“If it wasn’t Dustin,” Caroline challenged, “then who shot at us?”
“I don’t know.” And yeah, that fact drove him close to crazy too.
“Maybe it’s one of the guys,” she said. “Someone who served with us and blames me for pressing charges against his beloved CO.”
“Could be,” Noah agreed, reaching for his phone. “I’m going to call April and see if she can come in and cover the bar. Then I’d like to walk the woods around the barn and have a close look at that hunting stand.”
He made the call, promising April a Saturday night off with pay if she’d come in now. And thirty minutes later, he climbed into the driver’s seat of his truck while Caroline buckled her seat belt.
“I heard you tell April that you might not make it back before closing,” Caroline said as they turned out of the parking lot.
“I’m going to find this bastard tonight. Or hell, at least find out who has been sending the pictures.” He glanced over at Caroline. “I don’t want you always looking over your shoulder.”
She left out a rough bark of laugher. “Finding him won’t erase my paranoia, Noah. If I’m discovered here, I could be arrested. That threat won’t go away and you can’t change that.”
“I wish I could,” he ground out. “You don’t deserve to live like this. Hiding and afraid.”
“But that’s life. And, Noah, it’s about time you realize that there are some things you can’t change. You can’t always save the day.”
He pressed on the brakes as they approached a red light. “You’re the second person today who has tried to drive that point home.”
“Josie?” Caroline said.
He nodded.
“Did you listen?”
“Right now keeping her safe is my top priority,” he said gruffly.
“Then your priorities are messed up.”
“You really are losing it,” he murmured as he hit the gas and they sped toward his childhood home.
“Noah, I’m more than what happened to me. I’ve been in love.”
He cast a glance at her. “Josh?”
“No.” He saw her shake her head out of the corner of his eye. “I can’t love him. Not now. But before I joined the marines, before everything, I had a boyfriend. The relationship didn’t survive the first deployment, but still . . . I know you should be focused on why keeping Josie safe comes first in your life,” Caroline said.
Noah stared at the empty two-lane road. “I can’t lose her. I let her go once and I spent five years wishing I was with her. And now . . . I don’t want to be a hero. But I need to save her.”
“From the madman with the gun?” Caroline asked softly.
“From everything. I just need her to be OK.”
“Impossible.”
“I know.” He turned onto his drive. “And it’s killing me.”
Because I love her.
He’d always loved her. But this time, he’d fallen hard for her. Yet, Caroline was right. If he loved her, he had to face that fact he couldn’t protect her from everything.
Except the madman hunting them. Please, God, let him keep her safe from whoever the hell was after them.
JOSIE STEERED THE Mini toward home, feeling as if her world had been turned upside down. The one person she’d thought she could trust, the one who had promised to always rush to her rescue, had pushed her away. For her safety! How had she ended up back here? Broken-hearted because Noah didn’t love her.
This time felt different. I saw the love in his eyes.
But if he did love her, it wasn’t enough to overcome his need to focus on the things he could control—like her freaking safety.
She parked in front of her house but didn’t reach for the door. Should she go back and try to talk to Noah again? Even though he hadn’t said the words, she knew she wasn’t strong enough to face this pregnancy alone.
“Josephine?”
Her father stood outside the Mini, peering in the driver side window. She’d been so wrapped up in her questions—Go back? Move forward alone?—that she hadn’t heard her dad approach.
“I thought you were working today,” her father said. “Is everything all right?”
She opened the door and climbed out of the car. “No, Dad.” Closing the door, she met her father’s concerned gaze. “I fell in love with Noah. I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” He father’s eyes widened.
Her lower lip trembled. “And I’m scared. I can’t lose another baby. I can’t do this on my own. I can’t.”