Page 20 of Booker

The kettle whistled, and he poured the hot water over the tea bag. He poured a couple of tablets out into his hand.

“I need to take this to Lexi, but let’s figure out a time after breakfast to think through this. I want to end this,” Booker said, then headed upstairs.

He got in her room and crouched down on Lexi’s side of the bed.

“Lexi, I have some medicine and hot tea for you.”

She scrunched her nose, then opened her eyes. She held her hand out for the pills, popped them in her mouth, and then took a small swallow.

“Why are you up?” she whispered.

“You were moving and seemed uncomfortable. Would it help if I massaged the muscles?” Booker asked, heading around the bed and raising the covers to cuddle up to Lexi.

“Maybe.”

He took that as she was willing to try anything to feel better. He slid his arm around her and rubbed the muscles of herabdomen. She groaned a little and he stopped. Her hand covered his.

“No, don’t stop. It helps a little.”

He massaged her stomach until her breathing deepened and she drifted off to sleep. He kept his arm around her and closed his eyes. He needed to shut off his thoughts about her brother and what they needed to do. There would be plenty of time to think about that tomorrow. Right now, he was going to hold Lexi and hope she felt better when she woke up.

And maybe try to figure out how he could give her all the things she deserved. Just because they’d reunited later in life didn’t mean she didn’t deserve romance. And he’d read enough books to know romance. He’d ordered some stuff last week, but he wanted to do more. He just needed to put a plan together and figure out a grand gesture.

Chapter Fourteen

Booker looked around the room. Everyone had the same irritated look on their faces. Cowboy had informed them that there was zero trace online of Lexi’s brother. Scoop and Sarah were on video with them and confirmed Cowboy’s findings. How does someone disappear like that?

“We can’t wait here forever to see what he’s going to do. We need to figure this out and fix it,” Booker growled.

“I hear you but he’s not using anything electronic. My best guess is he’s hiding somewhere on the land. How well does he know it?” Sarah asked.

Maureen stood up and started to pace. “He knows the land probably better than we do. He had trouble in school when he was fourteen. My dad offered to take him for a while. He lived here with my dad for the summer for three months before we picked him up as we were moving to the next base. If there’s a place to hide, he knows it.”

“Any tunnels there?” Scoop asked.

“No, although we have a small cellar. As the land goes farther north, it was a lot of clay. Too much water to make any man-made underground structure stable. The land does have some small hills, though, with trees. I just don’t know how to help you,” Maureen said.

Compass slid an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay. You’re doing your best,” he said.

“I want a plan, but I don’t see how we can do that when we can’t find him. Scoop, Sarah, Cowboy, any suggestions?” Booker asked.

“I think you should take Lexi out to eat at that bar we saw nearby. Maybe a couple others go with you in a follow vehicle. I think we make it look like we’re all leaving. But I’ll double back along with one other and keep an eye on the monitors. Maybe he’ll get bolder if he thinks everyone is gone,” Cowboy suggested.

“We agree with Cowboy. You need to do something to draw him out but still stay safe,” Sarah said.

Booker nodded, waiting to see what Lexi thought.

“I’m game. We can’t hide forever. Are we waiting until it’s dark?” Lexi asked.

“Yep. I think that’s the only way he won’t catch us sneaking back,” Cowboy said.

Twist got up and looked out the window. He paced back and forth.

“What’s bothering you?” Booker asked. He’d known Twist long enough to know when he was feeling twitchy.

“Does anybody feel like either he’s got help or has cameras around we don’t know about? I’m all for this plan but if he knows it, then we’re at a disadvantage,” Twist said.

Booker waited to see what everyone else thought. At times in the last week, he’d wondered if her brother had help, but besides the family, there were only two ranch hands. One who had been around since Lexi’s granddad was alive and one whom Lexi’s dad had hired. Lexi and Maureen seemed to trust both of them.

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