haunted you were that first day we met again.”
A few breaths passed, then he said, “I lost someone close to me. Someone important. I failed them.”
“Who did you lose?”
“I can’t talk about it yet. Not until ... just trust me, I’ll tell you someday. Maybe soon. But in the meantime, I want you to know that I don’t want to lose you again.”
He spoke in the language of hearts, and deep inside, she understood all too well that he was still emotionally connected to her. Jack gently touched the back of her neck and drew her closer ... closer. She lingered near his lips, waiting for him.
But Jack waited on her, his way of asking permission.
With her heart calling the shots, her mind had no control to stop what came next as she closed the distance. Tenderness surged between them while a whirlwind of past and present emotions swirled in her mind. Their hearts connected, touched, entwined. Jack deepened the kiss until he left her breathless. Terra broke away to catch her breath but lingered near, her heart beating erratically.
“We have unfinished business, you and I,” Jack said.
Did they?
The tenderness, longing, and desire pouring from him could draw her deeper, if she wasn’t careful. Putting up the wall required to walk away would take every ounce of her strength.
She eased away, her heart cracking, breaking all over again as the whirlwind of their past died down, leaving her with the memories of brokenness. “I’ve lost people too, Jack. Whether by an avalanche or by choice, people I love have left me, and I don’t have it in me to set myself up to feel that pain again. I’m sorry.” Owen, Gramps, Alex, and Erin made up the small circle of people she could trust. But as far as giving over her heart like she once had to Jack? No.
I can do this. I have to do this.
She took a full step back and stiffened her backbone. “Now that I know you’re going to be okay, I should go. Our business, Jack, our personal business, is finished. It’s over. You left me, walked out on us before, and I won’t let you do that again.”
Terra gathered her bag and headed for the door.
“You don’t understand. Terra, wait—”
In the predawn hours, Terra sat in her vehicle, Jack’s last words to her as she walked out of his hospital room still echoing through her mind and heart. What had she done? Had she just wanted to be the one to walk away this time?
She swiped at the tears. She had plenty to distract her from the pain. Staring at her grandfather’s ranch house, she tried to work up the nerve to go inside. Worry had kept her company through the night while staying in Jack’s room. She had also wanted to head to Gramps’s house to speak with Owen. To warn them both. Terra believed that Owen had nothing to do with his friend’s crimes. What’s more, he had to be devastated at the news.
Owen ... was a hero.
She was half surprised no law enforcement vehicles were at the house now. She’d known the sheriff’s department would want to talk to Owen because of his association with Leif. Maybe he had opted to answer their questions at the county offices rather than upset Gramps. Or bring potential issues into a political campaign that was only beginning.
So, she sat in her vehicle, helpless to fight the uncertainty that had settled in her gut. Her superior could very well remove her from this investigation completely now.