Special Agent's Surrender. Carla Cassidy

a long time ago.

      You aren’t good for anything, girl. No man is ever gonna want you. Her father’s voice thundered in her ears and she shook her head to cast it out.

      From the time her mother had died when she was a child to the time of her father’s death four years ago, she’d felt inadequate, lacking in any qualities that would make her worthwhile to anyone.

      Her father had been a brutal man, both physically and mentally abusive. “But you survived,” she whispered to the woman in the mirror. “And you thwarted an attack by a madman.”

      “You going to be in there all night or are you ready to go?” Jacob’s voice called from the other side of the bathroom door.

      “I’m ready,” she replied and left the bathroom. He stood by the front door, car keys in hand and a familiar scowl riding his features. She grabbed her coat and pulled it on, then gave him a bright smile. “What are we waiting for?”

      He opened the door and they walked out into the cold night air. “Wait here,” he said and then he walked off into the darkness of the night.

      She stood on the porch, wondering where he had gone, but moments later a black pickup pulled up in front of the cabin with Jacob at the wheel.

      “Where did this come from?” she asked as she slid into the passenger seat.

      “There’s a shed not far from here. I figured there was no way you could walk the distance to the house in those shoes.”

      She glanced down at her blue pumps and then looked at him. “You’d be surprised what I can accomplish in a pair of sexy high heels.”

      He grunted and pulled away from the cabin. It took only minutes to travel the lane that led to the big ranch house that had been the Grayson family home where Benjamin and Edie now lived.

      All the lights were on, creating a welcoming glow as Jacob pulled up beside Tom’s car. Edie greeted them at the door and ushered them inside as Benjamin’s dog, Tiny, danced at their feet.

      The house smelled of evergreen and cinnamon, and Christmas decorations adorned every available surface. Layla shoved aside a wistful twinge as she thought of the little tree she’d intended to unpack and put out the night she’d gotten attacked.