Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
The next few days went by quickly. Smiley brought Bree with him to PT every morning, then they’d go back to his apartment, shower and change, eat breakfast, and head back to the base.
He had plenty of meetings, but Bree seemed content to settle herself in one of the unused offices nearby.
The trackers Tex had sent arrived the same day as their call with the man, as promised, and Smiley was pleased with the assortment.
Bree didn’t seem as excited, but she’d admitted that was more because she couldn’t help thinking about the reason why she needed to wear the earrings with the trackers embedded.
Or the necklace. Or the barrette. Tex had even sent a belt that had a tracker in the buckle.
The note included in the box instructed her to switch up which tracker she wore each day, in case anyone was watching her.
That had freaked Bree out. It wasn’t as if she was being na?ve and refusing to believe she was being hunted.
She’d spent time on the run for that very reason.
It was more about how blunt Tex had been, and that, along with the trackers, apparently had the situation sinking in that much more.
She’d admitted as much to Smiley but, thankfully, wore the trackers without complaint.
Now, today was the day Bree was set to meet Julie Hurt and Fiona Knox.
They were getting together at Julie’s secondhand clothing store, My Sister’s Closet.
Bree had been resisting getting more clothes, saying she had plenty back in storage in Las Vegas and she didn’t want to spend any more of Smiley’s money than she had already.
But Smiley was determined to see her expand her wardrobe. It wasn’t that he actually cared what she wore, but seeing the same four outfits over and over hurt his heart…because it was a reminder that those few items were all she owned in the world.
Well, all she had access to at the moment.
He strode out of the conference room he’d been holed up in for a few hours with his team and headed straight for the office where he’d left Bree.
When he opened the door, he panicked when he didn’t immediately see her.
Then every muscle in his body relaxed when he saw she was lying on the small couch, curled into a ball, fast asleep.
Her hands under her head as a makeshift pillow.
They’d been staying up late talking, playing cards, watching TV, as if neither of them wanted to end their time together.
And of course, they’d been getting up early for PT.
It was no wonder she was napping. He wanted to let her sleep, but if they were going to get to My Sister’s Closet to meet with the women, they needed to leave.
He’d taken a single step toward her when his phone vibrated. Stopping to look at it, Smiley frowned when he saw Cookie had texted.
Cookie: Change of plans. We’re meeting at Caroline’s house instead of the store.
Smiley: Why?
Cookie: My job is not to ask why, it’s simply to show up when and where I’m told.
Smiley wasn’t happy about the change. He was used to going with the flow while on missions, but he’d been looking forward to finding some new outfits for Bree. He started to reply, but was interrupted.
“Why are you frowning? What’s wrong?”
She sounded stressed. That was no way for Bree to wake up.
He immediately wiped all expression from his face and shoved his cell in his pocket. Soothing Bree was more important than arguing with Cookie. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just about to wake you.”
“Don’t lie to me,” she said, sitting up.
“I’m not. I promise, nothing’s wrong. Cookie was just telling me that instead of meeting at Julie’s store, we’re going to Caroline’s house.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. But it’s not a big deal. Caroline is probably just anxious to meet you. She gets a little cranky when she has to wait too long to meet new members of our crew.”
“You looked upset,” she pressed.
“Because I wanted to get you some new outfits. And I wanted to ask Julie to source some things she thought you’d like and send them to the apartment. I figured if they simply arrived, you wouldn’t be able to say no.”
To Smiley’s relief, Bree’s shoulders relaxed, and she lost the concerned expression she had a moment ago.
“I won’t lie to you, Bree. I don’t know how many times you need to hear it, but I’ll keep reminding you as much as necessary. And if I find out something about Castillo, I’ll tell you. It’s in your best interest to be as informed as you can be.”
“Thank you.”
“Would you rather go back to my place and nap? We can meet Julie, Fiona, and Caroline another day.”
“You don’t have to buy me clothes,” she said, instead of answering his question.
Smiley sighed. “I know. But I hate that you only have four outfits. You should have a closetful of clothes.”
“I do,” she reminded him. “But at the moment, they’re in boxes in storage in Vegas. You said yourself that it wouldn’t be smart to have someone go there and get them, in case the unit’s being watched.”
He had said that. Frustration ate at Smiley. He wanted to give this woman the world. Wanted to see her clothes overflowing out of his closet. Wanted to give her space in his drawers.
Needed to see her occupying more of his life than the simple corner of his bedroom where her suitcase currently sat.
Bree stood and walked over to him, putting a hand on his arm. “Is it that important to you that I have more clothes?”
“Yes,” he said simply.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’ll talk to Julie. See if she can pick out some stuff—but I’m not going overboard.”
Smiley’s lips quirked upward. “Great.”
“I think you should do that more often.”
“What?”
“Smile.”
“Then we’re even. Because seeing you laugh or grin, when it’s obvious you haven’t had reason to recently, makes me feel ten feet tall.”
“You mean you aren’t already ten feet tall?” she joked.
This woman. She was killing him. “You didn’t answer my question,” he reminded her. “Are we going to Caroline’s house or my apartment?”
“Caroline’s,” Bree said. “I want to meet Julie and Fiona. From everything I’ve heard about them, they sound amazing. They survived what Mateo has in store for me. I think it’s important to hear their stories from their own lips.”
“That isn’t your future,” Smiley growled.
“I know. I just…I think seeing them, knowing they survived hell, it’ll give me confidence that if something happens, I can too.”
Smiley wanted to protest again. Tell her that nothing was going to happen to her.
That he’d rather die than see her in the clutches of an asshole like Castillo, but he knew as well as she did that he couldn’t promise her safety.
He couldn’t read the future. All he could do was make sure she was as prepared as she could be for the worst, and use every ounce of his training and connections to ensure she never had to experience anything remotely like what had happened to Fiona and Julie.
Looking her in the eye, Smiley said, “I have no doubt that if the shit hits the fan, you’ll kick some major ass.”
She smiled up at him, and again his heart skipped a beat. “Thanks. That means a lot coming from you. The badass Navy SEAL that you are.”
Smiley shook his head and gestured toward the door with his head. “You ready to go?”
“I’m ready,” she said, sounding a little lighter than she had after waking up and seeing him scowling at his phone.
Twenty minutes later, they were pulling up in front of Caroline’s house.
Except they had to park three houses down because of the number of cars lining the street.
Smiley should’ve known the reason for the change of venue was because all the women on Cookie’s team wanted in on the meeting with Bree.
“Um…there are a lot of cars here,” she said, after they’d gotten out of his truck.
Smiley sighed. This being social thing wasn’t easy. He’d gotten used to his solitary life. But in the less-than-a-week since he’d found Bree—or rather, she’d found him—he’d spent more time with his fellow SEALs and their women and families than he had in months.
“This was not my idea,” he told her. “I thought this was going to be Fiona, Cookie, Julie, Hurt, Caroline, and Wolf. But apparently word’s gotten out and everyone wants to meet you.”
“Everyone?”
Looking at Bree, Smiley was relieved to see that she didn’t look freaked out, simply curious.
“Yeah. From the cars, it looks like Wolf’s entire team is here. And who knows if any of them brought their kids or not. It’s gonna be a mad house in there even without them. We can still leave.” He held his breath, hoping she’d take him up on that offer.
To his surprise, Bree stepped in front of him and tilted her head back to keep eye contact. She put a hand in the middle of his chest and said, “If you need to go, we go.”
Smiley frowned. “This isn’t about me.”
“It’s about both of us. And you forget—stalker.
I already know you aren’t very comfortable in social situations.
You’re always the first to leave any kind of get-together with your friends.
You stand off to the side, and you don’t often initiate conversation.
You’re more of a stand-back-and-observe kind of guy.
It wasn’t very cool of your friends to spring this on us.
We can go, I can meet Julie and Fiona another day. ”
Smiley closed his eyes, afraid if he looked into her bottomless gaze, saw the compassion and concern for him one second longer, he’d grab her, haul her back into his truck, and take her back to his apartment to keep her all to himself forever.
But he wasn’t a selfish man, or at least he tried not to be.
And Bree needed to meet the other women.
See for herself that life moved on, things worked out, adversity could be overcome.
“Smiley?” she asked in a quiet, concerned tone.