Harlequin Intrigue: October 2022 Box Set 2 of 2 by Nicole Helm

Author:Nicole Helm
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

There had been very few times Amber could recall when she had heard a man sob. One was when her brother had passed away, and she had been there to hold her father’s hand when the nurses shared the news. Her father had gone to pieces in a way that she had never before witnessed and never wanted to see again.

From inside the cabin, she could hear a noise like that of her father’s and it made her heart threaten to shatter. She walked to the door and held the knob, not sure if she should go in and take care of AJ in his moment of need, or stay outside and be here for him in the moment of his choosing.

If he was anything like her stoic father, he would never want her to see him broken. AJ had shown her how strong he was from the moment she had first met him out in the timber. If she ran to him now, he would be just as likely to shirk from her touch as he was to fall into it.

She could only imagine what Baker had said to him behind these closed doors to make him fall to pieces like this, but she wanted to punch her fellow officer in the nose for hurting AJ.

Without realizing it, she had been gripping the handle so hard that her hand was shaking.

She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t stand out here in the cold when AJ so clearly needed her. Yet, if she went in there and took him in her arms like she wanted to, the nature of their relationship would definitely come into question. She had come here to do a job and was already too close to the man she had been working with—that kind of thing was taboo. Until now, she hadn’t feared losing her job over it, but if she made it obvious, she very well could find herself in the HR office at the regional headquarters by the end of the week.

Still, that wasn’t reason enough to stop her from going to him.

Without giving it another thought, she opened the door. Baker was standing beside AJ; his hand was on his shoulder, and when she walked in, Baker looked up. There was a pained expression on his face.

“What happened?”

“The hand...is Tammy’s,” AJ said, looking up at her. He ran the back of his hand under his nose, which was running. There were tear streaks on his cheeks and the sight of him in such a state pulled at her heartstrings.

She nearly snarled at the detective. “Go grab him a Kleenex.” She pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

The detective opened his mouth like he was going to argue, but after looking at her, he seemed to think better of it before doing as she said.

She moved to AJ’s side. “Just because they gave us a positive ID on the hand, it doesn’t mean she’s dead.”

“You and I both know she is dead.” AJ pulled in a deep breath like he could regain his composure in a single inhale.

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