Stripping Bare (Steele Ridge Book 7)

by Kelsey Browning

  Last night, he’d said he thought he loved her. Did he truly love her or was he simply relieved that she felt there was nothing wrong with a man who liked to take control in the bedroom?

  The way he’d handled her body hadn’t scared her. It had thrilled her.

  But this morning they obviously didn’t have time to discuss the hot sex or the emotions brought on by it. She nudged his shoulder. “Jonah. Jonah, wake up.”

  “No breakfast, Mom. Not hungry,” he mumbled.

  She rolled her lips in to keep from laughing. “If you don’t get up, your brothers are going to see me naked again.”

  His eyes opened—pop—and he stared at her with complete lucidity. “What time is it?”

  Tessa checked her phone on the nightstand. “Eight.”

  “This time, I will kill every last one of them.”

  “Even your mom?”

  His mouth turned down. “No. Because she makes kick-ass biscuits. And because, well, she’s my mama.”

  Tessa’s heart turned a slow, sweet loop de loop. Her own mother had always told her to watch how a son treated his mom because that would tell her what kind of man he was. And what she saw in front of her was a loyal, protective, caring man who had a hard time accepting help. A hard time accepting himself for exactly who he was.

  A hard time believing he and Tessa could belong together.

  So she would just have to keep proving it to him day after day until he believed it. Starting when his family wasn’t standing directly outside the door, probably picturing what she and Jonah were up to.

  She scrambled to get out of the bed, but Jonah caught her hand and drew her back for a soft kiss.

  “What was that for?” she asked.

  “Are you okay?”

  She knew he meant physically, but she hesitated because her emotional state wasn’t on an even keel right now after hearing him talk about love.

  “I’m sorry if—”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for. You worry about me feeling safe, but you need to understand you’re safe with me, too. I loved being with you—the real you—last night. I never want you to be anything less than honest with me.”

  He blinked and a shade seemed to come down over his eyes. Then he about-faced with a wicked grin and a pat to her ass. “You might want to put clothes on before going into the living room.”

  “You think?”

  His deep laugh warmed her, inflated her heart, and pulsed through her body. Tessa realized it was a feeling of everything being right. In alignment.

  She quickly slipped into a pair of surprisingly comfy jean leggings, a shirt, and the beautiful sweater from Brynne. When she and Jonah walked out of the bedroom, most of his family was gathered in the apartment’s sparse living room. Tessa hadn’t noticed it last night, but against one wall sat a psychedelic green, pink, and yellow couch with sagging cushions. With his knees spread, Reid took up two-thirds of it, while Grif glared in that direction. Whether his displeasure was directed at his brother or the couch, Tessa wasn’t sure.

  Badger arrowed directly for Micki, and she hefted him like a football. “I’ll take him out.”

  From a basket, Miss Joan was unpacking enough biscuits, ham, and jam to feed half the population of Steele Ridge. She glanced up, looked between Tessa and her son, and gave a tidy nod. “I figured everyone could use some fuel.”

  Reid reached for a biscuit and she slapped at his hand. “Tessa and Jonah first.”

  “I think you love him more than the rest of us,” Reid playfully groused.

  “Of course I do,” his mother said with a glint in her eye. “Are you just now figuring that out?”

  Reid shot a look at Grif. “That’s a good reason for Aubrey to stay an only child. She won’t have to vie for top spot in your family.”

  Grif glanced down. Then his focus moved to the tall windows overlooking Main Street. In the next few seconds, his attention seemed to light on everything but one of his family members.

  Miss Joan’s mouth opened and she pressed her palms to her cheeks. “Oh, Griffin, a baby? Are you serious?” She rushed over to Grif and manacled her tiny arms around his waist. “Tell me it’s true.”

  His sigh had a resigned air to it. “We weren’t planning to announce it for another couple of weeks. Carlie Beth’s gonna kill me.”

  But Miss Joan was too busy doing some kind of joyful River Dance around him to acknowledge his words. His brothers crowded around him, shaking his hand and slapping his back.

  “You’re working hard to oust Jonah as the favored son, aren’t you?” Reid asked him. “Between Aubrey and this new baby, you’re trying to get a corner on the grandkid market before any of the rest of us.”

  Grif’s grin was wide and cocky. “I can’t help it if my sperm are stronger than yours.”

  Behind his mom’s back, Reid gave his brother the middle finger.

  Their brotherly ribbing warmed Tessa. Reassured her that although Jonah could be closed off, he had plenty of people around him who would always draw him out again.

  “I’m so excited that I almost can’t think.” Miss Joan waved her hands in front of her face. “But as much as I want to talk about a new grandbaby, we have to refocus on Jonah and Tessa this morning. Micki made some progress last night.”

  With Tessa’s dog in her lap, Micki was slumped in an easy chair that didn’t look much better than the couch. She appeared a little strung out, her normally sharp eyes slightly dull and her spiky hair flat on one side. Jonah obviously recognized the signs of an all-nighter, too, because he said, “I planned to attack the problem this morning.”

  Micki reached for his hand and he dropped down to sit on the arm of her chair. “I figured we could work it in shifts. I went back into DataFort’s records,” she told him, her voice raspy.

  “And?”

  “I was able to get a thread on our hacker this time. Looked like he’d been poking around again.”

  Jonah’s attention lasered in on his sister. “You traced him?”

  “Well, yes…and no. He was smart enough to bounce his tracks through multiple servers—Hong Kong, Mumbai, New York, and several others. I lost the trail in Rio. And unfortunately, I also tripped some trigger that locked up Tessa’s account.”

  “No big.” Jonah waved away Micki’s words. “It’ll take you less than fifteen minutes to fix that.”

  Tessa closed her eyes. None of this was legal. Then again, they weren’t exactly battling someone who played by any kind of rules or moral code.

  “But I started thinking about the hardware he sent you.” Micki said. “We assumed he modded it himself.”

  Tessa saw where Micki was going and jumped in. “But if he’s been so busy setting up the ground rules and scenarios for the game, would he have time to build all the hardware from the ground up?”

  Micki’s smile was tired but admiring. “Finally, someone besides me who can give you a run for your money in the brains department.”

  When Jonah turned his attention toward Tessa, his expression was conflicted, as if he couldn’t decide whether to draw her into this conversation or push her out. Finally, he said, “There are a helluva a lot of hardware manufacturers in the US alone. And if he bought his components overseas, it could take us years to track them down.”

  Micki pulled something from a canvas tote bag sitting on the floor. “Hope you don’t mind, but I detached one of the sensors when you took the vest off in the car yesterday. Don’t worry, I closed the wiring circuit.” She held the pieces of the lone sensor in her palm. “These are made by the same company as the vibrating motors Steele Trap uses for its controllers.”

  “How did you figure that out?”

  “I had a hunch and called the head hardware engineer at about two in the morning Seattle time. He wasn’t too talkative at first, but I promised him you’d send him season tickets to the Mariners’ games.”

  Jonah nodded thoughtfully. “And?”

  “And all this mess didn’t start until Tes
sa left Seattle, too, right?” Micki asked. “That has to mean something.”

  Everyone but Micki, Tessa, and Jonah filtered out of the apartment when he reminded them that they wouldn’t be any help with the technical aspects of tracking down this bastard.

  “The hacker-modder has to be someone I counseled,” Tessa said.

  Jonah disagreed, but if going down that Steele Ridge employee path again would keep Tessa and his sister busy while he dug deeper into Harrison Shaw’s buddies, he was all for it. “You’re right. Maybe we missed something.”

  “I need to go back through every file.” Tessa looked at Micki. “Can you get me access?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “While y’all work that angle, I’ll take a look at the hardware.” Because it still wasn’t making a damn bit of sense to him why one of Shaw’s compadres would’ve set up this elaborate scenario. There were infinitely easier avenues for payback.

  He sat down on the floor with the hardware in order to make a good show for Micki and Tessa and to keep his mind busy. Otherwise, he’d overthink the fact that Tessa hadn’t said “I love you” back last night.

  Yes, he’d blurted it out during the heat of an intimate moment, but he meant it.

  He grappled with the tiny guts of the sensor, using an eyeglass screwdriver and precision tweezer, and Badger trundled over to sniff at the hardware. Obviously unimpressed, he sneezed on one, then decided Jonah’s thigh was the perfect place to stretch out and take a siesta.

  While Micki once again violated firewalls to get Tessa into the client records she’d been shut out of, Jonah stroked Badger’s back and studied the sensors for any clue they might give him. When he’d asked Maggie about dusting the equipment for prints, she’d bagged the timer. But she’d shaken her head at the sensors, telling him that by sweating all over them like a linebacker during two-a-days, he’d no doubt washed away any evidence.

  The welts from the sensors were starting to itch, and he had to keep his hands busy to keep from scratching the hell out of them.

  Right now, he had nothing solid to connect Cartwright to all of this except a different kind of itchy feeling. What if he was all wrong in thinking this had anything to do with Harrison Shaw and his buddies? Had he made a mistake in assuming Tessa had simply been a way to get to him?

  He needed to track down Cartwright. Alone.

  Shutting Tessa out again was a dick move, but after the fire he didn’t want her near any of those men.

  Which meant he needed time and space to get to Cartwright.

  “Are y’all in the files yet?” he asked.

  “Of course. Everyone from Keith Benery to Sharon Vrana.” Micki was obviously dragging ass if her jaw-cracking yawn was any indication, but she said, “I’m just setting it up so we can download the files and have the computer read them back to Tessa.”

  Jonah casually scratched Badger’s head and tried to mask the tension squeezing his body. “Hey, I need to run over and check in with Cash and Maggie on a couple of things.”

  “Did you learn anything new?” Tessa studied him as if she could get inside his mind and dig out whatever she wanted. With a grapefruit spoon.

  “No.” Which wasn’t strictly a lie. “That’s why I want to walk through some thoughts with those two. They might have a flash of insight that’s escaped me.” It took all of Jonah’s strength to meet Tessa’s gaze and maintain an air of innocence. “Why don’t you two take all this out to Mom’s house and finish up your research there?”

  Micki’s eyes went squinty. “Why would we do that when we already have everything set up here?”

  “Because Grif said she insisted on going home this morning, and I don’t like the idea of her being alone at Tupelo Hill with what happened yesterday. There’s plenty of room to spread out and space for you to take a nap.”

  “I’m fine.” The fact that she said the words around another massive yawn pegged her as a liar.

  “The sooner y’all pack it up and head out, the sooner I can pick Maggie’s and Cash’s brains.”

  Although Micki was obviously dragging, she and Tessa scooped up the laptops and their notes. Within five minutes, they were packed up and ready to roll.

  Jonah passed a still snoozing Badger to Tessa and gave her a kiss. “I’ll be out to pick you up a little later.”

  “If you find out something important, call us immediately.”

  “If I come across anything you need to know, I will.” He hated deceiving her this way, but he wasn’t willing to jeopardize her safety. This guy had already proven he didn’t give a shit about sacrificing the people Jonah loved.

  24

  When Tessa and Micki arrived at Tupelo Hill, Miss Joan threatened to permanently take away Micki’s laptop if she didn’t give it a rest and go lie down. Micki frowned and stomped up the stairs to the second floor with Badger on her heels.

  “Do people realize you rule with the iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove strategy?” Tessa asked Miss Joan.

  With quick competent movements, she was transferring four different types of holiday cookies into gift boxes. “Early on, I only gave my kids two choices, both of which were acceptable to me.”

  “Like juice or milk?”

  “You get the idea.”

  “That’s downright brilliant.” And a strategy she’d be slipping into her back pocket for any future children she and Jonah… No, it was too soon to start conjuring up hopeful images of bright and broody little boys who looked like Jonah.

  “That’s the only way I could handle six of them without being trampled on.”

  “I understand you raised them primarily by yourself.” Wheedling out that little detail had taken Tessa months of accidentally running into Jonah in the Steele Trap break room.

  “You’re asking about Eddy, aren’t you?”

  “I met him last night. He stopped by the Murchison building.”

  “Really?” She paused in her cookie box packing. “Do you know why?”

  “Jonah didn’t”—or wouldn’t—“say. They had a private conversation that he didn’t share with me.”

  “I was brought up believing that the good Lord doesn’t give anyone more than she can bear. But when my Eddy started disappearing for longer periods of time, I sometimes thought God had finally blown his perfect record.” She chuckled. “Especially on cold days when all the kids were cooped up inside. Britt tried his best to be an impartial referee for his younger siblings. But it’s not a role he ever should’ve had to take on.” She slid a platter of cookies onto the table and went back to the counter to fetch two big mugs filled to the brim with hot chocolate and fat marshmallows. “Micki’ll pout when she gets up and realizes we had cookies without her.”

  With the mound of them—sugar with red sprinkles, almond biscotti, shortbread, and gingerbread people—on the plate, Micki didn’t have to worry about leftovers. But Tessa might have to start worrying about her waistband if she spent more time with Jonah’s mother.

  That would be a reasonable price to pay if she could get to know this wonderful woman better.

  Miss Joan eyed the laptop. “I know you’re chomping at the bit to get back to your research, so feel free to snack and work.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Two of my children are technology prodigies, although how that happened, I will never know. For years, I’ve watched the way they fidget when they can’t wait to get their hands on some kind of machine because they just have to know something.”

  Oh. She had been tapping her fingernails against the side of her mug, hadn’t she?

  “So don’t mind me. I’m going to grab a pad of paper and start thinking about all the ways I want to spoil my new grandbaby.”

  Tessa needed to go back though all her Steele Trap sessions, but found herself opening the recording she’d made the night she’d strong-armed Jonah into talking with her after they had sex. She should’ve deleted it when Micki regained access to her files.

  No, she should’ve deleted it lon
g ago.

  What she hadn’t realized until later was that when her jacket had fallen to the floor the night they made love in his office, her recorder had clicked on. Had captured every word, every sigh, every moan of pleasure between them.

  She fast-forwarded past the illicitly recorded sex and listened to the conversation—if it could be called that—they’d had after.

  “I don’t want to be like them,” she heard him say. “They paid, but it wasn’t enough.” The few times she hadn’t been able to resist listening to the file in the past, she’d always focused on Jonah’s first statement. But now, the words they paid seemed louder than all the others.

  Who hadn’t paid?

  He couldn’t have been talking about Shaw and the others because they hadn’t paid. Unless…

  Had Jonah decided to somehow make them pay?

  Stirring that pot now might destroy this tenuous bond between her and Jonah, but she had to know.

  She angled her computer away from Miss Joan and hunched closer. Her fingers were shaking, but they hit the correct keys, typing out Harrison Shaw.

  Still, she hesitated before she hit Enter.

  Nothing. No mention of him since he went to prison for drug trafficking.

  Breathing a little easier now, she typed in another name.

  Matthew Levine. Over two hundred names came up on LinkedIn alone. That would be like searching the Mojave for a grain of sand.

  She didn’t even know the names of a couple of her attackers, but one guy’s last name had been Cartwright. The other guys had called him Cartwheel, but his real name was Charles.

  When she typed in his name, a few Charles Cartwrights in North Carolina popped up with LinkedIn profiles. One was an insurance salesman in Wilmington. Another worked at a bank in Charlotte. And yet another was a high-school coach in Greenville.

  But LinkedIn profiles weren’t going to give her the kind of information she was looking for. People used the platform to brag about their professional accomplishments, not reveal the mistakes in their lives.