Chapter 1 #2
Charlie’s phone rang. She answered, chattered away for a minute from the depths of the master walk-in closet, then poked her head out.
“That was Piper.” Charlie’s soon to be sister-in-law, engaged to the youngest of Charlie’s three brothers, Easton, who was also a member of FAST Bravo.
“She’ll be here in twenty minutes, with pizza. ”
“I was so craving pizza.” Taylor left the boxes in the master bathroom for Charlie to deal with, since she didn’t want to invade her friend’s privacy by rummaging through toiletries and other personal items. Instead she headed out to the hallway to start unpacking linens.
“How did you guys get all the furniture moved in here so fast, anyway?” she called over her shoulder.
“The team guys all helped,” Charlie replied from the master bedroom. “Three of them loaded the trucks, two of them drove the trucks over, and Logan and Easton helped us carry everything in.”
Logan.
At the mention of that name, two distinct and opposite images of the incredibly sexy Bravo member popped into her head.
One from the night of their fake “date” a few weeks ago, when they’d been doing surveillance while Jamie and Charlie were at dinner during an undercover op.
He’d sat across the table from her in the swankiest restaurant in midtown Manhattan, in a dress shirt and slacks, his blue-green eyes fixed on her in a way that had made her aware of every masculine inch of him.
Too aware.
The other was of Logan the next day in full operational mode, M4 in hand as he burst from the van she and the other members of the surveillance team had occupied in Long Island.
In those moments, he’d been nearly unrecognizable to the man the night before, transforming from laid-back to lethal warrior in the blink of an eye.
She couldn’t decide which version was sexier, but the combination of the two, knowing he was both of those men, was hot as hell.
Their paths had crossed a few times since then and he’d been friendly enough, but she’d maintained a careful professional distance from him, unsettled by her instinctive reaction to him.
“That was nice of them,” was all she said. She didn’t want Charlie to suspect she was attracted to him. When Charlie got wind of something like that, she turned into a damned bloodhound.
“Yeah, they’re all great.” Charlie emerged from the bedroom and stepped into the hallway with some empty, folded moving boxes.
“Any idea where they are now?” Probably out of the country.
“Somewhere down in the Caribbean, I think. Jamie couldn’t give me details,” she said, making a face as she set the boxes aside. “I should be used to it, after all the deployments and missions my brothers have gone on, but it’s different when it’s your man.”
Taylor couldn’t relate, but she could imagine and sympathize. “I’ll bet.”
Charlie stopped to fish her phone out of her pocket, smiled as she looked down at it. “Speak of the devil. Hey,” she answered. “Everything good?”
Taylor mostly tuned Charlie out as she went through the next box, organizing the linen closet into four sections.
One for sheets, one for extra pillows, one for quilts and the other for towels.
Probably wouldn’t stay all neat and tidy for long, but at least it would start out well.
And what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
“Yeah, Taylor’s here helping me, and Piper’s on her way over.
” Charlie’s brown eyes shot to her from down the hallway, and she winced before pulling the phone from her ear, turning it toward Taylor.
A male voice was shouting something out of it, but Taylor couldn’t make out a single word. “Logan says hi.”
“Oh.” He did? “Um, say hi back.”
But Charlie thrust the phone at her, gave her an admonishing look when Taylor started to protest.
Feeling all kinds of awkward, Taylor took it. “Hi.”
“Hey, long time no talk to,” Logan said, his deep voice sliding over her like an invisible caress. “How’ve you been?”
She had no idea why he even wanted to talk to her right now, and her awkwardness was worse with Charlie right here. “Fine, just busy working. You?”
“Same. Any big breaks in the case yet?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Not for lack of trying though. As the lead forensic accountant in her department, she’d been putting in ten to twelve hours a day since that terrifying afternoon in Long Island, and had little to show for it.
“Well, I’m sure you guys will crack it open sooner or later.”
“Hope so.” Seriously, why had he asked to talk to her? They weren’t friends, and hardly knew each other. Was he bored? On a layover?
“We never did get a chance to talk after the op. We should grab dinner together sometime after I get back. Want to?”
What? She blinked. “Do you?” The way she remembered it, their previous dinner “date” had been forced and uncomfortable and weird, and she’d been certain he’d hated every minute of it. Had she missed something?
He laughed, a low, amused chuckle that set off a flutter deep in her abdomen. Oh yeah, the man was dangerous all right. “Wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t. I meant to tell you that you handled yourself damn well under pressure, getting the response team organized to back us up.”
Please, she’d done jack, making a series of phone calls while he and Jamie had rushed headlong to mount a rescue on their own. “Which you didn’t end up needing.” By the time the help she’d called arrived, it had all been over.
“We were lucky. So? You in? No pressure.”
So, not a date, then. Just so she was clear. She pushed the ridiculous disappointment aside. “I...sure.”
“Great. Well, duty is calling. Hang on, I’ll put Jamie back on.”
“Okay.” It was on the tip of her tongue to urge him to be careful, but that seemed too personal. “Bye.”
She handed the phone back to Charlie and whipped around before her friend could see the blush trying to work into her cheeks. He hadn’t asked her on a date, it was just to catch up and talk about the Long Island op. No need to be nervous about it. Or wish it could lead to something more.
Charlie finished up her conversation with Jamie just as the doorbell rang. “Oh, I gotta go. That’s Piper. Be careful, okay? Love you.”
Taylor carried an empty, flattened packing box into the kitchen just as Piper stepped inside in a whirl of energy, and smiled at them both. “I brought sustenance. And wine.”
“Yay for wine,” Charlie exclaimed, grabbing the bottles from Piper’s hands. “We’re making pretty good headway already.”
“I’m impressed,” Piper said, her blond ponytail swishing down the middle of her back as she carried the pizzas into the kitchen.
“It’s Taylor’s doing. You two are like peas in a pod when it comes to organizing stuff,” Charlie said, already in the process of uncorking one of the bottles.
“And I just talked to Jamie. The team’s just about to head out, wheels up in twenty minutes.
He said he’ll text me a thumbs up when the op’s over, so I know he’s okay, just like Easton does with you. ”
Piper smiled. “It helps me stay sane when he’s gone, so I don’t worry as much.” She switched her attention to Taylor, her expression curious. “What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”
“Me? No.” No time for that BS. Dating wasn’t her thing. She wasn’t good at it, and the past few disastrous attempts confirmed that. Charlie had saved her during the last one a few months back by sending a fake emergency text about an hour into dinner.
Taylor grabbed some paper plates and napkins from the pantry and set them on the counter. “Thanks for the pizza,” she said to Piper.
“You’re welcome. Let’s eat.”
“How is Logan, anyway?” she asked Charlie, trying to sound casual and not overly interested.
“He’s good.” Charlie snagged a piece of pizza and dug in.
“How well do you know him?” He was the newest member of the team, had only been with them a couple months.
Charlie stopped mid-bite, her teeth sunk into the pizza, then hurriedly chewed and swallowed. “Not that well. Why?”
Taylor shrugged. Damn. She was at risk of overplaying her hand. “No reason.” She’d spent some time with him during the op, but not enough to get to know him well. Still, she’d be lying if she didn’t admit she was intrigued by him and would like to get to know him better.
And of course that had nothing to do with why he’d been featuring in her fantasies recently.
“He’s been over a few times since Jamie and I got together. Seems like a nice enough guy. You’ve spent more time with him than I have. And you’ve been on a date with him too,” Charlie added in a wry tone.
“A date?” Piper asked, looking all interested.
Taylor made a face. “Don’t remind me.” She’d felt like a total dork all night. “It was for work. Not my best moment.”
“Oh, come on, it couldn’t have been that bad. He just made a point of saying hello to you, and he asked me how you were doing yesterday during the move,” Charlie said, her gaze probing.
He had? Taylor snapped her head around to stare at her. “What did you tell him?”
A slow, startled smile curved her friend’s lips. “I told him you were having a wild fling with a guy you picked up at a biker bar last week.”
She gasped, horrified. “You didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t. But I should have, to see what he would have done.”
Taylor scowled. “He wouldn’t have done anything.”
She and Logan were about as opposite as two people could get. He was friendly and outgoing, oozed confidence and charisma.
He also reminded her of a sexy lumberjack—he was from Maine, after all—with those broad shoulders and muscular build, the dark auburn scruff on his chiseled face. A rugged man’s man, who probably had to beat away women with a stick. Hence the fantasies.
Yeah, he was her polar opposite in every way except that they both worked for the same agency—though in very different ways.
She spent her days poring over spreadsheets and following money trails, and he spent them kicking in doors and arresting the most dangerous criminals in the narcotics world.
She liked to play it safe, to play by the rules, and he liked to live life on the edge. Not her type at all, and yet...
The truth was, she’d been thinking of him a lot more than she should over the past couple weeks since the op, and not in a professional manner.
It was just... She was so impressed with how Logan had just taken charge of everything and covered Easton while he went to pull Jamie and Charlie out of the excavation pit at the building site the cartel money launderer had taken them to.
“I’m betting it was the worst date he’s ever been on, and I’m pretty sure he dates a lot, so that has to be saying something,” she said.
“I don’t know if he does or not, but it’s not like he has a ton of downtime to put much energy into that kind of a social life.” Charlie’s brown eyes held an interested gleam as she regarded Taylor. “Want me to find out for you?”
What? “No! No. I was just asking.” And now she was going to shut the hell up.
Thankfully she was saved from more embarrassment by her phone ringing once more. The same number again, but this time whoever it was left a voicemail. Since it would give her an excuse not to continue the awkward conversation she wished she’d never started, Taylor listened to the message.
“Hey, Taylor. It’s Dillon.”
She blinked in astonishment as shock detonated inside her. She would never in a million years have recognized that masculine voice, way deeper than she remembered it.
“I was talking to Janet and she gave me your number. It’s Saturday, but knowing you, you’re probably in the office. I’m in D.C. for another few days on business and wondered if you’d maybe like to get together to catch up. It’s been a long time. Anyway, hope to hear back from you. Take care.”
A torrent of emotions hit her, vivid memories flooding her brain like jagged, vibrant shards of stained glass.
She hadn’t heard from him in years. Hadn’t seen him in nearly twelve, and she’d made the decision to cut him out of her life back then because he’d been into bad shit she’d wanted no part of. Now that she was working for the DEA, she was even more reluctant to reestablish communication.
Maybe it was stupid, but knowing he’d reached out to the social worker responsible for rescuing them in order to find her tugged at her heartstrings.
When she lowered the phone into her lap a moment later, Charlie and Piper were both staring at her. “You okay?” Charlie asked with a concerned frown.
“Yeah, fine.” Except she felt like she’d just seen a ghost. Or at least heard a ghost’s voice.
“Who was it?”
“An old...” Not a friend.
That was too simple a term for what she and Dillon had shared, and it didn’t really fit now anyway, after so many years without seeing each other. More like the closest thing she’d ever had to a brother. An older, protective one.
“...acquaintance of mine,” she finished.
Taylor couldn’t believe it. Incredible as it seemed, Dillon was in town, and he wanted to see her. She’d never expected this. The logical part of her was tempted to ignore the message because of her job, but the greater sense of loyalty won out.
Bottom line, she owed him. Would always owe him for what he’d done, and the truth was, she desperately wanted to see him again.
Not ready to talk to him yet, she texted back instead.
Hey! Would love to meet up.
She suggested a place they could meet for dinner the following night. Just so she didn’t seem overly eager to see him. Does that work?
Taylor hadn’t even put the phone down when he replied.
Sounds good. Looking forward to seeing you.
A part of her was conflicted about seeing him, but she shrugged it off. It was only one dinner. What harm would it do to meet up for a few hours for old times’ sake?
*End of Excerpt*