“But he was your best friend. Had been since preschool.” Daniel laughed softly. “I think you spent more time at our place than you ever did your own.”
And that was for good reason. My parents…let’s just say, they were more interested in their careers than they’d ever been in having a child. I often thought I was just an experiment that had gone horribly wrong. I think they were relieved when I went to school and found other things to fill my time rather than making demands on theirs.
“I was sad when I heard you’d joined the Army. But I was also quite proud. And I think Joshua would have been, too.”
That was the first time anyone had said they were proud of me for my choices. I stared at my hands where they were still resting on the tops of my thighs. My fingers were spread, and they looked so powerful. So capable. But it was these hands that weren’t able to stop what happened to Joshua that night. And it was these hands that stood in the corridor of this same hospital and waited to find out just how badly I’d let my friend down.
I’d never expected the worst. Never thought I’d stand at the edge of his grave and watch as the funeral director pushed the button that would lower his coffin slowly into that hole they’d dug just for that purpose.
We were eighteen. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. We were supposed to have our whole lives ahead of us. But we didn’t.
And I often thought it was the wrong boy whose life was spared that night.
Chapter 3
Kate
My head was throbbing. I lay there, staring out the window at another clear, winter day, wondering who was taking over my loan applications and if they were throwing out the borderline credit risks instead of reading that person’s story the way I always did. It was all in the stories. But the other loan officers didn’t always agree.
I’ve missed an entire day. The doctors say that I hit my head—which explains the headache—but that my memory of Monday will eventually return. They also tell me that I was involved in an attack on the bank, and that Joe, the security guard, was killed. That upset me. I liked Joe. He often offered to walk me to my car even though it was just on the other side of the building in the employee parking lot. And he always had a smile for me that often cheered me up when I was having a bad day.
The police think I saw something. I told them that if I saw something, I would surely remember. But, just to be safe, my dad hired some security firm to watch over me—even after the police said it was likely unnecessary. The police were convinced it was simply a robbery attempt and that the perpetrators were long gone. But my dad tends to be a little overprotective.
When the door opened, I just assumed it was my dad or one of the nurses who kept taking my temperature, as if I wouldn’t notice if I suddenly started running a fever. I didn’t look to see which it was. The traffic rushing by on the street outside the windows was a hell of a lot more fascinating. But then there was the sound of a very masculine creature clearing his throat.
I turned, wincing a little as pain shot through my head, and beheld absolute perfection.
He was tall, his shoulders as wide as his hips were narrow. He was wearing a pair of slacks that hugged thighs that were at least as wide as a tree trunk, and an oxford shirt that was untucked and open at the collar, exposing tan skin that was not terribly uncommon in this part of the country, but still a lovely contrast to the starched whiteness of that shirt. His hair was dark and cut short—not quite a crew cut but cut fairly close. And he had the most intense green eyes I thought I’d ever seen.
“Please tell me you’re my bodyguard.”
He smiled and a subtle dimple appeared in one cheek.
Hell, if I could swoon…
“I’m Ashford Grayson. I own Gray Wolf Security.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, waving for him to come a little closer. “If bodyguards all look like you, then it might be worth it to get in trouble.”
Again that smile. But he didn’t come closer. He stood by the door, his eyes moving around the room in a slow, almost subtle, way that I almost missed. It took me a second to realize he was looking for any danger and identifying all the entrances and exits. I’d dated a Marine once who’d spent time over in Afghanistan. He did the same thing every time we entered a new building. However, I supposed the habit was actually useful to this guy, considering his line of work.
“I just wanted to speak to you for a few minutes about the service my company provides.”