CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Tuesday, August 1st
Brady sat at his desk, looking at the plans for a building that they had to do recon on at the end of the week. The company wanted their security protocol tested, so he was in charge of putting a plan together for the team. It was an old building built in the ’50s, which sometimes presented certain problems if they had to drop down from the roof. He wrote a couple of notes and then heard his name being called. Looking up, he saw Brock stride into the room. “What’s up, brother?”
“Not much. Just dropped Erin off with Hunter. She was over at the house working with Lilly on a project.”
“The project that’s going to land them in hot water?”
“No. In fact, Lilly swore to me that she wasn’t up to anything and had no pranks planned.”
“And you believe her?” Brady asked suspiciously.
“Yeah, I do. She’s too busy writing and fixing up the house to spend any time scheming.”
Brady leaned back and crossed his arms. “Claire said they were working on a blockbuster, which made me think she was yanking my chain.” Scraping his hand over his face, he sighed. “Truth is, I have no idea if she’s being honest or messing with me.”
“Women like to think they’re a mystery, so it’s best if we just go along with it and make them happy.”
“No going along on my part. Claire is a mystery and I don’t expect that I’m ever going to figure her out.”
“Got to learn her love language and then make sure you speak it every day.”
“What the hell is a love language?” Brady asked with exasperation.
“It’s the thing you do that makes your partner feel loved. Lilly has this book by a guy named Chapman and it’s all about giving your partner love in a way they recognize. Lilly and I have been figuring it out for the last four months and I’ve got to say it’s made our relationship stronger.” Brock ran his hand over his neck and grinned. “Ask Claire and then have her tell you what hers is. Once you two have that figured out, the rest will come along.”
Narrowing his eyes, he studied his brother. Brock had been completely transformed and Brady wasn’t sure what to make of it. His uptight, perfectionist brother was gone and had been replaced with a happy, easygoing man. Lilly Bertrand was responsible for the modern-day miracle standing before him and he wondered if Claire had similar powers.
Speaking of magic powers, he saw his sorceress walk into the room and light it up with her smile. He stood, walked over, and swept her up into his arms. “Hi.”
Resting her hands on his shoulders, she gave him a small smile. “Hey.”
“Give me a kiss,” he said as he leaned forward. All he got was a quick closed-mouth one. Which wasn’t what he had in mind. Not at all. When she wiggled to get free, he let her go and set her carefully on her feet. He heard his brother laugh and decided to ignore it.
Claire patted her hair down, ran her hand over her dress, and stepped away. “Behave and don’t be smooching me in the office.”
“You’re no fun,” he replied as he took her hand.
“That’s not what you said last night.”
The prim smile that followed the comment was damn entertaining. “You’re right.”
Brock went over to his desk and sat. “Brother, you would be wise to learn that there will not be a time in your life when Claire will not be right. Even if she isn’t…she still is.”
Claire walked over, lifted her hand, and high-fived Brock. “That’s what I’m talking about.” She looked over her shoulder at Brady and grinned. “Your brother has figured out the key to happiness.”
“True,” Brock responded.
“What’s true?” Kane asked as he walked in.
“The woman in your life is always right, even when she isn’t,” Brock said.
“Damn true,” Kane responded.
“Now that we have that settled, I need some help,” Claire said as she set her laptop on Brady’s desk. She opened an app and then stood back. “I’ve got Erin’s stalker idling in Houston and I was wondering where I should send him next. He has been dutifully following the trail that I’ve made. Now I’ve got him three hours away and I don’t know what the next step should be.”
Brady looked at the blinking dot on the map that lit Claire’s screen and considered the options. “How long has he been there?”
“This is his second day. The city is big enough that I can keep ‘Erin’ out of reach without him getting suspicious. At least, that’s what I’m hoping is happening.”
“So, it’s time to lay the trap here, and we can nail him,” Kane commented. “Going to need a couple of days to set it up and run through it before we’ll be ready.”
“I say keep him moving so he doesn’t have a chance to get antsy. How about sending him up to Shreveport and them maybe over to Mobile? If he’s driving, that could give us at least four days. We could be ready by Saturday,” Brock added.
“When he gets here, we have to put him into play right away. We can’t have him hanging around Lafayette and not take care of him once and for all,” Brady said as he sat in his chair.
“Okay, that sounds good,” Claire responded. “I’ll lure him up to Shreveport slowly, and make him drive, so you all have plenty of time to get your plan in place.”
“I’ll give Hunter a call and we can put something together,” Brock commented. “He and Erin are staying at Lilly’s condo, so they can be here quickly.”
“Let Damian know what’s going on so he can fly back in time,” Claire said as she closed her laptop.
“Let’s plan on all getting together in a couple of hours to come up with a TAC plan,” Kane said as he picked up his phone off his desk. “I have to meet a client out at the range and I should be done by one.”
“Works for me,” Brock responded.
“Me too,” Brady added.
“Thanks for the help,” Claire said before she walked out of the office.
Brady watched her go and ran his hand through his short hair. His girl was beautiful, smart, and funny, and he had no idea what he’d done to deserve someone like her in his life. She had a bravery that he found intoxicating because, despite the loss in her life, she’d kept living. Which he knew wasn’t always easy. His Claire was a lion-hearted girl and he was going to do everything he could to give her as much of the good stuff as he could.
***
Brady, Brock, Kane, and Hunter stood in Claire’s office and threw ideas around as they tried to come up with the best option for getting Alvin close enough to Erin to violate the restraining order, but not close enough to have her be in danger. Hunter had voted for taking her out of the country to keep her safe but had been vetoed by Erin and everyone else. Brady stood in front of Claire’s wall-mounted monitor and pointed to the campus of UL at Lafayette. “What about Cypress Lake?”
Hunter walked over and crossed his arms. “May not be a bad option. There are enough buildings around it, so we could have someone on overwatch. And you’d have to know the campus to get out of there in a short amount of time.”
“School doesn’t start until the third week of August,” Claire added. “So, there wouldn’t be that many people on campus. I can lead him there on the premise that she’s doing some location scouting for an unnamed project.”
“Do we have a look-alike yet?” Hunter asked.
“There is a woman from the sheriff’s department who is about the same size and build. Let me see if she’s willing to be a decoy,” Brock said.
“Any reason to believe he’s violent?” Kane asked.
“He hasn’t been caught with a gun when he’s been picked up on violating the restraining order,” Erin said. “I think he’s just mentally ill.”
“Which doesn’t mean he lacks the capacity to lose his shit and pull something crazy,” Hunter replied. He looped his arm around Erin’s shoulder protectively and gave everyone a sharp look.
Brady ducked his head and snickered. Seemed the weekend at the horse farm had changed things between the two. Which he completely understood.
“We could start him at the library and then wind him around campus until you all got in position, then lead him over to the lake. Have Erin’s double on one side and him on the other. If he does something crazy, one of you could push him in the swamp and see if the baby gator wants to have him for lunch,” Claire said from her desk.
“We are trained operatives, darlin’. No way we’re going to let a gator have all the fun,” Brady replied as he gave her a wink.
Erin looked up at Hunter and shuddered. “I kind of like the gator idea because there seems to be some suffering involved. The man has tormented me for over three years and I’d like for him to have a small taste of what it’s been like for me.”
Hunter squeezed her shoulder. “Get that, guys? We’re feeding the asshole to the gator.”
The room erupted in laughter and Brady considered himself lucky to be joining ranks with the men gathered. This thing was going to be easy as pie and securing Erin’s safety would be damn satisfying. “So, is this his last shot at breaking the order?”
“Yes, thank God,” Erin replied. “This would be his third felony conviction and that means he’d have a good chance of getting the maximum sentence.”
Brock shook his head and spoke. “The only thing that stopped Lilly’s stalker was the fact that she drew a gun on her the last time she got close. Ruth had been released from the state mental facility due to overcrowding and she made it to Lilly within a matter of months. Despite the monitoring and restrictions.”
“Well, let’s hope this is the end for Alvin,” Erin said quietly.
Brady looked at his brother and noticed the hard expression on his face. Confronting Lilly’s stalker and shooting her hadn’t been easy for Brock, but there hadn’t been another choice. When someone raises a gun and threatens your woman, there is only one solution. “Let’s go into the conference room and lay this thing out step by step.” Brady heard murmurs of agreement, picked up his iPad, and waited for everyone to leave the room. When it was just he and Claire, he walked over and planted a kiss on her sweet lips. She didn’t fight him too much, so he figured that she was getting used to his constant need to show her affection. “Have a good afternoon. I’ll come and get you at the end of the day.”
“I’m thinking about arguing with you, but that would be silly because it turns out I like you hovering around me like a storm.”
“A storm?”
“Yeah, your whirling energy threatening to overtake me whenever you’re near.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked cautiously.
“So far, it’s good ’cause I like when you overtake me.” She pulled him closer and kissed his cheek. “Especially when I can’t tell where you stop and I begin. When you are buried so deeply in my body that I think we’re one. The moment when our breaths collide and we explode simultaneously.”
There wasn’t a working brain cell in his head. Claire had swept away his cognitive function with the words she used to describe what happened to them every time they were together. She was absolutely right. When they were intimate, it wasn’t just about their bodies joining. It was about their spirits and hearts, too. He never would’ve put it so eloquently, and she was dead-on. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I’m never going to get enough of you, darlin’. Never.”
When she held him close, he decided that was answer enough. Sometimes there were no words and he figured this was one of those times. He and Claire were on the precipice of falling completely for each other and that wasn’t anything the English language could describe. That he knew for sure.