Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
And then there was JB.
How the hell was he supposed to live and not see that smile every day? Not hear his laugh? They’d started sleeping in the same bed every night, and somehow Cole was supposed to go back to sleeping without feeling JB against him. Impossible. Fucking impossible.
“JB!” Carlyle exclaimed the moment JB opened the door. The man’s face was flushed, and his breathing was labored as if he’d run from his own ranch. “Have you seen Katie today?”
“What? No, not yet.”
“Have you talked to her? On the phone?”
“No. What’s going on?”
“She-she left the house early this morning. She had to drop off some clothes or something for that church rummage sale your mom is organizing.”
“Drop off here?”
Carlyle nodded. “Yes. I’ve tried calling her for the past hour, but she never answered. I figured she got talking with Bel and forgot her phone in the truck.”
“She’s not here, Car. I haven’t seen her all morning.”
Cole walked out of the kitchen, closing the distance between himself and JB. His knees were wobbly, and there was a sick twisting in his stomach. “Her truck? Did you see the truck she drove over here?”
Again, Carlyle nodded. “Side of the rode. Less than a mile from here. I thought maybe she had trouble with it and decided to walk to the house. Get someone to ride with her back to fix it. But she would have called me. She…she would have called.” He shook his head and pinned JB with a terrified look. “I checked out the truck. Something looks…off.”
“Take me to the truck,” JB growled.
“Wait!” Cole’s hand clamped down on JB’s shoulder. “I’m coming with you. Just need to throw on clothes. Wait for me.”
“Hurry,” JB said before following Carlyle out of the house.
Cole rushed to his room and threw on the first clothes he found. They were likely dirty, but now was not the time to worry about it. He paused only long enough to grab his cell phone off the charger and stuff it into his pocket. With his shoes in his hand, Cole ran out of the house and met up with JB and Carlyle as they climbed into his shiny black truck.
He swung up into the rear seat of the extended cab and managed to slam the door shut as Carlyle stomped on the gas. They roared down the driveway in a cloud of dust and gravel. Cole shoved his feet into his shoes and palmed his phone again, shooting off a quick text.
“I texted Noah and Rowe to stand by. We might have a problem,” Cole announced.
“Thank you,” JB said, immediately easing some of the worry that he’d overstepped. But if shit was seriously going sideways, Cole couldn’t think of two people better equipped to handle it. There was no one else he wanted at his back. Well, except for JB.
JB was talking to his father a second later on his cell, telling him to divide up the ranch hands to start looking for her while he inspected her truck.
“What time did Katie leave the house this morning?” Cole inquired while JB gave instructions.
“Uh…around seven, I think. She was coming straight here and then heading up to Austin to run some errands.”
Cole glanced at the clock on the dash. It was only quarter till nine. Apparently he and JB had spent more time kissing in the kitchen than he’d thought. “And it takes about half an hour to reach Alexander Ranch. She’s potentially been missing less than two hours. It’s still early.” Cole was clinging to his optimism, but he had a feeling he knew the culprit behind this.
“Where are the kids?” Cole asked, suddenly remembering the two adorable little ones.
“My parents’.” A ghost of a smile crossed his lips but was gone before it truly formed. “We had a date night last night and they stayed over at my parents’. They’re supposed to bring them home after lunch.”
Cole’s phone vibrated in his hand, announcing the arrival of a text. He looked to find that Noah had replied to state that they were ready to act. A tendril of warmth wrapped around his heart. They didn’t even ask what was wrong. They were just gonna jump in because they were needed.
“Gotta go. I see the truck,” JB said, ending the call with his father. “Here. Pull off here,” he ordered Carlyle, stopping them several yards away from the truck.
JB jumped out of the truck and jogged down the asphalt while holding up a hand toward them to stay away. Cole remained beside Carlyle as the man shifted from one foot to the other.
“Where did you park when you first spotted the truck?” JB called out.
“Behind it.”
“Not in front?”
Katie’s husband shook his head. “No. Behind it.”
Cole saw what JB saw: fresh tire tracks in front of the truck. Deeply rutted, as if it had come to a sharp stop, as if it had been cutting off Katie’s escape.