“Hell, yes,” he said, all excited as he reached for it.“Let me answer it.”
Shooting him an annoyed frown, she angled her upper body away to block him and answered.“Hi.”
“Hope I didn’t interrupt anything?”
“If you had, I wouldn’t have answered.”
“That’s my girl.I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off him either at your age.”
God.She cleared her throat.“What’s up?”
“Bring everybody back downstairs.I’ve called a meeting.”
Her eyebrows rose.“Now?What for?It’s midnight.”
“Oh, you’ll have lots of time to enjoy your young stud of a husband after.Come down and meet us in the study right away.It’s important.”The line went dead.
Exasperated, Candace growled and began punching in a text, beginning with the wordSorry.“Come on, we gotta go back downstairs.Grandma’s apparently called us all to a meeting.”
Ryan paused in the act of unbuttoning his shirt, his expression lighting up.“A secret meeting?”
“Who the hell knows?”She was definitely calling her dad to find out what was going on.Her grandma was a character, but sometimes Candace worried she was losing it.A little damage control or medical intervention might be in order here.
Ryan practically dragged her out into the hall, a giant grin on his face.“I can’t wait to see what she’s got up her sleeve.”
Shaking her head, Candace finished typing out the message, then sent it to the others and followed Ryan back to the elevator.After receiving several WTF responses from the others, she replied that no, this wasn’t a joke, and yes, there was in fact an actual meeting.She hoped.
On their way to the elevator a door opened behind them.Candace looked back to find Maya and Jackson hurrying after them.Maya was tying the sash on her robe tighter, her hair mussed, lipstick gone.Her blue-green eyes shot sparks at Candace as she strode toward them.
“This better be damn important, Ace.”Jackson was right behind her, the laid-back Texan looking uncharacteristically annoyed.Yep, her text had definitely interrupted some sexy times.
“Yeah,” she agreed, badly wanting some alone time with Ryan.After their talk yesterday she was anxious to hash out the rest of what she wanted to say, as well as talk about the timing of having a family, and she also craved the intimate connection that came only from having him inside her.She wanted all of that tonight, for peace of mind, so she hoped this meeting didn’t last long.“It better.”
By the time they reached the study, located off the lobby in the main building, the others were there waiting.Everyone was gathered around the rectangular table, along with a well-built, dark-haired man in his forties Candace didn’t recognize.A scar ran along the edge of his square jaw, and his intense blue gaze and bearing told her immediately he had some kind of military or law enforcement training.
“Grandma,” she said by way of greeting.“Okay, we’re all here.”And nobody’s too thrilled with you right now.“What’s this all about?”
Grandma stood and took her by the arm.“This is my granddaughter, Candace.The gunship pilot I told you about,” she told the stranger proudly.“Candace, this is Jeb Taylor.”
She recognized the name.“Hello,” she said, shaking hands with him.Everyone around these parts knew who the Taylors were.“Taylor, as in co-owner of this resort?”
The man’s eyes warmed a fraction as he smiled.“Well, not just me.My family.”
“I understand you two know each other,” Grandma said to Wade.“Being that you used to work for the same...organization.”
So Taylor was a former spook?It made sense that he and Wade would have crossed paths, if he had in fact been with the CIA.
Wade inclined his head.“We knowofeach other.Good to meet you finally, Taylor.”
“Likewise.That was great work on the Rahim case.One for the books.”
“Yeah, it was memorable.”Wade held out his hand.
The details of the Rahim case were classified, but the story had been splashed all over the news for weeks after the dirty bomb attack outside of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.Erin had been directly caught up in it.Thankfully she had suffered only a broken arm and minimal radiation exposure, but Candace and their entire group knew all about what had happened.
Ryan wound an arm around her waist.She leaned into him, savoring the feel of his solid, muscular body against hers.
Wade shook hands with Taylor, then the man smiled at Erin.“And this must be your beautiful bride-to-be I’ve heard so much about.”
