Mr. Ross glanced around the room. “You’ve done a good job repairing this room. I can’t even tell there were holes in the wallboard. It needs some furniture, I think.” He motioned to Mrs. Ross. “Needa, you’ll oversee that? A desk, some chairs, maybe a table or two?”
“And potted plants.” Mrs. Ross nodded. “The furniture will be functional and stylish. What about the exam room?”
Lukas extended his arm, inviting them to look. Brandy had noticed the other doors in the room, but they were closed, so she didn’t know what was behind them.
“I’ve finished the repairs in there as well.”
They proceeded to the door. Once it was open, Brandy followed Lukas inside. The exam room was larger than the reception area. It had a clinical exam table at one end. Cabinets stocked with medical supplies lined the wall behind it. On the other side was a desk with boxes stacked three-high on top of it.
“I’ve just started digging into the records room.” Lukas smoothed his palm over his shiny head. “It looks like something exploded in there.”
Mrs. Ross’s laugh tinkled through the room. “Our previous doctor was horrible with keeping records. I guess he thought that was better than using a code to keep everything confidential.” She lifted the lid on one of the boxes and peered inside. “I’ll get some chairs for in here as well. Do you want a couple filing cabinets?”
“Sure. That would be great. Thanks.”
Mrs. Ross turned her attention to Brandy. “Brittany, do you have any experience with medical filing?”
Brandy thought through Brittany Sorrel’s experiences. “No, but I’ve filed stuff before. I could learn whatever system you want me to use.” She breathed through the excitement filling her veins. Most people would not be excited by the prospect of paperwork, but she was ecstatic over the chance to have access to The Eye’s records.
“How is your typing?” She tapped her lip. “Ben, did you find that she could type?”
Nothing in Brittany Sorrel’s work record indicated she had typing skills. But the question had been directed to Mr. Ross, so Brandy didn’t say anything. Not only did she want to avoid contradicting him, but she also wanted to know what they’d dug up on her. She had faith in Liam’s ability to plant items online and the rest of her team’s thoroughness in making sure Sorrel had an employment history and a paper trail.
Mr. Ross shook his head. “I found an arrest for possession of a controlled substance.” The pair looked toward her expectantly.
Brandy bristled, and she looked to Lukas as she explained. “I was twenty-three—or was it twenty-four?—and I had a bag of weed. Nowadays that’s not even a crime in a lot of states.”
Lukas didn’t have an expression, and that worried Brandy.
“When is the last time you partook in recreational substances?” Mr. Ross asked.
“Um, maybe last summer? It’s been a while. I don’t remember exactly. It’s not like I smoked weed all the time. I shared a joint with friends a few times a year.”
Mr. Ross looked to Lukas, who remained stoic. Lukas pressed his lips together. “She’s been clean since we’ve been together. I’ll make sure she stays that way.”
Mr. Ross seemed satisfied with Lukas’ assurance. He moved on to the next item on his agenda. “There was also an arrest for solicitation.”
Brandy shot Lukas an uncertain look. She wasn’t sure how he would take this bombshell. She lowered her gaze so she wouldn’t have to see the judgment in his eyes. “That was also when I was in my twenties. I was working as a stripper, and I sprained my ankle. I couldn’t dance for almost two months, and I needed cash, so I got a loan from one of the guys who ran the club. When I went back to work, he pressured me to pay it back—with interest. I ended up giving hand jobs for extra cash. One guy wanted more. I said no, and he pulled out a badge.”
Summoning her courage, she forced herself to face Lukas. She found his steady gaze willing her to be strong. She took heart from his apparent lack of reaction.
She turned her attention to Mr. Ross. “Do you have anything that isn’t more than a decade old? Because I got my shit together once I started working at the convenience store.”
“Tell me about that.” Mr. Ross’s voice was deceptively quiet and calm.
Brandy wasn’t fooled. He was looking for anything that would give him a reason to either keep her locked away or worse.
She lifted a shoulder. “I started off as the night cashier. I stocked shelves and took care of the store from six until midnight, when it closed. Within a year, I’d worked my way up and took over the day shift. The owners are elderly, and they taught me to keep the books, so I took over most of that. Mrs. Choleno looked over my work, and she started trusting me with more responsibility. For a few years, I ran the whole thing. Then they decided to sell it. I couldn’t afford to buy it, so I ended up working at a hair salon. I didn’t have a car, so I lost that job. I was thinking maybe I’d go to business school. I’m good with numbers.”
The story she spun worked like a dream on Lukas. His shoulders relaxed, and a proud smile curved his lips.
Mrs. Ross seemed to like her resume as well. She clasped her hands over her heart. “You’re good with numbers? That’ll be a blessing.”
Mr. Ross grunted. “We’ll see. Brittany, you’re on probation. We’ll be watching you closely to see if you’re a good fit for Willowlands. Until then, you’ll be assisting Doctor Luke with getting this place in order.” He motioned to the boxes. “Ideally, this would all be digitized. We have a closed, secure network at Willowlands. Your laptops will be delivered next week. My tech people are preparing them with the software you requested, Doctor Luke.”
“Thank you,” Lukas said. “Once we get all this data entered, it’ll streamline your health care.”
Mr. Ross faced Brandy next. “Doctor Luke saved my life, Ms. Sorrel, and that is the only reason you’re being given a chance to prove yourself. Be warned that it only takes an instant to lose my trust. When you do, there is no way to gain it back.”
The whole time he threatened her life, he kept his tone pleasant and his demeanor relaxed. Brandy jumped as Lukas’s hand landed on her shoulder.
He squeezed reassuringly. “Mr. Ross, you have my word that she’ll be a loyal soldier, just like me.”
Mr. Ross studied Brandy. “Doctor Luke, I know you’re committed to The Cause, but I’m not under the impression that your girlfriend cares one way or the other about anything but you.”
Brandy set her hand on top of the one Lukas put on her shoulder. “You’re right about that, Mr. Ross. But Daddy cares about all of this, and everything I do is to support him so that he can do what he thinks is right. I serve him.”
Before Mr. Ross could say more, Mrs. Ross ran her hand down his arm. “Darling, I think it’s a perfect arrangement, just like ours. You have a vision, and I support you any way I can.”
Mr. Ross’s expression softened. “Noted, my love.” He lifted his chin at Lukas. “Doctor Luke, we’ll let you get to work. Brittany.” He nodded at her, and then he led his wife out of the office.
As the heavy outer door closed, Brandy faced Lukas. “Are you mad?”
He frowned. “Why would I be mad?”
“Because of my past. I never told you about my arrests. They dropped the weed thing, but I spent nine days in jail for solicitation. It wasn’t my proudest moment. That’s when I stopped stripping, even though the money was pretty good.”
He wrapped his arms around her, surrounding her body with his strength. “Firebrand, whatever you did in the past—whatever you were—made you the woman you are today, and I love the woman you are today. So I’m not about to judge you for doing what you needed to do to survive. I’ll just admire your strength, tenacity, and grit, and I’ll be thankful that you’re mine.”
This time when her eyes teared up, a wayward grain of sand had nothing to do with it. Affection, if not love, had been a silver ribbon winding through every touch, every kiss, and every erotic whisper be
tween them. She knew he had strong feelings for her, but he’d never used the word love before. Her heart thudded hard, vibrating her chest with heavy emotion because she didn’t want to face what she felt for him. This was a cover identity, and she had to react as Brittany Sorrel, not as Brandy Lockmeyer.
Brandy’s emotions were in a tumult, but Brittany would preen under his admission. She wiped away the tear, blinking rapidly, and struggled to maintain her role. Blossoming under his praise, she changed the subject. “You seem to have everything fixed up already. Where do you want me to start?”
Chuckling, he led her to a door they hadn’t investigated when the Rosses had been there. The hinges creaked as Lukas swung it open. Brandy stepped around him to see inside, but he barred her way with an arm, and a cascade of paper erupted.
They both stared in silence as the avalanche slid into the reception room, stopping at Brandy’s feet.
Finally, Lukas sighed. “I opened it the first day, and it was worse. I picked up what I could, but then I realized it was a bigger job than I had time for. Fixing the walls, ceiling, and floors was the first priority. This place looked like it had been sprayed with multiple rounds from an assault rifle.”
Though he didn’t say it, Brandy put the image together with hints Mr. Ross had left about what happened to the last doctor, and she figured blood spatter had been everywhere. “Did you replace the drywall and flooring?”
“Yes. Nothing was salvageable.”
“That explains the white dust on your clothes.” For the past week, when he came home dirty and sweaty, Brandy had decided he looked like a construction worker at the end of the day.
“Yeah.” He scratched the tip of his nose. “I hate paperwork, but this all needs to be organized.”
“What about the boxes on your desk in the other room?”
“I found them shoved in a corner in there. I have not looked inside. So far, I’ve been treating Mr. Ross’s bruised ribs, sprained ankle, and mild concussion. He doesn’t tolerate pain very well.”
Brandy snorted. “Doms can dish it out, but they can’t take it.”
Lukas lifted his brows. “You say that like you think I’m going to let you turn the tables in our relationship. Firebrand, that’s never going to happen. Besides, I can’t see you wielding the belt with any degree of enjoyment.”
Neither could she. No part of her wanted to mete out discipline on Lukas. Crouching down, she lifted a sheet of paper. It was a hand-written record of medical treatment. There wasn’t a name or identification number on it anywhere. “I think we need to figure out how to sort them first. It’s a puzzle, for sure, but I like puzzles.”
A week later, Brandy and Lukas finished filing the last of the paperwork. Much of it was indecipherable. Not only was the handwriting difficult to read, but nothing had been put into files, and only cover sheets had identifying information. Brandy had put the files together to the best of her ability.
She found Lukas didn’t have much patience with the process. He was in favor of a bonfire, but Brandy couldn’t, in good conscience, let him destroy evidence. She took over, only looping him in when she found something of particular interest.
The file boxes on the desk in the exam room turned out to be records on the Rosses, Thomas and Libbie Teague, Nathan Armstrong, Lilly-Rose Tweedle, Leslie Tate, and Zarah Braithwaite.
That last name rang alarm bells in Brandy’s head. Though she hadn’t dealt directly with Braithwaite, members of her team had. Liam and Jed had gone undercover to investigate a smuggling channel for The Eye that had revealed how the organization traded illegal gems for arms and drugs. Braithwaite would know Liam and Jed on sight, but she shouldn’t know Brandy. Though Brandy had led the raid that put a stop to that aspect of the smuggling, Braithwaite had eluded capture.
It looked like the woman had worked her way up in the organization, just as Lukas had done, and she’d landed here. Brandy wondered if she was still with a man who treated her poorly, as her agents had reported. The man she’d been with during the raid was dead, having been killed in prison by minions of The Eye—though the official record blamed food poisoning.
Figuring those were the most important patient records, she digitized their records before filing them in the cabinet inside Lukas’ office. The rest of the files, she figured belonged either to people who had passed through or who were no longer alive. She stored them neatly in boxes in the storage room. This would be a job for FBI forensics. They could match names or descriptions with known information in their extensive databases.
Brandy double-checked that the files in his office were in alphabetical order. “Have you met all these people?”
A shipment of medical supplies had arrived that morning. Lukas paused in arranging items in a cupboard. “Most of them. I’ve known the Rosses for about a year. The Teagues are their daughter and son-in-law. Armstrong has been in once for allergies. He’s part of the security for Willowlands. You’ve met him a couple times. Braithwaite wants Botox injections. I’m going to have to learn how to do those because the Rosses want them as well.”
Brandy snorted. “Please tie me up and stand me in a corner if I ever ask for fillers or plastic surgery. I’m going to celebrate every wrinkle and gray hair.”
Lukas crossed the room and took her in his arms. “You do that, Firebrand. Never be ashamed of the badges you earn.”
She lifted on her toes to press a kiss to the underside of his chin. “I promise I won’t.” She inhaled deeply, and his earthy scent triggered waves of longing, so she nipped his skin with her teeth. “Daddy, I feel naughty.”
He grasped her ass cheek in one hand, kneading it while pressing his pelvis into her belly. His smile turned sly, and his eyes took on that heavy-lidded look he got when he was in the mood to play. “Do I need to give you an exam to find out why you’re feeling that way?”
Giggling, she twirled away until she bumped into the exam table. She hopped up, crossing her legs, and she wound one strand of hair around her finger. “Doctor Luke, I’m ready for you to take my temperature.”
His slow grin promised she was going to get much more than she bargained for. “I prefer to start with a breast exam. Remove your shirt.”
She slipped her hand from the temporary curl she’d created, and grasped the hem of her shirt. Lifting it slowly, she revealed her stomach by inches. Then the white of her sports bra appeared. She knew it was not a sexy garment, but it didn’t seem to affect Lukas differently. His breath caught, and hard flecks of desire flashed in his liquid irises.
He disappeared from view as she finished taking off the shirt. Dropping it on the table next to her, she squared her shoulders to thrust out her breasts. “Is this okay, Doctor?”
Lukas snagged a white medical coat from a hook behind his desk. As he buttoned it up, she noted how it fit snugly over his massive shoulders and stretched across his thighs and ass. He crossed to the sink on the other side of her and washed his hands. As he soaped and rinsed, he said, “Take the bra off as well.”
She shrugged out of that garment. There was nothing sexy about wearing or taking off a sports bra. One day, she was going to show him what she looked like in lingerie. She held onto hope that the circumstances around them would be different by then.
Leaning back on her hands, she arched her back to better show off her assets. “Like this, Doctor Daddy?”
From his slow smile, she noted how much he preferred that to the other names she’d tried out.
“Yes, Ms. Sorrel. That’s perfect.” His touch, light and knowing, landed on her left breast. He pressed and kneaded around the globe, circling closer until he got to the nipple. He ran his fingertips along the surrounding tissues, switching to the other breast to give it the same treatment. He was performing a real—sensual—breast exam.
Her nipples pebbled under his gentle ministrations. It floored her how such a large, seemingly brutal man was frequently so very tender and reverent in the way he touched her.
“Oh,” he said.
“That’s a curious development.” He ran a fingertip over one nipple, and she sucked in a breath. “Does it hurt?”
“It aches.” Her shoulders quivered.
“Perhaps it needs more pressure?” He pinched it sharply, a violent move in direct opposition to his previous actions.
She yelped. “Doctor, that hurts.”
He squeezed harder and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. Reflexively, she pulled her body away as she grabbed his wrist to halt the torture. Like lightning, his free arm came around her shoulders, freezing her in place, and her attempt to move his hand was highly ineffectual.
“It’s just for a moment, Ms. Sorrel. Breathe through it.”
Brandy closed her eyes and breathed to manage the pain that somehow shot straight to her pussy, morphing into pleasant tingles as it traveled the route.
“Put your hands on my shoulders.” The solid command broke through the haze enveloping her mind and her will.
She found herself automatically ceding to his authority. The feel of his broad, solid muscles under her palms supplied the anchor she needed. She sighed, and her whole body relaxed. Her eyes opened, and her gaze landed on his face. She noted the heat darkening his eyes and the desire suffusing his skin. The veins on his neck were a little more prominent.
He released his hold, and she moaned as a pins-and-needles feeling rushed to fill the void. Then he tortured her other nipple the same way. Brandy cried out, but she didn’t try to move away. She dug her nails into his shoulders, and they scraped along the heavy-duty fabric of the lab coat. Suddenly his solid surety wasn’t enough, and she needed to feel the heat of his skin against her palms.
“Doctor Daddy, wouldn’t you feel more comfortable if you took off your shirt and coat?”
“That would be highly improper, Ms. Sorrel.” Abruptly, he let go of her nipple. “Lie back and put your arms on the table beside you.”
Brandy twisted and scooted into the position he’d commanded. Her legs bent at the knee and dangled over the edge. As she considered whether this was comfortable or not—and also if she should offer to remove her jeans—he guided her hand through a thick leather loop.
Re/Deemed (Doms of the FBI Book 8) Page 17
