Bean told Garnet they still had one guy they needed to find but assured her they were safe since the guy wasn’t in the States. They would be safe tonight.
It was close to nine when they made it home. Garnet looked exhausted. He was tired, too, but felt satisfied with what they’d accomplished.
“I’m exhausted,” Garnet said as she yawned.
“Same. Thank you for helping clean.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “I feel responsible.”
He cupped her cheeks. “No one blames you for what happened.”
“Maybe, but I blame myself.”
Brady pulled her close. “Don’t blame yourself. That guy who was shooting up the neighborhood is to blame. Not you.”
“He’d just called, and I went in to talk to Ansley, to ask what she thought. I never got to ask her the question.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Twice this month you’ve been through hell.”
“Yeah. I don’t like it. I enjoy working on computer problems, not people shooting at me.”
Bean nodded. “Yeah, being shot at sucks.”
“And you do it for a living.”
He chuckled. “I do, but not without body armor on and weapons so I can return fire.”
“That would make a difference.”She couldn’t hold back the yawn and stretched her hands over her head. “I’m glad you’re back here.”
“So am I. But I’m also glad we kept at it and figured out who initiated the whole thing.”
“I have to head back to DC for a meeting at the end of the week.”
He turned and met her gaze. “I don’t want you to leave. I mean, you can go to the meeting, but I want you to think about moving in.”
A thrill ran through her, and she nodded. “I like that idea.”
“So you’ll move in with me? I mean, you don’t have to do anything. We can get to know each other.”
Heat rose up her chest to her face, and she knew her cheeks were flaming red. “So about that. I’m not experienced. I’ve only done that once, and it wasn’t great.”
He squeezed her arm. “It’s okay. We can take it slow.”
She stared into his eyes, seeing his honesty shining through. Brady really was a good man. “But what if I want to move fast?”
His body tightenedat the thought of both of them naked, their bodies pressed together, heat growing between them. He pushed away the initial thought. She needed to take it slow. Their first time wasn’t going to be while she was exhausted.
“We’ll get to know each other, and when we do finally come together, we’ll make it special.”
Her green eyes stayed on him, and desire rose. He pushed it down, knowing it would be better to stretch this out.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you for telling me.” He leaned in and brushed a gentle kiss over her lips.
He was messy and covered in dust from cleaning up Link’s house. He needed to shower before bed and planned on jacking off in the shower.
When he dropped into bed beside her, she rolled to face him and put her hand on his arm. Sparks slid down his spine. The last time he’d had someone hold on to him as he slept had beenon the side of a cliff with Keel. They’d both held onto each other, making sure they didn’t roll and drop to the valley below. This was much nicer, and it got his heart moving.
