Christ, that woman. Harper gets under my skin like no other person has ever done. Since the moment I met her in our high school hallway, she’s been giving me hell. Fuck, I love it.

I stand in the hallway of her apartment building, watching her shadow under the door. She’s still standing there, right in the middle of the door. Almost a decade may have passed since we’ve seen each other, but I still know her better than anyone else. She’s leaning against the door, her hand over her heart staring up at the ceiling, reeling from every feeling I just ignited in her.

My phone vibrates in my pocket the moment she walks away from the door. I push off from where I was leaning on the hallway and make my way down to the stairs. “Marx,” I answer.

“Where the fuck are you?” Kiernan barks into the phone.

“Texas.” I start my jog down the stairs, exiting the building into the blazing Texas heat.

Kiernan Brooks, my right-hand man, goes completely silent. Not even a breath comes over the phone line before he explodes in my ear. “What did you just say?”

“I said I’m in Texas.” I speak each word slowly, just to piss him off.

“Dumbass. Dawson said you just took off in the middle of a job. No word, just left. I’ve been calling you.”

“I’ve been busy. I called in for back up for Dawson.”

“Does a client need you in Texas? Dawson didn’t need back up, it was an easy job.”

“Not exactly.” I hop in my truck, looking up at Harper’s building one last time. I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face when I see her curtains close quickly. “Every job we do has double men on it.”

“Then what the fuck are you doing?” I can hear him pacing around.

“I have some things to handle. You’re in charge until I get back. Don’t cut men from the jobs I assigned.”

Kiernan’s string of curses echo in my truck when the Bluetooth connects. I toss my phone on the passenger seat and take off to find some answers about the man who bought the building.

“Roman…” Kiernan releases a frustrated breath. “It wasn’t your fault. You’re stretching the guys too thin.”

The smile Harper left on my face vanishes into thin air as the anchor drops in my stomach. I growl. “He was one of my men.”

“Roman,” he starts before I cut him off.

“No. Discussion over.”

We both stay silent for a long minute, lost in regret and fury. I close my eyes for a split second, brushing it away.

“I have shit to handle in Texas. I’m gonna need you to find some information for me.”

Kiernan releases a string of curses again. “Is this going to get us sued?”

“Probably not,” I reply, smiling. Not only is Kiernan my right hand in the field, he’s also the business manager of my security firm.

“What do you need?”

“This stays between us, yeah?”

“Christ, what did you get yourself into?”

I chuckle at his exasperated tone and picturing him pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m not sure yet. Get me all the information you can on a Rafael Bazán living in Austin, Texas. Maybe from Dallas. Claims his father is Santiago Cortez. Anything you find, send it over.”

I hang up the phone as I pull into a parking lot of a motel. I didn’t intend to leave my men stranded with no warning, but when I heard that voicemail from Harper—nothing mattered. Nothing but the confusion in her voice. Nothing but the fact that she wanted something from me. I swore to myself all those years ago that if she ever needed me, I would do anything for her. I don’t give a damn what it is. I will deliver it to her on a silver platter.

I was in the middle of job with Dawson when I checked my phone. Dawson could handle it without me there, but he’s been a bit skittish since the incident. Everyone’s lives changed after that day. Working a standard security detail on a low-level client is something one of the new guys usually handles, but it’s all Dawson’s been taking on, even with my insistence that we double our manpower on everything. When her voice flowed through the line during my break, my knees almost gave out. I didn’t have time to even glance in Dawson’s direction before I took off for my truck. I made the thirteen-hour drive in eleven.

I turned off my phone after the fifth call. Nothing else mattered.

I never lost track of Harper, telling myself I was just worried about her safety. Part of me felt like her dad would slit my throat if I wasn’t watching after her. It doesn’t matter that we aren’t together anymore, on some level she’ll always be mine. The call came at the perfect time; I’ve been planning how to come back into her life.

Seeing her sleeping in her bed, blonde hair scattered all over her pillow, I took what felt like my first breath in years.