As a Ranger, Ty had nearly two decades of training and experience in how to compartmentalize and push through fear for the sake of a mission. He had to draw on all of it as he drove like a bat out of hell, with Paisley’s unsteady breath on the other end of the phone.
Why the f**k had he chosen to live so far out? Why had he left her alone this morning? She had no protection. He knew damned well Duke was worthless as a guard dog. It was too easy to imagine someone holding her at gunpoint or with a knife to her throat, threatening her to stay quiet.
Because the questions and the multitude of dangerous scenarios ate away at his focus, he locked them away with the fear, too. Something to bring out once she was safe and the perimeter was secure. He ran lights on, siren screaming, coaxing ever
