GRAY WOLF SECURITY, Texas: The Complete 6-Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  I was discovering that I wasn’t quite the straight arrow I’d always assumed I was.

  “Do you feel guilty?” Alexander asked, as if he could read the direction of my thoughts.

  “Not at all. You?”

  “Not really.”

  He rolled over and pulled his laptop onto the bed. We’d been looking at a webpage a while ago that showed arrest warrants issued in Nepal. They weren’t a very internet savvy country, but there were some things that they were up on. Law enforcement was one of them. And a name that stuck out to us both was Justin Fuller.

  A friend of mine had always wanted to go to Nepal. She wanted to climb Everest. When I found out she was headed there, I pulled her aside and asked her to do me a little favor. She didn’t even bat an eye.

  This morning, Justin Fuller had been arrested for possession of cocaine. They took that sort of thing very seriously in that part of the world. He would be going to jail for a very, very long time. And I was pretty sure his parents wouldn’t be able to get him out of this one since the court system was very slow and very archaic over in that part of the world.

  Finally, some justice would be served.

  Alexander tugged me underneath him, his hand moving slowly over my breast.

  “We should make this official,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Us living together. You’re here most of the time, anyway.”

  “I was wondering if you’d noticed that.”

  “Of course I noticed. And I like it.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I think Ricki and Annie do too. They like having more female company in this male-dominated business.”

  “What about Knox?”

  “Knox will forever be one of the guys.”

  I smiled. He was right about that. In the weeks since Alicia Peterman had been rescued, I’d gotten to know Knox a little better. And she was, despite her cover-model looks, definitely one of the boys.

  “Do you think David was serious about that job offer?”

  “I think so.”

  I nodded. “I might put in my notice at the firm tomorrow. Do you think we could handle the pay cut?”

  “You never know…David might be willing to pay you more than you think.”

  “They were paying me well at the firm.”

  He cocked his head slightly. I could see curiosity in his eyes, but he didn’t ask. “Well, the rent is impossibly high,” he joked. I knew the rent was free. “But I think we can survive.”

  He kissed me, his lips lingering, even as I felt his cock begin to stiffen against my thigh. I moved my hips, opening to him as I ran my hands over his ass.

  “Do you think we’ll ever get our fill of this?”

  “You have years to make up for, my love.”

  “And you? What’s your excuse?”

  “I’m Latin. It’s in my blood to always be at the ready to fulfill my woman’s needs.”

  “Is that what I am? Your woman?”

  “For now.”

  There was promise in those words. And that promise made my heart soar.

  ***

  I walked into Ashley Simon’s office a few days later—I didn’t think I’d ever come to a point where I could think of him as anything but Ashley Simon—at the appointed time and took a seat in one of the chairs situated in front of his desk to wait for him to end a phone call and pay attention to me. It struck me as funny that I was still waiting for his attention. It seemed like I’d always been waiting for his attention.

  He finally set the phone down and looked at me.

  “You wanted this meeting. Speak.”

  I sat up a little straighter, my hands clasped on my knee. “I wanted to inform you—personally—that I’ve decided to take another job. I’ll be leaving the firm as soon as my cases can be assigned elsewhere.”

  He sat back, his eyes moving critically over me. “Is that right?”

  “It is.”

  “You screwed up the Harmon case and now you’re leaving? Don’t you think you owe us more than that?”

  His words cut. I found myself retreating like I had always done as a child, hiding behind the shell I’d developed around myself. But then I realized I wasn’t that child anymore.

  I stood.

  “I didn’t screw up the Harmon case. I solved a kidnapping. And I’ve done more for this firm that any other junior partner you’ve employed. You didn’t even want me here. I’m surprised you even noticed I was around, or that you would have noticed if I left. You’ve never noticed me.”

  “Tierney!”

  “I’m done trying to get your attention, trying to get you to love me. I don’t need the love of a father who was never interested in me from the very beginning.”

  I spun on my heel, feeling both elated and frightened by my outburst. I was nearly there, nearly had my hand on the knob, when he came up behind me and grabbed my arm.

  “Is that what you think? That I wasn’t interested?”

  “You rarely came around, and when you did, you were rushed and uninterested. You made me feel like this burden you were trying to unload.”

  “That’s not what my intentions were. I didn’t know how to handle you, Tierney. My life was not exactly conducive to becoming a father again when you were born.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have had an extramarital affair.”

  “If I hadn’t, you would exist.”

  “One of those Catch Twenty-twos, huh?”

  He studied my face for a second. “There are many things I regret in my life, Tierney, but you are not one of them. I love you. I just never know how to show it.”

  I blushed. He’d never said that to me.

  “Listen,” he said, touching my arm lightly, “maybe we could start over. Would you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

  “Can I bring my boyfriend?”

  “Yes.”

  I looked at him, really contemplating the idea. Then I nodded. “Okay.”

  Maybe a fresh start wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe I could finally put a few of my own ghosts away.

  Chapter 20

  Alexander

  I walked up to the front door, hesitating under the first camera. I was about to announce my arrival when the door suddenly burst open.

  “Hi!”

  Vanessa was standing there, looking beautiful in a soft pink summer dress.

  “Hey,” I said, a little hesitantly. I couldn’t remember a time when she had opened the front door, let alone stood there in the sunlight without a look of utter horror on her face.

  “I made lunch. Come inside.”

  I followed her inside, surprised to see some clutter in the living room. Her laptop was open and sitting on the couch, a couple of magazines on the coffee table. She was hardly ever messy, let alone in the living room. Most of her clutter, when there was any, was in the master bedroom.

  The kitchen was a disaster. There were pots and pans everywhere, waiting to be washed. And the trash was nearly overflowing rather than being carefully tied up and set out in the garage for disposal.

  “What’s going on?”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Not much. Dr. Arden came by yesterday and we went out in the backyard. She says I’m making amazing progress.”

  “You went outside?”

  She smiled, clearly pleased with herself. “I don’t know. Ever since you told me that Justin had been arrested in Nepal…it’s like a burden’s been lifted from my shoulders. I was always so convinced that he would come back and finish what he started because I got the police involved and everything. But now that he’s not an issue anymore…it’s just so much easier to breathe.”

  There was a light in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in a very long time. It gave me hope.

  “I love you, Vanessa.”

  She suddenly came to me and wrapped her arms around me. It was the first touch she’d offered me since that night that wasn’t wrapped in panic and fear. I held her close, breathed in the scent of her hair, and smiled.<
br />
  I had my sister back.

  Baby steps…awesome.

  Chapter 21

  At the Compound

  I stood on the front porch and watched the car pull up to the front of the house. Ash climbed out, his familiar mug more of a pleasure to see than I’d expected. And out of the passenger side stepped a tall, dark man who had the regal stance of a lifetime military man, but the stoop of someone who’d been living under a terrible burden far too long.

  Ash finally told me what Kipling McKay’s story was.

  His family was murdered while he was in Afghanistan. Someone broke into his house and brutally murdered them for reasons that even the police hadn’t quite figured out. It seemed they initially thought it might have had some connection to Kipling’s work overseas with the military, but they were never able to prove that. But there didn’t seem to be any other motive, either.

  They caught the guy who did it. He was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. But Ash thought that Kipling wasn’t quite satisfied with that. He hinted that Kipling would have preferred to take the guy out himself.

  It was a military thing, I think.

  They came up to the house and Ash pulled me into one of those awkward bro hugs that always seemed to go wrong for us. I knew Ash loved me. I knew family was important, especially now that we were the only two left from our biological family. But there was still that undercurrent of sibling rivalry that would always exist between us.

  “David, this is Kipling McKay.”

  We shook hands. Kipling didn’t have much to say, but I was used to that after our many telephone conversations. Ash had finally talked him into consulting with GWS 2. As I watched the two of them walk into the house, I found myself wondering if I was getting in deeper than I’d wanted to.

  There was no going back now.

  ~~~

  FORGIVING BAILEY

  Prologue

  Bailey

  He burst into the cabin, shaking the rain from his jacket.

  “We’re not getting out tonight. The roads are all flooded.”

  “But I need to get back home.”

  “Not tonight.”

  I stared at him as though just the desperation on my face would be enough to make him do something about our situation. But he didn’t even look at me. He moved around me and went to the fire, shaking out his jacket in front of it. Like a dry jacket was the most important thing here.

  “Ingram, I really need to get back home. And I’m sure you’re needed back in Austin.”

  He shook his head. “No one back there to miss me.”

  “What about your job? Daddy was always bragging about your working for the security firm out of California, like it was a big deal.”

  He glanced at me. “He knew about that? Before, I mean.”

  “He’s known for a while. Daddy always liked you, probably more than he ever liked me.”

  He sort of grunted as he turned his attention back to the fire. A fire in the middle of June. How many hurricanes had we survived down here? How many had brought this much rain and this much cold? Why was I panicking, acting like one of those tourists who’d come here to pay my dad too much money to take them on a trip they could very easily have done on their own? Why was I acting like a fucking child?

  It was Ingram. I knew that just as well as I knew my own name. Being alone with him like this…there were too many memories. Too much water under the bridge.

  “I’m gonna go see if the four wheeler will start.”

  Ingram grabbed my arm before I could get the door open.

  “You’re not going anywhere in that weather.”

  “Why? What do you care?”

  His eyes moved harshly over my face. If they were razors, he would have just shaved half the flesh from my body. His hand came up to grip my throat, pushing me harder against the door.

  “I don’t care about you,” he said quite bluntly. “But I promised your father.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “Yeah, well, some of us know what loyalty means. Some of us know what it means when someone trusts you at their word.”

  “Ingram…”

  He pushed me again, shoving my hip hard against the side of the doorknob. I thought he might hurt me, or he might actually take that swing I’d offered him the last time we were alone like this. But he didn’t. I deserved it. Even wanted it. But, instead, he kissed me.

  And—oh, my God!—I melted against him as if no time had passed. Like he was the only man who could make me feel this way. Because he was the only man who could make me feel this way.

  I was so completely screwed.

  Chapter 1

  Ingram

  David Grayson walked into the room behind his little family, the smile of a proud father on his face. Every time I saw him with his son, with that smile in place, I felt a little stab of regret in the center of my chest. That’s where I should have been at this point in my life. I should have been the one with the kid and the pretty wife and my fucking life in order. But it wasn’t meant to be.

  Jealousy was never my thing. The one other time I let jealousy get under my skin, I ended up in the brig. I couldn’t let it ruin me again.

  “Okay, let’s get started,” David announced. “Knox, Ingram, if you could catch us up on what you’ve been doing.”

  Knox, a leggy red head, stood up from the seat she’d just taken beside me at the table and began a recitation.

  “My target is a fifty-year-old man whose wife is convinced he’s hiding assets. I’ve been working undercover at his office as a personal assistant, keeping an eye on his movements. As far as I can tell, he’s not up to anything nefarious, but I’ve only been there a few days. I go back today.”

  Then it was my turn. I stood, giving Knox a high five in the process.

  “I’m on a doctor being harassed by anti-abortionists.” I glared at Tony who chuckled at me for my choice of words. “The cops are getting them cleared out and it looks like they’re losing interest. It should only be another week or so.”

  I sat back down and listened to Sara and Michelle—the ladies who ran the computers—as they talked about the background checks they were running for a couple of companies. One was hiring new people for an expansion and the other was looking into a company they wanted to merge with. And Annie, our receptionist, office manager, and basic den mother, announced that we had three new clients coming in later in the day.

  The place was busy. David seemed pleased by that fact.

  “Alright, everyone,” he said at the end of the meeting. “Get to work. Don’t get dead.”

  I settled at my desk in the pit, working on a few reports I hadn’t gotten around to. We were supposed to submit reports once a week on active cases and at the end of a case. I hadn’t filed a report since the case before my last was finished. But I wasn’t the only one. Everyone else struggled to keep up with paperwork. But I was probably further behind than anyone else.

  I saw Alexander come in a while later. Alexander and I met not long after I came home from the Navy. There was a vet group here in Austin where people from all branches of the service could go for help, for companionship, or just because they had nowhere else to go. Alexander played poker there from time to time. We met one night when a buddy of mine talked me into going. It was Alexander that told me about GWS 2 and convinced me that David Grayson would give me a chance if I asked for one.

  It's not easy to find a job when you have the words dishonorable conduct on your discharge papers. It’s even harder when a prospective employer calls that 800 number on your records and learns that you’ve spent five years in the brig.

  But David Grayson was just as accommodating as Alexander said he would be. I owed Alexander one.

  He seemed angry when he came back from meeting with David. I went to his desk, leaning against the front of it as he read through a file on an iPad.

  “New case?”

  Alexander is a tall, slender fellow who hides
his physique under his loose fitting clothes. Me, I preferred to show off my physique. I picked up weight lifting in the brig because there was nothing else to do. I wasn’t one of those who wore sleeveless shirts all the time, but I didn’t wear loose clothing, either. I worked hard on this body. I was going to show it off.

  “Playing bodyguard,” Alexander grumbled.

  “Sounds fun.”

  “What are you up to?”

  “The same thing. But my target is at work right now in a building surrounded by half a dozen cops, so I thought I’d hang out here a while, see what kind of trouble I can get into.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “Yeah, well,” I said, crossing my huge arms over my chest, “the lady is a bit of a bitch. Wants me to act like her chauffeur, assistant, and housekeeper all in one. I’ll be happy when the assignment is over.”

  “Like the next case will be any better.” Alexander was still staring at the iPad, clearly not pleased with what he was reading.

  “You never know. We might actually meet someone during one of these assignments whose worth protecting.”

  He grunted, clearly not optimistic. But me? I was pretty sure that I’d meet some stellar personality through this job, someone whose work or whose lifestyle would change the world in some way.

  “A group of us are going to dinner Saturday night,” I told him. “If you’re free, you should join us.”

  He glanced at me. “Sure.”

  I slapped his shoulder and headed back to my desk.

  “See you around, brother. Give me a call if you need help.”

  He only grunted again, clearly not happy with life at the moment. I’d seen him that way quite a few times. He had a sister who was something of a shut-in. I tried to help him out with her when I could. I’d go to her place while he was on assignment, take her groceries and what not. But she wasn’t very comfortable with me, so I didn’t do it often.

  I wandered back over to my desk, but I was never a sit-behind-a-computer sort of guy. I needed noise and people around me, so I grabbed the heavy-duty laptop that David provided all his operatives and headed out, pausing at Annie’s desk.