by Lexi Blake
He would drink to that. Katy was a nice lady, but they were not meant to be. He clinked his glass. “May we forgive ourselves.”
Michael chuckled. “You’ve been in therapy too long.”
He shrugged and drank back a bit of the excellent Scotch. It burned in a pleasant way. “You can never get too much therapy.”
Especially not when a person had grown up the way he had. Abusive father, check. Death of his mom. Check. Bad relationship with distant stepmother leading to life on the streets and then in and out of juvie. Check and check.
Sometimes he didn’t even count that year he’d been undercover for an insanely criminal doctor who performed tests on soldiers. It was sad that the time he’d spent with Hope McDonald wasn’t the worst of his life.
“I heard you’re going out into the field.” Michael settled on the barstool.
“Sort of. I’m not sure.” It was still confusing. He wasn’t the “field” guy. He was the guy who sat behind a computer, but he’d kept up the training McKay-Taggart Security required of all its employees. Even the receptionist had to take self-defense after that one time a CIA team had raided the office.
He’d been on the wrong side of that battle, but they’d all worked it out. God, that seemed like another lifetime. Everyone had changed, but he was stuck in the same place.
He didn’t understand what Tag meant by going into the field since he could do almost anything he needed to do remotely. He didn’t have to sit in front of a computer to hack it. Security had gotten better over the last couple of years, but so had his hacking skills. He was the dude who stayed in the background when the bullets started flying.
“What does that mean? I thought you were taking on that family case Tag was talking about,” Michael said. “Something go sideways? I didn’t get back until late Friday.”
Michael had been on a case and hadn’t heard the latest developments. “I was supposed to meet her two days ago, but something happened at her lab and she ended up going home for a couple of days. We rescheduled for Monday. The fact that there was an accident in the lab means Tag thinks I might need backup. He’s paired me with a bodyguard.”
Michael set his glass down. “Yes, I heard you’re working with Kyle Hawthorne. He’s…interesting.”
“He’s a walking time bomb, and everyone knows it.” Unfortunately, he was also Big Tag’s brother’s stepson. If anyone needed therapy, it was Kyle Hawthorne. He’d recently left the Navy, and everyone thought he would go back to college. But instead he’d shown up at McKay-Taggart and went straight into the bodyguard program.
Things happened around Kyle. Dangerous things.
“Boomer went out on a job with him a couple of weeks ago,” Michael mused. “He said Kyle was pretty solid in the field. He said Kyle watched his back when they got in some trouble.”
Boomer had been on the team as long as Hutch had been. He was the group’s firearms specialist. But he had his quirks. “Kyle probably bought Boomer a pizza and now they’re best friends.”
There was something dark in Kyle that made Hutch wary. It wasn’t that he thought Kyle was a bad guy. It was that something simmered beneath his surface, and Hutch had learned that simmering tended to lead to exploding. He didn’t want to be around when that man exploded.
“You could talk to Tag if you feel uncomfortable.” Michael sat back. “He might send in someone else.”
“I think Tag has his reasons.” He trusted his boss. He was also worried there was another reason he was taking Kyle into the “field.” “This is mostly a tech job. I’ll still be behind a computer. Kyle will likely take point with the client. Reading the file, I’m not sure how much Noelle LaVigne truly needs a bodyguard. I get that her dad is nervous, but something feels off. Do you think this could be a setup? You know how Charlotte likes to play matchmaker.”
Charlotte Taggart had matched up more than one of her employees, and sometimes she did it under the guise of “working” with Charlotte’s choice of mate. He wouldn’t put it past her or Big Tag to pair up their nephew with a family friend. Especially if they thought Noelle would be good for Kyle.
Michael’s brow arched. “You know anything about this woman? I heard she’s the daughter of a friend of Remy Guidry’s.”
He’d gone over the file on Noelle LaVigne several times. “She’s super smart. She’s heading a test team at the age of twenty-five. She was in a bad car accident when she was younger, and she had to learn to walk again. She still uses a cane or a brace, but she hasn’t let that stop her. She grew up in a tiny town but moved to the big city, and she lives on her own.”
Michael nodded as though Hutch was going down the right path. “So she’s probably on the nerdy side, definitely likes tech. She’s younger than you but not more than a couple of years.”
Michael wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. “Yeah. And Charlotte told me she likes to bake. So I might get some cookies out of it. That’s a plus.”
He wished he didn’t still crave sweets, but he’d gotten to the point that he accepted it. He spent extra time in the gym, and it didn’t show.
Michael stared at him like he was missing something. “So a cute woman who’s interested in a lot of the things you’re interested in and loves to bake comes along, and you think Charlotte is trying to pair her up with a dude who obviously needs therapy.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried…” He could be slow about the emotional stuff sometimes, but the truth did hit him after a while. Like a sledgehammer. He sat there for a moment. “Shit. You think it’s me?”
He hadn’t even considered that.
Michael’s eyes rolled and he chuckled. “Yes. I think the cute nerd who loves to bake probably fits better with the nerd who calls himself Candyman online. For one of the smartest dudes I know, you can be shockingly un-self-aware. Just remember the last man Charlotte set up.”
That had been Michael Malone himself, and it hadn’t worked out for him, though he and Tessa Santiago were still friends.
At least Charlotte hadn’t set him up with a fellow employee. Michael had to see his ex every day.
He stopped. He wasn’t going to let himself get set up. He was not that guy. Was he? It wasn’t like he was great at picking his own women. But he wasn’t that guy. “I’m not in a good place for a relationship.”
“What place is that?” Michael asked.
He wasn’t sure. What place was he in? A weird place where he wanted to date but he didn’t want to date. He wanted what his friends had but didn’t see himself there. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t sure how to be happy.
“No idea, man. I think that’s the problem.” He was ready and he also wasn’t ready. He was still a big old mess, and that meant he wasn’t good for anyone.
Still, she was pretty cute, and Charlotte was usually right about things. After all, she’d been the one to tell him she didn’t think Katy could give him what he needed.
Katy had managed to give some dude named Bowen what he needed. Lots of times. Mostly in their bed, and he was pretty sure once in his car. He sighed.
“Come on,” Michael said with a chuckle. “I think we should order pizza and watch the late game. Come Monday, you’ll meet this Noelle and see if there’s anything beyond the job.”
“I am not being set up.” He was absolutely certain about that. “I’m done with the vanilla world. I need to get back in the swing of things and find a sub and settle down.”
Settling didn’t seem like a terrible thing to do. It might be nice. And now he had a house to offer a woman. He had a good job and lots of friends who were like family.
“So you want to go to the club?”
No. He really didn’t. Hutch groaned. “Nah. Order a pizza. Let’s watch some football.”
Mindless entertainment. That was what he needed. It would get his mind off the fact that he had an empty house to go home to, with no real prospects on the horizon.
Because he wasn’t getting set up.
She was more than cute. She was smart, and she had to be tough to get through what she’d been through. He admired that.
He caught sight of a picture of Michael and his former fiancée. They were smiling and seemed happy.
Nope. He wasn’t going there. He moved into the living room and found his seat, trying not to think about the fact that Charlotte thought the cute nerd might be a match for him.
He liked cute nerds.
But again, he wasn’t going there. He sat back and tried to relax as the game came on.
It would be a long weekend, but they all kind of were now.
He didn’t see that changing any time soon.
Chapter One
Hutch hustled into the McKay-Taggart building on Monday morning and groaned at the security line. Someone had set up two high-tech scanners and a barrier that would keep anyone from getting to the elevators without going through the tech. The scanners would not only detect weapons, they would also send facial scans upstairs to Miles-Dean, Weston, and Murdoch, who would weed out anyone who might be coming in to blow up the building.
He got into line because something had obviously happened since this wasn’t normal security protocol.
A man stood in front of him wearing a dark collared shirt and slacks, his dark hair still cut in military style. Kyle Hawthorne had a soft leather briefcase in his hand. Hutch happened to know that particular brand was normally used to carry laptops and cell phones and tablets, but Kyle used it to carry around his personal tools of the trade.
Weapons. Lots of weapons.
“Any idea what’s going on?” Hutch asked.
Kyle turned and nodded a greeting. “I think MDWM has some big politician coming in, and they’re trying to make sure no one assassinates her on property. You should have heard the lawyers on ten arguing that they didn’t sign up for this. Someone offered to let them talk to Big Tag and they got quiet quick.”
It was good to know his boss was still feared by many. Or they knew Ian Taggart was an immovable object and they could get to work way quicker if they let security do its job. The company started by former McKay-Taggart employees was famous for working missing person cases and finding criminals on the run.
“I would bet all this security is also to protect Adam’s tech.” If someone from the government was coming in, they would be careful. The company worked with the government but hadn’t shared their wildly successful software with them.
“Good for Adam.” Kyle settled the long strap of his briefcase over his muscled shoulder. “He should protect himself because those bastards would steal anything he had and not blink an eye.”
That was Kyle. He’d come into the company paranoid, and that was usually something that happened later. But Hutch was working with the guy, and that meant trying to get along with him. Kyle was an odd duck. He didn’t spend a lot of time with the single guys, though they’d invited him to hang out plenty of times. He seemed to prefer the company of his brother and some of the guys who worked for Top, the restaurant his stepfather ran.
Something seemed to be happening up ahead in the line that had it at a standstill.
Hutch needed coffee. He’d overslept and barely managed to catch the train at the Royal Lane Station. Normally he rode in with Theo when he didn’t drive in himself, but he’d woken up and realized he hadn’t charged his freaking car. He’d let it sit for way too long, and now he was probably looking at battery damage he couldn’t afford. So he’d taken the train. And that sucker had been packed.
It had put him on edge, and he needed some coffee with cream and sugar, and he prayed someone had brought muffins or something. Otherwise he would be eating his breakfast from the vending machines, and they were mostly fruit and protein bars since Charlotte was on a health kick.
His cholesterol hadn’t come back bad. Why was he being punished for Big Tag’s LDL levels, and he kind of hated the person who’d invented at-home blood tests.
“You read through the case?” Kyle asked.
He looked back up and the line had moved a bit. Kyle was slightly ahead of him, and there was a woman in front of Kyle. A woman with a nice shape to her. That was a pretty backside, and she had a ton of dark brown hair curling down almost to her waist. He forced himself to focus. “Yeah. It seems pretty straightforward. Chick works for high-end firm. It’s a pretty impressive think tank. Her dad is a crazy, paranoid guy, and now we get to babysit.”
Kyle frowned. “You’re not taking this seriously, are you?”
“You haven’t been around long,” Hutch replied. “You don’t know the signs.”
“There are signs?”
He was going to have to explain and hope he didn’t sound like a complete asshole. Kyle should know that this was a setup going in. He still wasn’t completely sure which of them was the target. He’d had all day Sunday to wonder why Charlotte would think he needed a girlfriend—besides the obvious lack of companionship, lack of motivation, lack of dishes in his brand-new house. “This is a case Big Tag took strictly because he knows this chick’s dad. He’s some sheriff in a town where there’s more gators than people. He’s probably one of those people who thinks his baby girl will immediately be murdered when she steps foot in a city.”
“I have known the type,” Kyle allowed. “But that doesn’t necessarily rule out a serious problem. He can be both paranoid and right. I’ve known that type, too.”
Kyle kind of was that type. But he didn’t understand Charlotte Taggart’s hobbies. “Look, there’s a reason we’re on this case.”
“Yes, you’re here because it involves some high-tech stuff, and I’m good at not letting the people around me die,” Kyle replied as they moved forward again.
“We’re also single, and apparently this young lady is looking for a husband.” He wasn’t sure Noelle LaVigne knew Charlotte was setting her up, but it was smart to go into the situation thinking everyone else was in on it.
A brow rose over Kyle’s eyes. “Seriously?”
At least he now had the man’s attention. “Come on, man. You have to know Charlotte likes to play matchmaker.”
“She does that at the club,” Kyle replied. “She wouldn’t do it in her professional world.”
“Who do you think set up Michael and Tessa?”
Tessa was on the bodyguard team, so Kyle should know her pretty well. “Seriously? She thought Michael and Tess would suit each other? They’re too alike. She needs someone…I don’t know, lighter than Malone. I was actually thinking of introducing her to my brother.”
He would never in a million years have thought that Kyle freaking Hawthorne was the kind of dude who would set up his own brother. “My point is this whole case is a setup. For one of us. I’m not sure which.”
“She’s pretty and smart. I can think of worse things,” Kyle said. “Although I’m not in a good place for a relationship.”
“You and me both.” There was light at the end of the tunnel. Four more people and he could hop on that elevator and get his coffee, get to his meeting, and hopefully shut Charlotte’s plans down. “I do not need to be set up with a small-town princess who probably caused this whole problem by leaving her laptop where she shouldn’t. I do not need some paranoid sheriff begging me to date his daughter.”
“My dad doesn’t beg, I assure you,” a feminine voice said. “And I keep my laptop close. He wasn’t always a small-town sheriff. He was a detective in New Orleans. I spent most of my childhood there. But Dallas is a scary place for a hick like me.”
Hutch felt his whole body flush.
And he also saw the first genuine smile he’d ever seen on Kyle Hawthorne’s face. “Hutch, meet Noelle. She got here right as I did, so naturally I let her go ahead of me. I’m a gentleman. She brought lemon poppyseed muffins because she heard the big guy likes lemons.”
“You’re a massive asshole,” Hutch said under his breath.
“Oh, I’m not the one who looks like an ass,” Kyle shot back before focusing on Noelle, who was way prettie
r than her picture.
Her picture didn’t show the way her eyes sparkled or the generosity of those lips of hers. In the picture the sun wasn’t shining on her hair, bringing out the red and gold that threaded through the lush brown.
“Noelle likes to bake,” Kyle added. “What do you say?”
“Baking is just chemistry but with a sweeter product at the end,” Noelle replied. “And I did not realize everyone thought this was some kind of joke. I assure you I can handle it on my own.”
Oh, he was going to get his ass kicked. Hard. By multiple people. “I’m sorry. It was pointed out to me that my boss might be trying to set us up. Or Kyle here.”
She turned and moved forward. That was when he noticed the cane. She moved with it as she carried her tote bag that was full of what could have been his breakfast if only he’d kept his damn mouth shut. “Oh, yes, well that was part of the process. I got a big book to look through and pick my possible husband. I’ll let Charlotte know she should send psych evals with the beefcake pics.”
She smiled at the security guard and handed him her bag.
“Is she joking?” Hutch asked. “She’s joking, right?” Because he was pretty sure he hadn’t posed for pictures, but there were definitely nights that it could have happened.
Damn, but she was hot. And now angry with him. Like everyone was going to be.
“I think it’s safe to say she’s joking,” Kyle replied. “And it’s also safe to say you’re about to be off the case. I’m sure MaeBe can handle it. She can go in the field with me.”
May Beatrice Vaughn was another member of McKay-Taggart’s cybersecurity team. In the beginning it had just been Adam Miles, and then Hutch had backed him up for a couple of years. He’d moved into Adam’s old job when Adam had left, and over the years they’d hired a couple of specialists, including the perkiest of them, MaeBe Vaughn.
He and MaeBe were strictly friends. She was like a kid sister. But he also recognized that MaeBe was adorable and had a banging bod. “Did you do all of this to get MaeBe on the team instead of me?”
