by Kat Martin
“What’ll ya have?”
“Lone Star and a shot of Jack.” You didn’t drink just beer in a place like this. Not if you wanted information.
The bartender set the drinks in front of him and Bran shot the whiskey back. “Thanks. I needed that.”
“Haven’t seen you in here before.”
“Haven’t been in before. Just passing through unless I find a reason to stay.”
The bartender’s wet rag made a circle on the bar. “You a vet?”
“That’s right.”
“Afghanistan?”
“Kandahar, Helmand Province, a few other scenic spots.”
“Fun times.” The bartender chuckled and relaxed, headed for a customer at the other end of the bar. Bran sipped his beer and let the time spin out. He had no idea what Tank looked like and only a slim possibility that he would get lucky and the guy would actually show up there tonight, though Hawk’s informant had said he was a regular.
He made a trip to the men’s room, which was down a long hallway out of sight. A back door at the end of the corridor opened into the parking lot, locked with a dead bolt but no alarm. The two-stall men’s room might prove useful. It was close to the exit, and the women’s room was on the other side of the hall so noise wouldn’t be a problem.
He filed the info away, returned to his barstool, finished his beer, and ordered another. He checked his black army wristwatch. Three minutes till time for the phone to ring.
He sipped his beer and set the bottle back down on the bar. Right on time, the phone jangled and the bartender walked over and grabbed it off the wall.
“Mack’s Roadhouse.”
Bran could almost hear Jessie’s feminine voice on the other end of the line asking for Tank. He had called her earlier and set up the scam, hoping to draw the guy out.
“Sorry, lady. Tank ain’t here. Got a regular pool game on Tuesdays. Probably be here then. You want I should tell him you called?”
As planned, Jessie told him she’d call back, and the bartender hung up the phone.
Bran felt a rush of anticipation. Tank wasn’t there tonight, but he was definitely a regular and tomorrow looked good. He waited just in case, figuring the bartender would mention the call if he spotted Tank coming through the door, but it never happened. It was nearly closing when he left and started home.
Jessie would be in bed by now. Just thinking about her sleeping in one of his T-shirts, her pretty breasts forming soft mounds beneath the fabric, made him start getting hard. He clamped down on the unwanted shot of lust and concentrated on the road.
Jessie’s door was closed when he headed down the hall toward the bedroom next to hers. He told himself to just keep walking. It was late and she needed her rest. He’d texted her earlier and thanked her for the help, and she’d texted back, telling him to stay safe, but it wasn’t the same as talking.
Arousal slipped through him. Not that talking was all he had in mind.
He sighed and kept moving, had just opened the door to his room, when Jessie’s door cracked open and a head of sleep-mussed, fiery blond hair popped into the hall.
“You’re home,” Jessie said. “I was worried.”
He only had so much willpower. Walking back, he stopped in front of her, wished he wasn’t so glad to see her. “You should be sleeping.”
“I wanted to be sure you were safe.”
“I’m okay.” He ran a finger down her smooth cheek. “You did good tonight. With any luck Tank will show up tomorrow night, and we’ll get this thing done.” He told himself to turn around and go back to his own room, but he couldn’t make himself move.
“I missed you,” Jessie said, looking up at him with those big green eyes he found so appealing.
“I missed you, too, baby.” Bran bent his head and settled his mouth over hers. His groin tightened as hunger clawed through him with surprising force.
“Stay with me,” she whispered.
He kissed her again, slow and deep. “I was afraid you wouldn’t ask.” She led him into her bedroom, helped him undress, and they slid beneath the covers. He loved kissing her, loved the way her plump lips sank so softly into his.
The sex was good, better than good, the way it always was between them. It scared him a little. He’d had only a couple of serious relationships, and they hadn’t ended well. Women seemed to expect more from him than he knew how to give. Better to keep things on a strictly physical basis. In Jessie’s case, he valued her friendship as much as he enjoyed her luscious little body. He didn’t want to lose it.
Or her.
The thought surprised him and made him even more wary. He didn’t want to think about it so he just leaned over and started kissing her again. Jessie responded, welcoming him into her sweetly feminine warmth. Afterward they slept curled together.
The gray light of dawn slanting through the curtains awoke him. Reaching across the mattress, he realized the bed was empty and Jessie was already gone. Needing to get to his own room before the kids got up, he pulled on his clothes and slipped quietly into the hall, drawn toward the kitchen by the sound of children’s laughter.
Jessie sat at the table with Chris and little Sarah playing Fish, a card game he remembered playing with his brothers.
Jessie laughed at something Chris said, and the little boy grinned ear to ear. It was the second time in two days Bran had felt a pang just looking at her.
“Okay, you two, time to get to school,” Ty said. “Say goodbye to Jessie and let’s get going.”
“Bye, Jessie!” Chris and Sarah both called out as Ty helped them collect their things.
“Bye, guys.” Jessie smiled. “See you this afternoon.”
Ty loaded the little boy into his wheelchair and Sarah fell in beside him as he pushed the chair off toward the garage where the Subaru was parked.
Bran’s attention returned to Jessie, whose gaze followed Ty and the kids. Her wistful smile held a softness different than he had seen before. She would want that for herself, he realized, a family, at least a couple of kids. Most women did.
What kind of father would he make? Not the spend-every-weekend-at-home, never-miss-a-PTA-meeting kind of dad. Not the go-to-work-at-eight-and-be-home-by-five kind, either. He rubbed a hand over his unshaven jaw. He had no idea why he was even thinking about it, since he was never going to have any children.
Still standing in the hall out of sight, he watched Jessie moving around the kitchen, cleaning up the cereal bowls left from Chris and Sarah’s breakfast.
His mood darkened. Instead of heading into the kitchen to pour himself a desperately needed cup of coffee, Bran turned and walked back down the hall to the bedroom he should have slept in last night.
TWENTY-ONE
Jessie stood at the door of the garage as Bran drove down the curving lane toward the tall wrought iron front gate and the road down the mountain that lay beyond. He had talked to her, filled her in on Wayne Conrad Coffman before he’d left, Tank, the man Digger Graves believed had killed Janos Petrov.
“We bring Coffman in on murder charges, we can leverage him against Weaver,” he’d said. “No way Weaver wants to go back into the high security side of ADMAX. Nobody wants to stay locked up twenty-three hours a day. If we can offer Weaver something he wants—like staying where he is—maybe we can get him to give us what we need.”
“The name of the person who paid him to use his connections to kill my father before he found out who stole the chemical weapons.”
He nodded. “That, and who made sure the colonel took the fall for it.”
“How can we be sure Tank is the guy who killed Petrov?”
“No way to know for certain. But according to Graves, that shot between the eyes is Tank’s MO. Graves is doing his best to stay alive. I’m betting he’s right about Tank.”
“Are you sure you can do this on your ow
n? Maybe we should call the police, let them bring him in.”
“We don’t have enough evidence. Not yet. We’ll see how tonight plays out.”
He gave her a quick hard kiss and left her there to worry. Since they hadn’t made it to her apartment, Jessie busied herself washing their dirty clothes, then used her disposable phone to call her best friend. Hallie picked up on the second ring but didn’t recognize the caller ID, since it wasn’t Jessie’s cell.
“This had better not be some phony credit card sales call,” she said, making Jessie laugh.
“Nope, not a sales call, I promise.”
“Jessie! Where in the hell have you been, girl?”
“It’s a long, not the least bit boring story, some of which I told you when we talked the last time, some you will not believe.” Hallie knew about her investigation into her father’s death. She’d been at the funeral. She knew Bran was in Colorado helping her, didn’t know Jessie was sleeping with her self-appointed bodyguard.
“Where are you?” Hallie asked. “Are you back in Denver?”
“Actually, I’m in Evergreen. It’s a long story.”
“I want to hear it. I desperately need a best friend fix.”
“So do I. I can’t begin to tell you how much.” She glanced around for Ty, who was never far away. Like Brandon, he took his job as her protector extremely seriously. “Hold on a minute.”
She covered the phone. “Ty, would it be all right if I invited a girlfriend up to the house? I haven’t seen her in ages, not since the trouble began. You’ll like her, I promise.”
Ty frowned. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’s my job to keep you safe, and your friend is an unknown factor.”
“She’s not connected to what we’ve been doing. She actually knows very little about it. She’s my best friend since college, Ty. I really need to see her.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “All right, I guess. I don’t see how it could be a problem. Hand me the phone and I’ll give her directions.”
Jessie handed him the burner, and Ty gave Hallie instructions on how to find the house up in the hills. “I’ll leave word with the guard at the gate.”
Hallie must have said something funny because Ty laughed. “You got it.” He handed Jessie the burner.
“Is that guy as sexy as he sounds on the phone?” Hallie asked.
Jessie cast him a glance. She hadn’t really thought of Ty that way but... “Actually, yes. And he has the cutest two kids you’ve ever seen.” Hallie had always loved children. She couldn’t wait to have some of her own.
“Single?”
“At the moment.”
Hallie laughed. “I’m on my way.”
Forty-five minutes later Hallie’s little red Mazda CX-3 drove up in front of the guesthouse, and Jessie hurried outside to meet her. Splashes of sunlight appeared between the clouds, but the temperature had only reached the midthirties. The weather was getting colder, with light snow showers predicted for tomorrow.
The two women hugged. They were close to the same size, both of them petite and around five-four, but Hallie was half Latina, with glossy straight black hair to the middle of her back and velvet-brown eyes. She was wearing black leggings and knee-high boots with a red wool sweater, and she had some very nice curves.
“I’ve called you like a thousand times,” Hallie said. “But the phone went straight to voice mail every time. I would have been really worried except I know the kind of work you do for your blog. I was really relieved when I got your last email.”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you over lunch. I made soup and sandwiches for all of us.”
Hallie looked over at the man standing on the front porch steps in jeans and a pair of heavy work boots. If Jessie’s life hadn’t become so crazy, she might not have noticed the bulge of a pistol at his waist beneath the long-sleeve T-shirt he was wearing under a gray hoodie sweatshirt.
He’d given strict instruction to the gate guard to keep a close watch for trouble, and made several trips around the perimeter of the estate that morning. Neither Ty nor Bran expected trouble here in the mountains, but Ty knew the situation and it was always better to be safe.
Jessie made introductions. “Hallie, meet Tyler Folsom. Ty’s a friend of Brandon’s.”
Hallie smiled up at him. “It’s nice to meet you, Ty.”
“You, too, Hallie.”
They went inside where a warm fire burned in the family room, and Jessie finished getting lunch ready, tuna sandwiches and cream of tomato soup. The three of them ate at the kitchen table while Jessie gave Hallie an update on her investigation. She mentioned Bran but only briefly. She was saving that for when they were alone.
Hallie’s gaze fixed on Ty. “So you’re acting as Jessie’s bodyguard while Brandon is out trying to catch bad guys?”
Ty just shrugged. “I guess you could put it that way.”
Hallie’s dark eyes ran over him. “Well, you look like a man who can handle the job.”
Jessie thought she saw Ty’s chest expand a little. “Bran wouldn’t trust me to keep his woman safe if I couldn’t.”
Jessie’s eyes widened nearly as much as Hallie’s.
By the time they had finished the meal, Jessie had filled her friend in on the last few weeks of her life, and Hallie and Ty were chatting as if they had known each other for months instead of only a few hours.
Ty shoved up from his chair, a little reluctantly, Jessie thought. The warmth in his eyes was unmistakable as he looked at Hallie. “Since it doesn’t appear you’re here to assassinate your best friend, I’ll leave you two alone. If you need me, I won’t be far away.”
Hallie flicked him a last assessing glance as he left the kitchen. “You were right. Ty’s yummy.”
“I think he likes you. Why don’t you give him your number?”
“Maybe I will.” Hallie’s gaze went from Ty’s retreating figure to Jessie. “What about you? From what Ty said, I’m guessing you and Brandon are involved?”
Nerves bloomed in Jessie’s stomach. She hadn’t discussed Bran with anyone. “We’re...um...sleeping together. I never thought I could handle a strictly physical relationship, but that’s what it is.”
Hallie set a hand over hers on the table. “The last time we talked, you were afraid you’d never be able to be intimate with a man again. All you could think about was Ray Cummings and what he’d done to you. Brandon must be pretty special.”
“I’ve never met anyone like him. Bran’s gorgeous and sexy. I wouldn’t have thought he could be sweet and thoughtful, but he is. He wanted to help me get over Ray Cummings. He was patient and understanding and it worked.” She smiled. “Of course he’s a man, so he isn’t perfect, but whatever happens, I know Bran will do his best to protect me. He’d give up his life before he’d let someone hurt me.”
“Wow. You sound like you’re falling in love with him.”
Jessie glanced away. “God, I hope not.”
“Why not?”
“My brother warned me about him. I don’t think Bran could be happy with just one woman. Danny didn’t think so.”
“You think he’d cheat on you?”
She shook her head. “Bran’s far too honorable for that. He’ll just end things when they get too complicated. Or I will. I know it, accept it. I’m sure Bran knows it, too. So we’re good—at least for now.”
“The way you talk about him it sounds like more than just casual sex.”
It was more—a lot more—but it didn’t really matter. “Even if he fell madly in love with me, Bran’s a warrior. He isn’t in the army anymore, but he still thinks that way. I don’t want that kind of life. Never knowing whether or not he’ll be coming home. Always worrying about him. I don’t want to live with the same uncertainty my mother did.”
“You always said your mom and dad were really h
appy.”
“They were.”
“I guess if you love someone enough, the risk doesn’t matter.”
Jessie stayed silent. She knew better than most how hard it was to lose someone you loved.
Hallie sighed and leaned back in her chair. “It’s kind of sad, you know? I was sort of hoping for a happy ending. For one of us, anyway.”
In a way it was sad. And thinking about it was making her chest ache. “Maybe you’ll have better luck with Ty.”
Hallie’s gaze went to the family room, where Ty perched on an ottoman in front of an overstuffed chair, clearly on alert. “Why don’t we go find out?” she suggested.
Relieved at the change of subject, Jessie smiled. “Good idea.”
TWENTY-TWO
It was late in the afternoon when Bran got a phone call from Ty. “How’s the hunt going?” Ty asked.
“I’ve got the area reconned, got all the intel I need. I’m ready to take the guy down. I just need him to show up tonight.”
“If this guy’s as bad as his rep, you’re gonna need some backup.”
“Not happening, bro. You got two kids to think of and now you’re their dad. You can’t afford to risk winding up dead.”
“You’re right, so I’m not gonna argue. Colt Wheeler’s in town. As I recall, you guys went through spec ops training at Fort Bragg together.”
“Colt’s a good guy,” Bran said. Big and blond and good-looking, a real ladies’ man. At least he had been before he’d been wounded in Kabul and lost his right eye. “Now that you mention it, I remember he came from Denver.”
“That’s right. I gave him a call, told him you might need backup. He’s looking for something to do. Colt’s even more bored than I am.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. “You got a number?”
“I’ll text it to you.”
Bran got the text and phoned Colt’s cell. They scheduled a meet an hour later at a café in Aurora called the Chuckwagon, not far down the road from Mack’s.
Ty was sitting in a booth near the back when Colt walked through the door. The black patch over his eye and the scar along his jaw caught the attention of every woman in the room. Apparently his injuries hadn’t lessened his appeal to the opposite sex.
