Page 11 of Tice's Kind of Trouble
“Bethany is safe. Currently resting on my patio.”
“ALONE outside?” Kane’s breathing rivals a bull. “You asshole, she needs to be under protection at all times.”
“I’m watching her on a live feed right now. The property is completely surveilled. There is a strategic explosive network. No one is getting to her while she’s in my care.”
A car door slams in the background. I’m surprised the glass doesn’t break.
“I’m on the way.”
“Don’t. Come.”
“Tice… that’s my little sister,” he warns in a growled tone.
If he could throttle me through the phone, he would.
“Take a fucking pill, brother,” I snap, because Kane knows the kind of man I am—or at least he should. We’re part of the same war-fighter community. “She’s safe. If you use your logical brain, you’d know this. I haven’t had a chance to talk with her about any leads.Youtake care of the footwork—go to her place and secure her property. I’m going radio silent while I... debrief her.”
Kane’s raging even louder when I end the call.
There will be hell to pay to my new business partner, but I’ll gladly pay it to spend time alone with Bethany.
I hit the code on my computer that closes the ten-foot gate across my driveway. It won’t keep Kane—a fellow Navy SEAL—out, but it will slow him down.
Bethany and I need time.
Striding through the house, I catch a hint of her scent. A smile breaks out on my face. Another unfamiliar sensation.
This flesh and blood has been personal witness to more bad than good.
But now I feel… different.Complete.I love having her fragrance lingering in my house.
The peaceful quiet on the patio loosens my tense limbs as I approach.
Bethany’s finally here.
My lungs expand like they haven’t in months of craving to be close to a woman I didn’t even know beyond paper.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I say quietly, folding myself to sit on the lounger next to her hip. “Did you doze off?”
She scrubs at her face with her wrist, blinking for a few seconds. “No, I just went into a rabbit hole in my head. Truthfully, I’m not sure I’ll ever sleep again.”
“You will.” My tone is gravel and fury rolled up together. “I’ll make sure of that.”
The need to make whoever scared her pay magnifies tenfold inside of me.
“Tice, what’s wrong?” She pushes up on her elbow, brows tugging together. “You look angry.”
Angry. Determined. Maddeningly attracted.
I’m... single-minded. But if I tell Bethany I’m going to convince her to be my future, I’ll scare the fuck out of her. So, I settle on replying in a way that sounds rational.
“I’m motivated to find who broke into your home.”
Nodding, she looks away. “How will you find them?”
“I’ve got the right people on it.”
In addition to watching Bethany on camera and calling her brother, I messaged my go-to bloodhound. The kind you should be terrified to have hunting you.
