New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Eden has killer instincts when it comes to breathtaking suspense!

Once the town troublemaker, Sheriff Hayden Black became the teen hero who saved young Jillian West from a savage kidnapper. He never got over their brief affair. Now the ex-SEAL and the burned-out FBI agent have reunited in their Florida hometown and rediscovered their powerful attraction. But as they hunt down a long-forgotten killer, will they get a second chance at happiness? When a series of accidents begins to plague Jill, Hayden won’t let her fall victim again. There’s too much history between them…and too much desire.

All day long, Hayden had been walking on a tightrope. That rope was way too close to snapping.

A man had come after Jill. He’d shot at her…

“You aren’t staying here alone tonight.”

Her eyes widened. “Uh, excuse me?”

“That intruder—”

“I think I did a pretty good job of defending myself.”

She didn’t get it. “Do you want me to stay sane?”

Her brow furrowed. “That would probably be a good plan.”

He thought so, too. Hayden nodded. “Then, you’re staying with me tonight. I’ll have a deputy keep watch on your place.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you just tell me I was staying at your place?”

“I did.” He inclined his head toward her.

“I’m not afraid, Hayden. If he comes back, I’ll be ready for him. I’ll be—”

“I know you’re not scared.” He got that. What she didn’t get… “I am.”

She laughed. “Right, the big, bad navy SEAL is afraid. You’re—”

“Absolutely terrified that something will happen to you.”

Abduction

Cynthia Eden

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CYNTHIA EDEN is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author. She writes dark tales of romantic suspense and paranormal romance. Her books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, and one was named a 2013 RITA® finalist for best romantic suspense. Cynthia lives in the deep South, loves horror movies and has an addiction to chocolate. More information about Cynthia may be found at www.cynthiaeden.com.

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I want to dedicate this book to Elaine—the absolute

best mother-in-law that a girl could ever have! Elaine,

thank you so much for your support over the years.

This Intrigue is for you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Extract

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

“Stay away from him, Jill.” Jillian West’s grandmother pointed toward the end of the long, wooden pier. A boy was there, gazing out at the distant waves, a boy who appeared to be just a little older than Jill. “He’s trouble.”

But he didn’t look like trouble. The boy’s blond hair blew in the wind and his faded T-shirt fluttered in the breeze.

“I’ll only be inside a minute,” her grandmother promised as she patted Jill’s shoulder. “Stay here.”

And then her grandmother was gone. She’d drifted into the little souvenir shop that waited near the pier, her voice drifting back to Jill as her grandmother called out a greeting to her friend inside the store.

Her grandmother had a lot of friends in Hope, Florida. It seemed that everyplace they went she met someone she knew. Jillian’s flip-flops slid over the wooden pier as she stared up at the boy with the blond hair. She’d moved in with her grandmother just a few weeks before, but she still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk with any kids in the town.

Her grandmother knew plenty of people, just no one who was close to Jillian’s age. No other kids around thirteen for her to chat with as she adjusted to her sudden, jarring new life.

Just then, the boy glanced back at her. She stiffened, but then Jill found herself lifting her hand in an awkward wave. She even took a few quick steps toward him. His head cocked as he stared at her.

Her hand fell back to her side.

He’s trouble. Her grandmother’s warning whispered through her mind once more.

But he was coming closer to her. His sneakers didn’t even seem to make a sound as he eliminated the distance between them, and then he was there, peering down at her. He was taller than she was, his shoulders already becoming broad, and he used one careless hand to shove back his overly long hair.

“I don’t know you,” he said. His voice was deeper than she’d expected. He appeared to be around fifteen, maybe sixteen, but that voice was so grown-up.

“No, ah, I’m new.” She tucked her hands behind her back. “I’m Jillian, but my friends call me Jill.”

His gaze swept over her—dark brown eyes. Deep eyes. When she looked hard enough—and Jill was looking so hard that she felt herself blush—she saw a circle of gold in those brown eyes.

“You think we’re friends, Jill?” He emphasized her name, just a bit.

She shrugged. “We could be.” She bit her lip and offered her hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He frowned at her hand, staring at it a little too long and hard, and then his gaze slowly rose to her face. “You have no clue who I am, do you?”

He’s trouble. Jillian shook her head. She felt so silly standing there, with her hand offered to him. Maybe she should drop her hand.

“I’m not very good friend material.” His lips twisted. “Ask anyone.”

She dropped her hand. She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. He doesn’t want to be my friend.

“I saw you with your grandmother.”

Wait, when had he seen her? She’d thought that he’d been staring at the water the whole time she’d been chatting with her grandmother.

His head cocked. “I’m surprised she didn’t tell you to stay away from me.”

“She did,” Jill blurted.

Surprise flashed on his face. “So you’re not good at doing what you’re told, huh?” He made a tut-tut sound. “What would your parents say?”

Her skin iced. The pain was so raw and fresh—it gutted her. Jill sucked in a sharp breath and took a quick step back. “They can’t say anything. They’re dead.” And she shouldn’t be talking to him. She shouldn’t be so desperate for a friend, for any friend, that she’d disobey her grandmother. Her grandmother was all she had left. If her grandmother got mad at her...what if her grandmother decided she didn’t want to be saddled with a kid? What if she dumped Jill someplace else? What if—

Jill spun on her heel. “I have to go.” She ran away from him, nearly losing a flip-flop in her hurry. She’d go back to the car. Wait there. And she would not talk to anyone until her grandmother finished her chat. Her eyes stung with tears as she fled and Jill heard the boy call out her name.

But she didn’t stop.

What would your parents say?

She wished they could still say something to her. Say anything to her.

The pier ended. Her flip-flops sank into the beautiful white sand of the beach, sand so white it was like sugar. The first time she’d seen that sand, she’d grabbed it, laughing at how light it felt as it ran through her fingers. She wasn’t laughing now.

She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. The first kid she’d met, and she’d started crying in front of him. What a way to get a good reputation in the town. Jillian’s a crybaby. Jillian’s a baby.

Her grandmother’s dependable four-door sedan waited a few feet away. There were only a few other cars in the parking lot. It was late, nearing sunset, and not many folks were still out.

“Are you okay, little girl?”

I’m not little. Those were the words that rose to her lips. But she didn’t snap them at the man who approached her. He was frowning, looking concerned.

Probably because I’m crying.

“Are you all alone?” He seemed horrified by the very idea.

“M-my grandmother is in the souvenir shop.” She pointed behind her. The man stepped closer to her. “She’ll be out soon.”

The man nodded as if that were a good thing, then his hand clamped over her shoulder. Hard. Hard enough to hurt and he leaned in toward Jill and whispered, “Not soon enough, Jill.”

How does he know my name?

She opened her mouth, but Jill didn’t get to scream. He slapped his other hand over her mouth and yanked her against him. She kicked out, struggling, but he was big and strong. So much bigger than she was. And he was running with her, heading toward a van a few feet away.

No, no, this can’t happen!

“Don’t make me kill you now,” he growled.

Jill froze.

He opened the side door of the van. He threw her inside, but Jill lunged forward, ready to jump back out again.

He hit her. A hard punch right to her face. It was the first time in Jill’s life that she’d ever been hit. For a moment, she was dazed. Her gaze slid away from the man before her—a monster—and...

She saw him...the boy from the pier. The boy with the too long blond hair. He was running toward her.

“Jill!” the boy yelled.

But the man who’d grabbed her...he jabbed something into her neck. Something sharp. A needle?

She fell back into the van, her head hitting the side panel, and darkness flooded Jill’s vision.

* * *

“JILL? JILL!”

Her eyes flew open and Jill sucked in a quick breath so that she could scream.

“No, don’t.” A sweaty hand flew over her mouth. “If you scream, he’ll hear you and he’ll find us.”

Us?

Jill blinked as she became aware of her surroundings. She was in a room with no furniture, just wooden walls. Her hands—her hands were tied together and so were her feet. She was on a dirty, dusty floor. Light burned from overhead, too bright, too stark.

“We can’t let him find us, Jill,” the boy said.

Boy. It was the boy from the pier. He had scratches on his face and his eyes were wide and intense as he stared down at her.

“I’ll untie you, and then we’re going to run. We’re going to run as fast as we can, got it?”

She nodded, tears stinging her eyes.

His hand slipped away from her mouth and he began to work on the ropes that held her. The ropes at her feet gave way quickly, but the ones that bound her wrists—they were knotted, stuck.

“Forget it,” he said and yanked her up to her feet. “We’ll get them later, after we’re out of here.”

She didn’t even know where here was, but she wanted to leave. She wanted to leave right then.

He pushed her toward the window. It was open and the scent of the salty ocean blew in toward her. “I’ll give you a boost. You get out, and you go, got it? You move. You don’t look back at me. Trust me, I’ll be coming. I’ll be right behind you. You just go.”

Jill nodded. She’d go.

He pushed her through the window and she fell out on the other side, hitting her shoulder with a jarring impact, but Jill pounced back to her feet and she started running. Only...there didn’t seem to be anywhere to run to. It was dark and there were trees shooting up all around her, a marshy-like area and she looked back, scared—

He was there. The boy with the too long hair. He grabbed her bound wrists. “Come on, Jill.”

She didn’t see the man who’d taken her. She was afraid he was out there, watching them. That he was going to attack them. Going to hurt them both.

Kill them.

They ran into muddy water, and it was cold, chilling her. Her teeth started to chatter, not from the cold, but from the terror clawing at her. “H-he...hurt me.” Her jaw still ached. “He...took me...” Kidnapped her from right out in the open. A parking lot.

“I saw him.” His fingers fumbled with the ropes that bound her wrists. The knots came free and he rubbed at her skin, being so careful with her. “I wasn’t going to let you vanish.”

Vanish.

That’s what would have happened to her, Jill knew it. She just would have vanished without a trace. “I want to go home,” she whispered.

Home...

The house she’d shared with her parents in Georgia. Her haven. Her safe place. She wanted her mom. She wanted her dad. She wanted this to be a terrible nightmare.

But the boy wrapped his arms around her and he held her tight. “It’s okay. We’re going to be okay.”

She believed him. He’d found her, someway. Gotten her out of...there. He saved her. “I don’t... I don’t even know your name.”

He pulled back and stared at her. “I’m Hayden. Hayden Black.”

Hayden. Such a good name for a best friend.

They ran until they reached the road. They ran and ran, but each time a car came by, Hayden made her hide.

He was afraid the kidnapper was coming for them.

Hours ticked by and then they finally made it to the small sheriff’s station. Lights blazed from inside the square building and patrol cars filled the parking lot. Hayden’s fingers were laced with hers as they walked up the wooden steps that led to the station. He opened the door, and they slipped inside.

There was instant silence. Every eye turned toward them.

Jill looked down at herself. Her clothes were torn and muddy. She’d lost her flip-flops. Her feet were raw and blistered.

And she was sure her jaw was bruised. It still hurt so much.

“Jillian!” Her grandmother ran to her and yanked Jill close in a crushing hug. “My little Jilly!”

Jilly. Her mother used to call her that, too. Jilly went up the hilly... Her own version of the rhyme.

The tears were falling again. Jill couldn’t stop them. Her grandmother wasn’t mad. She wasn’t going to send her away. Her grandmother smelled like sweet vanilla. Like apricots.

Like home.

“What in the hell did you do, boy?” It was a man’s voice, rough and demanding. And that voice...the man...he was nearby. A big, bearlike man wearing a sheriff’s uniform and sporting a gleaming badge. “You took that poor girl? You hurt her?”

No, no, of course Hayden hadn’t hurt her. Jillian struggled out of her grandmother’s desperate embrace. That big man had grabbed Hayden. His face was angry as the sheriff snarled, “You’re just like your father.”

All of the color bled from Hayden’s face.

“You pulled the wrong stunt today,” the man snapped. “You—”

Jill pushed her way between the sheriff and Hayden. Her whole body was shaking. “Hayden is my friend.”

Pity flashed on the sheriff’s face as his gaze peered down at her, lingering on her jaw. “Sweetheart, why don’t you just relax with your grandmother? You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t—”

“Hayden saved me.” Her dirty hand reached back and grabbed Hayden’s. She held him tight. “A man...took me...from the pier parking lot.” Her words were whispered and terror clawed at her as she remembered those desperate moments. “H-he hurt me. Tied me up. But Hayden got me out... Hayden helped me.” Hayden saved me.

The only sound she could hear was the ticking of the big clock on the wall. Jill’s desperate gaze flew around the room.

Her grandmother was crying.

The sheriff who’d been yelling at Hayden was staring at her in shock. And...

“I can take you back to him,” Hayden said, his voice oddly calm and still sounding so deep and...strong. “When he took Jill from the pier, I followed him on a bike. I wrecked it near the cabin, smashed it good. So we had to run on foot to get back, but I remember everything about the place. I can take you there.”

* * *

AND HE DID.

Hayden led the cops back to that little cabin that was nestled near the marsh. The authorities went in with sirens screaming and guns blazing. Jill sat huddled in the back of a patrol car, her grandmother’s arms constricted around her. Hayden was beside them looking watchful, intense.

The sheriff and his deputies searched the cabin. They brought in dogs to track the man who’d been there, but he was long gone...

“It’s okay, Jill,” Hayden whispered.

Her head turned toward him.

“I’ll make sure you stay safe.”

Such a big promise but...

She believed him.

Hayden Black wasn’t trouble. Her grandmother had been wrong about him.

He was a hero.

And he was her friend. Her very best friend in the whole entire world.

Chapter One

The world was dark and twisted. It was filled with monsters and evil.

FBI special agent Jill West kept a strong grip on her service weapon as she rushed into the little house at the end of Clover Lane. Her teammates were with her, moving quickly, efficiently. They were the agents on the Southeastern Division of CARD, the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, and their job was to find missing children.

Or in this specific case...one missing child. A sixteen-year-old girl named Jessica Thomas. Jessica had been gone for three days, but they’d tracked her abductor to this location, they’d followed their leads, they’d raced against time and now...

Be alive. Please, please, be alive.

There were too many cases that ended in tragedy, in funerals with grief-stricken families. Funerals with mothers and fathers who were too devastated to even speak. Her team needed a win...because those tragedies were pushing them all too close to the breaking point.

“Stay the hell back!” A man ran from the back room of that little house, a bloody knife gripped in his hand. “You ain’t taking her from me! No one’s taking her from me!”

In that instant, Jill realized three very important things.

One...the knife had recently been used on someone. The screaming man before her showed no injuries, so odds were high that the perp had attacked Jessica.

Two...the jerk was definitely on something. His speech was slurred, and he was weaving as he staggered toward her and the other agents in their bulletproof vests.

And three...this man wasn’t going down easy. He was lunging forward to attack her—

“Stand down!” Jill yelled. “Drop the weapon, now!”

He didn’t. He just screamed louder and lurched toward her.

Jill fired. Not a kill shot, she’d never taken that shot yet, but a shot that blasted into the man’s right shoulder. The knife fell to the floor with a clatter as he screamed and his blood soaked his shirt. “Perp down,” Jill snapped. She was wired—all of the agents were—and her earpiece had a microphone that would pick up her words so she knew the agent monitoring the team would immediately dispatch medical personnel. Then she hurried forward, kicking the knife even farther out of his way.

Agent Henry Shaw was at her side. He kept his gun leveled at the man howling on the floor. Henry, a tall, distinguished African-American agent, was the leader of their team. A damn good leader. “I got this guy, Jill,” Henry told her, his eyes never leaving the perp. “Find the girl.”

Jill gave an abrupt nod and hurried to the back room. She kept her gun at the ready. All of their intel had indicated that they were only looking for one assailant, that Neal Matthew Patrick had become obsessed with the sixteen-year-old victim after first meeting her in an online chat room. He’d abducted her, determined to live out that obsession.

But just in case the guy did have a partner, in case someone else was waiting to attack in that back room, Jill didn’t lower her guard.

The door was partially open. She used her foot to swing it all the way inward and then—

“Help...me...” Such a weak whisper, completely at odds with the desperate howling coming from Neal.

Jessica was on the floor, her hands pressing to her stomach—trying to stem the heavy flow of blood that had already soaked her shirt. Her face was stark white, her eyes so big and scared in her young face.

“Victim needs assistance!” Jill called out, knowing the monitoring agent would act immediately. “Get help in here, now!” And Jill ran to the girl’s side. She needed to see just how bad the damage was but the fear in her heart already told her...

Bad...it’s too bad.

“I—I want...m-my mom...” Jessica whispered.

Jill looked at the wounds—multiple stab wounds. So deep. A pool of blood was under Jessica’s body. “We’ll take you to your mom, don’t you worry, okay?” She applied pressure, fear nearly choking her.

“I’m sorry...” Jessica’s voice was even softer now. She was starting to shake. “T-tell her...s-sorry...n-never...should have...g-gone...”

Because Jessica had made a date with Neal. She’d snuck out of her house to meet him at her high school football field. She hadn’t realized she was going to meet a man who’d long gone over the edge. She couldn’t have known how dangerous that meeting would be for her. Just a date. A sixteen-year-old going on a date. That was all it had been, to Jessica.

“It’s all right,” Jill told her. “You’ll be with your mom soon and you can—”

Footsteps rushed behind her. Help, finally coming. The EMTs ran into the room and pushed Jill back. She watched them, hoping, praying, so very desperate.

Jessica was shaking even harder now.

Jill looked down at her hands. The girl’s blood covered her fingers. Her hands fisted. Her breath heaved in and out. Every heartbeat that passed seemed to echo in her ears.

Jill was still standing there, still watching them, when Jessica’s eyes closed, when the girl took her last breath. The EMTs didn’t give up, they kept trying to work, kept trying to bring her back but...

Jessica’s body had gone still.

She had just...

Another victim. Another child taken.

Jill stumbled outside, her stomach in knots. The night air hit her face, slightly chilled, making goose bumps rise on her arms. The cases weren’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed to help, not arrive in time to see a young girl die.

Tears pricked her eyes. The perp—that jerk Neal—was in the back of a nearby ambulance. He was alive. He was yelling at the agents with him.

Jessica was gone. Life was so unfair. So cold and dark and violent. She looked at the scene around her, the chaos, the pain, and then Jill glanced down at the blood that covered her hands.

I have to get away. I can’t do this. Not anymore.

“Jill?”

She put her hands behind her back and glanced over to see Henry frowning at her. Henry had been her mentor from the moment she signed on to the team. He’d trained her from day one when she joined CARD. As he stared at her, she saw the pity in his dark eyes.

He knows I’m close to breaking.

“We’ll need to tell the parents,” Jill said, trying to make her voice sound strong. The mother. They’d have to tell the mother. Jill swallowed.

“I can do it,” Henry offered. He always handled the families so well. He seemed to know exactly what to say to them. How to give them sympathy. How to let them grieve. “You did good work on this case,” he told her, his voice soft. “You were the one to find the house, to trace Neal here, you were—”

“I was too late.” That was the stark truth.

“This time,” Henry said, his jaw tightening. “But there will be other cases, other children. You of all people know how important our job is.”

Because of her past, yes, she knew. She also knew... “I have to talk to Jessica’s mother.” She needed to look the woman in the eyes and tell her that at the end, Jessica had been thinking of her. That her daughter had loved her. When she took a case, Jill saw it through to the end. But after she met with the Thomas family... Jill’s breath shuddered out. “Then I think I’ll take some of that vacation time I’ve been saving.” Hoarding, more like. Work had become her life in the last few years. Only now, that life seemed to be tearing her apart.

“Good idea,” Henry murmured. “Maybe you can go someplace warm. Someplace where you can forget about this coldness for a time.”

She thought of Jessica’s last words. “I think I’m going home,” Jill said. Home. The spot of her greatest happiness...

And her most desperate moments.

* * *

HE SAW HER the instant she came into town. It wasn’t as if it were easy to miss a woman like her. Jill West had always been able to stand out in a crowd. The sunlight hit her dark red head, making it gleam. She wore a pair of jeans that hugged her long legs, and she walked with an easy grace as she headed toward the pier.

Hayden Black stood inside of the bait shop, watching her as she moved with such purpose. It had been far too long since he’d seen Jill... Too damn long.

What were the odds that when she came back to Hope, he spotted her on that same damn pier? He hadn’t thought that she would come back. Hell, he’d been planning a trip to see her in Georgia, but for her to show up now...in that spot...

He’d never been a particularly lucky guy. The luckiest day of his life had been when he’d met a cute redheaded girl on that same pier.

A girl with the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. A girl who’d turned one of the most hated punks in that town into a hero.

“You gonna watch her all day?” Jeff Mazo, the owner of the bait shop asked. “Or are you actually gonna go over there and tell that woman hello?”

Jeff didn’t get it. The woman in question might not exactly be thrilled to see him. He and Jill hadn’t ended things on the best of terms.

I lusted for her during my teens. When I became a man, she was all that I could think about...

Then she’d joined the FBI and he’d become a SEAL. Two different paths. Two different lives.

Now they were back. Both back in Hope.

Maybe it’s not luck. Maybe it was more than that. Maybe.

“Never realized you were the nervous sort,” Jeff snorted, as if he’d just found this discovery incredibly amusing. “Bet that made for some real interesting missions, huh?”

Hayden just shook his head, refusing to let the guy needle him. “Don’t worry, Jeff, I’m just planning my move.” More like hoping that Jill didn’t tell him to get the hell away from her. He gave a little wave. “See you later, buddy.”

He headed out on the pier, and the old wood was sturdy beneath his feet. The scent of salt water tickled his nose. Hope. The town was gorgeous, a sweet little hideaway on the Florida Gulf Coast. It was early spring, so the place hadn’t gotten overwhelmed with tourists, not yet. Sure, a few hours away, the college kids were running amok at some of the bigger beachside cities, but Hope was quieter.

Softer.

Nothing ever happened in Hope.

Except for the abduction of a sweet redheaded girl...

The man who’d taken Jill had never been caught. And Hayden... For years, he’d woken up from nightmares in a cold sweat because of that fact. He’d been so worried that someone would take Jill from him.

And in the end, I’m the one who lost her. I did that all on my own.

He marched toward her. The wind ruffled her T-shirt and her hair, but she didn’t seem to care. She kept staring out at the waves, turbulent swells because a storm was coming.

When he was just a few feet away from her, Hayden stopped. “Hello, Jill.”

She didn’t whirl toward him in surprise. Didn’t give any shocked explanation. That wasn’t Jill’s style. Instead, she slowly turned to him with a look in her guarded green gaze that said she’d known all along that she was being watched.

But her green eyes widened just the faintest bit, a small show of surprise that told him... Jill had expected someone else to be on that pier. She just hadn’t expected that someone to be him.

“Hayden?” Her delicate brows arched as her gaze swept over him. “What are you doing here?”

He gave her a small smile even as he stalked a bit closer to her. That was the thing about Jill, she always made him want to get closer. Always pulled him in, even when he knew he should be staying away from her. Mingled with the scent of the ocean, he caught her fragrance. Sweet vanilla.

“I could ask you the same question,” he murmured. Damn but she looked good. Better than good. Heart-shaped face, wide eyes, full lips. She had just the faintest hint of freckles across the top of her nose, a little bit of the girl she’d been still hanging on to the woman she’d become.

She took a step toward him and her hands lifted, as if she’d reach out and hug him. Once, she would have done that. Once, she would have run right into his arms and held him tight.

And she would have fit perfectly against him. The way she always had.

But she faltered. Her hands fell. Uncertainty flashed on her face. “I’m here for a vacation. Isn’t that why most folks come to Hope?”

It wasn’t why he was back in Hope, and he didn’t believe for an instant that it was why she was back there, either.

His gaze swept over her. Jill was definitely grown-up now. She stood close to five foot six, and that meant his six-foot-three frame towered over her. When they’d been kids, she’d joked and asked him when he’d ever stop growing.

Every good memory I have is tied up in Jill West. So he didn’t stop, he didn’t falter. He closed the last bit of distance between them and wrapped her in a hug. Probably too tight, but he couldn’t really help himself. It had been far too long since he’d seen Jill. Even longer since he’d held her.

She still fit him. Far too perfectly. His arms slid around her back and he pulled her close. Her scent wrapped around him and reminded him of all that he’d missed. Too many years away from Jill.

Too many mistakes. And—

She was hugging him back. A quick tightening of her arms around him as if she were just as glad to see him. His heart thudded in his chest. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe he hadn’t screwed things to hell and back between them. Maybe—

She stopped hugging him. “Let me go,” Jill said, her voice soft.

He did. The same way he’d let her go before, ten years ago. She’d been nineteen. He’d been twenty-one.

His hands slid away from her. “Still as beautiful as ever.”

She frowned. Right, Jill never liked to be told she was beautiful. It made her uncomfortable.

“Am I supposed to say that you’re still as handsome as ever?” Her head cocked and her gaze swept over him. “You are. But I’m sure plenty of women tell you that.”

No other woman was Jill. His Jill.

“Mr. Navy SEAL.” She smiled, but the smile was just a twist of her lips. No gleam appeared in her eyes and her expression didn’t lighten. He’d always worked so hard to make her give him a grin—worked even harder to hear her laugh.

“Shouldn’t you be out defending the world? Working those secret missions?”

Actually... “I’m not active duty any longer.” He’d given ten years of his life to service. Now...now he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the years he had left. “I just bought a house here in Hope.”

He heard her quick exhale. Ah, so he had surprised her.

“And here I thought you liked traveling the world. You wanted to see everything, remember?” She turned away. “But now you’re back here.”

He reached for her hand. “And I thought you wanted to save the world.” No, he knew she’d wanted to save children, kids who’d been just like her.

Taken.

Stolen.

“So what’s a hotshot FBI agent like you doing in a small town like this?” His index finger slid along her inner wrist, a careless caress.

Or maybe a very careful one. Even he wasn’t sure about that.

“Hiding.” And this time, her smile broke what was left of his heart. “Because I’m really not so much of a hotshot.” She looked down at their hands. “I’ve got too much blood on me.”

Alarm pulsed through him. “Jill?”

“Let me go,” she said once more.

Another caress, a gentle touch right over her rapid pulse point, and his hand slid away from her.

“I need to head home,” she said, then seemed to catch herself. “Head to the cabin. I rented a place on the beach. The beach is supposed to be good for the soul, right?”

He wouldn’t know. The only thing that had ever been good for his soul...well, that was Jill. She’d changed him, though he didn’t think she realized just how much. He didn’t think Jill even realized how influential she’d been in his life.

She’d always thought that he’d saved her.

Oh, baby, that could not be further from the truth.

She slipped by him and started walking toward the parking lot.

“Jillian West.” Her name pulled from him.

She hesitated.

“We’re not kids any longer.”

Jill glanced over her shoulder. “I haven’t been a child since I was thirteen years old.”

No, she hadn’t been. He knew that. One terrible act had changed her world.

“I came back to Hope for many reasons,” Hayden said. Maybe she deserved that warning. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“So soon? Why expect to see me at all?”

Ah, now that was just cold. “Do you ever think about us?”

She faced the front again. “I try not to.”

He took that hit straight on his heart. “Really? Because I pretty much think about you every single day.” Though the nights were the worst. When he’d been fighting, when he’d been in one hell after another, memories of Jill had always come to him at night.

But a memory wasn’t walking away from him right then. No memory, no ghost.

He’d watched her walk away before, but this time, things were going to be different. This time, he was fighting for Jill.

She just didn’t realize it yet.

He wasn’t the town troublemaker any longer. Wasn’t the boy who’d never been good enough for Jillian West. Now he was back in Hope to prove himself to the person who mattered the most.

To you, Jill. For you. I’m back for you.

* * *

HE’D NEVER BELIEVED in coincidences. His life didn’t work that way. Everything that happened was part of fate.

So when he saw the redheaded woman walking off the pier, the light glinting in her hair, the sunset hitting her just right...

He remembered another time.

A girl, not a woman. A girl who’d been walking alone. Who’d been coming right to him.

He’d had such plans for that girl. So many grand, wonderful plans.

But she’d left him. Ran away. Escaped before he could enjoy himself. Such a shame. In all of his years of hunting, she’d been the only one to escape.

His one failure. The failure that had changed everything for him.

* * *

THE REDHEADED WOMAN was coming closer to him, nearing the parking lot, so he cranked up his Jeep and drove away. As he left, he saw two young girls riding their bikes. So many kids enjoyed riding their bike in that area. There were many trails. Tons of paths.

So many places to vanish.

One of the girls had blond hair. The other had dark brown locks.

Pity one of them doesn’t have red hair. Because, quite suddenly, he was seeing red in his mind. The red hair of a victim.

The red of blood.

He hadn’t planned to ever hunt again in Hope. But...seeing that redheaded woman...

There are no coincidences. Maybe she was there, at that time, for a reason.

Maybe...

Chapter Two

She had a serious problem on her hands, Jill knew it. She was on Day Two of her vacation—Day Two—and she was heading toward the local sheriff’s office. She should have been walking on a beach, riding a bike, reading a book, something...anything but...

Anything but looking for a case. She had so many issues. The plan had been to head home to Hope in order to relax, to get her mind off death.

Instead, she couldn’t stop thinking about the missing.

She pushed open the door to the sheriff’s office. A bell jingled over her head. It was quiet inside, she heard the hum of an air conditioner, the ticking of a clock and—

“Hello, there, Jill. Didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

His voice. Dark and deep and rumbly. Jill had often thought that Hayden Black had a voice like whiskey—it just got better with age.

Sexier.

Her gaze slid to the right and she saw him. Hayden was smiling at her, that teasing half smile that too many women had admired. His dark eyes glinted at her as he stood in the doorway—the doorway that led directly into Sheriff Ronald Peek’s inner sanctum. Only...

She didn’t see Sheriff Peek. The big, rather bearlike older man was nowhere to be seen.

She did see Hayden...and his brown sheriff’s uniform. The guy even had a gleaming, gold star pinned to his chest. No way. “You have got to be kidding me.” Jill glanced around the little station again. No one else was there. Seriously?

“Kidding?” Hayden straightened. “Why? Don’t you think I look good in this uniform?”

Her lips thinned. Good didn’t even come close to describing the man and he knew it. Hayden’s shoulders stretched far and wide, making the uniform shirt strain at the seams. He was tall and powerful, and he should not have been standing there.

Mostly because she wasn’t quite up to handling Hayden. He’d always been able to see right through the mask that she tried to wear in order to hide her emotions. Considering how hollowed out she felt on the inside, the last thing Jill wanted was for Hayden to glimpse her weakness. She cleared her throat. “I’m here to see Sheriff Peek.”

He winced and straightened away from the doorway. “Good luck with that, sweetheart—er, I mean, Jill.”

She glowered at him.

“Peek retired about a month ago. Took off for Alaska. Apparently, facing the last great American frontier has always been a dream for him.” Hayden’s lips twitched. “And, it, uh, seems he’d been watching a lot of TV about building a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness. The call of the wild definitely got to old Ron.” Hayden rolled back his shoulders. “You’re looking at the new sheriff.”

She shook her head.

He nodded. “Sheriff Hayden Black, at your service.”

“You...you can’t be sheriff. Was there a vote or—”

“Special appointment,” he murmured. “Ron gave me his highest recommendation, and, believe it or not, the folks in this town seemed happy to have me take the job.”

Jill’s breath heaved out. “Of course, they’re happy to have you. I have no doubt that you’ll be an asset here.”

Surprise flashed on his face.

“What?” Now her lips pulled down. “You think because of our, uh, past, that I wouldn’t support you? You’re a good man, Hayden.” And maybe she’d gotten a few glimpses of his case files from his overseas work. Some days, she’d wondered about him. She’d worried. When she’d first read his mission files and seen just how dangerous his SEAL work was, Jill had been terrified.

Knowing that he wasn’t hers any longer...she’d tried to keep her emotional distance. That had been impossible.

He took a step toward her. “You know folks in this town didn’t always think that way. I had to prove—”

She held up her hand. “Stop it, Hayden. You never had to prove anything to me. I hope you know that.”

His mouth tightened.

The bell jingled behind her. Jill looked back and saw a young deputy saunter inside the station. He had black hair and blue eyes and when he saw her, he came to a quick stop—and he tightened his grip on the doughnut bag in his hand. “Uh, a visitor? A case?” His eyes seemed to light up. “Ma’am, do you need assistance?” He hurried toward the check-in desk and plunked down his bag. “I’m Deputy Finn Patrick, and I can—”

“She’s not here for business, Finn,” Hayden muttered. “It’s personal.”

A tingle snaked up Jill’s spine. Personal. Once upon a time, things had been very, very personal between them. When she looked at Hayden, the memories slid through her mind. She figured all of the stories she’d heard over the years were true—a woman never forgot her first love.

Especially when that love happened to be a guy like Hayden Black.

But now Finn was looking at her with speculation in his eyes. Hope was a small town—very, very small. And the last thing she wanted was for gossip to start spreading about her hooking up with the new sheriff. Jill reached into her bag and pulled out her ID. “Actually, I’m here to talk about an old case.”

Finn’s eyes doubled in size. “You’re FBI!”

“Yes.”

Finn appeared absolutely thrilled.

“What case?” Hayden asked, his voice a low growl. “When I saw you yesterday, you didn’t mention a case.”

“And you didn’t mention that you were the sheriff, either.”

Hayden sauntered closer. He leaned in and said, voice soft, “That’s because you ran before I had the chance to tell you.”

She wanted to tell him that she didn’t run—not from anything or anyone, but those words would have been a lie. After all, wasn’t she in Hope because she was running? From all the death that seemed to stalk her? She stared into his eyes and said the name that she knew haunted them both, “Christy Anderson.”

His jaw tightened.

“Christy who?” Finn asked.

Hayden curled his fingers around her arm. “FBI special agent Jillian West and I will be talking in my office, Finn.” His voice had gone flat and cold as he steered her toward the open doorway.

“It was nice to meet you, Agent West!” Finn called out.

She glanced back and saw that he’d opened his bag of doughnuts. The scent of glaze drifted to her, but then she was inside of Hayden’s office, and he shut the door with a very distinct click.

“What in the hell are you planning?” Hayden asked her.

She pulled her arm from his grip. “I’m planning on solving a cold case.” Because maybe that case was one of the many demons that plagued her. Maybe if she could solve that case...maybe if she could give the family some closure...then every time she lost a victim with the FBI, she wouldn’t feel so lost inside.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

“Did the FBI send you down here to research Christy Anderson’s case?”

“No, I came down here because I knew it was time to face my own past. You can only hide from the truth for so long.” Her smile felt bittersweet. “After all, you and I both know...we traded my life for Christy’s.”

He swore and advanced toward her.

Jill threw up her hands. “Don’t! I don’t want you touching me, okay, Hayden?”

He flinched, as if she’d hurt him, and Jill realized that she had. Right. Like he never hurt me. One night...ten years ago...he’d ripped her heart right out of her chest.

A woman could do a whole lot in this world without a heart.

“You used to like it when I touched you,” Hayden said.

Oh, no, he had not just gone there. Jill’s hands went to her hips. “And you used to not be a jerk who turned his back on the one person he swore mattered the most to him—”

Pain flashed on his face. “Jill—”

“No!” She squeezed her eyes shut. “This isn’t what I want.” It wasn’t. And she wasn’t just hurting Hayden. She was hurting herself. Jill forced her eyes to open. “I’m sorry.” Time to be incredibly honest. “I didn’t count on seeing you again.” Actually, she’d been sure he was an ocean away. So much for her contact at the CIA. Mr. Oh, Yes, I Know Where His SEAL Team Is. “I wasn’t prepared for you, and I’m...” Her laughter held a rough edge. “I was already raw enough before I came to Hope.”

“Believe me, Jill. The last thing I ever want is to hurt you.”

He seemed so sincere. She wanted to believe him. “Maybe we can call a truce?”

His gaze drifted over her and turned wistful. “I didn’t realize we were at war.”

No? “I could use a friend right now.” A stark admission. “I’ve... I’ve always thought you were my best friend.” And that was why it had hurt her so much when he’d walked away. She hadn’t just lost her lover. She’d lost her friend.

Did he have any clue...she’d used to imagine their wedding? She’d thought they would grow old together. That they would always be an unstoppable team. Because that was how she’d felt when they were together. Unstoppable.

Safe.

She’d always been safe with Hayden. Then he’d ripped away her safety net.

“I will be anything you want me to be,” Hayden promised, his voice a rumble.

Her stare lifted, held his. Did he know why she’d asked him not to touch her? Did he realize just what his touch did to her? Even the careless brush of his fingers over her arm had her tensing. His touch stirred her memories, stirred her. Her heartbeat raced, her breath hitched, and she ached...

For things that she couldn’t have.

“Right now, I need you to be the sheriff who is cooperating with an FBI agent.” Though she had zero jurisdiction. She wasn’t going to point out that fact, though. “I’m in town, you have a cold case, and I want to see if there’s anything I can do to help solve it.”

The faint lines on either side of his mouth deepened. Time had been kind to Hayden. Gone were the boyish looks he’d had years ago. Now, his face was ruggedly handsome, carved and hard.

Sexy.

Especially when he smiled. Hayden didn’t have dimples, definitely not. But he did have hard slashes that appeared in his cheeks when he let himself really smile. Once upon a time, his real smiles had been reserved for her.

A lifetime ago.

“Christy Anderson has been dead a long time, Jill,” he spoke carefully.

“I know exactly how long Christy’s been dead.” She paced toward the window and looked out. She figured this had to be the only sheriff’s office in the country with a view of the ocean. Talk about a prime spot. And, most days, it was a plum job, too. There wasn’t a whole lot of crime in Hope. The occasional bar fight, some drunk and disorderly conduct...nothing too bad.

The last bad thing...well, that had happened to Jill. And to Christy. Because one day—one day—after Hayden and Jill escaped from that little cabin on the edge of the marsh, Christy Anderson had gone missing. Only no one had been there to follow the girl when she was abducted. No one had been there to get her out of that sick jerk’s clutches.

And...less than twenty hours later, Christy’s body had been found on the beach. She’d been found completely dry, covered with a blanket. She’d never touched the water.

Her neck had been broken. Left behind in the dark.

I lived, but she died. And that truth would never leave Jill alone.

“I want to find the man who killed her,” Jill said, nodding her head as she stared out at the waves. Last night’s storm lingered on the surf. “Because if I find him...”

“You’ll find the man who took you.”

Yes. And she’d stop always looking over her shoulder, always wondering... Is he watching? Is he coming back? An FBI agent was supposed to be confident, supposed to fear nothing and no one, but Jill feared far too much.

“You of all people know...” The floor creaked beneath his heavy footsteps. “The odds of finding him—after all this time—it’s going to be nearly impossible.”

She rolled her shoulders back in a shrug. “So maybe I’ll dig into the files. Maybe I’ll spend a few days of vacation searching for evidence that won’t lead anywhere. It’s my time to waste.”

He was behind her. She could feel him. Jill made herself look back. “I need this, Hayden.”

He nodded once, grimly. His hand lifted as if he’d touch her cheek, but then his fingers curled closed as he seemed to catch himself. His fisted hand fell back to his side. “Jill, when are you going to realize that I’d pretty much do anything for you?”

Shock radiated through her. He stalked toward the wide, cherrywood desk that sat in the middle of the office. He pushed the chair back and opened the top drawer. A moment later, he was lifting a yellowed file and offering it to her. “Not a lot is in here, I’m afraid.”

She felt rooted to the spot. “You...you’d already pulled the file?” She knew there was an old records room in the back of the station. As a teen, she’d trailed after Sheriff Peek many times once she’d realized that she’d wanted to go into law enforcement. He’d said she was interning with him...and he’d strode around with his chest puffed out.

The first time she’d met Peek, he’d been tearing into Hayden. It was only later, much later, that she’d come to see the good heart hidden inside the hardened man. And I came to learn just why he blamed Hayden that day. Why so many in the town had.

“I pulled her file the day I took the job,” Hayden answered.

Again, he’d surprised her. “Why?”

His lips twisted in his half smile, the smile that said he was holding back secrets. “Same reason you did. I want to catch the bastard.”

Her heart thudded into her chest. Hayden wasn’t the boy he’d been. Staring at him right then, she saw that his eyes had gone flat and cold, so hard and deadly with intent. This wasn’t the boy she’d known or even the young man she’d loved.

This was the SEAL. Dangerous. Dark.

Almost...a stranger.

“He took you, Jill. You.” Hayden shook his head. “Do you think I have ever stopped wanting to catch him? I won’t ever stop. I know he’s still out there. He thinks he got away clean, but justice comes to everyone. Sooner or later.”

She took the file from him. Her fingers brushed his and a spark seemed to slip though her at that soft touch. She pulled back—too fast—and held the thin file carefully.

“You want to hunt him?” Hayden asked. “Fine, we’ll hunt him. We’ll do it together. This time, we aren’t kids running in the dark.”

No, they weren’t.

“But be warned...there’s not a lot of information in that file.” His words were grim. “The guy didn’t leave a whole lot of evidence behind. He knew what he was doing. He was smart.”

The smart, organized killers were the most dangerous. “I’ve worked cold cases before,” Jill told him. The CARD team members were focused exclusively on child abduction cases. When there was not an active case for them to investigate, then they often turned their attention to older crimes, hoping that they could find a piece of evidence that had been overlooked or that new technology would lead them in a new direction on a particular case. “I know that it’s often like searching for a needle in a very giant haystack.”

His dark gaze dropped to the thin folder. “That’s a small haystack. Peek is a good man, but he was in way over his head with her case. See for yourself. There’s an empty office down the hall you can use. Once you’ve read over the file, we can talk. Compare our thoughts.”

She liked that he wasn’t trying to influence her by saying what he might already suspect. She’d found that it was always better to go into an investigation without another agent’s expectations or suspicions already in the open, those just tended to cloud the situation for her. She liked to see things with fresh eyes. “Thanks.” She turned for the door.

Her hand was reaching for the doorknob when he said, “I missed you.”

Her breath seemed to chill her lungs. “Did you?”

“Yes, I did.” His voice was flat. Stark. Not hiding anything from her. “It’s damn good to see you.”

I missed you, too. She opened the door.

“I won’t make the same mistake again.”

Now she did glance back at him. On this, they needed to be very clear. She’d survived a broken heart once, courtesy of Hayden Black. “Neither will I.” Then she left him.

It was better this way. Far, far better to just stick to the case.

* * *

HE KNEW THE REDHEAD. And he’d been right. Seeing her on the pier yesterday, in that exact same spot, at nearly the exact same time of evening...it hadn’t been coincidence.

It had been fate.

Sixteen years ago, Jillian West had come to Hope, Florida. Quiet, withdrawn, her parents dead. She’d seemed to be his perfect prey. A gift delivered right to his doorstep.

He’d been following her for days before he approached her at the pier. He always liked to watch before he made his move. He had to be smart. So he’d watched and he’d acted at just the right moment.

Jillian had fought him, but he’d gotten her away. He’d had such plans for her, but when he went back to his cabin, she’d been gone.

Long gone. And his rage had nearly blinded him.

Jillian West.

The victim who’d gotten away. She’d stayed in town. Stayed until her grandmother died. Then the gossip he’d heard said that she’d joined the FBI. She’d wanted to help find missing children.

The folks in the little town had admired her.

He’d hated her.

Because of her, he’d lost everything. He’d had to be careful and to watch his steps. Had to hold back his impulses. Had to lose himself.

But then his life had changed yesterday, when he’d seen her.

Now he knew the real reason he’d stayed in Hope all these long years.

I knew—one day—we’d finish what we started.

It was time to act. Time to catch the only prey to ever get away from him. And then...only then...would his work truly be finished. He wasn’t weak any longer. Finally, finally, he was strong. Better than ever.

The timing was perfect. For him.

He paused for just a moment outside of the sheriff’s office. She was in there and he knew she wasn’t alone. Hayden Black was close by, the way he always was when Jillian was near.

Tugging his baseball cap down, he turned away. As he headed toward the beach, he started to whistle. This was going to be different for him. Not as easy, more of a challenge. She was FBI. She’d had training.

But she wasn’t better than him. Wasn’t smarter. He’d been evading FBI agents for years. He had this down.

And Jillian...well, she was about to see what it was like to be prey again. Only this time, you won’t get away. I’ll make sure there’s no one there to save you, Jillian.

He was getting his life back, and in order to do that, FBI agent Jillian West had to die.

Chapter Three

Hayden lifted his hand and rapped his knuckles against the door frame. At the sound, Jill’s head whipped up and she blinked at him, a few dazed blinks, and he knew that she’d had herself fully immersed in the case file.

She’d made herself comfortable in the little office. She had a laptop open on the desk, positioned just to her right, and she’d started tacking some notes up on the bulletin board to her left. His eyebrows rose as he realized that she was certainly making the most of that slim file.

“Hayden?” She rose to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

Not a damn thing. Finally, his world felt right. Because she was there. But he made a show of looking at his watch. “You’ve been in here for almost five hours. I thought you might want to take a lunch break with me.”

“Five hours?” She seemed surprised and gave a little laugh. “Sorry, I, um, tend to get a bit lost in my work.”

He thought that might be an understatement.

She snapped her laptop shut. “But I would like some lunch...and a chance to pick your brain, now that I’ve had a chance to form my own impressions of the case.” She grabbed her bag. “How about we just pick up some sandwiches and eat on the beach?”

They’d done that so many times as kids. Tossed a blanket on the sand. Stared at the waves, talked and dreamed. After Jill’s abduction, her grandmother had gone through a phase where she was almost hypervigilant. She hadn’t wanted to let Jill out of her sight. She hadn’t let her granddaughter go anyplace but to school and right back home and...

Jill had turned reserved and quiet.

He’d gone to her grandmother and talked to her. He promised her that Jill would always be safe with him. And the lady...the lady had actually trusted him. She’d let Jill go on walks with him. Go to the beach with him.

Start to live again, with him.

They grabbed sandwiches from the deli next door, and then he snagged a blanket from the back of his SUV. Keeping a beach blanket handy was standard operating procedure for anyone who lived in Hope. The sunsets were not to be missed.

As they walked along the sand, Jill gave him a quick smile, a smile that actually reached her green eyes and made them gleam. “Just like old times, isn’t it?”

Seagulls called overhead and the waves thundered as they hit the beach.

He stared at her a moment, and thought about the old times, the best times of his life. “Yes.”

Her smile slipped. “Um, here, let me spread out the blanket.” Jill eased it onto the sand, and then she sat down and he stared at her.

Jill was there, actually back with him. He was not going to mess this up. Hayden eased onto the blanket beside her and handed her one of the sandwiches. For a time, they ate in silence. He was far too conscious of her, beside him. The wind teased a lock of her hair and sent it dancing over her left cheek. He wanted to brush that hair back and tuck it behind her ear...but Jill had made it clear she didn’t want him touching her.

Damn unfortunate, since touching her was the main thing he wanted.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Jill suddenly said. Her head turned and their eyes met. “Do you know how rare it is to have two girls taken within such a short period like that?”

Yeah, he did. He wasn’t an expert on child abduction like she was, but because of her, he’d definitely done his share of research.

“The fact that the guy stayed here and took Christy after I escaped...it suggests that he was acting out a compulsion. That he had to kidnap and—”

“Murder?” Hayden cut in.

She nodded. “Yes.” Her gaze fell to the sand.

“There were never any other cases in Hope that fit his MO.” That had been the very first thing Hayden checked once he came back to town. “No abductions at all. After that one weekend, Hope went back to its normal 3.5 drunk and disorderly arrests a year.” He blew out a hard breath. “No more murders. No more missing children.”

“Just one hellish weekend.” She put her empty sandwich wrapper back in the bag and took a sip of bottled water. “It doesn’t fit. In all the cases I’ve studied, a one-and-done situation like this...it’s too rare. If the perp were following a compulsion, he would have needed to act again. Sure, there would be a cooling-off period but—”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on.” He balled up his own wrapper and tossed it in the bag. “A ‘cooling-off’ period?” Hayden repeated. “That sounds like we’re dealing with some kind of...of serial killer or something.”

“There are serial abductors,” Jill murmured. “It’s unfortunate, but it does occur. Most types of abductions are family abductions, but nonfamily abductions...well, there are different rules in place for those.”

Rules? Okay, now this was just making him angrier.

“If this were a serial abductor we were looking at, there would have been more victims,” Jill said. Her delicate jaw hardened. “The perp wouldn’t have just vanished, just—just totally disappeared off the grid.”

“Let’s back up,” Hayden directed. The waves rolled onto the shore. “Tell me what you believe happened to Christy, based on the report.”

“That tiny five-page report? The one that contained zero DNA evidence or crime scene analysis?”

A definite edge had entered her voice. “Yeah, that one.” He’d felt the same frustration that she was showing when he’d reviewed the material.

“I think the killer had done those same actions before. He knew how to clean up after himself. He knew how to make sure there wasn’t so much as a sliver of evidence left behind. This definitely wasn’t amateur hour.”

“That’s why you think we’re looking at a serial.”

“Her neck was broken. A personal, intimate death. That type of kill suggests that the perp wanted to have power over his victim. He liked the control.” She nodded. “That’s probably why he picked two young teen girls as his victims here in Hope—he thought we were weaker than he was, that he could control us both.”

“You’re profiling him.”

She rolled back her shoulders and finally caught that lock of hair that had been teasing her cheek. “I’ve taken some profile classes at Quantico, yes, but that’s not exactly my strong suit. You want someone who can get into a killer’s head?” Her lips lifted once again in a faint smile. “That would be my friend Samantha. When it comes to killers, she’s an absolute genius.”

Hayden found himself leaning closer to Jill. “You’re the one who saw him, face-to-face.” He’d just seen the back of the jerk’s head, his baseball cap, his dark shirt, his jeans as the guy ran toward the front of that old SUV. An SUV that had later been found, stripped down and abandoned, two towns over.

Her smile flickered. “I saw him, and I’m the one who should have been able to identify him. I know that.”

“Jill, that’s not what I—”

Sadness was heavy in her voice as she said, “I know Christy’s parents blamed me.”

His hand fisted on the sand.

“Did you know...they came to my grandmother’s house once?”

“What? You never said—”

“Her father had been drinking. Her mother was trying to keep him under control. He was yelling and saying that I could have stopped the killer. That I knew who he was. That it was my fault Christy was gone.” Her lips turned down. “Kept saying I shouldn’t be living when he was burying his daughter. That it wasn’t right. That it was my fault.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” He jumped to his feet.

She tilted back her head and stared up at him. “Because I thought he was right. It was my fault. If I could have remembered more about the guy, if I could have described him better—”

“Jill,” he cut in, growling her name, and then he reached for her—breaking that no-touching rule—and hauled her up beside him. “Nothing that happened was your fault. You were a victim. Just that. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

The wind blew against them.

“I remembered he was wearing big sunglasses, and a baseball hat. He had a square jaw, and I think I saw a little bit of blond hair on the side of his head, peeking from beneath the hat.” He heard the faint click of her swallow. “He was tall, over six feet, I believe. And I remember thinking that he was far too strong.”

Hayden hated that man. Hated him.

“Peek tried to get me to do a sketch,” Jill said, “but that sketch could have been anyone. When the artist was done, I didn’t even recognize the picture I was staring at.” She gave a little laugh, one that sounded bitter and wrong coming from Jill. “Hell, right now, he could be you. You fit the description that I just gave. Blond, tall, strong, square jaw...is it any wonder that no one was able to find the guy?”

His hands tightened on her shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault.” He needed her to believe that.

“It wasn’t until I started my criminal justice courses that I realized...eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.”

He didn’t let her go. Her voice had softened. He should back away. But he didn’t.

“Just with my work at the FBI, I’ve talked to so many witnesses...” She gave a sad shake of her head. “Witnesses who saw the exact same perp, but who described him in completely different ways. It’s just...unreliable. I was unreliable. I could have described the man totally wrong. Even adult witnesses describe perps the wrong way...so, of course, a thirteen-year-old kid who’d been traumatized would make mistakes.” She swallowed. “I made mistakes. To tell you the honest truth, I can’t even swear to what I saw today. Maybe he wasn’t blond. Maybe I was just thinking of you. You had such a big role in that day for me. Maybe you were all that I could see.”

She’d been all that he could see. The first person who’d looked at him as if he weren’t trash, as if he were someone who mattered. And then he’d seen her get taken.

I can’t lose her.

Those had been his thoughts that day. He remembered them perfectly.

I won’t lose her.

“It’s the human memory,” she whispered. “People think it’s like a video recorder or something but it’s not. The way people think...my friend Samantha said it’s more like putting puzzle pieces together. We have the bits and pieces there, but sometimes our mind makes jumps to fill in the rest for us. To close those gaps.”

The wind caught a lock of her hair once more and blew it over her cheek. His hand rose and brushed back that hair, and then his fingers lingered on the silk of her skin. “It wasn’t your fault. Nothing was.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and seemed to become aware of just how close they were.

Aware that he was touching her.

I need to back away.

He started to ease away. His hand slid down her cheek and—

Jill caught his hand in hers. “It’s because it hurts.”

Hayden’s eyes narrowed. “What hurts?” He never wanted Jill to feel pain. He would do anything necessary to see to it that she never suffered a single day of her life. Not—

“When you touch me, it hurts.”

Her words pierced the heart she’d always owned.

“It makes me feel too much. You make me feel too much. You always did.”

Was that good? Or bad?

“You make me want...” Jill said, giving a shake of her head. “You make me want things that I can’t have.”

Maybe they should be clear. She could have him anytime she wanted. Anytime, any way, any day. He was aroused for her right then. It was pretty much impossible for him to get close to Jill and not want her.

“That’s dangerous,” she continued, her voice husky. “You’re dangerous to me.”

No, he wasn’t. She was the safest person in the world when he was near.

Her body brushed against his. It had been so long since he’d held her. Dreams weren’t enough for him any longer. Memories could only get a man so far. She was close. He needed her.

A taste, just a taste to get him through...

“I never stopped wanting you,” Hayden confessed. It was time to make sure there were no secrets between them.

Her lashes lowered. Such thick, dark lashes. The sunlight made her red hair gleam. “I tried to stop wanting you,” she said.

He deserved that. Damn it. He sucked in a deep breath and made himself step back. “We shouldn’t stay out too long. You always burned too easily.” He should have brought her a hat. Or grabbed a beach umbrella. Her skin was so much paler than his own and—

Jill touched him. Her fingers curled around his wrist and Hayden stilled.

“I tried,” she said, “but then I came face-to-face with you, and I realized the need is still there.”

“Jill...”

“I’m not here to make the same mistakes. I’m here to get my life together. I’m here to end the past and to try and move on.”

Was she saying he was the past?

“If I’d known you were here...” She licked her lips and didn’t say another word.

“You wouldn’t have come,” Hayden finished. Damn, he hadn’t realized just how much Jill hated him. He didn’t want that. He couldn’t deal with that. Not from her.

“No... I...” Her lashes lifted. “I would have been better prepared for you. I would have been able to hold myself back.”

He didn’t want her holding back.

“But maybe I’m making too much of this,” Jill added, a faint furrow between her brows. “Maybe what I’m feeling...it’s just left over from our past.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “Why fear it...if I don’t know what will happen?”

“Jill?”

Her hand fisted on his uniform shirt. “Kiss me.”

Wait. Had she just said—

“Maybe I won’t feel anything and I can let our past go.”

“Don’t count on it,” Hayden growled. He bent his head and his lips took hers.

There was no uncertainty in his kiss, not with Jill. No getting-to-know-you hesitation. He knew her intimately, knew exactly what she liked and didn’t like. All of those memories were burned into his mind.

She’d said people’s memories were like puzzle pieces. His memories of her weren’t. His memories of her were complete in heartbreaking detail because she’d been the one person who always mattered most to him.

Her lips parted beneath his. Hayden’s tongue swept inside her mouth. She tasted so sweet, so good. He pulled her closer and kissed her deeper. He longed for so much more. A low moan built in her throat, a sexy sound that just made the desire knife through him. He was hard and aching for her.

But they were on a public beach.

People were around.

And she was...running a test. Trying to see if she can walk away from me.

His head slowly lifted. He stared down at her, saw the flush on her cheeks and the heat in her gaze. “Well?”

She let go of his uniform. “You always did know how to kiss. But then, you were the boy who gave me my very first kiss.” She started to retreat.

Hayden caught her hand, held tight. We are so past that not-touching part.

“That first kiss was on this very beach.” Another memory that had gotten him through hell. When his life had become a battle, when the missions had been at their darkest, he’d pulled out those memories.

“What do you want me to say?” Jill asked, her breath hitching. “What do you want—”

You. Always you. “Time has passed. We’ve changed. But the desire hasn’t, Jill. It hasn’t lessened.” Hell, no. For him, it had only gotten stronger. Right then, he wanted her naked and under him on a bed. Or over him. That would work, too. Any way with Jill would work. “But the choice is yours.” It always would be. “You want us to stay only partners, just working the cold case? Fine, we can do that.” He’d need a whole lot of very, very icy showers. “But if you want more...” He exhaled. “Then I’ll give you everything I have.”

Her gaze searched his. What did she see, Hayden wondered, when Jill looked at him?

He knew what others had seen...

Troublemaker.

Son of a criminal.

Trash.

Then...after Jill...

Hero.

Fighter.

SEAL.

Now...sheriff. Peacekeeper.

But what was he to her? An ex she wants to forget? “So how did the experiment go?” Hayden asked her, his voice gruff. “Are we to be just partners or—”

“Wanting you was never a problem, Hayden.”

His brows lifted at her hushed words.

“Loving you? That was where I made my mistake.” She gave him a brisk nod. “I’m going back to my rental house for a few hours. I want to call some contacts at the FBI. You and I—we can talk more later.” She turned and began to walk away.

“Talk about the case?” Hayden called out to her. “Or about us?”

She looked back at him. The wind tousled her hair, fanning it across her face. “Both.”

* * *

HE WATCHED JILL as she headed toward her car. He hadn’t been certain which vehicle was hers—there were too many rentals in town right then. But she went to the small sedan with quick, determined strides and he smiled.

But then she stopped. Her gaze lifted and she turned, scanning the street.

He wasn’t outside so she didn’t see him. He was nestled, all safe and snug, in the little deli. The perfect place to watch. Because the sun could be so incredibly bright, the thoughtful deli owners had gotten the windows tinted. Their customers could see out and enjoy the million-dollar beach view, but folks outside couldn’t peer into the deli.

Jill couldn’t see him.

He rolled back his shoulders and let his grin stretch. Did she feel him? Somehow sense him? He’d heard that folks could do that, could tell—instinctively—when they were prey.

Jill was prey. Very, very long overdue prey.

She lingered a moment longer, and her gaze slid back to the beach. The sheriff was there, walking slowly toward her. He’d seen them on the beach, too. Talking, like old friends.

Kissing, like lovers.

Hayden Black was an interfering SOB. He’d make sure the guy didn’t get in his way again. After all...how could Hayden prevent a threat...

When he never saw it coming?

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