Search and Rescue by April Wilson

Chapter 34

Hannah

Late the next night, we arrive home to a dark and empty cabin. Scout is staying with Maggie and her boys, so we won’t get him until tomorrow. Killian starts a fire in the woodstove while I get ready for bed. Then he gets ready for bed, and by the time he crawls under the bedding with me, I’m half-asleep.

“Goodnight, McIntyre,” he says as he presses a gentle kiss to my temple.

Snuggling into him, I sigh. “Goodnight, Devereaux.”

Both of us exhausted, we crash immediately.

* * *

The next morning, I rise with the sun and dress for my first day back to work. Sadly, it’s also going to be the day I give Ray my two-week notice. It’s bittersweet to think about giving up my job. I love it, but I love Killian more. And the idea of working with him—hiking, climbing, backpacking in the mountains, spending every day with him—is too good to pass up.

By the time I’m out of the bathroom. I dress for work in black cargo pants, a tank top for an undershirt, and my unform long-sleeved sweatshirt. I load my big pockets with a few necessities—bear spray, a small flashlight, and a pocket knife. I also carry a handgun and a hunting knife with me when I go out into the field, but I won’t be needing those today as I’ll be staying put in the Center.

When I head to the kitchen, Killian has breakfast waiting for me on the table.

I glance down at an amazing spread. “You’re going to spoil me.”

He laughs. “This is nothing. You should see what my mama and grandmama serve for breakfast. It’s practically a three-course meal.” He smiles as he pours me a coffee, then hands me the sugar bowl and the caramel creamer. “Will you be okay today—turning in your notice? I can come with you if you want.”

I can’t help smiling because I think it’s cute when he gets all protective. Totally unnecessary, but cute. “No, I’ll be fine. But thanks for the offer.”

“Do you want me to go get Scout this morning and bring him home?”

“Yes, please,” I say, leaning in to kiss him. “That would be awesome.”

He holds his hand out to me. “Your phone, please.”

“Why?” Curious, I hand him my phone. “What are you doing?”

“I’m adding a little app the company created so that clients could signal their bodyguards in times of emergency.” He makes a few adjustments before he turns my phone so I can see the screen. There’s a bright red triangle on the screen with a giant exclamation mark on it. “If you activate the app and tap the red alert icon, I’ll be notified immediately, and GPS will tell me your exact location. Got it? You try it.”

I press the red alert icon, and immediately Killian’s phone sounds a klaxon-type alarm, loud and shrill.

He reaches over to silence the alarm. “It’s that easy. I want you to have it in case you get into trouble. You call me first, got it? Then call nine-one-one.”

“Got it.” I rise up off my chair and lean across the table to kiss him. “You get me the sweetest gifts.”

While he’s clearing the table, I run to the bathroom to brush my teeth and put my hair up in a ponytail. Then I kiss Killian goodbye and head out to my Jeep.

Killian’s rugged and slightly battered black Jeep Wrangler is parked next to mine. The sight makes me smile—his and hers Jeeps. His looks a little worse for wear, though, and could definitely use a wash. I thought I was hard on vehicles, but he has me beat.

On the drive to work, my pulse is definitely elevated. I’m glad to be returning to the conservation center, and it’ll be great to see everyone again, but the knowledge that I’ll be turning in my notice is weighing on me. I’ve thought it over, again and again, and the bottom line is, I want to spend my days working with Killian. I know I can learn a lot from him, especially when it comes to climbing.

As I pull into the parking lot at nine o’clock, I feel a bit overwhelmed. I’ve always loved my job, whether I’m giving a tour of the rehab center to schoolkids or going out in the field to check on animals we’re monitoring. I love the people I work with; they’re all dedicated to wildlife conservation and protection. It’s not just a job to us; it’s a calling. And Ray Calhoun has been an incredible mentor to me since I started here. I’ve learned so much from him, and he’s given me so many opportunities.

When I walk inside, I’m greeted by the whole staff, who are congregating around the reception desk.

Ray is front and center, and he gives me a big bear hug. “Welcome back, Hannah. We missed you.”

I start off my day by conducting a few class tours of the facility and working behind the scenes with some animals that recently came to us for rehab—mostly easy stuff. Ray says he doesn’t want me going out into the field for a while, until I’m sure my ankle is fully healed. I discover that a few of the animals I was taking care of are now gone—successfully returned to their natural habitats while I was out on sick leave. I guess I missed a lot in the past six weeks.

I try to keep focused on the here and now—what needs to be done today. And I answer a lot of questions from my colleagues about what happened on Eagle Ridge, about my rescue, and about Killian. Apparently, word has gotten around about him, and my friends are curious.

By four o’clock, the Center is quiet as most of the staff have left for the day. I wanted to wait until everyone was gone before I told Ray about my decision to leave. My stomach sinks at the thought of telling him. This is my first job after graduate school, and it’s not easy for me to just walk away.

When I catch Ray in the classroom, labeling some new fossils he picked up on a recent field excursion, I take a deep breath to psych myself up. “Hey, Ray. Can we talk?”

He straightens and turns to face me, a warm smile on his handsome face. “Sure. Let me wrap up here, and we can talk in my office. I’ll meet you there in a sec.”

On my way to his office, I grab a cup of coffee, mostly to give myself something to do. I’m hoping that cradling a hot mug in my hands will soothe my jangled nerves. When I head to his office, I find the door open, which is typical. He’s an open-door kind of guy, always available to anyone who needs him. I walk in and take a seat in front of his desk. But I’m too nervous to sit, so I end up standing and pacing as I rehearse my speech.

When I hear footsteps, my pulse rockets into overdrive.

Here we go.

Just breathe, Hannah.

You’re not the first person to quit a job, and you won’t be the last.

My heart thuds in my chest as Ray walks into his office, carrying a cup of coffee. “Hi, Hannah.” He smiles widely. “God, it’s good to have you back. I—we—really missed you.”

That makes me feel even more guilty. “Thanks.”

“So, how did your first day back go?”

“Great. It’s good to be back here. I missed everyone, too.”

He sets his cup down on his desk. “I’m so relieved you’ve recovered from that horrible incident.” He glances down at my left ankle. “How’s your leg? All healed?”

I nod as I wiggle my foot. “Good as new.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear it. So, is your babysitter heading back to Chicago soon?”

“My babysitter—oh, you mean Killian. Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

He frowns. “What’s wrong?”

I take a deep breath. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that Killian’s not leaving. He’ll be staying here in Bryce. With me. He’s starting his own business here.” Feeling guilty after receiving such a warm reception today, I wince. “So, I guess this is me, tendering my resignation.”

Ray’s expression transforms instantly into sheer shock.

“I’m really sorry,” I say. “You’ve been such a great—”

His frown deepens into a scowl. “What the hell, Hannah? You can’t be serious.” His voice is uncharacteristically harsh.

The hairs on the back of my neck rise and a shudder runs through me. “Yeah, Killian’s forming a wilderness excursion company, and I’m going to help him run it. We’re also going to train Scout to—”

Ray steps in front of me, really close—too close. He shakes his head. “Hannah, you can’t.” He lifts his hand, and for a moment I think he’s going to touch my face, but at the last second he drops it.

Muttering, he turns away, then back to me. “I had no idea there was anything personal going on between you two. If I had—damn it, Hannah! You hardly know the man. You can’t just quit your job for him.”

“Actually, we’ve known each other for a while now, and there’s always been something—some kind of connection—between us. It’s only recently that we acted on it.”

“You acted on it?” Ray’s expression tightens, his complexion flushing darkly. “What does that mean? You let him fuck you? Jesus!” He begins pacing, clearly angry and agitated. “Hannah, I’ve been biding my time, waiting for you to come back to work before I—”

Biding his time for what? “Ray—”

“Hannah.” He returns to face me and grabs my upper arms. Then he slides his hands down my arms to take my hands in his. “I have feelings for you, Hannah. I had thought—I’d hoped—that you felt something for me, too.” He sighs in exasperation. “Please don’t make any hasty decisions. Let me take you out for dinner tonight, just the two of us. We should have done this a long time ago. We’ll drive to Loganville, and I’ll take you to Valentino’s. I know you love that place.”

Oh, shit. Killian was right. And I told him he was crazy when he said Ray had feelings for me. I yank my hands out of his. “Ray, I’m sorry, but—”

“No! Don’t say it.” He presses his finger to my lips. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“That’s not up to you.”

When I pull out of his reach, he frowns. “Listen to me, Hannah,” he says, his voice softening as he tries to cajole me. “You and I are perfect for each other. We do the same work. We have the same passion for wildlife conservation and rehabilitation.” He takes a step in my direction. “I always thought that, eventually, we’d end up together. It just makes sense.”

“Ray, I’m sorry.” I smile, hoping to soften the blow. “You’ve been a great boss and a fantastic mentor, and I respect you tremendously, but I don’t feel that way about you.”

“How can you tell if you haven’t even given me a chance?” His voice has turned sharp again, resentful.

“Ray, you’re my boss.”

“So?”

“Aren’t there rules against that?”

He gives me a tight smile. “I’m the boss, sweetheart. I make the rules.”

Ray grabs my hand and pulls me flush against him. His other hand steals around to the small of my back and presses me even closer.

I can feel the ridge of his erection digging into me. “Ray, no!”

“You let Devereaux touch you, don’t you? I bet you let him do all sorts of filthy things to you, so why not me?”

I can’t believe this is happening. I try to pull away, but he’s holding me fast. My heart jackhammers in my chest, knocking against my ribs and making it difficult to breathe. “Let go of me!”

His hand at my back slides up, and he grips the back of my neck, hard. His nostrils flare in anger—or perhaps it’s arousal—and his lips are pressed into flat lines. “I’ve waited patiently for you, Hannah, but obviously that was a mistake. I was trying to be considerate—trying to give you time to realize how good we’d be together.”

I laugh bitterly. “You call this perfect?” I ask as I struggle to free myself from his grasp. “This is sexual harassment, Ray. This is sexual assault. I could report you for this.”

His expression turns cold. “You’ve been leading me on since you got here. All the pretty smiles and the chit-chatting, inviting me out to lunch—”

“Those were team lunches. Everyone was invited.”

“All the times you sat next to me.” His voice is pure accusation. “You’ve done nothing but lead me on.”

The man has lost his mind, and I feel sick. “You’re my boss, Ray. My mentor. I thought we were friends. I wasn’t leading you on.”

“Oh, we’re more than friends, sweetheart.”

He releases my hand to cup my breast, his thumb brushing over my nipple. I shudder in revulsion, sickened by his touch. I trusted this man. I defended him to Killian when Killian said he thought Ray had ulterior motives.

“Enough! Let go of me, Ray.” My voice drops an octave, and the words come out in sharp bites. “I’m not telling you again. Let go.”

Then he kisses me—or at least he attempts to. Before his lips touch mine, I step back and drive my knee hard into his groin. It’s not often I get to use the self-defense techniques my brother Liam ingrained in my head, but I’m damn well going to use them now.

Ray gasps, releases me, and steps back. “What the hell!” He bends over and wraps his arms wrapped around his waist, his teeth gritted firmly as he rocks on his feet.

At least I got my point across.

Suddenly he straightens, and with fury in his eyes, he charges me, knocking me into the wall behind me. He grabs my wrists and pins them to the wall. “You fucking bitch!” he growls. He presses his mouth to mine and tries to force my lips apart.

I see red. Twisting my wrists, I break free of his hold. Then I shove my elbow into his throat, slamming into the soft tissues around his trachea. He steps back and wretches, coughing and gagging as he wraps his hands around his throat. While he’s distracted by the fact he can’t breathe, I slip my boot behind his and knock him back. He falls to the floor. Before he can recover, I roll him onto his belly, yank his wrists behind him, and secure them tightly with one of the zip ties in my pocket.

“You don’t fucking treat women like that, asshole.” Furious, I grab my phone and open Killian’s app to send him a red alert. Then I dial 911.

“You’d better hope the cops get here before Killian does,” I tell Ray as I step back to catch my breath. “Because if they don’t, I wouldn’t want to be you.”