“He was still at the girl’s house?” JJ asked, her eyes wide. “Seriously?”
Brantley nodded, leaned back in his desk chair. “Can’t say I blame him. If you’d seen the house…” Christ, he still couldn’t believe the parents had been so nonchalant about the whole thing. “The place was a pigsty. Dirty dishes piled everywhere, clothes on the floor. It reeked of cigarettes and mold. Dog chained up in the backyard, half starved.”
JJ sat up straight. “Please, God, tell me you didn’t leave the dog.”
Brantley chuckled. “Not a chance. Reese strolled right into the backyard and took her.”
Her eyes widened as a slow smile formed. “Really?”
“Yep. He’s got her at the vet right now.”
“You’re keepin’ her?” she exclaimed.
“Looks that way.” He couldn’t say he was disappointed, either. Brantley was constantly thinking back on the dogs they’d had embedded in his SEAL team over the years. His memories were good ones, and a part of him had always thought he would one day have a dog or two of his own. Since he didn’t see kids in his future, a couple of four-legged fur balls seemed appropriate.
“Next thing I know, you’ll be gettin’ married.” JJ’s green eyes narrowed. “You’re not gettin’ married yet, are you, B?”
“Not yet.”
“Holy shit. You didn’t bat an eyelash when I said it. Who are you and what have you done with Brantley Walker?”
“He’s in love,” Baz chimed in, looking up from his computer for the first time. “You can just throw everything you knew about him out the window.”
Brantley peered over at the detective. “Yeah? You speakin’ from experience, Buchanan?”
“Not me. Hell no. But I’ve watched my old man fall in love a few dozen times in my life.”
“Really?” JJ seemed surprised. “Your dad?”
“On his sixth marriage. One more hopefully-ever-after.”
“What about your mom?” Brantley asked, curious.
“She’s on husband number three. Believe it or not, my folks’re still good friends. Even go to dinner a couple of times a month. Probably the reason they keep runnin’ off the significant others time and again.”
Well, there you had it.
“How old are you?” JJ asked Baz.
Brantley watched him, wondering if the detective knew this would make or break any chances he had with JJ. If she found out he was younger than her—which he was—Baz would have no chance in hell of making a move. For whatever reason, Brantley’s best friend since childhood had an issue with younger men. The five-year age gap between them would send her running for the hills.
“Old enough to know better,” Baz said, smooth as silk.
Smart man.
“Tells me nothin’,” JJ countered.
“Does it matter?” Baz shot back.
“Maybe it does.”
The detective grinned. “I can promise you it doesn’t.”
JJ mumbled something that sounded like whatever, then turned her attention back to her computer.
Baz met his gaze across the room, and the smile he shot back told Brantley he could hold his own when it came to JJ.
“I haven’t had much luck on this social media thing,” Baz said, “but reached out to a couple of buddies in other departments to see if they could get the word out that we’re lookin’ into it. I had JJ create a couple of profiles we could use to interact with some of these groups. Maybe we can lure them out of hiding eventually.”
“You have a problem takin’ point on this case?” Brantley asked.
Baz’s dark blond eyebrows popped up in surprise. “Me?”
“Yep. You. And we’re at your disposal. Whatever you need.”
“What we need is another investigator,” JJ grumbled.
Because he was in a good mood, Brantley decided to broach the subject now that they’d gotten approval. “Who you got in mind?”
It was her turn to look surprised, her head popping up from behind her computer monitor. “Really?”
“Sure.” Brantley nodded at the pile of boxes they’d been acquiring with the cold cases from various departments who were hoping for some help.
“How many are you gonna hire?” Baz asked.
Brantley shrugged. “As many as we need.”
“I’ve got two suggestions,” JJ said.
Now Brantley was curious, so he waited patiently.
“Trey and Cyrus.”
Brantley barked a laugh. “You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
“You know Cyrus is a computer nerd, right?”
“Yep. And he’s got some skills even I don’t. Which might come in handy. And Trey, he’s smart, determined…” Her grin formed slowly. “And plain nice to look at.”
Brantley saw the way Baz’s gaze snapped over to JJ. “He qualifies because he’s hot?”
JJ peered over. “You’re hot and you’re here.”
Baz leaned back in his chair. “You think I’m hot.”
“Oh, cool it, Detective,” she snapped back. “That wasn’t me comin’ on to you.”
Sure sounded like it to Brantley, but he didn’t say as much.
“So? What do you think?” JJ’s question was directed at him.
“We need some sort of structure,” Brantley told them. “Partners or teams.”
“Agreed,” Baz said, his tone shifting from jovial to serious. “We could split up into teams, distribute cases, work them in tandem. Rather than focusing on one at a time, we could be lookin’ into two or three at a time.”
Brantley stared at the detective. Up to this point, Brantley had been using the excuse that they were still ramping up, getting their feet wet, so to speak. But after getting a glimpse of the cases they needed to solve, he knew they had to hit the ground running. And having a few teams seemed like the smart route.
“I’ll talk to Reese,” he told them. “If he’s on board, we’ll reach out to them. See what their thoughts are.”
“Regardless of who you bring on, we could use a couple more warm bodies. Those who can travel,” Baz said.
“Or hold down the home front,” JJ inserted, “so I can travel.”
“You want to travel?” Brantley was learning all sorts of new things about her today.
“I would, yes.” She motioned to her electronic tablet. “You know I can do my work anywhere, right?”
Yes, he knew. How she had convinced him to spring for the new iPad with the fancy keyboard, he wasn’t sure, but she had. Evidently, the laptop hadn’t been good enough.
“Good to know,” Baz said before ducking his head and getting back to work.
“Like I said,” Brantley told JJ, “let me talk to Reese. We’ll get back to you.”
She nodded and smiled like he’d committed to hiring them already.
Then again, he had to admit, it wasn’t a half-bad idea.
***
The bad news, according to Kennedy: Tesha had something she referred to as intestinal parasites.
When she had told him, Reese winced, although he had no idea what that meant.
Thankfully she had followed it up with the good news: they could treat them with medicine. Then she had gone on to tell him she was running other tests, including one for heartworms, which she said would take a couple of days but she would get back to him. Luckily there wasn’t a plethora of issues. She’d been spayed already, which Kennedy had hoped meant she’d been adopted from a reputable place and they’d given her some shots, so now she was up to date. No microchip, but Kennedy had fixed that.
As he’d expected, Tesha was malnourished and dehydrated, but she said a regular diet would take care of that. She recommended some food, which he bought directly from her, and gave him instructions on when and how much to feed. Some flea and tick shampoo, nail clippers, and the meds she prescribed had also gone on the bill, but Reese didn’t balk. He was invested.
Now, with Tesha in tow, Reese was heading back to Brantley’s house … er … their house. He figured it would take some time to think of it that way. When he was there, it felt like home. Or it would once Brantley actually let him furnish it like he’d promised.
The thought of furniture reminded him they were set to have dinner with Brantley’s parents on Saturday night. No sooner had he agreed when Brantley was on the phone with his mother, nailing down a time. Just the thought of meeting Iris and Frank Walker, Jr. for the first time was daunting. Of course, he was fairly certain he’d met them at some point, but it would’ve been in passing at one function or another that Curtis and Lorrie had held.
“We’re gonna meet some folks this weekend,” he told Tesha, who was curled up in the passenger seat. “Important folks.”
The dog paid him no mind.
“Question is, what’ll I cook?” He stared out the window, eyebrows furrowing. “What do they even like? Are they allergic to anything? Do they eat meat? Dairy?” His fingers tightened on the wheel. “Shit.”
Reese could feel the panic coming on, but he choked it down. It was going to be fine. Brantley had assured him. He could figure it out tomorrow, get a menu in place. Plenty of time to get his head on straight, too.
By the time he was pulling into the driveway, Reese had settled himself by reciting algebra tables. It always worked.
“All right, you ready to get the full tour of your new house?”
He climbed out, waited for Tesha to follow only to learn the dog had no intention of getting out. At least not without being coaxed.
“You’re gonna be fine,” he assured the dog. “Why don’t we go in, grab some dinner, then I’ll give you a tour of HQ. Maybe I can convince Brantley to put in a dog door out there, give you free rein to come and go as you please.”
Reese doubted it had anything to do with what he said, rather how he said it, but it finally worked. Tesha hopped down from the truck, then waited patiently for Reese to show her what to do next.
He gave the dog a moment to do her business, then led the way into the house, where the scent of food wafted his direction, reminding him it had been a long day and it’d been quite some time since they’d had lunch.
Brantley stepped out of the kitchen, smiled. “I hope you’re hungry”—his head tilted down—“Tesha.”
“So, what? You’ll cook dinner for her but leave me to cook for the two of us?” Reese teased, relaxing as he’d come to do around Brantley.
“You’re a better cook than I am,” Brantley stated. “Can you really blame me?”
“True.”
“Not even gonna argue,” Brantley grumbled, leaning down to pat Tesha’s boney head. “What’s the news on our girl?”
Reese went on to relay what Kennedy had told him.
“What you’re tellin’ me is she’s gonna be fine. Eventually.”
“Let’s hope.”
“Well, for now, we’ll get you some dinner. Maybe a bath.”
Reese laughed. “You’re gonna bathe the dog?”
“I didn’t say that. But I’m not above ordering you to do so.”
“Right.” Reese headed for the refrigerator, grabbed a beer. “I saw Baz’s truck outside. He still here?”
Brantley nodded, stirred what looked like pasta and vegetables on the stove. “I made him the lead on this online group case.”
“That was smart.”
Brantley cut his gaze over. “You sure?”
Reese tipped his beer bottle to his lips. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“No reason. I just didn’t mention it to you before I did it, that’s all.”
“And you don’t have to.” Reese moved around the island, took a seat on a stool. Tesha came to sit at his feet. “You’re the boss.”
“I like to think of us as a team.”
“Well, someone’s gotta make the decisions. God knows you can’t leave it to the rest of us. Nothin’ll ever get done.”
“Speakin’ of decisions.” Brantley opened the cabinet, pulled out two plates. “JJ’s eager for us to hire more people.”
“And?”
Those stormy blue eyes cut over to him again. “And I’d like your input.”
“I haven’t given it much thought. It just got approved. Did you have someone in mind?”
Brantley slid one of the plates over to him, then leaned back against the counter, holding the other as he began to eat.
“JJ mentioned Trey.”
“Your brother?”
“You know another one?”
Reese grinned, holding his fork midway to his mouth. “Maybe I do, smart-ass.”
That got a chuckle from Brantley. “Yes, my brother.”
Was Trey qualified? Now that Reese thought about it, he had no idea what any of Brantley’s siblings did. He’d never bothered to ask, so he did so now.
Brantley grinned. “You wanna know what they all do?”
“You act like I haven’t picked up a few details about them,” Reese told him.
“What have you learned?”
“Their names, for one,” he answered before taking a pull on his beer. “Bryn, Sadie, Tori, Griffin, Cal, and Trey. And yes, I know I bungled the order. So yeah, I think I can handle their occupations.”
“All right, but listen carefully. There’ll be a test at the end.”
“Bring it, Navy boy.”
With a grin, Brantley said, “I’ll start with Sadie, she’s the oldest. She’s married to Devon and she’s a stay-at-home mom to two girls, Ashley and Meghan. Then Tori, who’s married to Killian. They’ve got one son, Eric. Tori just recently got a part-time job at the bookstore in town. Something to get her out of the house. And the last of the girls is Bryn. She’s full-time in school to get her teaching degree. She decided rather late in life that she wanted to do something different.”
Yeah, Reese knew there was no way he could keep up with all this.
“Next in line is Trey. He’s in security, though he’s never really found anything that suited him. Usually works the night shift at high-end hotels and whatnot. I came next. Then Griffin. He holds the prestigious title of Coyote Ridge bank president. He’s got a master’s in finance.” Brantley took a swallow of his beer. “And last but not least is Cal. He’s a mechanical engineer, recently engaged to April.”
Reese shook his head, forked food into his mouth, and attempted to line it all up in his head.
“Did you catch all that?”
He swallowed, took a drink, then met Brantley’s gaze. “Oldest is Sadie. Stay-at-home mom. Then Tori. Part-time at the bookstore. Bryn, late bloomer, teacher. Next Trey. Security. Then you.” He paused to think, then grinned. “Griffin, bank president. Youngest is Cal, mechanical engineer.”
“Very good.”
“I don’t know why but I thought they were all married,” Reese said.
“Nope. Only Sadie, Tori, and soon to be Cal. Trey and Bryn are each divorced. And Griff’s never been married. What about your brother and sister? I know you said Z’s married and works for that security company. What about Jensyn?”
“She’s single. Married to her job.”
“Which is?”
“Psychiatrist.”
“Ouch.”
Something nudged Reese’s leg. He looked down, saw Tesha staring up at him.
“You hungry? Or need to go out?”
Those sad eyes implored him but gave Reese no clue as to what she needed.
“I’ll get her food. You take her out, just in case,” Brantley said. “I’ll even do the dishes.”
Reese peered up at him. “And for that, I’ll make it up to you later.”
“You bet your ass you will. But after you give her a bath.”
Smiling, Reese led Tesha out into the backyard.
***
Baz finished his day on a high note. He had remained at HQ until he completed his call with the Seattle detective who had handled the initial case of the missing five-year-old boy, learning more than he’d hoped to from the discussion. So much, he used what he’d learned as an excuse to call JJ as he was leaving the office.
“Mind if I stop by?” he asked.
“For what?”
Her snippy response made him smile. This woman didn’t trust easily, that much he’d learned already.
“I wanted to discuss the case with you.”
“We don’t have a case, Detective. If you don’t recall, the kid in Houston was found.”
He chuckled as he steered his truck toward the diner on Main Street. “I do recall,” he said patiently. “We’re still workin’ on the nationwide social media scam though, right?”
JJ sighed. “It can’t wait until tomorrow?”
“Nope.”
“Fine. But you have to—”
“Bring dinner. I know. Got it covered. Be there in twenty.”
Baz disconnected the call, headed into the diner. He placed a to-go order, selecting what he knew to be JJ’s favorites, and waited at an empty table near the front while they prepared it. When the Styrofoam packages nestled in a white plastic bag were delivered to him, he jotted his name on the credit card receipt, added a hefty tip because karma was a real thing, then headed out the door.
Rather than assume JJ had drinks on hand, he dashed into the Gas n’ Go, grabbed an orange Crush for her—another of her favorites—a Powerade for himself, and a single red rose from the scrawny selection near the register. He paid, hopped in his truck, and headed over to JJ’s.
Before he could even raise his hand to knock, the door swung open, JJ’s irritated yet still ridiculously beautiful face appearing.
“You’re late,” she grumbled, her gaze swinging to the rose he held in his hand.
Baz smiled to himself when he saw the instant shift of her expression. He was doing his damnedest to keep this woman off her game because he’d caught on to what she was up to. There was no doubt in Baz’s mind that JJ liked him. The problem was, she didn’t want to like him. Which meant he had to work doubly hard to stay on her good side.
“Didn’t realize I had a time limit.” He stepped into the house, offered her a quick kiss on the cheek—another surprising gesture on his part—then made his way to the kitchen.
He had only been here once, and that had been the night he’d dropped her off after they’d hung out at Moonshiners. He hadn’t come inside, but the space wasn’t overly large, so it was easy to navigate.
While he unloaded their food on the L-shaped counter that separated the galley kitchen from the small breakfast nook, he instructed her to get plates and silverware, then he moved their meals from the Styrofoam to plastic. He’d expected her to give him paper plates and plastic silverware, so this was a bonus.
“Sit,” he ordered, motioning toward the table.
He heard her soft grumble, but she did as instructed while he rummaged through the cabinets to find glasses. Or rather, cups, as hers were plastic. He filled them with ice, poured in their drinks, then sauntered to the table to join her.
“I’m on to your game, Detective,” she said sternly, her fork in hand.
“I assure you, darlin’, there’s no game.”
And it was true. There was something about JJ that had drawn him to her the instant he’d laid eyes on her. Not only was she obscenely beautiful, even when she was grimacing, but her smile was radiant. It had the ability to warm the darkest recesses of his heart. To top it off, she was smart, funny, and easy to talk to. Not to mention quirky and easily excitable. He considered all those things a plus, and a damn good reason for him to ignore his usual MO of quick and dirty and shift to the courting stage.
Even if she wasn’t yet aware that was the direction they were headed.
“There’s always a game,” she countered. “I just haven’t quite figured out what yours is.”
“But you said you were on to my game.” He forked food in his mouth, gave her a winning grin. “Can’t have it both ways.” Once he finished chewing, he continued. “How about we play a little game.”
“Strip poker’s outta the question,” she quipped.
“No strip poker. We’ll save that for the third date.”
“This isn’t a date.”
Baz wasn’t going to argue. She would not see it his way no matter how hard he tried, and for now, he wasn’t interested in arguing with her. He continued to eat, waited for her curiosity to win out.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“What’s the game?”
“Why don’t you tell me what you think you know about me, then I’ll do the same for you.”
JJ’s eyes lit up. Yeah, he’d already figured that out, too. JJ liked challenges.
“All right.” She ate a couple of bites, took a drink. “You grew up with both your mom and dad, although they weren’t living in the same house. They loved you to the moon and back, enjoyed alternating weekends.”
He had to admit, she was pretty good at this.
“Go on.”
“So I’m warm?”
“Right on the money. So far.”
“Okay.” JJ ate a little more, seemed to be considering her next words. “The stepparents weren’t fun for you, though. They were too busy tryin’ to win the affections of your parents. Mother’s husbands were jerks, always lookin’ to get you outta the way. The stepmommies weren’t much better.”
“False.”
Her green eyes narrowed. “How so?”
“The stepmoms loved me. My mother traveled a lot for work, so I lived with my father most of the time. They divorced when I was four, so I was still young when they started rotating through. And if my dad has any specific preference in women, it’s that they like kids. I spent more time with the stepmoms. Those who wanted to stay in my dad’s good graces had to treat me like a prince. I knew how to win them over, get what I wanted.”
“I just bet you did.”
“You’re right about the stepfathers though. Until my mom’s current husband, I didn’t really get along with them. I was more of a nuisance for them than anything. This one didn’t come along until I was grown, so there’s not much animosity there. I don’t know him all that well. What else you got?”
Her gaze cut to him as she continued to eat. “You are a good detective, but you have an issue with partners.”
“Yeah?” Baz paused, took a sip of his drink. “My superiors always said I had a problem with authority.”
JJ shook her head slowly, wiped her mouth with a napkin. “No. I don’t think it’s that. I think you like to work alone. It’s not so much you have a problem with people tellin’ you what to do, but you’re good at runnin’ solo and you don’t require much direction. Am I wrong?”
The way she asked told him she wanted him to prove it if he didn’t agree with her. “You’re not entirely wrong, no. I don’t mind a partner, though.”
She grunted, took another bite.
Baz decided to elaborate. “For example, you. I enjoy working alongside you, gettin’ bossed around by you.”
“I’m not bossy,” she countered.
“Oh, you most certainly are.” He leaned in, met her gaze. “It’s one of the many things I find so hot about you.”
Her soft gasp said he’d hit exactly the mark he’d been aiming for.
The rest of their dinner conversation went along the same lines. JJ would presume to know him; she would get it right about fifty percent of the time. Baz allowed her to steer them so she didn’t have to talk about herself, something he could tell was a touchy subject for her. Considering he intended to be with her for the long haul, there would be plenty of time in the future.
“You didn’t come here to talk about the case, did you?”
“We can if you’d like. I learned a few things tonight,” he informed her as he carried the dishes to the sink.
“Baz?”
For the first time since he walked in the door, she didn’t refer to him as Detective, he noticed.
He set the plate in the dish drainer, turned to face her.
“What is this?” she asked.
“What is what?”
“This. You. Me.”
“What do you want it to be?”
“You know I don’t have time for a relationship,” she stated firmly.
“That’s your automatic response.” Stepping forward, he closed the gap between them. “Relationships don’t take any extra time if they’re the right ones.” He leaned down, ran his finger along her jawline. “I’m not gonna press this, JJ. I like you. You know that. And you like me. If you wanna play hard to get, I’ll chase. I don’t have a problem with that.”
Those stunning green eyes bounced over his face as though she was trying to read every expression to determine if he was telling the truth or not.
“But know this…” He tilted her chin back. “I will catch you, Jessica James. Of that you can be certain.”
He expected a rebuttal, but it appeared he’d stunned her silent.
Being an opportunistic man, he leaned in, pressed his lips to hers.
He hadn’t expected it to ignite, but it did. Like a match to jet fuel, it exploded into heat and light when JJ’s arms wrapped around his neck, her tongue darting out to greet his. For a second, he was caught off guard. Enough that he didn’t let the kiss consume them. The last thing he wanted was for this to go somewhere she wasn’t ready for.
As much as it pained him, he pulled back and smiled.
“I will catch you,” he repeated, softer this time. “No matter how long it takes.”