Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Ty walked into the sandwich shop on Main Street, spotting Danny at a corner booth in the busy restaurant.
Lunchtime in Oliver Heights’ trendy downtown spot was a far cry from the crap hole they met at a couple of weeks ago.
“Hey,” he said, sitting across from his co-worker, noting that his friend still had his goatee.
“This place makes a damn good sandwich,” Danny said, taking a bite of his ham and cheese on rye when he usually stuck with a cup of coffee.
Ty nodded. “The whole town is great. I can’t think of much to complain about. Nothing, actually.”
“It’s not exactly DC,” Danny said before he took another bite.
Ty shrugged because that seemed to work for him, which was a constant surprise. He’d lived in one major city or another since his college days. It had never crossed his mind to live anywhere else. “It’s certainly fine for now.”
Danny held up a finger as he chewed, then swallowed. “How are things going?”
Ty nodded. “Great. Better than expected.”
“You feel like she’s ready?”
“Yeah. She’s fully on board.”
“I guess that’s good since you guys leave in two days.”
Ty nodded again. “The case had a good weekend. We were up in DC—”
Danny frowned. “I didn’t realize you were heading up that way.”
Ty shrugged. “We hung out and stayed at my place.”
Danny’s frown deepened. “You took her to your place? As in your actual apartment?”
He nodded. “That was the deal she and I made. From the beginning, she asked that I be real with her. She trusts me. The DOJ’s about to get the information they’re looking for, so I don’t see the problem.”
Danny grunted as he plucked up a chip.
“We saw her grandmother,” Ty added.
Danny looked at him again. “The Monroes’ beloved matriarch?”
He nodded. “She asked me to call her Marietta. She’s looking forward to spending time with her granddaughter and me on the compound.”
Danny smiled. “You’re definitely in.”
Ty grinned. “I’d say my cover’s solid at this point. Lydia talked to MacKenna Monroe yesterday afternoon as well. Everyone seems supportive of Lydia’s decision to keep her relationship quiet for the last few months. No one appears to be suspicious. Quite frankly, I don’t know why they would be.”
Danny sat back with another smile. “And this is why we all wanted you in on this operation. Even with a time crunch, you made it work. You’re good, man.”
He shrugged. Things had certainly started off a little rocky, but getting to know Lydia Monroe had hardly been a hardship. “This one’s been pretty easy.”
Danny picked up the other half of his sandwich. “She hasn’t said anything to you about Will or the senator?”
He shook his head. “Like I said to you before, she doesn’t know anything. I one hundred percent believe that.”
Danny nodded. “Obviously, there’s no new information on our end. No new meetups or pictures that the Boston team has sent down, so we’re status quo there.”
Ty nodded this time.
Danny bit into his sandwich again, holding up his finger like he had minutes ago until he swallowed. “The stuff we talked about last time. About Lydia being a beauty. You’re keeping your distance?”
Ty raised his brow. “She’s my fake girlfriend. We spend every day together and share a bed. We will for the next month.”
Danny nodded. “And that’s some boggy ground.”
He clenched his jaw, understanding where Danny was going. “You can tell the brass that I’m not fucking her.”
Danny shrugged as he set his sandwich back down. “You said yourself that this was a fucked-up situation. There’s a line, Ty. I’m making sure you don’t cross it.”
“I know how to do my job.” But even as he said so, he thought of his kiss with Lydia yesterday. It had been impossible to think about anything else.
She’d surprised the hell out of him when she came downstairs, making her request that he plant one on her.
He’d known that kissing Lydia was bound to be a mistake, even as she’d brought up several valid points as to why they should.
And he’d been right to be wary because she’d been intoxicating.
Soft lips and a sexy tongue that had eagerly slid against his.
Warm arms that had wrapped around him and her hot body that had pressed against his. And when she’d moaned…
He swallowed, fully aware that he and Lydia had dipped their toes into the murky gray area of their fake relationship, but he also couldn’t deny that they’d added another authentic layer to whatever this messed-up situation was.
Kissing was on the table when it seemed absolutely necessary. They’d both agreed to leave it there, which was why he had no plans to mention anything about it to Danny.
“And if I didn’t bring it up, I wouldn’t be doing mine,” Danny said.
Ty sighed as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “I get it, man. I do.”
Danny slid a smaller yellow envelope his way. “Your new Virginia driver’s license.”
Ty took it out, studying it—his fake address and the Real ID seal. “Looks good.”
“How are you guys with pictures? Tech didn’t get a chance to backdate anything, which isn’t great.”
Ty shook his head as he put his new license in his wallet. “It’s not a problem. We’ve taken dozens of pictures.” Picking up his phone from the table, he opened his photo library, showing Danny.
Danny took it, using his finger to scroll up several times.
“There’s definitely plenty to work with.
” He scrolled back to the bottom, selecting his and Lydia’s latest pictures from DC, swiping quickly through the shots that they’d both taken from The Taco Dive and the clock tower.
“You guys certainly sell it. There’s no denying that you look like a real couple. ”
Ty took the phone back, quickly glancing at the shot he’d taken of Lydia with sauce running down her arms as she grinned at him across the table. “I’d say we’re damn lucky that she was willing to cooperate.”
Danny nodded as he took his last bite. “I wish you both the best of luck. Obviously, I’m heading up to Mass tonight for a couple of days.
I’ll be back and forth between the two offices.
Nick Anders will be your contact agent on the ground.
We’ve set him up with personal trainer credentials as well.
If anyone asks, you two met at a health conference in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and you’ve been friends ever since.
Ty nodded, taking in the new information.
“He’s staying in an apartment in downtown Shoalmans Bay, so you guys can meet up there when you need to touch base.
He’s flying up from the New York office tonight, so there shouldn’t be any concern about the Monroes recognizing him if you invite him to the compound.
I’ll text you his contact information when I get checked in at the airport—the address for the apartment, too. ”
“Sounds good.”
Danny stood as Ty did, shaking his hand. “Godspeed.”
“Thanks. We’ll be in contact.” He waited for Danny to head out, then got in line, waiting to order lunch for himself and Lydia. She’d met up with some of her friends for a see-you-in-a-month coffee—or an iced chai latte in Lydia’s case. For all intents and purposes, it was showtime.