by Mandy Harbin
“Xan’s pregnant.”
Blade gaped at Brody. Did he just hear him right? “What?” He stepped closer, his own problems momentarily forgotten. His long-time friend looked shell-shocked with a hint of panic laced in for good measure.
“Yeah. She took a pregnancy test yesterday. Going to the doctor this afternoon.” Brody rubbed his head. “Gotta love small towns. She said when she was pregnant with Scott it took a week to get in to see a doctor, and he’d been on Marco’s payroll.” Brody scowled. It was obvious the man hated Xan’s ex, and if he could kill him all over again, Blade was sure Brody would do it slowly to exact as much pain as possible each and every time.
“She seeing a doc in Conway or driving into Little Rock?”
“Conway. Her OBG-whatever’s office is there. He delivers babies, too, so she won’t have to find a new doc. Said Dr. Peters would give her all the time off she needed.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked on his heels. “Her nursing training kicked in the moment she found out about the baby. Shit. I’m gonna have a baby,” he said in wonder, and Blade wasn’t sure if the man had actually said that last sentence to Blade. It seemed as if Brody was lost in verbal thought.
“You’re already a father to Scott,” Blade said, trying to ease the man’s fear. When that got no response, he added, “And you’re practically my daddy, too.” He smiled, waiting.
Oh yeah, that got Brody’s attention. He glared at Blade and muttered, “Asshole. I’m not that much older than you.”
Another thought occurred to him. “So, what’s this mean for the wedding plans?” The two lovebirds were already in the process of making their relationship official.
Brody’s gaze narrowed. “She wants to move it up.”
“Whoa, whoa…I thought you wanted to run down the aisle ASAP. Why the pissed-off glare?”
“’Cause she refuses to cancel it and go to the courthouse. She wants the whole thing moved up. Like she wants the whole thing still, but much sooner. Roc’s gonna chap my ass when I ask him if we can do it sometime within the next few weeks. He gave me hell for asking to use his barn for the wedding—”
“He told Xan she was more than welcome to have it at his place,” Blade said, cutting off Brody’s grumble. “He just ragged you because it was an opportunity to let his asshole side shine through.”
“Because he keeps it under lock and key all the time,” Brody said sarcastically, and Blade couldn’t blame him. Roc was the meanest son of bitch on the team. “Besides that hard ass, we have to see if the caterer, florist, baker, photographer, DJ ,and God knows who else can all accommodate the change, which isn’t likely, and we have to notify all the guests of the new date because the Save the Date notices went out several months ago. Then the invitations went out about six weeks ago. Money wasted, deposits probably blown, plus more money for priority scheduling and rush orders. Jesus, I just want to sign the papers and be done with it.”
Blade clapped him on the back and nudged him to start walking toward the meeting room, so they wouldn’t be late. “I know, man. But you remember how many stores she went to looking for the perfect dress, and when she finally found it how excited she was? Dude, that woman acted like she’d just inherited a 1969 Camaro ZL1.”
Brody barked out a laugh. “Now that’d be something to get excited about.”
“Damn, I get a hard-on just thinking about driving one of those.”
“No shit.”
They walked into the room and leaned against the table on the right-side wall. “Can’t blame the woman for wanting to fit into the dress of her dreams,” Blade said gently, hoping Brody hadn’t complained to his soon-to-be-wife about the sudden change in nuptials.
“Yeah, and she’s freaking out about the pregnancy. She thinks she’s hiding it, but I know her.”
“She’s not the only one freaking out.” Blade cut his gaze to Brody.
“A baby,” he said in wonder. “I mean, yeah, Scott is mine, but he was a teenager when I came along…the second time.” Brody half-smiled. “There wasn’t any midnight feedings and pre-dawn diaper changes.”
“And how cool is it that you get to experience that with Xan?”
“Yeah.” Brody smiled, and for the first time since walking in, he finally seemed to relax a little. But then his focus zeroed in on Blade. “But I need you to deal with whatever shit has you drinking your life away. I need to know if something ever happens to me you got my back. I ain’t got any family. You’re my brother.”
“Hell, Brody.” Blade tried not to blush, but felt his cheeks warm. “I love you, too, man.”
“So you’ll break up with Jim?”
Blade sighed. “He’s lousy in bed anyway.”
Brody chuckled. “True that.”
Hunter walked into the room, followed by Gauge and Roc. Gauge and Hunter leaned against the table opposite Blade and Brody. Roc hopped up on the table beside Blade. Roc wasn’t one to buddy up with anyone in particular, but the man was smart enough to steer clear of Hunter.
And still Hunter stared daggers at Roc from across the small room.
When Hunter’s sister, Heather, returned to Mayflower earlier in the year, after she and her friend, Maya, had gotten caught up in some trouble, Roc had taken a sudden interest in Heather. Over the last several months, that interest had only intensified, which led to even more trash-talk between the two men at the garage. Blade had been too wrapped up in his own crap to know what was going on between Roc and Heather…if anything really was. But whatever was going down had Hunter in full big-brother mode. Of course, Roc was the type of man to goad the other just because. Blade wouldn’t be surprised if nothing was going on between Roc and Heather, and the sadistic shithead was enjoying pissing off his fellow teammate.
“Sorry, I’m running a few minutes behind,” Bear said as he walked in and sat on the edge of the table facing the others. Blade wondered why they even had chairs in this meeting room. The guys never used them. “Been on the phone with the feds.”
Blade stiffened. There hadn’t been much communication with the feds since the op in Dallas involving Hunter’s sister. It’d all come to a head outside Conway. Heather—and Xan, Roxie, and Maya for that matter—had been rescued, and Anna had been shipped to her next FBI assignment, wherever that was. If something could be successful and also a clusterfuck, it’d describe that. Lots of salt had been poured into wounds.
Since then, the guys had taken a few private gigs in what had become an impromptu downtime, but for the most part, they’d been playing catch-up at the shop. The call and the sudden meeting meant only one thing. There was a new federal case that needed their attention.
Assignments were what they lived for. It was the reason they were brought together in the first place. Granted, Colonel had been the driving force behind that, but he was long gone. The guys were finding their own way now.
Some of these assignments were shadier than others…and that included ones the government tossed their way. The more unsavory, the bigger the paycheck. With how Blade was dragging through life right now, he needed the distraction more than the dollar bills. This couldn’t have come at a better time.
Bear looked at him, but didn’t say anything. Blade stared back, eagerly waiting.
“I need you sober for this. Or you’re on the bench.”
Fuck. He should’ve known that was coming.
“Already told Brody I’m capping the bottle.”
More silence.
“I’ll make sure he sticks with it,” Brody said.
“He’s not going to have you around to check, but I’m sure the feds will keep me updated on it.”
“Does that mean—”
“Yes,” Bear said, cutting Blade off. “They asked for you specifically.” The question why was on the tip of his tongue, but before he could get it out, Bear continued. “They’re sending a couple of agents out here. You’ll assist one with gathering intel for a case they’re working on. The other has garage experience and will he
lp at the shop since you’ll be busy on the case. She’ll also assist the primary as needed.”
“She?” Hunter asked.
Oh shit. Could they send Anna Sue to work in the shop? He had no idea if the woman knew anything about cars. But if she was coming, he didn’t want her working at the shop while he was away working on some case. He wanted to work with her.
And that went completely against his resolve earlier that he wasn’t good enough for her. Damn, he could be all noble with her when she was nowhere around, but put that beautiful woman in his line of sight and all reason fled.
He glanced around the room. His buddies had varying degrees of interest showing on their faces at the idea of a woman fixing up cars. At least that better be the source of their interest. He knew for at least two of them—Brody and Hunter—there was no sexual interest going on, but he couldn’t be sure when it came to the other men.
“Yes, Agent Shelby Landry. Numbers geek. Father had a garage for forty years before retiring. She worked there while in high school and college.”
Relief that Anna wouldn’t be the one working in the garage came swiftly, followed by frustration. If she was the one being sent, he could’ve gotten her alone at some point to talk to her. Now that possibility was gone. It’s for the best. He needed to remember that. Working near Anna Sue would be too much temptation for him to do the right thing where she was concerned, and that was leave her the hell alone. Even if he was an upstanding guy with an impeccable past, the woman still avoided him. Didn’t matter if he couldn’t go a day without thinking about her, the lady didn’t want him. He’d do well to remember that.
“Never heard of her,” Gauge said, frowning. He’d been an undercover FBI agent working with the team for years, still technically worked for them, but now his status was known to the rest of the team.
“She’s a recent grad, but I’m told she works with someone you trained with. Viola Lane. Remember her?”
Gauge’s eyes grew infinitesimally, but that was the only sign of recognition the hardened agent showed. “I do. Linguists expert. Works financial crimes for Rick McMillian.”
Blade’s gaze whipped to Gauge. Shelby and Viola weren’t names he recognized, but Rick McMillian rang a very big bell.
“Anna’s supervisor,” Blade breathed. Someone came into the garage, although the door’s ding barely registered to Blade. He refused to look away, much less get up and interact with a customer. One minute he was relieved the object of his fantasies wasn’t coming to tempt him, and the next he was back to damn near selling his soul to make it a reality.
Through the corner of his eye, he saw Hunter step out to assist whoever walked in.
“Correct,” Bear said. “Rick sent Anna and Shelby. I’ve already stated what Shelby’s role will be. You’re working with Anna on her case.”
Bear kept talking, but the words didn’t break through the sudden fog of Blade’s brain. Anna Sue was coming here. He wouldn’t have to worry about trying to steal her away for a few moments to talk. He’d be working with her.
Again.
Memories of the last assignment they shared assailed him. They’d had hours alone together. Hours.
And it still hadn’t been enough.
He could—
“Blade. I’m talking to you,” Bear said.
Blade blinked at him. “Sorry.” Shit. Daydreaming on the job was a rookie mistake. He needed to fucking focus.
“As I was saying, she’s investigating a Louisiana development company. We haven’t been hired to do a job. This is more of a combining-resources assignment.”
“Translation, we’re working for free,” Roc said, scowling.
Bear sighed. “Rick said with the president’s decision to sack the FBI director, the assistant director has had to step in. He’s a dick, and he’s scrutinizing everything. After what happened with Colonel, the new powers that be may decide to create an internal task force to handle what would normally be shuttled over to us. That means no more blank checks from Uncle Sam.”
“Parsons wouldn’t allow that to happen,” Gauge said, crossing his arms.
“Jack Parsons isn’t powerful enough to sway the bureau’s decision, especially since it’s currently in the political hot seat. But if the other teams we’ve worked alongside back him up, then yeah, we should be good.”
“But if not?” Brody asked.
“If not and our relationship is severed,” Bear looked at Gauge, “your ass could then be on the first flight back to the Dallas field office.”
“And Xan could be thrown back into WINSEC,” Brody growled.
“Yep,” Bear said. “Which you’d follow her into witness protection, and we’d be down two men. Even if we continued taking jobs from the private sector, we wouldn’t have enough resources in the field.”
“Or in the garage,” Roc said.
“So we’ll play nice with the feds—”
“This one damn time,” Roc said through gritted teeth, cutting Bear off.
“This one damn time,” Bear agreed as Hunter walked back in. Blade’s gaze landed on Hunter before focusing on Bear again. Then it shot back to the door. Hunter wasn’t alone.
One woman who followed him in had long brown hair. Blade didn’t recognize the lady, nor did his gaze stay on her. It was the other woman who held his attention.
Who caused his heart to pound in his ears, blood to rush in his veins…and then run south to his groin.
Anna.
She somehow was even more beautiful than he remembered, even though he’d catalogued every inch of her before. At this moment, he didn’t care why she was here, what her objective was. Nor did he care about his earlier resolve.
Hell, he didn’t even give a rat’s ass about the specifics of this case. None of that was important.
All he cared about was, before Anna Sue Fisher left, he was going to get reacquainted with every part of her. Did she still smell like roses? God, he loved that about her.
And still he knew in the back of his mind, she was only here temporarily.
Blade knew deep down he’d have to find the strength to let her go all over again, and he’d be right back in the pit of all that pain. Probably much deeper than before.
She tucked her hair behind her ear, and he remembered just how sweet she tasted on that very spot. A delicious compliment to the roses she always smelled of.
Fuck, right now he didn’t care what happened later.
She was here now, and he was going to have her again.
And again.
Chapter Three
Anna felt Blade’s heated gaze, but she couldn’t look at him. She’d stolen a glance right as she and Shelby rounded the corner when his attention was still on Bear. No matter how many pep talks she’d given herself since learning of this mission, she knew there’d be no preparing for when their eyes met once again. So she’d quickly looked her fill before walking fully into the room, and then focused straight ahead. Like slapping the snooze button on an alarm clock at a feeble attempt to avoid the inevitable morning, she needed just a few more minutes before getting locked in his sights. Because if she did it right now, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to hide the longing she felt.
Seeing him after all these months was electrifying. Her skin sizzled, and her shallow breaths made her lightheaded. Her body knew what it wanted even when her mind screamed its protests.
“Perfect timing,” Bear said, looking to them as they walked toward him. Anna leaned her hip against the table, crossed her arms to hide her tight nipples, and gave Bear her seemingly undivided attention. “I was just tellin’ the guys here what’s going on.”
Anna nodded because she didn’t trust her voice just yet.
“I haven’t gotten to the specifics. Just that—”
“We have to play nice or the feds could pull the plug on our op,” Gauge said.
Anna glanced at him, frowning. “What?”
“I was just telling them that, with the new FBI director, our future is i
n limbo.”
Anna breathed a cuss word. Sure, it was a possibility that the acting director would eliminate the group after this investigation. After all, Rick wanted Shelby to investigate the members to verify loyalty, but if the guys knew they were being scrutinized, then it’d be that much harder to find weak spots. Anyone under a microscope would put his or her best foot forward, which would make Shelby’s job more difficult. She was a young agent, and although she wasn’t officially working the op alone, Anna would be busy focusing on Blade and the Mason Showalter connection. It would’ve been nice if Rick had actually told her he was going to put that threat out there. Now, Anna needed to do whatever she could to keep suspicion at bay so her colleague’s job wouldn’t be so difficult. “Yeah, well, you never really know what’s going to happen when there’s a changing of the guard,” she said casually, as if it wasn’t a real concern. Poking for more info, she glanced at Bear and asked, “Did Rick say you have to cooperate or risk dissolution?”
“Not in so many words,” he said, cocking an eyebrow at her.
“He can be such an ass,” Shelby muttered.
“And who are you?” Brody asked, more of a formality. Anna knew Rick had told them who’d be coming.
“Sorry, this is Shelby Landry. She’s on our taskforce.”
“Nice to meetcha,” Brody said. Roc muttered something that could be interpreted as a greeting. Blade never took his eyes off Anna.
With introductions out of the way, Anna contemplated just how detailed Rick had been. If she confirmed their suspicions then the men would be guarded, which meant she couldn’t say a darn thing about it. This added another layer of deceit because now, instead of lying by omission, she’d have to do it outright. “It’s not like that.”
“Then explain to me why a financial crimes task force needs hired muscle, because I gotta tell ya, I’m not terribly clear on that.”
“It’s not your muscle we need.” She smirked and refused to think about one muscled man in particular standing in this room. “The IRS needs our help investigating a land buying company, so if anybody has to play nice, it’s us with that agency.”
