Chapter Eighteen
OH, HOW MUCH BARRETTwanted this to be a date instead of a work dinner!
Zoey looked lovely in a peasant blouse embroidered with birds in flight, and her honey-blonde hair, arranged in a French braid, still escaped in wisps to frame her delicate face. Usually rough as a stone, he turned into a marshmallow just looking at her.
He straightened his shoulders as he tore his gaze away from her and glanced around this surf-and-turf restaurant belonging to two of his sisters-in-law—well, to their mother. He was on a job, not a leisurely meal, and he needed to act accordingly.
The hour was early for dinner, but the room already hummed with the patrons’ voices and the footfalls of waitstaff moving between tables. Call him biased, but the popular place offered some of the best food in their small town—probably the best aside from Mom’s brisket, of course. The enticing fragrances of fried meat and fish and of fresh-baked bread and biscuits hung in the air. He’d been here so often he knew where every nail was, but his heart had never beat this fast here before.
Zoey’s presence affected him, but he wasn’t a person to create illusions for himself. He was a realist, pragmatic, with two cowboy boots planted firmly on the ground or in this case on the tile floor. Well, wasn’t he? If so, then why did his head float into the clouds every time he was with Zoey until he wanted to become a dreamer?
Laredo had agreed to play backup tonight—while getting himself a free dinner—and had been seated at a booth with a clear view of Barrett and Zoey as well as the two exits. Having insisted they eat inside, not on the deck now aglow with strung lights, Barrett had his back to the wall, as usual, with both exits in his direct line of view. He had to pay attention to his surroundings, no matter how much Zoey’s presence clouded his judgment.
“The food is awesome.” She lowered her gaze as she scooped up a part of her loaded baked potato, then looked up at him, her smile shy and beyond endearing.
Everything in him craved to kiss her again.
“Yes, it is.” He glanced at his plate. He could live without steak and potatoes, and he could last a few days without any food. But he already couldn’t imagine his life without her.
“The company is even better.” She took a sip of her iced tea with lemon, bringing attention to her luscious lips and reminding him of their incredible kiss.
“Likewise.” He sat up straighter, the bench’s vinyl padding squeaking. He’d better clear his head. After all, her very safety depended on his clear thinking. “You’ll be seated in a similar place tomorrow.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I’ll be where Laredo is sitting right now. He and several of my brothers agreed to back us up tomorrow. Gerald’s change of plans works in our favor. Because it’s in the evening, my brothers will be done with work at the ranch. And a delay lets us prepare better.”
“I’m glad. Is your food okay, though?” She cut a cube of the steak and forked it to her lips covered in a shiny lip gloss, reminding him, again, of the kiss.
Heat rose inside him. Seriously, if he wanted to conduct protection right—and he certainly did want to—he needed to forget the earth-shattering kiss, the way it made him feel, the way she made him feel. But how could he?
Had she asked him a question? Right. Way to focus. Not. “Yes. Like you said, the food here is awesome. Marina’s mother does a great job with the place, and Marina recently made multiple improvements. Why are you asking?”
“You’re paying so little attention to your food. You’re just looking around or”—she dipped her head, frowning at her plate, then forked a sautéed mushroom—“or looking at me.”
Her cheeks pinked, and her voice dropped to a near whisper. Man, he found that blush endearing. But then, he found everything about her endearing. She lifted her hand to tuck some wisps of hair behind her ear, and he considered it the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Right.” He breathed in the mouth watering aroma of steak with grilled onions, then helped himself to a bite. It was delicious indeed. But not as delicious as their kiss.
Not again!
He nearly groaned. He pulled up the restaurant layout on his phone, then slid it toward her. “Here is where my other brothers will be positioned.” He showed her the layout. “My sister-in-law, Rachel, will be watching the restaurant from outside. She’s worked as a bodyguard most of her life and has vast protection and surveillance experience, as well as weapon and combat training. Kai and his wife, Marina, will be in the kitchen. They’ll ensure nobody tries to add something to your food that shouldn’t be there.”
“Please thank your brothers and their wives. You have an amazing family.”
“I sure do.” Probably another thing he’d taken for granted. He’d helped his brothers and their now wives in whatever investigations they’d needed, and he knew they’d drop everything and help him, as well. And they did. But he hadn’t appreciated it as much as he did now.
“Please let me know how I can reciprocate. I mean, I know they won’t accept payment. But maybe pay for their dinners? Send some gifts? I don’t know, send your brothers’ horses some gifts?” She spread her arms. “Like extra apples or something? Or do I sound ridiculous?”
“You always sound wonderful.” If her snoring was already music to his ears, her voice with its slight French accent was even more so. Just a different melody. One he could listen to his entire life.
Uh-oh. What was he thinking? He drank more of his iced tea, not only because he was thirsty but also because he needed to come to his senses.
“To answer your question, you don’t need to do anything except to stay safe. My brothers are already getting a free dinner out of it, and they are grateful. Though I’m sure their horses appreciate the offer. And my brothers are happy to help, anyway. Mom raised us right. Besides”—he puffed out his chest in a self-aggrandizing gesture—“they all love me. And they admire you.”
“Most of them only met me once. How can they admire me?”
Oops! He cleared his throat and drank some more of his iced tea, buying time to try to wiggle out of this one. Nope, no wiggling out could happen here. “They know you from my stories.”
Her eyes widened, and she clanked her forkful of zucchini back onto the plate. “Well, thank you. Does that mean you... you admire me?”
Why hide the obvious? “It certainly does. Oh, and it helps that my brothers also married wonderful, kind women who volunteered to help.”
“Including my cousin, Kennedy,” she said slowly.
“Including your cousin,” he parroted.
“Who didn’t volunteer to help.” She moved the food on her plate.
“Who didn’t volunteer to help.” Barrett cringed. Kai’s parrot would’ve been proud of Barrett. “But that’s only because she’s far away on an important trip. She was very worried about you when you got sick.”
“Got poisoned.” She picked up her bread, then plunked it back in the bread basket.
He needed to change the topic. Or rather, to steer the conversation back to the previous topic. “My sister-in-law Saylor will be your waitress tomorrow. She doesn’t work here anymore. But it’s her mother’s restaurant, and she worked here a lot before moving away to Charleston. Now that she’s back, I doubt anyone will be surprised when she steps in to help tomorrow.” He showed her the woman’s photo on his phone. “Do you have any questions?”
“I believe I’ve got it.” But her honey-sweet hazel eyes dimmed. “Do you think Gerald would attempt... attempt something?”
He didn’t want to see fear there. He wanted to see joy in her eyes. He helped himself to a honey-butter biscuit, not only because it was yummy but also because then she wouldn’t notice that he still paid way more attention to her than to the food. “I think it’s highly unlikely. Whatever games he’s playing, he’s not stupid. But it’s always best to take precautions.”
She seemed to cheer up and cut into her steak again, and this time, the bite made it all the way to her mouth. Her oh-so-kissable mouth...
Enough.
His temperature spiked again, and he doused that heat with more iced tea. “You did a great job today talking with Mason.” He’d let her take the lead. With her mild manner and enigmatic smile, she seemed to turn stone into water, or in this case, Mason’s animosity into remorse. Barrett’s protective instincts flared up. “He apologized for treating you badly. As he should have.”
“Thanks. Or was he just playing a role?” She tore off a tiny piece of her biscuit and munched on it. “He must’ve realized he’d gone too far.”
Barrett was used to people pretending around him. And one of the many wonderful things about Zoey was her authenticity. “You also did a fantastic job speaking with other people at the company.”
He hung back then, providing her protection and observing the employees. He cleared some people on his list, though some names stayed. Including Mason.
Her cheeks pinked again, and some of the familiar sunshiny brightness lit her eyes. “I’m sure Kennedy already gave them a pep talk.”
“Still. I believe they regretted judging you before even meeting you.” No one could meet Zoey and not like her immediately.
Todd liked her, was infatuated even, as Barrett witnessed when he and Zoey had gone to talk to Todd. Unwelcome jealousy now cut through Barrett the way he cut his steak, but could he blame the man? Barrett himself was already way beyond infatuation.
“Or they were just relieved I wasn’t joining the company,” she whispered as she scooped up more of the potato loaded with sour cream, butter, cheese, green onions, and bacon bits.
Humble, even now, under the circumstances. And yet, someone out there didn’t just deeply dislike her—they wanted her dead. Or could it be that nothing personal guided their sinister intentions? Either way, dead was dead.
He drained his iced tea glass and scowled at the ice cubes. Sadly, via his job, he’d met a lot of people whose hearts were just as cold as the cubes clanking in his empty glass.
Then he looked up at the woman who was now an inch from—no, a hair of distance from—claiming his heart. Maybe she had it already, and he just didn’t want to admit it. His life had changed the moment they’d kissed—no, the moment he’d seen her for the first time. He was tired of fighting it. “Let’s discuss Gerald Fowler’s biography again.”
“Okay, let’s see.” She pushed her plate aside. “He never married, no children, one younger brother. Seems to have concentrated his entire life on his company. Graduated from Harvard where he also gave a speech to the graduates two years ago. Has two wealthy friends he met at Harvard and travels to Los Angeles to play chess with twice a month. He used to be friends with my father but had a fallout when Dad got one of the properties Gerald wanted.”
“And he’s not the type to forgive people who cross him, even friends. Good job remembering all that, by the way.”
“Gerald only visits social functions when it benefits him, but he donates to multiple charities and several museums. He’s an avid art collector and regularly travels to New York for exhibition openings. Has properties in the US, Italy, Belize, and the Maldives.”
He loved listening to her voice, but he had to fight this enormous attraction. She’d gotten hurt once on his watch, and he couldn’t let it happen again. After decades of experience on various stakeouts, hideouts, and meetings, he knew how often things were beyond his control and could go wrong in a second.