Rescue Me

her.”
    That was fucking ridiculous. If there had been anything in his eyes, it had been pure lust. “I don’t spark,” he told the girl who wore glitter on her eyelids. He continued to rummage for his level and added, “I’ve never sparked.”
    “Oh, you sparked.”
    His face felt hot, and if he didn’t know better, he’d think he was embarrassed. Which was just damn ridiculous. He didn’t get embarrassed.
    “Remember when we met at Tally’s wedding?”
    He wasn’t likely to forget. He rose and grabbed his tool belt off the desk.
    “I didn’t think I’d ever find someone again after Slade.”
    He wrapped the soft leather belt around his waist. Lord, she was dramatic.
    “But I did. His name is Jeremiah.”
    He looked up and wondered why she thought he’d care. Oh yeah, she thought he was her dad.
    “So I won’t be around as much.”
    Praise Jesus.
    “So is Sadie gonna stick around?”
    Even if he wanted her to stick around, she’d always said she was going to get the hell out of Lovett as soon as she had the chance. Back to her real life. When they’d first met, it was one of the reasons he’d found her so appealing. Now there were a lot of things about her that appealed to him. Besides the obvious, she was smart and tough. These past few days, she’d been strong in the face of her loss. Unlike his own mother who had always fallen to her knees when she fell apart, Sadie stood and faced what came at her with calm dignity. He liked that about her. Sadie’s leaving was no longer one of the things he liked about her though. He wouldn’t mind if she stuck around. When he’d first driven into town, he’d thought he was going to be around for only a week or maybe two. Shit happened, or to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, there were known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. The press had made fun of the former defense secretary for that statement, but it made perfect sense to guys like Vince who’d gone into known unknowns only to land in a shit storm of unknown unknowns. He loved a well-executed plan of known knowns. He liked to anticipate complications. Liked to see trouble coming before a known known became a known unknown. Or worse. An unknown unknown where there was nothing left but to blow shit up and shoot anything that moved. Just burn the fucker down.
    “You’re a nice man and deserve a nice woman.”
    Which showed how much she knew. He wasn’t a nice man. He’d seen and done things he would never talk about with anyone outside the teams. Things civilians would never understand. Horrific things that left a mark on his soul, yet things he wasn’t sorry about and would do again if his country asked it of him. Things he would do to protect his family. Only his family didn’t need him to protect them anymore.
    “I think you’re really great, Vince.” Her big brown eyes looked across at him.
    His phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket. He opened the text and read: Rescue me . There was a lot to do at the Gas and Go. He’d spent all day looking at apartments, and the last four days he’d spent with Sadie. He was behind on his renovations. He could get in a few good hours yet today. He needed to get in a few more hours today before he left for Seattle in a few days. The unexpected trip was going to set him back even further, which could cost him money.
    Vince hated losing money almost as much as he hated the unknown unknowns and owing people.
    He slid the phone into the side pocket of his cargo pants. “It’s late,” he said. “Time to go home.” He ushered Becca out the back door and jumped into his truck. On the drive out to the JH, he didn’t bother to ask himself why he was dropping everything to rescue Sadie. It made no sense, and he preferred things to make sense. A well-executed plan. A clarity of purpose. A known known.
    He turned off the highway and drove beneath the entrance of the JH Ranch. He’d like to tell himself that it wasn’t anything more than a sex thing. That was the simple answer. Straightforward. Clear. But walking toward him, tiny plumes of dust coming off the heels of her boots, looking sexy as hell, was one smoking hot complication. What old Don Rumsfeld called the known unknowns.
    The smart thing to do would be to turn around before the unknown part of that equation blew up into a shit storm. He hated shit storms. Hated the feeling creeping up on him like he was in unfamiliar territory. Every good warrior knew when to abort. To get