He reached for her, but she moved away, everything she’d held in check since being attacked pouring through her. “I had to live without a father. Don’t even know where he is. And then I had to live without my mother. After hearing all the details of how she was murdered, I was afraid but I got over my fears.” Her eyes brimmed with emotion. “I made myself get over all of it when I decided to become a police officer. I might not be a patrol officer anymore, but I learned how to protect myself...and I can still protect myself now. I won’t let them win. I won’t be afraid.”
But she was afraid. Her worst nightmare had always been a fear of ending up just like her mother. She hated the fresh terror coursing through her. How could she control this? What should she do now? Would her prayers save her?
Slade pulled her toward him, his hands on her elbows. “It’s gonna be all right. You don’t need to worry. I’ll put an officer on your house 24/7, I promise.”
She backed away again. She couldn’t depend on this man. She’d been independent for a long time now. “I have Warrior. I’m training him as an all-purpose so he can help you find Rio. And we’ll find the man behind this, too.”
Slade shook his head. “No, Kaitlin. There is no ‘we’ in this. You can’t get involved. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’m already involved,” she said, anger taking over her apprehension. “They’re after me. I don’t know why, but they want something from me.”
“They need your expertise,” Slade explained. “You know how to make Rio do his job. They don’t. That means they want something or someone that they can’t get to, and they need you and Rio to help them.”
“So they’ll just kidnap trainers and animals until they get what they want?”
She saw something there in his eyes, a flicker of uneasiness that surpassed the concern she’d already seen. “What are you thinking, Slade?”
“They’re coming after you for a reason.”
“You said because of my expertise.”
“It’s more than that, I think.” He put his hands on his hips and exhaled slowly. “They must know that you and I are—that we’re close. I mean, I came to you almost two years ago and asked you to help me with Caleb. You’ve been to our house before and you’ve had Caleb at your place when I needed a sitter. They’ve seen us together at the yard and...they’ve probably been watching you with Caleb at the park, walking down the block—”
Kaitlin gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “They wouldn’t hurt him, would they? Slade?”
He hit his hand on the door frame. “I don’t know. We have to consider every possibility.”
A cold calm came over Kaitlin. She refused to give in to the dread that shadowed her like tattered black threads. And she surely wouldn’t allow anything to happen to Caleb. “We have to consider that. If I’m around you and Caleb, then you both could be in danger.”
He looked over at her. “You can’t avoid us. You can’t isolate yourself. We have to work through this together.”
“But you just said I shouldn’t get involved. You can’t have it both ways.”
“You’re right, I can’t. You’re in danger and I need to come up with a way to protect you. But you’re also good at your job. I need you to go about your normal routine. If you keep working with Warrior, we might be able to do something about this.”
“Will you let me do that? Will you keep me informed and let me train Warrior to help?” She lifted her chin. “Don’t shut me out, Slade. This is too important and I’m way too involved for you to go all stoic and righteous on me now.”
A frown deepened his laugh lines. “Stoic and righteous? Is that how you see me?”
Kaitlin didn’t want to pull any punches. “You’re kind of single-minded and intense when it comes to this case. And I get that. Your partner went missing, your dad almost died and now your son might be a target.” She held back a shudder. “You have every right to be on alert, Slade, but you need me. I want to help. If I don’t, this fear will overcome me and I can’t handle that.”
He stood, silent and brooding, doubt flickering in his eyes. “You’re right. I have a lot riding on this. My entire unit, for one thing. My job, my son. And you.”
And you.
Awareness flashed through Kaitlin, a spine-tingling feeling that she couldn’t deny. Did he feel it, too? This thing they had going? She wondered if she was just fixating on the one man who’d taken the time to get to know her over the years and had now possibly saved her life. Or maybe because Caleb was so adorable, she considered his daddy to be the same? No, this was about more than that.
They’d worked around each other for a couple of years now, but they’d both been professional and polite but standoffish. Then he’d approached her about using dog therapy to help Caleb out of his shell. And she’d readily agreed because she did empathize with the little guy since she’d been through something similar. And now they’d been thrown together in an intense brush with death. Being aware of Slade McNeal had gone up a notch or two from admiring him to admitting she was attracted to him.
Did he feel the same way? She decided that didn’t matter right now. She only wanted Slade and his family to be safe. Caleb didn’t need yet another trauma to deal with.
Slade McNeal was as strong as steel and as solid as an oak tree. The strands of silver near his temples matched that steely ice blue of his eyes. He was the kind of man she should run from, and fast. She needed to remember that, no matter the tension between them.
He must have realized what he’d said. “You are a part of this, Kaitlin. I can’t let anything bad happen to one of our best trainers.”
She’d take that, for now.
“Then let me help you. I’m trained to teach K-9 dogs on how to be the best. I know all the rules and I know all the procedures and precautions. And even though I quit the force, I’m experienced in all kinds of self-defense courses.”
He nodded, a curt, quick movement. “We’ll need to put surveillance on your house and the training yard. You can’t be alone. You’ll need someone at work with you at all times and you might need to stay with someone for a while. I can put Melody on this. She’s as caught up in this case as the rest of us.”
“Melody Zachary?” Kaitlin knew Melody. She was a good cop and a great friend who’d recently helped solve her nephew Daniel’s murder. “But she’s engaged now. She’s busy planning her wedding to Parker.”
“Yep, that seems to be going around a lot these days, but she still has a job to do. You can help her with the wedding stuff. You women seem to love that kind of thing.”
Figuring he wasn’t the marrying type, she said, “We all have a job to do.” Then her smile broke. “But it would be fun to help plan a wedding.”
Slade nodded. “I guess that’s a win-win.” He took another breath. “Look, it’s late. We’ve got a lot to contend with. Think you can get some sleep?”
“I don’t know. I’m exhausted but wired. I’ll try.”
He motioned to Warrior. “Take him and go back to bed.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t sleep.”
* * *
The next morning, Slade was back in his office bright and early. He’d dropped Kaitlin by her house to get a few things, then they’d driven in together. The other trainers had been briefed on what happened yesterday, so they knew to stay on high alert. Slade had reported to the chief and now he was about to brief his unit and bring everyone up-to-date. They’d have