Guts & Glory: Brick (In the Shadows Security Book 6)

by Jeanne St. James

“You expect me to go shopping?”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Is that not in your skillset?”

  “I’m skilled at having groceries delivered. There’s an app for that.”

  “I’ll make you a list of necessities.”

  “Do you cook?”

  Londyn paused in her trek to the doors leading out to the back of the house. She ran her hands down the sides of her body. “Does it look like I don’t know how to cook? How do you think I keep this figure?”

  “I heard it was ice cream.”

  Londyn smothered her laugh and continued on the path to the sliding glass doors. She pulled open the blinds that covered them and smiled with relief. “There’s a pool,” she announced.

  She jumped when his heat hit her back.

  “Hard to miss that,” he murmured.

  Yes, he was.

  “You swim?” she asked, now distracted by his presence so close behind her. He smelled really freaking good. Like a snack.

  Damn it.

  “I can manage not to drown,” he answered, reaching past her to unlatch the slider and open it. The obscene outside heat immediately hit them like a wall.

  She wandered out behind him. “Ooooh. It’s huge!”

  His step stuttered and he shot her a blinding grin over his shoulder.

  Damn, his grin. How can any man be so stinking good-looking?

  I gave up men. I gave up men. I gave up men.

  Even super-hot, hellishly sexy, former Navy SEAL snipers.

  Londyn squeezed her eyes shut at her screw up. Ah, shit. I asked a SEAL if he could swim. Way to go, dummy.

  She wandered over to the Olympic-sized in-ground pool as he headed toward the covered outdoor kitchen with a built-in grill and what looked like a brick pizza-oven.

  “Guess I’ll be ordering some steaks,” he announced.

  “Get on that. I’m hungry.”

  They went back inside to get out of the heat and spent the next twenty minutes ordering groceries from the nearest Publix. After that they wandered around the rest of the house, pleased that they would be wanting for nothing, then went to check out the upstairs.

  After going their separate ways at the top of the steps, they both wandered in and out of the four smaller bedrooms and ended up in the massive master suite at the very end of the hall, which took up the whole second floor of the three-car garage.

  The en suite bathroom was a woman’s dream. Double sinks, Jacuzzi tub, huge shower with an oversized rain shower head and also a handheld jet shower head, which could be a woman’s best friend. It was also beautifully appointed with soft lighting over the large mirrors to make anyone look good, even at three in the morning after kicking a half bottle of tequila and a quarter mile walk of shame.

  She was claiming this room. He could take one of the other rooms down the hall since he was probably used to sleeping on a cot in a tent.

  Their eyes hit each other’s as they both said, “mine,” at the same time.

  Londyn frowned. So did Brick.

  She set her jaw. So did Brick.

  Damn it. They might have to arm wrestle for it.

  Brick suddenly looked at her suspiciously when she snorted at her own thought. “What?”

  “If you were a gentleman, you’d let me have the master bedroom.”

  “The key word was if.”

  She tried again. “Shouldn’t the lady have first choice?”

  “What sexist bullshit is that? You women want equal rights unless it’s inconvenient for you. So, no, you don’t get first choice.”

  “Then don’t expect me to cook. Equal rights and all that.”

  Brick shrugged his broad, broad shoulders. “There’s a grill and a coffeemaker. I’m good.”

  “A man cannot live on steak and coffee alone.”

  “I can grill more than steak. I won’t starve.”

  Damn it. “Should we do rock, paper, scissors?”

  “The room’s large. We can share.”

  Londyn left the bathroom with him on her heels and pointed to the king-sized bed. “There’s only one bed.”

  He actually managed to keep a straight face when he asked, “What side do you want?”

  “You want the side in one of the other rooms.”

  “We’re supposed to be married, Londyn. You mentioned downstairs we needed to act like it.”

  “Will we be giving tours of the marital bedroom? And anyway, I’ve given up on men, including lying awake listening to them snore.”

  “I don’t snore.”

  “How would you know? If you’re snoring, you’re asleep and unaware. Plus, we promised to keep our hands to ourselves,” she reminded him.

  “I can if you can.”

  That could either be an insult or a challenge. She hoped it was the latter but still... It was one she wasn’t sure she was willing to take him up on. She glanced longingly over her shoulder at the bathroom. The one down the hall was nothing like that. This bedroom also had a cozy corner that was set up like a reading nook with a plush recliner. And it had a walk-in closet, unlike the rest of the rooms.

  She sighed. “I’d prefer the rock, paper, scissors route.”

  “Don’t think you can keep your hands to yourself?”

  She pursed her lips and ran her gaze over him from top to toe. From the full head of dark hair—Kevin had thinning hair and was developing a bald spot—to the blue eyes and sexy scruff along his chiseled jaw, all the way to his muscular shoulders and flat stomach—unlike Kevin’s slight pooch since he liked to eat as much as she did. She ran her eyes over Brick’s lean, belted waist, narrow hips, and thick, muscular thighs that filled out his camo-colored cargo pants.

  And that ass.

  The man had an ass that might be hard to resist touching.

  When she lifted her gaze, she saw his lips were curved into a wicked smile and those observant eyes hadn’t missed a thing. Like her licking her lips as she checked him out.

  The man was sexy as hell and knew it. There was no doubt he used that appeal to his advantage.

  “I can resist touching you,” she lied.

  His smile expanded and warmth shot from her center down to her very center.

  “Left or right?”

  Shit. “I’ll pick one of the other rooms.”

  “So, you lied,” he said matter-of-factly with a tilt of his head and amusement in those baby blues.

  “Left,” slipped from her lips before she could stop it.

  With a grin, Brick nodded. “Then left it is. Left sink, left side of the bed, left side of the walk-in closet.”

  She was going to regret this.

  Oh, was she going to regret this.

  The man had “player” written all over him.

  And she had a feeling she was going to lose whatever game they were about to play.

  Yep, she was going to lose the game she shouldn’t have agreed to. It wasn’t too late to change her mind and pick another bedroom, but she also wasn’t a quitter.

  Plus, she had a feeling Brick would ride her ass—and not in a good way—about it if she caved.

  Which meant she was determined not to cave. Kevin had always accused her of being stubborn.

  She never once denied it.

  After the groceries were delivered, Brick had announced, “First thing first, we need to check out the neighborhood. If they’re outside, we’ll introduce ourselves. If not, when I go for a run in the morning, I’ll make sure to run directly in front of their house. If, after a couple days, we haven’t accidentally run into them, we’ll make a point to go over there and meet them. Tell them we want to meet all the neighbors.”

  So, they had a plan and they were putting it into motion not even a few hours after landing in Florida.

  She had dug out some shorts, sandals and a sleeveless button-down blouse to wear for their walk. Luckily clothes that would fit in this upper-class neighborhood outside of Ft. Myers. She might not be rich, but she knew how to shop a good sale.

  “Can we
do this after we eat? Maybe by then hell might drop a few hundred degrees.”

  “No.”

  No. Just no was his answer.

  She was starting to regret how quickly she agreed to taking this “assignment.” Probably for no pay and a whole bunch of heartburn. And she couldn’t forget restless nights.

  Or lots of private time with that handheld jet shower head.

  But the satisfaction she got from his short, bossy “no” was due to him now being ready to expire from heat exhaustion as he walked beside her through the well-maintained neighborhood, wearing those damn camo pants and boots.

  She had to say, he did not fit in.

  Also, he had insisted they hold hands while they walked. Unfortunately, his palm was sweaty against hers.

  One interesting point she had confirmed during all that, his hands were not small. And as they walked casually, pretending to like each other a whole lot, she made note his feet weren’t small, either.

  Maybe his penis wasn’t so micro...

  “Don’t you have any shorts?” she asked under her breath.

  “For running and working out,” he mumbled under his.

  “Walking is working out,” she told him.

  She could feel his gaze on her and looked up. Not that she had to look far. She was pretty tall for a woman, even in her sandals. “What? It is!”

  “Walking is a leisurely activity, not a workout.”

  “Well, I disagree since you’re sweating like you just ran a marathon.” His plain tan T-shirt now had a huge sweat ring around the collar and even the fabric at his pits were soaked.

  “Gated playground of the devil,” he muttered.

  “Just be glad it’s November and not July.”

  “Who decided this is a good place to live?”

  “People who hate snow.” She realized they had circled two blocks and were now headed back. “I don’t get it. If someone was a murderer, wouldn’t they go into hiding?”

  “Not if your victim’s death was ruled an accident. And you’re a confident motherfucker.”

  True. “Which one is their house?”

  “See our house?”

  Our house.

  Like they were a real couple or something.

  “Yes. The one that probably costs a fortune to keep cool.”

  “To the left, two houses.”

  Londyn counted to the left of their temporary abode. One. Two. Another house way too big for only two people. “Must have been a nice insurance payout.”

  “A couple mil.”

  Londyn stumbled, pulling Brick to a halt. “That didn’t raise a red flag?”

  “Why do you think the father hired us? It was a huge waving red flag. The previous policy was five hundred K.”

  “They probably spent a good chunk of it on that house.” The houses in the gated community were probably close to a million each, if not more. It was certainly not a neighborhood in which one laid low.

  So Brick was right, the man was either overly confident he’d gotten away with murder or he was innocent.

  “I doubt it. Maybe a small portion of it on the down payment. But my guess is it’s financed to the gills.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s a trader.”

  “A trader?”

  “The stock market. Short-term. Day trading. All of that shit. He’s probably using most of that money for the market, hoping for an even bigger payout. Problem is, the market is like gambling. You can win big or you can lose it all.”

  “What does she do? This woman who shacked up with the grieving widower?”

  “My guess? Gives great head.”

  Londyn pulled him to a stop again. “What?”

  Brick grinned. “I don’t know what she does because we don’t know who she is. It’s only his name on the house and the cars from what we could find. It’ll be your job to make her your new best friend and get all the deets.”

  “Deets,” she echoed.

  “Details.”

  “I know what deets are. Sheesh.”

  He dropped his head and squeezed her fingers with his much larger ones. “Londyn...”

  “Yeah?”

  “You fucking slay me.”

  She blinked. That was an odd thing to say. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

  “You do that.”

  Then he tugged on her hand, propelling them forward again.

  “They’re not outside,” she whispered. “No one sane is outside but us. There’s a reason for that.”

  “I have two eyes in my head, baby. I can see that.”

  Did the man just call her... “Baby?”

  “We’re married, remember? I’m practicing.”

  Kevin had always called her “honey,” which she hated because it made her feel like they were in their eighties. Now she realized he probably did that so he wouldn’t accidentally call her his wife’s name. Or vice versa. Asshole. “What do I call you?”

  “Stud.”

  Londyn just about tripped when she burst out laughing. “Brick...”

  “Yeah?”

  “You freaking slay me.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You do that, stud.”

  Both of them started walking faster in their race to get into the air conditioning since their first mission was a failure.

  “We need to formulate a story,” he stated when he finally let her hand go to unlock the front door. “Like where we’re from and why we moved here and—”

  His left hand caught her attention as he opened the fancy front door. “Wedding rings.”

  He hesitated on the threshold, glancing over his shoulder at her, his eyebrows raised in question.

  She shoved him inside. “Wedding rings. We don’t have any. That could draw some questions.”

  “Fuck,” he muttered as he locked the front door behind them. “Never even thought of that.”

  “None of you did, apparently, because none of you are married. Including your boss who knocked up his... his ol’ lady, or whatever he calls her, three times.”

  “A piece of paper doesn’t change the way someone feels.”

  “Uh huh. Just like Parris and Mercy.”

  “Don’t knock their relationship. It works.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  She went to push past him, and he stopped her by grabbing her arm. “Do you think a marriage license makes a relationship better?”

  He was making a point and slapping her upside the head with it. “Apparently not. Thank you for reminding me what a fool I was.”

  His grip loosened on her arm, but he didn’t let go. “You didn’t know.”

  “I should have.”

  “How?”

  “When I look back now, there were plenty of signs.”

  “You didn’t see them for what they were.”

  “Or I ignored them,” she countered.

  “You said you wanted to finally be happy.”

  Yes, but that wasn’t all. “I just wanted someone to love me,” she whispered. Suddenly, the sting in her eyes was becoming unbearable and she could feel a sob forming in her chest.

  She was not going to break down again.

  Not again.

  Kevin, that bastard, did not deserve any more time than she’d already given him.

  But it was too late.

  “You need to let me go,” she said thickly, pulling at her arm. “If you don’t, you’ll be dealing with a crying, overly-emotional woman in a second.”

  “Londyn,” he started softly.

  “Please. I already feel like a fool and you seeing me cry will make it worse.”

  “Londyn...”

  Jesus. He was a smart-ass one minute, and nice the next.

  She pulled her arm again and he let her go.

  Keeping her face diverted from him she said, “I’m going to change and go for a swim.” At least she could hide her tears in a big pool of water.

  Without another look at him, she went up
stairs.

  Chapter Four

  Brick laid in bed wondering how the hell he was going to keep his hands to himself. Yesterday afternoon, he watched her swim for a half hour from inside the house and when he came out to grill steaks, she had a towel wrapped around her and was curled up in a lounge chair.

  She’d hardly said a word during dinner and picked at the meal he made, so he didn’t push her.

  When he had settled in to watch Monday Night Football, she had gone upstairs and never came back down.

  She was being hard on herself for her life decisions. Or, at least, one particular decision.

  He could understand that only too well.

  Turning his head, he studied the way her long dark blonde hair spread out over the pillow. Her blue eyes were shut and, after lying awake for most of the night, she was finally out.

  He knew it because...

  She snored.

  While it wasn’t obnoxious, it was still enough to wake him. Especially since he wasn’t used to having overnight company in his bed.

  In fact, he never had anyone stay the night.

  A temporary visitor? Yes. A long-term occupant? Hell no.

  In truth, it was weird waking up to a warm body next to him. But if it had to be someone, Londyn wasn’t a bad choice. Especially after seeing her in her bathing suit. Even though it was a one-piece, it had emphasized every one of her curves, especially when wet.

  But now, lying next to her, he let his gaze roam from her hair over her relaxed face, parted lips, over the line of her throat. He paused on the slight lift and fall of her more than generous tits.

  She reminded him of Rissa so much, but with one main difference. Mercy wasn’t attached to Londyn. Or, at least, in the way which would ensure a long, torturous death.

  When Brick had finally climbed into bed last night, he had noticed she was wearing a gold loose silky top with thin straps over her shoulders but had no idea what she was wearing under the sheet. He’d taken a peek as he lifted the covers to slide in.

  After seeing the matching silky shorts that did nothing to cover her thick, soft thighs, he had flipped to his side, facing away from her.

  She was too tempting.

  That outfit she slept in was a good reminder that he needed to keep his hands to himself, but realistically he knew that might not happen. He wasn’t sure he could stay celibate for the next couple weeks.