Page 73 of Tormented Hearts

He may not have said the three words she hoped to hear from him, but those three—always for you—gave her hope that it might be the same thing.

Chapter Sixteen

What a hell of a way to heal, spending days in bed with Sinead tucked in beside him.

It made what he had to do all the harder.

Hawk hovered over the bed, careful not to jostle her awake. She was so damn strong, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t affected by their ordeal. Days of hiking difficult terrain, sleeping rough…and finally ending with him getting shot…had taken its toll on her.

He saw it in the paleness of her face each time he woke and found her sleeping on the pillow beside him.

He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and felt her start awake. “Sorry, darlin’. Didn’t meant to wake you.”

Her eyes fluttered open, the depths hazy from sleep but as deep as the finest walnut.

“Stay in bed as long as you want,” he murmured.

She grabbed his shirt before he could straighten, the sleep in her eyes replaced by panic. “Where are you going?”

“To find out who sent those mercs.”

She held on tighter, fear rippling over her face. “Promise me you’ll be careful, Heath. Promise me you won’t try to be a hero.”

He gave her a crooked twist of his lips. “You know better.”

He eased back from the bed, careful of his side, and stared at her for a heartbeat longer, taking in her mussed hair and eyes gone soft with worry, before he made himself turn and walk out.

He left the guest lodgings in the therapy lodge and walked out into the mountain air.

The scent of the mountains greeted him first—a crisp, pine smell that roused a lot of memories for him, both old and new. He sucked in deep pulls and felt the light tug of his stitches.

The ranch was already alive, with people walking back from sunrise yoga with Zee or going about ranch chores. One of the vets, Deke Truman, emerged from the hay shed, a bale balanced on one shoulder, on his way to the paddock.

He spotted Hawk and lifted his free hand to thumb his hat in greeting.

Hawk gave a nod in return and continued to the security office. When he entered, Ayla looked up from her computer. Her gaze swept over him in a quick assessment, professional and yet warm at seeing him out of bed.

“Well, look at you. Standing upright. No wincing. A few days ago, you looked like you’d lost a fight with a woodchipper.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Guess I heal fast.”

Lex walked out of the war room, surprising him with her presence. She must have flown in from the city to work more closely on a project.

“Guess you’re stubborn,” she said, coming to lean against Ayla’s desk, not looking up from her phone. “Did Carson actually clear you, or did you just decide you were fine?”

“He cleared me for light duty.”

Lex glanced up, appearing unimpressed. “Tracking down the guy who hired these mercs is light duty now?”

Ayla made a noise between a laugh and a warning, but she returned to her computer screen.

“Compared to getting shot? Sure.” Hawk moved toward the war room.

Lex stopped him in his tracks with her words. “You really are one of the team.”

His chest welled. He knew what she was getting at. No one had said it quite that way before, but he saw it in the way the team treated him. Taking a bullet didn’t make him part of the team—his devotion to his role did.

He gave her a small nod and entered the war room.