“Your place?” Her eyebrows shot up, and he realized he hadn’t told her he had a nice guest room.
“It sounds weird, but I have a guest room. It’s nice. You’ll have your own bathroom, and I’m gone during the day. It would be a better setup than you staying in a hotel or having to move.”
“And you wouldn’t mind?”
He shook his head. “No way would I mind. I want you to be safe. We need to figure out exactly what happened and who was behind this.”
“Do you think you can? Like, how will you know?”
“We’ll trace the money and track down associates. We’ll find the connection and stop them.”
She nodded slowly, her gaze far off, though they were stuck in this plane. “Okay.”
He moved a little to meet her gaze. “Okay? So you’ll stay in North Carolina with me?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’ll stay there with you. You have an alarm on your house, right?”
Bean nodded, amazed that she’d agreed to stay with him. He didn’t need to get too excited. This was him protecting her, nothing more. She wasn’t coming to his place to be with him. She would be there to stay safe.
Garnet couldn’t believeshe would be staying at Brady’s place and spending time with him. It probably wouldn’t lead to anything. This was just Brady trying to keep her safe. That was all.
She forced herself not to get too excited. This was a means to an end, not a way for her to hook up with him. Besides, she didn’t hook up with guys. It wasn’t logical to hook up, at least not for her.
At some point, she fell asleep and woke as they were landing. She rubbed her eyes and glanced around. “Where are we?”
“We landed at Fort Bragg. We’ll take a flight to DC so you can get your clothes and other stuff.”
“I guess I’ll need to talk to my boss. Let him know I’ll be working remotely.”
“Just don’t tell him where you’ll be. No one can know.”
She nodded. It wouldn’t be hard to keep that information secret. There wasn’t really anyone she needed to tell. No one would miss her because she didn’t have any close connections.
“I won’t tell anyone where I’m headed.”
He nodded. “We’ll have to do military transports, or drive. But you can be traced by traffic cameras. We should arrange military flights. I’ll get on that as soon as we get to my place.”
She put her hand on his forearm, noticing how his muscles flexed under her hand. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? With me staying with you?”
His lips tipped up a little before he spoke. “Absolutely. I’m glad you’ll be there.”
“Thank you for helping me. You don’t know me, so I’m not really sure why you’re being so nice.”
The plane rolled to a stop, and before they opened the cabin doors, he leaned in, his lips close enough that his breath tickled her neck. “Because I want to help you, and you deserve someone to be nice to you.”
He leaned back, his lips curved up in a smile as they stood. He put his hand on her lower back and indicated she should walk in front of him. She followed his team off the plane, taking in the area as they made their way down the stairs.
“I need to store my pack,” Brady said. “Come with us, and then we’ll head to my house. We can go up tonight or in the morning.”
She wasn’t sure how to make that decision. Being with Brady made her nervous. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together, but hopefully, he wouldn’t be too disturbed by her intense focus. She really was a geek, and few people could deal with her quirks.
Bean wasthankful he kept his place clean. He lived two doors down from Link and Ansley, and Link had texted him, telling him that Ansley had made lasagna and was bringing it over. At least they would have food.
Once they were in his car, he told Garnet about the lasagna. She squeezed her hands in her lap, and her body stiffened just a bit. Was she nervous?
“Is that okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m just not great with people. They think I’m standoffish.”
