“It’s not just this job, Lex. Or what you do for Jared behind a computer screen.” He kissed the top of her head. “You are our world. Once you’re in, you’re in. Titan for life.”
***
Parker and Jared had their arms crossed over their chests as Sugar inspected the last bag they’d packed into her Range Rover. “Alrighty, boys. Don’t worry.”
“Famous last words,” Jared grumbled.
“Do you feel like all we’ve been saying and hearing is Don’t worry?” Parker added, eyeing Jared and, from Sugar’s vantage point, possibly antagonizing him on purpose.
“Seriously.” Sugar gave Parker the stink eye then raised her eyebrow at her husband. “You’re acting like I can’t do anything because I’m pregnant.”
Jared took a boot-cladded step forward. “No.”
“Yes.”
“Kind of,” Lexi said. “Super-protective, alpha-to-the-max Jared. We get it. But—”
“I’ve literally packed gummy bears to snack on.” Sugar matched Jared’s step forward. “No extra ammo—”
“You’ve packed any ammo?” He took another step forward as though he was ready to search her Range Rover.
“No. Well, other than what I’d obviously conceal and carry.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you have anything high-powered or automatic in there?”
God, he was fun to torque. Sugar popped a bubble of gum. “Define high-powered.”
“Christ, Sugar.”
“I’m kidding. Calm down. No C4. No AKs. We’re fine.” She turned for the driver’s door, listening to the grumbling, cursing man of steel behind her. “Come on, Lex. Let’s rock and roll.”
“Woman.” Jared growled. “Get your sweet ass over here and kiss me good-bye.”
That was what Sugar was waiting for. She all but skipped over to Jared and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you. I promise I won’t do anything that gets us into a pickle.”
“I know.” His hand rested on her stomach. Even when he was sour and scratchy, Jared was the epitome of soft—until provoked—when it came to their children. “You and this baby stay safe. Hear me?”
“Yeah, Boss Man.” She winked and gave him a kiss because he was a pain in the ass, because he was her pain in the ass, and because his mister-bossy-pants act was endearing and made her love him even more each and every day. “Remember how much I’m irritating the piss out of you.”
“How could I forget?”
“You can’t.” She bobbed her eyebrows. “But I’d like you to remind me of just how bad I’m being later in bed. Capiche?”
His eyes darkened, and she smacked a kiss on his lips again.
“So much fun.” She scraped her nails down his chest. “I almost hate to leave.”
“Stop messing with him, Sugar,” Lexi called. She was already in the passenger seat.
Sugar dropped her hands on top of Jared’s then squeezed. “Guess I can do that.”
He smiled, and it lit her world. “Stay safe, baby.”
“I can do that too.” Sugar gave him one more kiss and moved behind the steering wheel.
“You ladies good?” Parker asked, keeping eyes on Lexi.
“Always,” Lexi said sweetly.
Sugar shook her head. “If you messed with Boy Genius more, you might get lai—”
“Don’t push yourself too hard, alright, Sugar?” Parker laughed then waved bye to them both after kissing Lexi once more. “Stay safe.”
He shut the door then rapped on the SUV’s roof twice. The garage door from Titan HQ’s underground basement started to lift, and Sugar’s blood surged. It might not be the wild ride their husbands were scared they might go on, but it was a last hurrah before she had to buckle down with a newborn.
Slipping a new piece of gum into her mouth, Sugar lowered her sunglasses as Lexi did the same. They exchanged looks, Sugar revved the gas just to irritate Jared, then they left Titan with a GPS filled with a plan and likely a tracking device on their vehicle. It didn’t matter. For the moment, Sugar felt free.
***
Watching Sugar roll out of Titan HQ was a normal occurrence. But this time, his gut churned, and the overprotective vibe that he always had—and that he had to keep semi-in-check because the woman could hold her own—was on full blast.
Jared stretched and rubbed the back of his neck. What was the root cause? The due date ticked closer. Maybe that was it.
He had Asal. It wasn’t as if he was a first-time father-to-be.
But in a way, yeah, he was. An actual baby in the house was akin to a new chapter in his life, and while he was ready for that, it meant change.
Change wasn’t something he craved. Stability, permanence, solidness—those were the foundations on which he’d built his life. Order was established. Things had a reason for happening and a way in which they were conducted.
Yet he couldn’t be more excited. Yesterday Sugar had been blabbing on and on to some of the girls at GUNS, her gun shop and range, about how they were having a little girl. He couldn’t help but smile.
A year ago, if someone had shown him pink camo, he would’ve asked, “Where are they hiding? Candy land?” Now that shit was cute. Asal wasn’t into the pink camo. His big girl liked her real-life camo.
But a little baby bundle in his woman’s arms? Yeah, it’d work just as much as his newborn girl would look good in the pink Harley Davidson outfits, which he also bought. Maybe he wouldn’t bring a newborn to Sturgis. But a little one at Sturgis? Hell yeah. Asal loved it. Sugar loved it. Why not make it a Westin family tradition?
That hit him in the chest. Maybe it was already a family tradition. They’d made their own, and new ones would come. He tugged his lip into his mouth, rolling that thought over.
“Are you that worried?” Parker interrupted his thoughts, reading him all wrong.
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
Jared cleared his throat and mind. “Take your pick. The trouble Sugar’ll wriggle into. The headaches she’ll leave along the way.” He chuckled. “Want me to go on?”
Parker shook his head. “Lexi will keep her grounded.”
“Glad they’ve become such good friends.”
“Me too,” Jared mumbled. “Has Sugar had Lexi down at the range?”
“Not much. It’s not her thing.”
“Right.” He wondered how someone would fall in love with anyone in Titan and not understand who they were and how they got there. Weapons were a part of that, but it was so much more than handling a gun. It was their lifestyle. For Sugar and Lexi to gel the way they had… he’d have to ask Sugar about it. She didn’t take on anyone that she didn’t know everything about. Jared pinched the bridge of his nose and remembered one of the first times he’d slept over at Sugar’s house. “So how does a big, bossy, badass of a man decide to go into the army?” Sugar had lain naked across his chest.
“You want all my secrets?”
“I want everything from you. I didn’t mention that?”
He ran his hands down her bare back and let his palms rest on her ass. “I needed a job. They’d be stupid not to take me. End of story.”
“Bull-fucking-shit.”
He’d squeezed her ass. “You think you know me so well.”
“I do. But I want all of you. Every last piece of intel. What makes you tick?” Sugar had let the minutes drift by. “This will never work unless you let me in. And the reason Jared Westin is the man he is has something major to do with why you signed up for someone to hand you a gun.”
Jared remembered wanting to fight her, shake her. Run but also stay put. “Sugar…”
“Your call, buddy. I can roll with it either way. I’m a big girl. We’ve established that.”
Minutes had passed, and he had no intention of letting Sugar get away. But as for the past and who he was, there wasn’t much to say. Just a series of facts and events, and here he was—Army Ranger turned Titan Group founder and lucky as hell to have her in bed.
“Spit it out.” She had shifted away, and he’d snagged her back.
“Stay put.”
“Start talking.”
“It comes down to one thing. I grew up believing in heroes.” He’d taken a deep breath and wrapped her into a hug, sliding her body next to him so they were eye to eye. “Some people will do anything to save another person. Some people would rather drop and cry about tragedy.”
“True. But that’s vague.”
He’d smiled because only the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with would call him out as he tried to verbalize feelings and pivotal life points. “My grandfather had dementia. I don’t know what they called it back then. My grandma, just… maybe had enough. All of the family was over at their place for Christmas, and he didn’t remember a thing. No one. Not her.”
“That’s awful.”
“But it turns out she locked the door, lit a cigarette, and went to sleep. I’m not sure how she killed him, killed herself…” It would have ruined his childhood if he hadn’t been as strong of a kid as he was. “I saw my aunts and uncles drop to their knees and cry. I saw people walk away. But my parents were heroes. And when the time came for me to make a decision, it wasn’t about putting a gun in my hand; it was about who best could push me to be like them.”
“Still too simple.”
All of that, and it hadn’t been enough. He wanted to laugh. “What are you, a therapist?”
Sugar had smiled. The woman had a thousand expressions that all seemed to boil down to how she moved her lips. “For the purposes of this conversation, you call me whatever you want, Boss Man.”
“The fire changed my world view. I thought everyone lived a certain way. Followed orders. Understood chain of command. I was wrong, and I wanted to associate only with those who did. I wanted to honor those who would lay down their lives for me. I wanted to be invincible like my dad and as selfless as my mom. I wanted to be an Army Ranger.”
Jared took a deep breath, pulling himself from the flashback. If he and Sugar could be a tenth of the parents his folks were, they’d be doing something right.
“Alright, I’m headed in to monitor the Delta team’s transmissions.” Parker left, his steps echoing in the garage.
Jared cracked his knuckles and waited for Sugar’s first update, missing her already. He pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to Asal just because. He was following Parker’s path toward the secure door when his phone buzzed. He swiped the screen. His daughter sent a selfie: one eye closed, the other squinting. Her tongue was out, and one side of her face was squashed with her hand. The text overlay said, “Beat that!”
He laughed, made a better face, then snapped the selfie and sent it back to his daughter with the hashtag “#dadwins.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The scent of pancakes and syrup filled the air. There were enough blue-haired Betties catching glances at the Lexi and Sugar partnership that Lexi had to chew the inside of her mouth not to smile and wave. The start of this road trip was entertaining for everyone—for her and Sugar and the people who didn’t generally see people like… well, Sugar, on a daily basis.
“So he’s a meathead?” Sugar stabbed a Nutella-covered crepe. “His schedule for the last week, outside of work, is: the gym, the vitamin place, the place where he picks up his food, and the gym.”
Lexi rolled the cooling coffee cup back and forth between her fingers. “He’s got a stack of commendations and crap on his résumé. Shouldn’t you know more about that?”
“That crap doesn’t impress me.” Sugar took another bite.
“Well, obviously me either. I searched through every electronic fingerprint I could find. Squeaky-clean outside of military activities. Typical Titan.” Lexi took a sip. “So we remain wholly unimpressed. Great résumé and a meathead schedule. A few headshots that are as generic as the rest of his stellar military career. Hoorah.”
“Hooah. The army says, hooah.”
“See.” Lexi traded her coffee cup for a fork and went to town on her hash browns. “I have no idea. The vitamin store would be the best place for us to go. We can wander around, maybe see if he’s a jackass.”
“Why the vitamin store?”
“You’re pregnant and all. Vitamins? Hello?”
Sugar shook her head. “They’re prescription. My OB calls those horse pills in.”
“Oh.” Lexi shrugged. “Clueless in the preggo department.”
“We should go to the gym.”
“Ha!” Lexi snorted. “Oh, wait. Are you serious?”
“Sure.” Sugar shrugged and smirked. “Why not? I’m supposed to get some exercise.”
“Have you ever been inside a gym?”
Her face tightened. “I was ATF. I’m a trained killer, thank you very much, little miss keyboards and leather. I have been inside a gym.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Lexi searched for the right words. “This gym seems different. More than where dudes just pump iron all day. This is more like the kind of gym where they just find things that are heavy and… I don’t know, hold them. Throw them. Lift them. Then take selfies.”
Sugar laughed. “Like at all gyms.”
“This isn’t like where you get a flyer in the mail to join for a month for free. This is where they pick up tractor tires or something and grunt a lot.”
“We might stick out.” Sugar tapped a manicured fingernail.
Lexi laughed. “Ya think?”
“So we go shopping.”
“I don’t know if we can tone down the amount of awesome between the two of us.”
Sugar’s eyes scrutinized her own clothes then Lexi’s. “Well, we do look amazing and all, seeing as everyone in Mayberry’s finest pancake shop can’t take their eyes off of us, but blending in is another thing.”
Lexi’s eyebrow went up. “We need badass gym clothes.”
“Yeah, we do. Might not do the trick, but at least it will get us through the door.”
“This isn’t at all what Jared had in mind.” Lexi bit her lip, thinking back to the lecture about how this was essentially her first time in the field on Titan’s schedule and she had to follow certain rules, none of which Sugar was allowed to trump.
“Jared’s rules boiled down to this: don’t get hurt, and don’t put the baby in a bad position. We’re going to a gym. It’s literally on the list of activities I’m supposed to do—get exercise.”
Lexi sipped her coffee. “Just so you know, I’m not getting into it with you two.”
“You don’t have to. It’s great sex when we fight. If something causes a problem with Jared, great things happen, and I’d never actually do anything that would put the baby at risk.”
Lexi’s face pinched. “Ew. More than I needed to know.”
Sugar pulled a pen from her purse and grabbed a napkin. “Shopping list time. Do we need new iPods?” She paused. “Clothes, new shoes… what else? Snacks. Hmmm.”
“Definitely some of those chocolate-coconut bars we finished off on the way up here.”
Sugar nodded.
“Surveillance work is great. Remind me to tell Parker to shove it next time he complains.”
Sugar penned SNACKS and circled it. “Ten-four, buckaroo. Time to get our workout on.”
***
The rhythmic pounding of the man running for his life in between Sugar’s and Lexi’s treadmills was more than enough up-close proof that Bishop O’Kane was as physically fit as his profile said. This gym catered to professional bodybuilders but was empty with the exception of one other person and staff. It was elite and niche, and Sugar had basically used her stomach and her hormones to get them a day pass.
Not exactly Titan-level detective work, but this was more a girl’s trip than anything else… right? Her phone buzzed as she and Lexi walked lazily on either side of their unknowing target.
Lexi: What have we learned? I’m bored.
Sugar: I was bored at home. This was something to do.
Lexi: Right.
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Lexi: I think he knows we know each other.
Lexi: Shit! He’s looking at both of us.
Lexi: SUGAR!
Sugar got off her treadmill and walked calmly to the bathroom. The second she was out of sight, she pulled her phone back out.
Sugar: Do I have to teach you how to creep up on a dude!?!?
Lexi: Maybe…
She tittered to herself. Well, that was probably true. For as hot as Lexi was, she was clueless when it came to the art of flirting. Though they weren’t flirting. But still, spying on a guy took a certain level of finesse that Lexi didn’t have.
Sugar: We need a new game plan.
Sugar: Does he still look suspicious of us?
Sugar: Hello?
Sugar: Hey, Thelma, it’s Louise. Why’d you go radio silent?
Lexi: We have a problem
Sugar: On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is we need to hit the pancake house again, and 10 is I have to hit up GUNS for the ammo Jared wouldn’t let me have, gimme a number.
She grabbed her bag from a locker and wrestled out of her exercise pants and back into leather pants, which—thank the Lord for maternity adaptation—were more comfortable.
Sugar’s screen blinked with the text.
Lexi: 10. 10. 10.
Sugar: Easy, killer. On my way.
But the text wouldn’t send. The little circle kept circling. No signal. Ugh. What the hell? She pushed out the door to find the hallway dark. A tickle of adrenaline crept up her neck, and she slowed her pace.
“Hello?” A Russian accent called into the bathroom where she had just been.
Training and instinct made Sugar drop to the floor, listening to the voice continue to call and the person go in and out of the locker rooms and whatever rooms were down the other hallway.
Her pulse picked up. She could feel the blood thumping in her neck and in her stomach, which was a change from the norm. But all in all, this was no different than creeping like a shadow on any other job. Except she didn’t know who or what she was dealing with, and she had to hide what felt like an additional few feet of her stomach from view while trying to figure out what the double deuces was happening.
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