Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
Finn took a sip of his Coke and observed his “assignment” as she sat across the room in the trendy Tribeca bar, looking bored out of her mind as her date for the evening chatted away.
Casually holding her martini glass by the stem, Julia Maddox leaned against the back of the booth, obviously disinterested in whatever her date was saying since her gaze kept shifting around the room as if searching for someone.
Or maybe she felt the need to do Finn’s job for him.
Scope out the place and keep an eye out for possible threats.
But wait . . . she didn’t believe any of the threats were credible, did she?
There were only a few instances during the last two weeks when Julia had been nice to him. And he was pretty sure it was purely accidental. She wasn’t a fan of having a shadow and usually peered at him with an icy stare that’d freeze most hearts.
After nine-plus years of spinning up on countless dangerous ops as Echo Five, never once did Finn imagine he’d be called to duty as a babysitter. Okay, bodyguard. Well, more like keep-my-sister-safe duty as defined by Michael Maddox, the man who’d hired Scott & Scott and, by extension, Finn.
This wasn’t so much a job as it was a favor.
The world owed a great debt to Maddox for his service and sacrifices on and off the battlefield.
Michael was a Marine turned millionaire entrepreneur who committed all of his time to help veterans pursue their dreams. Everyone on Bravo and Echo would do just about anything for the man.
So, when Michael approached Luke Scott three weeks ago and requested bodyguard services for his sister because she was receiving threats at work, how could they say no? Michael was occupied with moving his family to Charlotte, and all of his Marine buddies were tied up.
Finn was already acquainted with Julia Maddox in a roundabout way. Julia had joined his self-defense classes back in January. What he hadn’t known at the time was that she’d registered under a fake name.
Finn had taken up teaching the classes in Manhattan whenever the teams had downtime and he was in town.
He’d always been somewhat of a drifter, bouncing around from city to city for stretches of time.
But in the last few years, when his teammates began settling down and having kids, most of Bravo and Echo lived either in New York near the Scott & Scott HQ office or around the DC area.
So, Finn now alternated between the two locations, content to play the role of favorite uncle.
And at a recent engagement party for his two friends, Finn had bumped into Lois and discovered her real name was Julia. She’d immediately ditched his classes after that, which was a month ago.
Finn had held back on flirting with her while she was in his classes because he didn’t want her to think he was some creepy guy who only taught self-defense to hit on women. But once she stopped attending, he’d considered looking her up and asking her out.
And then her brother called in a favor, and well, now, Finn had no plan to ask her out on a date even when this job ended like he’d initially considered.
Finn focused back on the friends he’d dragged out tonight with him. Roman and Harper were the most recent, and the last two of his coworkers, to give up their single status.
He was ridiculously happy they’d finally come to their senses and were now engaged. Their journey had been a road fraught with danger and pitfalls, but they’d made it happen.
Roman had been with the teams since the beginning, but Harper joined them in 2019 after leaving the CIA. She was their intelligence gatherer and analyst and overall badass go-to for ops. Often the brains behind Echo Team missions, as was Jessica for Bravo.
“She hates me,” Finn casually remarked.
“Julia doesn’t hate you, and you know that. She hates the situation.” Harper poked the ice in her glass of water with a straw, pushing the cubes around instead of meeting Finn’s eyes.
None of them were allowed to drink tonight.
They were on “hurry up and wait” orders from the President, which meant they’d be operating soon, they just didn’t know when and where.
So, no drinking. That also meant Finn’s stint as bodyguard to the millionaire would end soon as well.
At the time of Maddox’s request, none of the retired SEALs who worked security for their cover story, Scott & Scott, had been free, so Finn had drawn the short straw on Echo Team.
Finn had no clue what they would say to Michael when the time came for him to hand over duty to another guy from Scott & Scott. He didn’t want Michael to think he was ditching his sister, even if it was pretty much true. Michael was completely unaware that Finn was much more than a bodyguard.
Not that he had anything against being a bodyguard, he’d just rather be in Pakistan right now with Bravo Team.
Taking down an arms trafficker who was funneling weapons to an up-and-coming wannabe terrorist group was preferable to having Julia reminding him every second how much she didn’t want or need a “babysitter.”
“She’s certainly selling her hate for me pretty damn well.” Finn’s back was to the bar in order to keep his assignment in his line of sight. Thankfully, it was after ten at night, late enough for the dinner crowd to have dispersed, yet too early for the late-night partygoers. Plus, it was a Monday.
In the forty-five minutes since their little entourage had arrived, Finn had only clocked two quasi-suspicious men, and that was because they appeared to be undressing Julia with their eyes rather than mapping out a plan to toss her into their trunk and run off with her.
Besides, they’d taken a look around, seen that the place was devoid of single women, and left.
At the moment, Finn was fairly confident he was the only single person there. Hell, even the employees were all wearing wedding rings.
“If looks could kill,” Finn added, shaking his head in frustration when Julia met his gaze while sipping on her overpriced cocktail.
He’d rather get kicked in the nuts than pay thirty bucks for a martini.
Not unless Emily Blunt herself poured the drink into the glass would he put up that much cash for a drink.
He also kind of hated that Julia happened to resemble his celebrity crush.
He didn’t have a clue what color Emily Blunt’s eyes were, but Julia’s were a take-no-prisoners blue.
The kind of blue that made a guy want to commit a crime if she were the arresting officer. Let her put him in handcuffs and . . .
What. The. Actual. Fuck? And did I seriously just channel Ryan Reynolds’s voice in my head?
For some insane reason, Julia had felt the need to let Finn know that the actor was her type.
He mentally rolled his eyes as he continued to observe the woman who had managed to get far, far beneath his skin.
She’d changed her hair color since their run-in at the engagement party in April.
What was once an inky black was now a light brown with some blonde strands woven in.
Her hair was soft and wavy and hung like a pool of silk draped elegantly over her white blouse.
Not a single hair out of place. Her makeup appeared perfect as well.
Natural colors to enhance her bone structure, some mascara and liner to play up her bold blue eyes.
Finn squeezed the bridge of his nose at the mental image of that luscious hair wrapped around his fist, tugging her head back as she surrendered to his kiss. Willingly giving him those pouty blood red lips of hers.
And then he chastised himself. Kissing Julia Maddox would be a very bad idea. The woman was the devil in disguise, the snake in the Garden of Eden. No doubt she lured men, like this poor bastard, into her lair and did away with them. Why else was it rumored she never dated the same man twice?
Finn imagined the beautiful Julia drawing him in, pressing her lips to his, coaxing his mouth open only to bite down on his tongue and knee him in his painfully blue balls. The thought had him choking on his own spit.
“You good?” Roman hooked his arm behind Finn’s back to slap him twice as if he had a martini olive stuck in his throat.
“Yeah,” Finn coughed out the answer while attempting to banish his ridiculous thoughts and calm his rapid heartbeat.
He took a deep breath and swept the room with his gaze again, checking for newcomers.
Michael had provided Finn with the threats that had been sent to Julia’s office. At least, those her admin had intercepted. Apparently, Julia had tossed quite a few.
The letters were handwritten with a standard blue pen and were fairly tame. No serial killer vibes. There were no personal details mentioned about Julia, and the death threats were unoriginal. It was almost like a kid in eighth grade was bored and felt like stirring up some trouble.
Michael may have been overprotective, but he had valid concerns. Concerns Julia didn’t seem to share. And it didn’t help that the letters had stopped the moment Finn began looking out for Julia. That or she paid her admin to shred any new ones.
“But really, that woman’s intense stare is vicious. It could scorch off my”—Finn thought the word dick rather than saying it, not wanting to be one in the presence of Harper—“well, you know what I mean.”
“Tell him she doesn’t hate him.” Harper elbowed Roman. He blinked as though startled out of a daydream. Finn was confident Roman would prefer to be back at the loft he and Harper had moved into last week having sex rather than sitting at this pretentious bar.
The things Finn would rather be doing?
Freezing his ass off while running from a polar bear in the Russian ghost town, Pyramiden.
Playing hide-and-seek with the Taliban.
Or a nice game of guess who’s the bad guy behind door number eight in Syria.
Anywhere but here, guarding the devil.