Page 2 of Saving Finley

She came back to the table, and the men pried the story out of her.

“Fuckers. I should go over there and teach those assholes some manners,” said Levi.

“Like swearing in front of ladies?” asked Mark.

“Message received,” said Levi. “Sorry, Fin.”

“I don’t care about that. I’m still angry about men who think they have the right to invade women’s spaces and ignore the word no.”

“Agreed. Now, tell us what happened tonight.” prompted Mark.

As she relayed the events, the men made grunts, and they cast disgruntled looks over at the men until, just before Fin and the guys were about to leave for home, the disrespectful trio left the bar by the furthest route from Finley’s group as they could. Mark’s group laughed as they watched the men leave.

Cash had quietly rubbed her thigh most of the time they were at the table, and Levi had his hand on her neck. If Mark noticed, he didn’t let on, but she knew that observation was a honed skill for these guys. The move of possession left her confused, but she didn’t make any attempt to stop the contact with either man. For the first time since she’d left home, she felt she was cared for in more ways than an employee or friend. This felt more intimate, and Finley knew, as she bade goodbye to everyone, that she was in trouble because she liked it. So much.

Chapter 1

One week earlier

Finley put her little charge down to sleep, grabbed her monitor, and brought it with her as she closed the nursery door behind her. Storm Reynaud, son of Jacquard and Charlotte Reynaud, known as Sharlee to all but her husband, was an easy toddler. He’d had an early dinner and fell asleep mid-bite. He’d be up later to enjoy being the center of attention along with Mark and Jessie’s newborn, Anora.

Jac and Sharlee were a dynamic couple who, together with some very active prior military colleagues, kept the world safer and, at times, their world a little too chaotic. At present, however, Jac was making a racket about mysterious notecards with cryptic messages that seemed to be coming from some unknown source. There was no threat, but it left the reader with a sense of foreboding or at least unease, and that irritated the normally even-keeled man. They were all just a hair more cautious safety-wise.

But tonight was Friday night, and they were all going over to Mark and Jessie’s house for a welcome baby party. Little Anora Jenson was two months old today. Jessie was the agency accountant, and Mark was one of Jac’s best security agents. Jessie seemed fully recovered and was ready for some socializing. Because she was still nursing and Mark didn’t want her to be away from their two-month-old for long, she’d be returning to the office next week with little Anora and her nanny in tow.

Sharlee had set up a nursery for Storm in what used to be the smaller of three conference rooms to be used when she was in the office for more than six hours. She didn’t want to be too far from her toddler on most days. The room was situated next to her technology department, which consisted of her and Kaden for direct team support. Kaden was boots on the ground as a trained operative when needed. He’d recently added a drone to his skill set, which had proved invaluable when Oakley needed it most. They also hired two techs who mostly kept maintenance schedules, onboarding, and general networking questions for the building.

Finley enjoyed the change in scenery when they went to the agency. That’s where she first met Levi, a former Marine and an agency employee. Sharlee had gone into the office, bringing Storm and Finley with her. Things had continued from there, and now she and Levi were friends with benefits. It was a comfortable relationship that asked no more from the two of them than sex. Finley didn’t know what passionate sex really was, but this good sex.

Levi had become more intense the last few times they’d “benefitted” each other, and she wondered what that was about. Was he getting feelings for her? She had begun to worry about that on her part as well and considered if it was time to end the physical part of their relationship. It would put them firmly back in the friend category, but she struggled because she didn’t think that was what she truly wanted. Her phone rang.

“Hey, Levi. I was just thinking about you.”

“Hmm, was it hot and nasty or boring and mundane?”

“Those are my choices?” she asked with a smile. “I’ll have to plead the fifth, then.”

“Withholding vital information, huh? I’ve got a method that will surely get the truth out of you.”

She laughed. “It will have to wait because we’re busy tonight. Have a gathering to attend, remember?”

“That’s tonight?” She could hear in his voice that he was rubbing the back of his head in frustration. “Hell, I’ve got to go. I’m not even home yet, and I need to get cleaned up. I’ll see you there, but don’t think I’ll forget you withholding information.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“I was thinking I’d bring in my enforcer to make you sorry you weren’t honest with me.”

“Haha. And who is your enforcer?”

“Cash.”

She laughed. “Whatever.”

He got serious. “I will.”

“Do it,” she said with a bravado she wasn’t sure she could back up.

Was she ready for that? Until recently, she’d only occasionally caught a good look at Cash when he’d taken on the house security. She hadn’t interacted with him. Jac usually assigned house security in rotation, but Cash came the most often. She wondered if he did that so he could spend more time in her company.

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