Page 55 of Fighting for Brielle
Her radiant smile warmed his heart. “Not likely.” She lifted her chin. “Let’s go, Chief. I’m ready.”
After a tough session, Justice and Brielle showered and dressed and met outside the locker room.
“Any thoughts about dinner?” Brielle asked as they headed toward their motorcycles. “We could go to another one of my favorite restaurants.”
“Actually, Bri, if you don’t mind, I’d really love a quiet dinner at home.”
“That sounds perfect to me.”
By the time they stepped into Brielle’s living room, Justice felt wiped out. Brielle told him to lie down on the sofa while she prepared a light supper of tomato soup and sandwiches. As soon as his head touched the throw pillow, he fell asleep.
Several hours later he jerked awake, heart pounding from his usual nightmares, made worse by the killings over the weekend. Disoriented, it took a few moments for him to realize he was at Brielle’s house. She’d thrown a blanket over him and removed his shoes. Touched by her tender thoughtfulness, he headed upstairs to join her in bed. He wanted to make love to her, teased by the scent and softness of her skin, but she lay sleeping so peacefully, he didn’t have the heart to wake her, especially after what he’d put her through earlier at the gym. Molding his naked body against hers, he dropped a kiss on her shoulder and promptly fell into a sleep devoid of any more nightmares.
In the darkness of morning, Brielle roused him with warm kisses and the magic of her skillful hands, mouth, and tongue. Justice rolled her beneath him and began a slow, erotic exploration of her body. Enthralled with each other, they made love, took a shower, and dressed. Justice had just enough time to change into his workout clothes at his house before he met Dooley and Brielle on the beach.
When Dooley saw Brielle, he declared, “I know she’s your girlfriend, Chief, but what the hell is she doing here?”
“She’s training for SWAT. Now apologize to her, Dooley.”
“Sorry.” He mumbled his apology and held out his hand. “No hard feelings?”
“None.” She gripped his hand.
“All right, you two. Drop and give me a hundred push-ups.”
Dooley’s eyes went wide. He dropped to the sand and grunted as he used muscles he hadn’t exercised in years. After he did ten, he started to struggle. Justice crouched next to him, urging him to keep at it, to reach deep, until Dooley couldn’t do one more push-up. He made it to thirty before he collapsed.
“Sorry, Chief!” he panted. “Can’t do it!”
“On your feet,” Justice ordered. Brielle had finished her push-ups by the time Dooley hit thirty.
Dooley scrambled to his feet. He did better with jumping jacks and squats but running as fast as Justice and Brielle wasn’t an option. He jogged a couple of miles, with them keeping pace beside him, until he couldn’t breathe. Justice told Brielle to finish her run while he walked with Dooley back to his house.
An hour later when he reported to the station, Justice found Dooley waiting for him.
“Uh, Chief?” He looked uncomfortable.
“Yeah?”
“Just wanted to say thanks.” Dooley offered his hand.
Justice repeated what Tex had said to him in the hospital. “No thanks necessary, Dooley. Ever.” He emphasized the last word. “Ready to meet with the team?”
“Yeah. By the way, I never got a good vibe from our guy.”
“I want to hear about that.”
A few minutes later when the team assembled in the conference room, Dooley opened the meeting by discussing his early impressions of Carson. River added his from the previous day, going into more detail.
“I couldn’t get a handle on him. You know? Who he is at his core. It’s like he’s not really Nash Carson.”
“That gives me an idea,” Hutch interjected. “I’m going to do a deep dive into the dark net and see if there’s any chatter about domestic threats to America. This might just be about mercenaries buying arms for covert operations overseas.”
“Even if,” Justice added. “I ran into some of those groups when I was a SEAL. They’re in it for the money. Those mercenaries negatively affect the reputations of legit security firms helping to rescue Americans who are trapped in life-threatening situations.”
Murmurs of agreement echoed through the team.
When their meeting concluded, Luca pulled Dooley aside. “Let’s talk about your sister’s case. I’d like to show you the files and get your perspective.”
