Fourteen. The number of days it took to sell most of the items Kace Fox had accumulated in thirty-two years of life. Eleven. The number of hours he had left in his hometown until he got on a plane for Alaska, left his past behind and began a new life working an oil rig in Alaska’s North Slope. Zero. The number of best friends he had left after his last tour in Kandahar.

Kace stared at his blond-haired, blue-eyed baby sister from across the granite countertop in the kitchen of her newly-built four-thousand-square-foot home. Everything about Kendra came from the light. Technically, she was his half-sister; they had the same mother and different fathers - not that either man had stuck around. Nor had the string of ‘uncles’ who’d spent time with their mother. Some for days. Others for weeks.

Twenty-eight-year-old Kendra Dunn had a college degree, two kids under the age of five and a house in the suburbs on a quarter acre lot. She was living her dream life and one so foreign to Kace he wondered some days how the two of them were related at all. Kace got along with his brother-in-law, Tom, who was a little older than Kendra, career Navy. That, Kace understood.

He hadn’t spent enough time around Tom to know if they could strike up a friendship outside of the fact they both loved Kendra and were crazy about the kids, albeit in vastly different ways and for vastly different reasons. Tom seemed like one of the good ones. Kendra had done all right for herself despite growing up in an almost laughably unstable home.

“Are you even listening to me right now?” Kendra snapped her fingers in the air like that should bring a whole boatload of clarity to Kace’s mind. All he really wanted to do was forget.

He rubbed the two-day-old stubble on his chin and took another pull off his beer as his four-year-old nephew, Grayson, blew past chasing Pom-Pom. Even the family dog, a little Pomeranian, screamed domesticity.

“Sure is cold out today.” There was no mistaking the spark in Kendra’s eye. She was trying to make a point.

“Yeah.” Best to let it play out and see which tact she decided to take this time. Not that he really wanted to go down that road again, the one that led to the guilt trip about him abandoning her.

“Winter’s almost here. Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a nasty one.” No road signs needed to figure out the argument she was about to put up. Best to nip it in the bud.

“Everything’s been sold. I took the job. What do you want me to do, Kendra? Quit? Talk to my old landlord and see if I can rent my old place? What exactly would I be coming back to Blushing for?” He took another pull of his beer, a longer one this time. “And since when did you start following weather patterns?”

“There’s an app.” Kendra nodded toward her phone on the massive white granite countertop. “It just feels like I barely get to see you, you’re barely home and you’re already leaving again—”

“Not leaving. Not shipping out. Moving. There’s a difference.” His tone came out harsher than he intended and he felt even worse when Kendra winced like he’d knocked her off balance.

“What’s so great about Alaska?”

“The wildlife. Three million lakes. The open plains—”

She blew out a sharp breath. “Did you know that in January it’s not uncommon for it to be -1 degrees, Kace? There isn’t a sweater warm enough for that and you don’t even own a winter coat.” Her balled right fist was on her hip now. “You’ve hated the cold your entire life.”

“It’s better than the desert.” Anything was better than the fucking middle east. Even sixty degrees below zero, freeze his balls off and hibernate in the winter, cold Alaska. “And there are bears. When do we ever get a chance to see those?” He’d seen a helluva lot of things overseas but never bears.

“When did you ever like bears?” One look at his sister said she was cooking something up in that overactive brain of hers. His two-year-old niece, Gabby, whipped past, humming the theme song from one of those kid shows he’d been subjected to ad nauseam in the past couple of days.

“Who doesn’t like bears?” he fired back, trying to lighten the mood.

“Salmon, for one.” She had a point there. He laughed but she didn’t seem to find the answer so funny.

“Did you bother to look at Wikipedia to find out that Alaska accounts for twenty-five percent of all oil produced in the United States?” He was going for the job, the fishing and the fact that it was away from everything familiar.

“Since when do you hate Texas so much?”

“Never said I did.” He two-fingered the bottle-neck beer and took another pull.

“Sure seems like you’re in a hurry to put it in the rearview.” She had a point. Coming home on a plane while his best friend rode in a casket made him ready to shake the dust of this town off his boots. It should’ve been him in that Humvee, not a good guy like Zeke.

Kace needed to be alone. Living at his sister and brother-in-law’s house for the past two weeks while he sold off everything that didn’t fit into a nineteen-by-thirty-inch suitcase had proved that he wasn’t ready to ‘integrate’ back into society after fourteen years of Navy service. The kids, cute as they might be, ran around the house non-stop, screaming and banging toys on the floor. For most of those fourteen days, Kace woke with a hangover and a splitting headache that would rival the size of his home state.

“I thought you were going to re-enlist.” How many times had he heard Kendra’s speech about this move being about him dropping out of society. How many times could she say the same words to him and expect a different result?

His tour had come to an end. He’d taken the honorary discharge and was no longer property of the U.S. Navy. In short, he was a free man. Free to go anywhere and do anything he wanted. Alone sounded pretty damn good to Kace.

Gabby, the two-year-old, tried to race past him again. He scooped her up while she squealed, and then blew raspberries on her bare stomach.

“You’re avoiding answering my question.” Not much had changed about Kendra. Once she locked sights onto a goal, it was generally game over. Probably the reason she was still badgering him to change his mind and stick around. She couldn’t face defeat.

“You didn’t ask one.” He set Gabby down before she laughed so hard she stopped breathing.

“Why didn’t you re-enlist? I’d see you more often that way.” She was pulling out all the stops, going full-tilt guilt.

“I’m done with being told where to go, what to do and when to do it.”

“You loved serving your country,” she defended.

“True.” He picked up his beer and brought it to his mouth. This time he didn’t drink. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow. He set it down instead. “And now I’m done.”

“Why not get a job around here then?” She put her hand up to stop him when he laughed. “Four guys have contacted you since you’ve been back to see if you want work. Four. You could have your pick.”

“I already have a job.”

“Tom is bringing home a dog in two days. He was a bomb sniffer. Got too close to some new material he didn’t recognize.” She flashed eyes at him before checking where her kids had run off to. Kace could hear the little speed racers coming for another round. “Anyway, he’s supposed to be a great dog but he can’t hear so well anymore out of his left side.”

“You should keep him. That’s probably why your husband is bringing him home.”

“He felt bad for him and I do, too.” A kid zipped past, tripped and fell on the hard surface. Kendra was there soothing Grayson in a heartbeat.

In the next minute, he rebounded, dried his tears and was off to the races with an ear-piercing squeal. Kace loved the little tykes, without a doubt; he just wished there was a mute button.

“My hands are full with these guys and he deserves a calm house,” Kendra didn’t miss a beat. “Plus I have Pom-Pom to take care of.”

“I’m leaving in,” Kace glanced at the wall clock for dramatic effect, “ten hours and thirty-six minutes. I got no room in my suitcase for a dog.”

Kendra blew out a sharp breath as she pushed off her knees and straightened her legs to standing. “I just wish you’d stick around. You know. The kids never get to see you and they love you.”

“Are you stooping to using your kids as weapons against me?” he teased.

“Would it work if I did?’

“No. Sorry.”

“Tell me what will, Kace. I don’t want my favorite brother—”

“Only brother,” he corrected.

She aimed those serious blue eyes at him and said, “Only family I have.”

The speed racers made another circle, chasing something…each other? Hell if Kace knew what had captured their attention but they sure looked like they were having fun doing whatever they were chasing.

“That’s not entirely true.” He motioned toward the blur of blond hair and rapturous giggles blazing past. “And it’s a low blow.” One he’d expected when she got desperate. He checked to see if the defensive guilt trip was working on her.

And that’s when he saw it. The one thing he had no armor for. Kendra trying to sniff back a tear. Her waterworks weren’t theatrics like some people who could just turn it on like they’d flipped a switch. Kendra never cried. She turned her back to him and walked over to the fridge, pretending to get a glass of water.

Hell on a stick.

“Hey, they have WiFi in Alaska and I’ll figure out this new phone I bought so we can use that Face app.”

“FaceTime? Since when do you know how to download anything?”

“Oh, I’ve always known how.” Knowing and doing were two different things.

“You brat.” Her tone was lighter and Kace breathed a sigh of relief. Upsetting his baby sister wasn’t high on his list of things to do on his last night in Texas. She’d been relentless for the past week in trying to sell him on the benefits of staying. She’d offered to let him live in the office that was over the garage. A few of its main selling points were the fact that it had a separate entry and no shared walls. But, there was no amount of walls that could keep out his demons. Being home made them worse.

All of Kace’s life fit into a suitcase now. A suitcase he had every intention of unpacking in Alaska.

Kendra picked up a rolling pin and worked on the dough for the Christmas cut-out cookies she was making for Grayson and Gabby’s preschool.

Her cell buzzed. She glanced at it with a resigned look as she held up her hands in a show of white flour. “Help. Can you—”

“Already on it.” Kace was already stretching out his sore arm, sore from loading his bed on the back of a pickup truck he’d sold to a young mother and her daughter.

“Who is it?”

“Chelsea.” He tapped the green circle on the screen.

Chelsea started right in. “Hey, have you heard from Bree? This is the second meeting she’s blown off and I’m starting to think she doesn’t want to be involved in the holiday parade this year.”

Hearing Bree’s name caught him off guard. He tried not to give away his reaction to hearing her name. He’d spent an unexpected weekend with her the last time he was home on leave that kept replaying in his thoughts in the past couple of months.

He studied Kendra as she worked the dough. How his sister managed to have a social life and a family and still managed to find time to help out at her kids’ preschool while volunteering blew him away. She’d always set out to have a real family and suburban life. Good for her.

The best part of Kace’s job had been when he was on a mission and the rest of the world fell out of focus. None of his dark past came back to haunt him; his mind had that crystal-clear kind of clarity that he only felt when his life was on the line; his heartbeat tapped double time as adrenaline spiked and his body flew into fight, flight or freeze mode; he controlled his breathing until his body submitted. There was no feeling like it.

“No. Why?” Kendra looked at him with an expression that was easy to read. I don’t have time for this.

“Bree’s been MIA for three days. She missed the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony Committee meeting on Thursday and she didn’t show again tonight. No word. No excuses. Nothing. You’re the second person I’ve called and the second person to say she hasn’t spoken to her.” His sister had gone on and on during dinner about all the plans she and her friends were making for the holidays. Tom was deployed more often than not, as was the case with most military spouses and her friends had become her support network.

“You know Bree. She’s been stressed lately with her father’s diagnosis. Maybe she headed out early for Round Rock to spend extra time with her family.” She didn’t look up from the dough she rolled.

“What’s wrong with Bree’s dad?” he asked his sister quietly. Bree had always been close with her family. She’d taken over the family’s gourmet popcorn shop when her parents retired and moved outside of Austin to be closer to extended family.

Kendra made eyes at Kace. He got it. She’d tell him later.

“It’s possible,” Chelsea said. “She’s always been good about calling and giving a heads-up, though. And why not answer a text?”

“Everyone’s busier with the holidays around the corner. She probably thought she called.” Kendra looked at Kace.

“True. This time of year gets hectic,” Chelsea agreed.

“I’m having a hard time keeping all the meetings straight and still figure out how to get presents bought and wrapped. Then there’s who’s coming for dinner because I have no idea. Tom’s family hasn’t gotten back to me, as usual. I haven’t even started thinking about the menu.” Kendra sighed. Kace chuckled. Holidays sounded like too much work. His sister had been obsessed with creating the ‘perfect’ holiday every year for as long as he could remember. He figured she was making up for lost time, considering their early years hadn’t exactly been stellar. This time of year seemed important to her.

Why she couldn’t just throw up a tree, serve what was in the fridge and pass out presents in the bag they came home in was a mystery to him. Kendra insisted on a real tree every year. She went over-the-top on holiday decorations. She’d already chatted in length and with much excitement about the tree farm she planned to take the kids to next weekend. Finding the perfect tree was a quest for baby sister.

He didn’t like the fact that she had to do so much on her own. Another stab of guilt pierced him. If he stuck around, she wouldn’t have to.

“Wish we could call her boss.” Chelsea kept going.

“She works from home.” Kendra stopped with the roller and stared at the phone. “I’m not sure what else we can do except leave a message and wait for her to call back. She could be sick. There was something going around this week at the kids’ school. Miss Taylor said three of her students were out and one threw up in class after drop-off. Bree could be home with the flu.”

“I drove past her house on my way home and didn’t see any lights on,” Chelsea admitted.

Bree lived alone. Kace was tempted to check on her but she was off limits. Zeke, Kace’s best friend, had claimed the two were getting married. The news had caught Kace completely off guard. And then Zeke had been killed. Off limits.

“She could be asleep. I’ll swing by in the morning after my brother takes off…”

“Guess you didn’t figure out how to talk him into sticking around. Shame. He’s hot and came back from the service totally ripped.” Kendra flashed her eyes at Kace.

“How do you know this about my brother?”

“I saw him at the grocery store the other day. Even with a jacket on I could see his bod and damn what I would like to do to—”

“He’s standing right here in my kitchen, Chelsea.” Kendra’s cheeks heated.

“Oh, shit.”

“Hey, Chelsea.” Kace couldn’t help himself. He laughed. The line went dead silent.

“Well, that’s awkward,” Chelsea finally burst out.

“For the record, no one wants to hear their brother being talked about like a piece of meat.” Kendra slapped the roller pin on top of the ball of dough before mashing it down with her flat palm.

“Talk about me all you want, Chelsea. It didn’t hurt my feelings at all,” Kace teased. Athletics had come easy to him in high school and his sister had called him a chick-magnet.

Grayson blew past in a blur of giggles. Gabby barreled around the corner next. Her knee gave. Kace reached out and scooped her up before she face-planted. That caused her to erupt in more giggles.

Kace had always loved his sister and it had been easy to extend that love to her children. But the hollow feeling in his chest that he’d felt since that weekend with Bree was real and came from a very different place. It was foreign to Kace because it felt a little like longing. He’d always been clear about not wanting a family of his own. His home life had done a number on him.

In his opinion, parenthood would be the worst thing he could do to a child. No one deserved to be stuck with him. Even now, he could look into his baby sister’s eyes and see the hurt he put there. He couldn’t be what others wanted, needed, him to be.

Kace would always want to be somewhere else. He would always be just a little bit self-destructive. And he would never be able to live with himself if he put that kind of hurt in someone else’s eyes.

Bridget ‘Bree’ Burke couldn’t see a thing through the darkness enveloping her, shrouding her, making her feel like she couldn’t breathe. Moving made her head hurt as she tried to blink her eyes open. A few more unsuccessful attempts to push out of the mental fog and she heard a noise loud and clear. The panicked feeling inside her grew like tree branches on fast forward.

Was he back? Had he come to kill her as he’d promised?

The urge to bolt overwhelmed her but lifting her arms felt as possible as picking up a hundred-year-old oak. Nothing happened when she tried to move her legs. The tree branches inside her grew, putting pressure on her insides until she felt like she might burst if she couldn’t get to her feet and run the hell out of there.

A face, well, not so much a face but more a shadowed figure popped into her thoughts. His face. It was fuzzy, blurry and she couldn’t make out any of the features. A mask?

Scream, she thought. She desperately needed to let someone know she was here.

Why didn’t her body obey? She commanded her arms to move. The foggy haze tugged at her. It was trying to suck her under. She’d be damned if she could fight against it let alone stop it.

Another face broke through the cloud in her brain. Kace.

Bree fought to stay awake as darkness descended around her. She needed to get out of there, to find Kace before it was too late.

Fight, she thought. Break free from the weights pressing down on her limbs and making them so heavy that she couldn’t so much as wiggle a finger. Kace would help her.

Do something, she thought. No amount of mental cajoling seemed to work. Dusk crashed down on her anyway. And just before she closed her eyes for what she figured might be the last time, she heard a noise.