by Sheila Kell
And she still worried about a ton of things, but this was something she could count on her employee—and the closest thing to a best friend—to handle mostly without her. Tonya enjoyed doing public relations events like this little shindig they were putting on to separate people from their money. At least some of it.
Now, she needed to worry about what to wear. She cringed at the thought and knew what Tonya was about to say before the words left her friend’s mouth.
“I think you should wear the red dress.”
The infamous form-fitting red dress with what looked to have a ladder on each sleeve. At least from her neck to midforearm, exposing her skin. It meant a bra was impossible to wear with it. She’d feel naked if she wore it. It’d been a pressure purchase while she’d been shopping with Tonya. Although she’d felt sexy trying it on and spinning around with the mirrors, she’d never had the courage to wear it anywhere. It had hung in her closet for nearly two years. Hell, it was probably out of style.
“It’ll be perfect,” Tonya continued.
If Tonya hadn’t made the event casual, it wouldn’t have worked, because it wasn’t a floor length gown. Which probably helped their women’s RSVP numbers since they didn’t have to purchase a new gown. Most who attended these kinds of events had plenty of unworn dresses in their closets In hers, the red dress Tonya wanted her to wear stopped just above her knees. Another part of her that would be bare. Great. She’d almost be naked in front of everyone. The image of her wearing her shorts and a tied-up shirt in front of the men and staff flashed through her mind. No. That was different. She wasn’t trying to coax money from them. Besides, she’d wanted to look sexy for Matt.
“I know you’ll fight it, but I have a solution. I think a strapless bra will work, but just in case, I’ll get you some of those breast pasty things that allow you to feel covered when you can’t wear a bra. In fact, I’ll pick some up tonight. What size are you? Although I don’t know if size matters.”
Without thinking, she told Tonya while she was still internally screaming no. But wouldn’t she wow Matt if she did wear it? Others would see her dressed like that though. Did she feel that brave just to show off to Matt? Probably not.
“It’s okay. I’ll wear something else.”
Waving a finger in an “Oh-no” gesture, Tonya narrowed her eyes. “You’re wearing it if I have to come over there and dress you myself.”
With impeccable timing, Matt entered the break room. He looked between the two women and must’ve decided they were done meeting. Which, technically they were, and she wasn’t in the mood to continue that conversation. “Ready for lunch?” he asked.
“Sure.” She stood. “We just finished.”
“What’s the dress for your shindig?” he asked.
She looked at him questioningly. Had he heard her and Tonya talk about the dress? “What?”
Waving his hand as if to get his word across, he asked again, “Do I need to get a tux for your party?”
The image of Matt in a tuxedo played on a loop in her mind. He’d be so damn sexy that she wanted to tell him yes and make Tonya change the dress for the party. But she couldn’t be that selfish. “No, it’s casual. Do you have a suit or sports jacket?”
“It just so happens that I had something sent from my apartment in Baltimore for the occasion. So did my brother and the men. Just in case we were still here for the event. It always helps to be prepared.” He had winked at her before his probing gaze made her wonder at his meaning.
Had he had it sent for the event or to wear on a date with her? Not sure why her thoughts went there, she almost scoffed at the idea. Of course he hadn’t. But a girl could wish….
Realizing he’d expected her to speak, she played back their conversation. He hadn’t asked a question. “Okay.” She figured that worked on many levels in conversation.
“Ready?” he asked.
She jumped. “Oh. Yeah.” She turned to her employee. “Thanks, Tonya.” As Matt led her to the back door, she heard Tonya say, “Red dress.”
Outside, she turned to look at Matt who was grinning. “What?”
“Do I want to see this red dress?”
Her face flamed. How could she be so embarrassed around him? They’d been intimate before and things were the same. No, they were better.
Matt’s phone rang and saved her from trying to explain about a way too sexy dress that Tonya wanted her to wear. Secretly, she wanted to be brave enough to wear it.
With a terse greeting, he answered, but an emotion like relief flooded his face. Smiling down at her, he said, “I’ll tell her.” Then he ended the call and put his phone back in his jeans pocket.
Frightening her, he grabbed both of her forearms and held tight. “What?” she asked, worried.
“The sheriff’s department spotted Ripley’s car.”
The sound of a sharp, indrawn breath was loud, even with the sounds of life all around them. It took her a moment to realize she’d made that noise. Her hand had crept up to her chest.
“He tried to elude them and led them on a high-speed chase.”
“Oh, God, please tell me they caught him.”
He nodded. “They believe Ripley’s speed neared one hundred miles per hour. He was going too fast for a corner and wrecked his car. Wrapped it around a pole is more like it. Anyhow, he’s in the hospital, on life support.” He pulled her to him, and she numbly went into his arms.
Life support.
Matt rubbed his hands up and down her back in a soothing gesture, telling her it was over.
On life support? It was over.
Over, echoed in her mind. That would mean Matt would leave her. She sagged against him, and he held her from sliding down to the ground beneath her in a liquid puddle of relief and despair.
“Let me get you inside,” Matt said, holding onto her tightly.
Caitlyn wanted to reach out and grab his arms to wrap around her again. She didn’t want to do without it, but soon she would. Pulling all her resolve together, she stood straight and followed him into the house.
A smell caught her attention. Something that hadn’t been there before. She made a point of sniffing the air where he could see. “Is that… chili I smell?”
With a smile and a nod, Matt beamed. “I put it in the crockpot this morning. Well, I cooked up the meat on the stove, but I cleaned that up. It should be ready now. Good and ready.”
Her stomach must’ve agreed with the smell, because it took that moment to rumble. “Chili sounds great.”
As they sat down at the dining table to his one Crock-Pot specialty, Caitlyn asked him, “Does this mean everyone is leaving?” Or rather—are you leaving? she wanted to ask, but wasn’t brave enough yet since she knew the answer and didn’t like it.
After stirring the chili in his bowl, he scooped some up with a ladle. After blowing on it, he nodded. “Yep.” He put the overfilled spoon in his mouth for a huge mouthful.
Before she could ask him to be specific, Brad bounded into the room with a yawn. “Hey, brat, AJ says it’s all over.” He looked at their bowls. “Oh, Matt’s chili.” A smile reached his face. “I’m in.” Ignoring the looks from Matt and Caitlyn saying they’d rather be alone, Brad served himself a bowl of chili and sat down.
Seeing the two of them together was always a little unsettling. They did look alike, and if you didn’t know what to look for, you could easily confuse them. Besides the direction of the broken hump on their noses, their voices were different, as were the words that flowed from their mouths.
In her thinking, Matt had always been the more mature of the two. Not that Brad wasn’t, but something changed him, and now he was angry most of the time. Pity. Brad was such a good guy, but it would take a strong woman to tangle the man he’d become. She wished she’d be around to see it, but she probably wouldn’t see Brad ever again after the group left.
Left. Why did it keep coming back to that? She’d known that he wasn’t staying. She’d been selfish in having him hel
p her recover sexually. Not that she could see herself with another man, but still.
“I’m going to miss you, brat,” Brad said once again using the nickname she hated. She wasn’t that young woman he knew in college.
“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.” She gave him her most pitiful eyes. At least she hoped, hell she could be coming onto him and not realizing it.
He shrugged. “Okay.”
Just like that? That’s all it took? How many times had she asked him not to call her that when they were in college? Maybe it was in the wording, or maybe he said that because he wouldn’t interact with her much longer. She didn’t see him taking a trip to Winchester just to visit.
“The men are coming in now,” Brad announced.
She glanced at Matt who looked about to blow a gasket. Shouldn’t he have been the one to pull the men back? He must’ve been trying to spend more time with her—alone. How sweet was that? Unless it had been to tell her goodbye, then it was all kinds of fucked up.
And then the guys who’d been outside, were armed like they were protecting the President in the Middle East. The bravado she’d been trying to hold onto slipped away.
“Matt’s chili?” Ken asked before moving straight to the cabinet for a bowl and then filling it. She’d hoped that large Crock-Pot would have plenty of leftovers. The thought of something Matt made left over—even if in her freezer—flipped something in her heart. However, with this group and the ones still sleeping, she could see an empty crockpot in no time. She wanted to run over and toss her hands over it, preventing any more from disappearing. That was Matt’s chili.
“Thanks for letting us stay with you while we were here, ma’am,” Ken said to her between bites.
She cocked her head. “Where else would you stay?”
The men chuckled as if in on a private joke she’d been exempt from knowing.
“Well,” Brad said, “you’d be surprised how many banish us to a hotel in town. It’s much better if our resources are together should the shit ever hit the fan.”
She blanched at what that might actually entail. Thank God she hadn’t had to find out. “Has the… shit ever hit the fan?”
The men grimaced. Geez, it was like being an outsider to a private group. It sucked.
Matt spoke up this time. “Unfortunately, it has.”
“Have you ever lost somebody?” Did she really want to know the answer to that question?
A heavy pause rested on the group, and they all looked down at their bowl of food. Her stomach revolted at what she expected to have been a heavy loss for these men.
Ken lifted his head first and spoke for the group. “Not someone we were hired to protect. But we did lose an innocent bystander on one mission. Kate—Jesse’s wife’s dog-sitter.”
Not sure what to say, since she noticed he didn’t address any potential losses to the team, she ended with, “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh,” Brad said sympathetically.
With her bowl empty, she stood to wash it out, tempted to get more and keep it aside, but she decided that was just batshit crazy. It’s something a stalker might do, and she wasn’t a stalker, nor would she be. Although, she’d let Matt stalk her… and catch her.
Behind her, she heard the men talking about packing and getting flights home. Tears welled in her eyes. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Matt. Not for a second time in her life.
WATCHING HIS TWIN packing, Matt shook his head. “I don’t know. My gut is screaming at me we’re missing something.”
Brad stopped folding his socks and turned to Matt. “Are you sure it’s not because you want to stay with Caitlyn and that gives you a reason?”
His brother knew him well. “There’s that”—no sense in denying it—“and there’s this gnawing feeling that she’s not out of danger yet.”
“Luke Ripley’s on life support. He’s not coming to get her.”
“I know, but what about the son?
“Matt, you’ve got to quit this. As far as we know, the son has done nothing. He’s back in Water Valley.”
“It’s just—”
“What?” Brad asked irritably.
“Even though there’s no evidence of it, I keep thinking there were two of them at Adam’s house. Even he initially thought there might be two of them. It’s the only way I can explain losing my senses. I think someone hit me from behind.” He’d said this before—to the deputies and his brothers—but there had been no evidence of someone helping Ripley. It had made him confused on what he thought had actually happened.
“I don’t know. What you say makes sense, but nothing supports it. We can’t keep the men here on a feeling in your gut. Tell you what, if it will make you feel better, I can hang around a while. But you have to decide how long you plan to stay around. And don’t say you’re not, because you haven’t packed a thing.”
“I think it’s smart that Jesse is chartering a plane so there are no problems with the weapons from ‘point a’ to ‘point b.’ And the idea to lease one makes even better sense since his and dad’s favors are only going to go so far.”
“You’re changing the subject. How long are you staying?” Brad asked.
“She’s got a fundraiser that I’ve agreed to escort her to. I know she’d let me out of it, but I’d like to be there to support her. I really like what she’s doing here.”
“Then you’re coming home?”
Matt rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “Yeah. I guess.”
“Do you want me to stay?”
“No. You’re right. There’s nothing that says she’s in danger.” Except his screaming gut, and Brad could be right that he was manufacturing the danger in his mind. Then again….
Brad dropped on the bed. “You want to stay permanently, don’t you?”
Leaning back against the wall, he sighed and admitted the truth, “I do. I don’t want to lose her again.”
The two remained quiet for a moment, and Brad finally spoke. “Okay. Let’s talk to Dev. He could probably hook up something for you out here. That way you wouldn’t have to fly in and out except for jobs. Hell, you don’t even need to go on any of them unless Jesse schedules us up tight.”
The idea had merit, and it wasn’t something he’d been thinking about. But still… “I wouldn’t be there to do the meetings and deciding on jobs. I wouldn’t be doing my share.”
“Bullshit. We were ready to accept Trent living in Montana and still being a partner without the work that goes into it. Pity he declined, but I get where he’s coming from.”
That had been a monumental step in inviting their newfound half-brother a partnership in the family business. And Brad was right. They had been going to offer it to where he didn’t have to be there day in and day out. Maybe it could work. “I’ll talk to Dev.”
Brad stood, picked up a shirt, and began to refold it for his duffel bag. “Yeah. He can do all that computer shit, and you can videoconference or something. Of course, it wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there.” Brad’s voice had gone mournful as if he’d just lost his best friend. And that was what would happen if Matt didn’t go back home. But hadn’t he thought of this place as home? His home was with Caitlyn, wherever that place happened to be located.
Pushing off the wall, he grumbled, “See me before you go,” and left the room.
He searched the entire house and no Caitlyn. How quickly she took off on her own boggled his mind. Shouldn’t she still have a residual amount of fear? No, he reminded himself. Ripley was no longer a threat. Then why did he feel like there was still a threat to her? It had to be because he didn’t want to leave her. While he had a few minutes alone, he dialed Jesse to talk to him about his new life… with Caitlyn.
CAITLYN smiled, joy filling her body as she watched the veterans working with their soon-to-be service dogs. Learning to be a handler wasn’t easy, but these men mastered the control faster than any other group they’d brought in for the training.
Proud of the job Tonya a
nd Rick had done with these four dogs, she wanted to rush out and hug them. Instead, she continued observing them and mentally patting them on the back in recognition of an excellent job. When it was over, she’d find a way to reward them with something that held meaning to them.
When they took a break, she joined the group, loving the dogs first—as always—then greeting their new handlers who were curious about how things had resolved for her. These men—who didn’t know her from Adam—had been willing to lay down their lives for her. The concept of help coming to them—in the form of a service dog—transformed the men into what appeared to be mentally and physically able men of society. Yet they were broken somehow, someway. Cooper, Bella, Sadie, and Gabe were going to fill that missing gap. At least as best as they could. It’d be up to the men to ensure their dogs remained sharp.
“Sorry I missed all of the fun,” Mac added. He always did talk a bit too loudly. Of course, with his hearing loss and traumatic brain injury from when he’d gotten too close to a land mine, it was no wonder.
“I don’t know if I’d call it fun,” she said as sweetly as possible, because she knew he didn’t mean it like that. His humor just sucked. “But it’s over.” Saying it that time made the relief whoosh through her system. She’d said it already, but it finally sank in, releasing the pressure she’d been holding in because of the threat to her and, by association, her friends.
But being over also meant Matt would be leaving. In fact, he was probably packing right now. She couldn’t be in the house, knowing that was what he was doing. Before, she’d run him off; now, she didn’t have anything to offer him. Except herself. But she’d be nothing without the dogs and her friends and the vets she helped. Heck, once they got proper funding, she wanted to branch out and do something like Pups in Prison. Maybe for children with autism like she’d considered before. She’d definitely need more funds if she were going to keep and train a dog that long. It wasn’t free, by any means.
In other words, she wouldn’t follow him, even if he asked. She couldn’t bring herself to leave her sanctuary. She’d gone over this in her mind a hundred times already. They had to say goodbye. There was nothing else for it. At least he’d said he was staying until after the fundraiser. Lying in his arms, she’d asked him to accompany her, because… well, because she’d still been scared. But also because she wanted him to be with her. She felt stronger and safer with him by her side.
