“Tesha mad at you?”
Reese laughed. “Not anymore. JJ’s here. She’s forgotten all about it.” He jerked his chin toward the barn. “Anything happenin’ that needs our attention?”
“Not yet. But beware. JJ jinxed us again.”
“Yeah? We’ve got a week, then?” It seemed whenever JJ mentioned things were slow, they would get a case that would have them running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They’d spent the better part of the summer doing just that. Only this week had they slowed down long enough to catch their breaths.
“If we’re lucky.”
Brantley passed Reese a cup of coffee.
“Thanks.”
With cup in hand, Reese followed Brantley upstairs to their offices. Back when they’d originally modified the house for their business, they had spent more time in the barn than behind their desks. Now that they had a full staff, unless there was an active case or one of their weekly debriefs, they spent most of their time here tackling paperwork or making calls to check on cold cases, or—the worst part of their job, as far as Reese was concerned—sitting on conference calls with the Sniper 1 Security team.
They had fully integrated into the day-to-day of one of the country’s most successful private security agencies. With that came access to a variety of cases and assignments. Although they still worked missing persons cold cases, they were also on rotation for personal security assignments of high-profile clients and events. From what he could tell, the team was enjoying the shake-up.
“You workin’ on somethin’?” Reese asked before they parted ways into their separate offices.
Brantley turned to look at him, a gleam in his eyes. “Can’t say I am. Why? Did you wanna take me up on my oral offer?”
Reese was grateful he hadn’t taken a drink. “I … that …uh…”
Brantley’s grin intensified. “The offer stands. Always. Day. Night. Just say the word.”
Shaking his head, Reese turned toward his office. He grinned so hard his cheeks hurt. That man never ceased to amaze him. Who else could turn a toothbrush into a euphemism?
Chapter Two
“Good morning.”
Evan looked up from his computer screen when he heard the sweet, lyrical voice. Unfortunately, the owner of that voice had been talking to Luca. Otherwise, Evan would’ve responded in kind. Instead, he forced his gaze back on the screen, pretending not to watch Rebecca Richter, known affectionately as Becs, walk to her desk.
Of course,pretendingmight’ve been an exaggeration since Evan couldn’t help himself from checking out her magnificent ass. A few times, he’d wondered if she wore jeans on Friday simply to taunt him. It worked. Every Friday, he was forced to endure the way that damn denim molded to her sexy form.
Not that Becs thought she was sexy. He’d once heard her telling Holly that her body was shaped like a pear. Although he didn’t know exactly what that meant, the image it painted was fairly straightforward. Perhaps she was right, but she’d said it as though that was a bad thing. It wasn’t. Not even a little. Becs wasn’t exactly tall, nor was she short. At five six, she was precisely the right height for a six-foot-tall man like himself. Sure, she was narrower up top, and her breasts were on the small side, but they were exactly enough. He’d fantasized more than once about kissing his way down her body, starting at her breasts, then along the gentle curve of her waist and down to her hips … fuck, he liked her hips. He wouldn’t pretend he wanted to see a woman’s hip bones when she was naked, so Becs’s hips were perfect for…
No.
No, no, no. He wouldnotgo down that road. If he did, he’d be forced to remain in his seat for the rest of the day. Otherwise, he would risk someone seeing the erection he sported anytime he thought about Becs—naked or otherwise—which just so happened to be all the goddamn time.
His gaze shifted to her mile-long legs encased in denim. And her perfect heart-shaped ass…
Yeah, he wasn’t fooling anyone. He could pretend all day, but he was still staring.
“Mornin’,” Luca grumbled, not bothering to look up from his computer screen.
Looked as though not much had changed in the past few days.
Evan hadn’t been in the office for most of the week because he’d been keeping busy pounding pavement in the field with Slade—his partner since his original one left the task force—working a cold case in San Antonio. Although Evan hadnothingin common with Slade, he liked the laid-back country boy just fine. He was a hard worker, even if he talked more than Evan preferred.
“Is Darius comin’ in today?” Slade asked Becs.
“Nope. His sister’s getting married tomorrow. He went back to Dallas for the weekend,” she explained.
Evan should’ve remembered that, considering he’d been relying on Darius as his research analyst since avoiding Becs had become commonplace for him. Good thing he had Holly to rely on as a backup when Darius wasn’t available. Thanks to the two of them, he didn’t have to put in too much time behind the desk, nor did he have to fumble through a conversation with Becs, both of which required him an intimacy with her he couldn’t deal with anymore.
Perhaps intimacy wasn’t the right word, but it was the only way he could explain it. Being around her … fuck. It made him want things he hadn’t wanted in a long damn time.
