Shielding Nebraska Read online

  A relationship with someone who respected her.

  Maybe a marriage and family.

  And she’d thrown it away on a wave of anger and knee-jerk reactions.

  “You okay?” Dylan said, leaning a shoulder on the wall next to her.

  “Not really, no,” she said.

  “Your brother—”

  She shook her head and sighed. “It’s not him.”

  “Slyder?”

  “Bingo.”

  “So, what are you going to do about it?”

  “I don’t know. He knew it was likely a family member. He found out it was my brother but didn’t say anything.”

  Dylan scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, about that…if you had given him a chance, he might have been able to clear up a few things for you.”

  “Like?”

  “We all knew it was someone in your family. It’s why we brought Slyder in. We branched out, each covering a member and digging into their affairs, looking for clues. So if you’re mad about that, you need to be mad at all of us. We decided to not take your family away from you until we were sure.”

  So they’d done it for honorable reasons. And knowing that soothed a bit of the hurt—since it wasn’t about not respecting her enough to trust her to handle it, but respecting her so much that they didn’t want to shake up her world without being positive. She rolled her head to the side, and sighed. “He knew it was Aaron. That’s different.”

  “He knew for all of five minutes. I had only just called him before he found Aaron’s hitman in your house. There wasn’t time to tell you.”

  She bit her lip, a tear rolling down her cheek. “I’m an ass.”

  “Nah, you’re human. One of our toughest cases but, then, I knew Slyder could handle you. He can handle anything.”

  She swiped the tear and straightened. “Where is he now?”

  Dylan laughed. “Outside, waiting for you to come to your senses.”

  She smiled, and pushed away from the wall. “He didn’t give up on me,” she murmured.

  “Slyder sticks. No matter what,” Dylan said.

  “Yeah, I’m starting to get that.” She kissed Dylan’s cheek. “Thank you. I know my mom paid you, but thank you for hanging in there and taking care of me when I was too proud to take care of myself.”

  “Anytime. Now go out there and put Slyder out of his misery. He only has a few days before he has to return to work.”

  She gasped. “He’s leaving?”

  “For a bit. It’s not like he’ll be halfway around the world. He has an assignment in Northern California. However, I’m pretty sure you have some free time in your immediate future, so maybe you can keep him company while he’s there.”

  Yeah, she could do that. If he’d have her.

  She exited the prison and took a deep breath as the sunshine poured over her face. For the first time in a year, she didn’t have to look over her shoulder and wonder who might be lurking.

  She laughed.

  Her first realization that she was free from danger came to her just outside of the prison holding her brother.

  How sick was that?

  She opened her eyes, her gaze landing on Slyder as he leaned against his Charger. Faded blue jeans hugged his muscular thighs. A black T-shirt stretched tight across his wide chest. Aviator sunglasses hid his eyes from her view.

  And he was there for her.

  She headed for him, and came to a stop just inches away from those boots of his. “I’m a pain in the ass,” she said, figuring she might as well acknowledge the truth.

  His mouth twitched. “You are.”

  She ran the tip of her finger over the veins in his hand and hoped she hadn’t ruined things, because she wanted to know what it was like to have him touch her everywhere. “I was hard on you,” she admitted.

  He shrugged. “I can take it.” He linked his fingers with hers and squeezed her hand.

  She tipped her head back and smiled. “I heard you’re going to Northern California.”

  He nodded. “I am.”

  “Want company?” she asked, praying he wouldn’t reject her.

  “It’s cold this time of year. You up for that?” he asked.

  “I’ve no doubt you’ll make sure I don’t freeze,” she said with a smile.

  He pushed away from his car and curled his hands behind her neck, pulling her to just under his lips. “I’ll make keeping you warm my first priority.”

  “I’m sorry I pushed you away,” she murmured, pushing up onto her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

  He ran his thumb over her cheek. “I’m sorry we were right. You deserve better, Nebraska.”

  She kissed his thumb before biting it, making him hiss. “I don’t know—had I gotten what I deserved I never would have found you.”

  “I have a plan. I’m looking to make that home I can always go back to. I’m hoping you’ll want to be a part of it,” he said.

  “I’d be honored,” she whispered.

  He took her mouth in a hot kiss, pulling her body against his. The pain of losing a brother faded away under the flood of love filling her heart.

  I hope you loved Slyder and Nebraska’s story!

  Curious about Dylan? He’s the next to fall in Shielding Harlow coming Spring 2018

  Available on Kindle, Amazon, and Audible…

  Falling in Fiji

  A Falling in Paradise Novel

  smarturl.it/FallingInFijiAmazon

  Falling in Angels Falls

  smarturl.it/AngelsFallsAmazon

  Available on Kindle, Amazon, and Audible…

  Sunset at Lake Crane

  A Livingston Valley Novel

  smarturl.it/SunsetAmazon

  Other Kindle World novellas by Casey Hagen…

  smarturl.it/roadsideassistance

  smarturl.it/BillionaireDame

  smarturl.it/ConsumedbytheDare

  smarturl.it/ADaringProposition

  smarturl.it/HeartstringsAmazon

  smarturl.it/UnconventionalLove

  smarturl.it/OpGirlNextDoor

  smarturl.it/PhoenixBlindSpot

  smarturl.it/OutOfTheFire

  smarturl.it/UnconventionalSeduce

  smarturl.it/SafeHouse1

  smarturl.it/Marked1

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  ABOUT CASEY HAGEN

  Casey Hagen pens her snarky, passionate stories from the salty air of Kennebunk, Maine. She’s a born and raised Vermont native, a New England girl to the core, with Ben & Jerry’s in her heart and real Vermont maple syrup pumping through her veins.

  She’s the proud mother of three girls and a soon-to-be first-time grandma with an insatiable addiction to Fall Out Boy, and a new, rather concerning obsession with tattoos and piercings. Can you say “cool grandma?”

  The inked and pierced grandma spends her time tucked away in her office, coated in cat hair, alternating between tearing her hair out trying to find the perfect words and being one step ahead of her three scheming fur babies she is positive are plotting her demise with every swirl around her ankles at the top of her office stairs.

  She loves writing stories about real people, with complicated histories, relatable everyday problems, and giving them the hard-won happily-ever-afters they deserve.

  And she thanks every last one of you who picks up one of her stories.

  Casey is done talking about herself in the third person.

  *Casey out*

 

 

 
k with friends