Page 19 of Two Steps Ahead

“Never heard of him. Any arrests or history of violence?” Weston asked.

“Nothing that we can find,” Chance replied. “He stands to make money from the merger even if it’s a hostile takeover.”

“Who stands to make the most from the merger not going through?”

Following the money was almost always a good place to start an investigation.

“We’re looking into it. There are a number of competitors that will be hurting if the merger goes through. We’re concentrating on a guy named Oliver Lyle right now. He’s already got some red flags.”

“What kind?”

“The violent kind,” Chance said. “No arrests, but ties to the type of people who I wouldn’t want to run into in a back alley without my sidearm.”

That wasn’t what Weston wanted to hear.

“Okay. I know Leo has his own team, and I don’t want to step on their toes.” Although, admittedly, irritating Jasper would be pretty fun. “Find what details you can so I can be ready if theydecide to come calling. Right now, keeping Kayleigh hidden is probably our best bet.”

“Agreed and will do. I’ll touch base soon.”

Weston loaded the rest of the food for today’s boat picnic. Hopefully, it would get Kayleigh’s mind off the nightmare. “Thanks, Chance.”

“Anything for my favorite brother.”

Weston chuckled. They all called each other their favorite when the others weren’t around. It had been a running joke for years.

“Just one question though,” Chance said.

“What’s that?”

“Is your client pretty? Do you have a crush on her? Is she the future Mrs. Weston Patterson?”

Weston told Chance in no uncertain terms what he could do with himself.

His brother was still laughing when Weston hung up the call.

Chapter Six

Kayleigh had been dealing with her nightmares alone for as long as she could remember. Her dad had tried to help when she was a child and then, knowing he was out of his league, had sent her to a therapist.

And while that had helped, the nightmares had never quite gone away.

As an adult, she’d hid them from everyone, especially her father. Nightmares would give him one more reason to smother her with security.

But it was often hard to handle the aftermath of her night terrors alone. It took hours, or sometimes even days, for her to feel back to normal.

Yet here she was a few hours later, her body and mind having rebounded almost like the episode—and it had been a bad one—had never happened. She knew why.

Weston.

She should’ve been embarrassed that he’d seen her at her most weak, but wasn’t. Everything he’d done had been damned near perfect. He hadn’t smothered her, had just offered his support—physically and emotionally.

And now they were trolling the bass boat he’d rented around on the lake, enjoying the sunshine. She took a bite of the sandwich in her hand, trying not to be affected by the sight of a shirtless Weston in low-slung jeans at the front end of the boat.

She was affected.

She finished her sandwich and snapped a picture of a sandpiper as it flew across the calm waters, very well aware that she’d also caught Weston in the shot. She’dsomehowmanaged to catch him in most of her shots today.

“That’s not your normal MO.” He looked over his shoulder at her.

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