Garrett stood to the side of Lauren’s living room with his friend Matthias Clarke and looked over at Carl’s body. Time seemed to blur and bend but Garrett guessed almost two hours had passed since the discovery. The bag of Thai food sat unopened on the counter as the forensic and police teams worked the room. The small space was alive with activity and noise.

“I hate when the dead don’t stay dead,” Matthias said in his typical deadpan voice. He’d been called in from his new house, the one he shared with Lauren’s best friend, Kayla, about twenty minutes away. It was late but Matthias still wore a suit and tie . . . because of course he did. The guy owned a security company and lived his life as if he were permanently on call.

“Lower your voice.” Garrett glanced across the room to the kitchen where Lauren stood, answering questions about Carl’s brother and anyone else who might need to be contacted. “But yeah.”

Matthias crossed his arms in front of him. At six-four he was formidable enough that seasoned police officers with impressive weapons on display gave him room when they walked by. “So this fucker appears out of nowhere after thirty or so months, makes demands and then shows up bleeding out on her floor.”

That’s one of the many things Garrett liked about Matthias. The guy didn’t pick and choose his words. He just plowed ahead. Matthias and Garrett’s boss and friend, Wren, spent a lot of years together in their twenties. Garrett knew Matthias through Wren. Garrett actually knew a whole group of guys who once called themselves the Quint Five in deference to the mentor who took them all in and saved them from everything ranging from prison to sure death.

He trusted all of them. None of them knew he’d been dating—or not dating, depending on who you asked—Lauren, but they would soon. Matthias would see to that. Talking shit would come in waves after that. Garrett seriously considered throwing away his cell.

“I should probably remind you to show some respect for the dead, but damn, I hate this guy.” A kick of guilt smacked into Garrett as he said the words. Carl’s body wasn’t even cold but with the way the guy had lived his life, Garrett didn’t have any trouble imagining someone wanting him dead.

“Hated.” Matthias made an odd sound. “And maybe don’t volunteer that information.”

“Why?” Garrett asked, half listening to Matthias while keeping tuned into the conversation Lauren was having. He really wanted a lawyer with her, but she seemed to be holding up just fine, not giving one bit of important information away.

Damn, he loved smart women.

“You’re dating Carl’s ex and happen to be in town rather than on your planned trip to California right when said ex rises from the dead and someone slams him in the head with a cast-iron frying pan.” Matthias’s voice dropped lower, inching as close to a whisper as Matthias ever got. “There’s a word for what you’re about to become here.”

“Clue me in.”

“Suspect.”

“Oh, come on.” Garrett tried to scoff the idea away but it settled in his brain. He hadn’t even kissed Lauren yet and he could wind up as the target of police interest. Wasn’t that just fucking great? “But we’re barely . . .”

“Yes?” Matthias put a finger behind his ear and leaned in. “What words are you looking for? Sleeping together? Dating? See, I’m your best friend—”

“You’re actually not.” Wren was, but even Garrett had to admit that Matthias had grown on him. The gruffness, the demanding nature, how stupid in love he was with Kayla and how fast he fell. It was hard not to like the guy.

“—and I didn’t know you and Lauren had a thing. Imagine what the police are going to think. Add in the absence of a break-in and the presence of the murder weapon, which appears to be the bloodstained pan in the sink, and you’ve got a perception problem.” Matthias smiled, which was never a great sign for the person on the receiving end of it. “Lucky for you, Wren found another way of helping.”

Wren worked miracles but the slamming in Garrett’s gut didn’t ease. “How?”

Matthias nodded in the general direction of the older man, the only one not in uniform, coming in Lauren’s front door. “Detective Rick Cryer.”

Garrett knew him, had worked with him before on the case where Wren met his girlfriend, Emery. “He’s retired.”

This wasn’t his jurisdiction or even his job. Thanks to the media firestorm following Emery’s case, Detective Cryer was now considered a cold-case specialist and in high demand. Garrett couldn’t imagine how many favors and how much maneuvering and ego-stroking Wren had done to get a friendly ear like Cryer on this case.

“I guess you owe Wren.”

Understatement. Garrett owed Wren—all of the Quint Five—for a lot more than this. “He should just clear me, so we can get on with finding out what really happened here.”

“Any clues?”

“None. I’ve heard mumbling that the area around the body and in the kitchen had been wiped free of fingerprints, including Lauren’s, which should logically be in her own house. She has an alarm and locks and someone got around all of it.”

Matthias exhaled. “Well, I think Cryer would be more amenable to making your presence here go away quietly if we weren’t also dealing with the dead guy’s former silent business partner, his brother and his girlfriend, the same woman Carl left Lauren for.”

That last part struck Garrett as out of place with Carl’s insistence he be allowed to move back in with Lauren. “That woman is in town?”

“Yes, as are the other two. Apparently all three of them are demanding answers.”

“Great.” Garrett’s mind flipped to the people he saw huddled outside. Some were neighbors. Others demanded to speak with someone in charge. He’d bet at least one of them had a vested interest in Carl.

“How’s Lauren?” Matthias asked.

Garrett’s gaze traveled back to her, toured her face. Exhaustion tugged at the corner of her mouth. The shock still hadn’t left her wide eyes. “Stunned.”

“Understandable. It’s not every day a supposedly dead husband shows up really dead—re-dead, dead again . . . I’m actually not sure of the proper terminology here—on her carpet.” Matthias said something under his breath that sounded a lot like the stupid fucker.

“I’m thinking he’ll only really be dead this one time.” And he deserved justice, so Garrett vowed to get it for him. For Lauren, really, but Garrett was fine with Carl benefitting in some small way from that.

“Good. It would suck if this kept happening.”

Garrett barely heard the words but then the comment hit him full force. “Was that a joke?”

Matthias shrugged. “Kind of.”

“The whole girlfriend thing suits you.” Garrett took the opportunity to sneak a peek at Kayla. She hovered right behind Lauren as they shook hands with Detective Cryer.

Kayla had been a surprise. Garrett had come to Annapolis with Matthias months ago at Wren’s urging to learn more about Matthias’s brother’s murder years before. The sexy waitress with the reddish-brown hair knocked Matthias right off his game and Garrett had loved every minute of watching the big man fall.

“You have no idea.” Matthias’s wide grin came and went. “But, one warning for you. Kayla is Lauren’s best friend. You might want to remember that.”

“Meaning?”

“Don’t fuck Lauren over. Kayla might look sweet but she will break you in half if you hurt Lauren.” Matthias shook his head. “She’s got a mean streak and her love for Lauren is absolute.”

“I know firsthand how tough Kayla is.” She’d actually saved his life months ago, which was not something Garrett was likely to forget. “Besides, if she can tolerate you she must have nerves of steel.”

“You’ve been warned.”

A few minutes later Lauren headed for them with Kayla trailing right behind her. She kept walking until she stood next to Garrett. When she leaned against him, he wrapped an arm around her and pressed a palm against her lower back. If she needed support, he was more than willing to provide it.

“Hey.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

She was tall, almost five-nine, but he still had a good four inches on her. Still, for the first time ever, she slumped. Seemed vulnerable when she usually radiated strength. “You okay?”

“Not really.”

“Yeah, I guess not,” Matthias said as his gaze switched from Garrett to Lauren and back again.

Lauren never stopped moving. She shifted her weight and bit her lip as she talked to her friends. “Thanks for coming.”

“We’ll be here for whatever you need.” Kayla reached out and grabbed Lauren’s hand.

Lauren held on for a few seconds then dropped her hand. “Right now, I just need to sit down. The endless questioning has my head spinning.”

“What are the police saying?” Matthias asked in his usual cut-through-the-bullshit kind of way.

“That I can’t leave town.”

Garrett wasn’t surprised. “Standard procedure.”

Lauren glanced up at him. “You mean there is a set way of handling a situation where someone comes back from the dead?”

The woman had a point. “Admittedly, this might be uncharted territory.”

“You can come back to the house and stay with us for as long as you need to.” Kayla reached for Lauren’s arm as if to lead her toward the front door.

Garrett pounced. He didn’t mean to, but his voice rose and he instinctively stepped in front of Lauren. “No.”

“Interesting. Do you have another suggestion, Garrett?”

Garrett ignored the amusement he heard in Matthias’s voice and saw in Kayla’s raised eyebrow as he answered. “I got her a suite at the Carsley Inn.”

For a second the rest of the group stared at him. If there was such a thing as a group frown he could now honestly say he’d been on the receiving end of one. The women managed to look baffled and skeptical. Matthias clearly fought off a smile. The asshole.

“This suite . . .” Matthias’s annoyingly light voice trailed off. “You’ll just happen to be sleeping in it as well?”

That was enough to break Kayla’s stare. She rolled her eyes. “Subtle.”

“I can stay here.” Lauren looked around, her gaze bouncing off the walls and furniture—everywhere but at Carl and the experts buzzing around his body, collecting evidence and taking photographs of everything and everyone.

“It’s a crime scene. You have to leave for at least a short time.” Garrett wanted to get her out of there. That meant heading through the crowd outside and possibly being stopped by someone who knew Carl.

“My office—”

“Lauren.” She still wasn’t getting this, so he tried again. “This isn’t up for debate.”

Fire flashed in her eyes. “Excuse me?”

About damn time. There was the Lauren he knew. Sharp, aware and not easy to push around. The last few hours had beaten her down but she rose right back up again. Garrett couldn’t think of anything hotter.

Matthias leaned closer to Kayla but didn’t bother lowering his voice. “Watching these two work through this is going to be fun.”

Lauren’s head shot up. “This?”

The tone suggested she was not in the mood for jokes. If Matthias heard it, he ignored it. “Do I really have to spell it out?”

Kayla sighed at him. “A man is dead.”

“Right.” Matthias cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

That led them right back to Garrett’s point. He wanted to get settled in, call Wren and try to get a read on Detective Cryer’s initial thoughts on the case. First, he had to convince Lauren she needed a roommate. “Matthias and Kayla don’t live in town. You need to be close to work and available for . . . questioning.”

Kayla winced. “Not your best argument since I work twenty feet away from her office.”

A man could not catch a break. Garrett wanted to tell both Matthias and Kayla that he could handle this, but he was pretty sure Kayla would punch him. He spared her a quick glance before looking at Lauren again. She was the one he needed to convince. “My point is the Carsley Inn is a neutral location. We can watch over you there. I’ll be nearby.”

Matthias shook his head. “We’re finally getting to a bit of truth.”

“Shut up,” Garrett shot back.

“It’s not fun having your personal life picked apart, is it?” Matthias asked. “Having a friend all up in your dating business.”

Lauren frowned at Matthias. “We’re not dating.”

It figured that was the part of the conversation she’d focus on. Garrett couldn’t imagine what Matthias would do with that information later.

“Are you sure?” Matthias asked.

Lauren’s frown only deepened. “Wouldn’t I know?”

“Given Garrett’s skill with women? Possibly not.”

“Okay, stop. Let’s focus.” Garrett moved Lauren out of the direct path from the front door to the body as two members of the forensic team headed for Detective Cryer. Garrett tried to ignore all the activity spinning around them and focus on the woman in front of him. “Come to the Inn for a few days. I’ll ride the detective to get you back into the house as soon as possible.”

“And where will you be while all of this happens?” Matthias asked.

Garrett didn’t even look at his friend. He kept staring at Lauren, willing her to agree. “On her couch. For protection.”

Matthias exhaled. “Of course. Who wouldn’t want a finance guy as a bodyguard?”

Oh, come on. “Do you even know what I do?”

Matthias shrugged. “Not really.”

Garrett was about to shoot off a two-word response when Lauren answered. “Fine.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You’re making it too easy on him, Lauren,” Matthias said at the same time.

“I don’t want to put either of you in danger, especially so soon after all that happened to you.” Lauren’s voice grew stronger the more she talked to Kayla.

“You’re saying you’re okay with Garrett being in danger?” Matthias got the question out but Kayla elbowed him in the stomach right after.

“Let me get the okay from Detective Cryer and we can leave.” Lauren headed back to the kitchen before Garrett could stop her.

As soon as she was gone Kayla pointed at Garrett. “You behave.”

“What are you—”

A sharp shake of her head stopped him from saying anything else. “Garrett, her idiot husband is dead—”

“Again,” Matthias added.

Kayla talked right over him. “She is on a wild emotional ride. Don’t add to it.”

“Did we stop getting along and you didn’t tell me?” Back when she started dating Matthias, Garrett had been her ally. An ally to both of them, really, but they didn’t know that at the time.

“I like when you keep Matthias in line.”

Matthias threw his hands up in the air. “Hey.”

“But I’m not sure if I want you crawling all over my best friend.” Lauren’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen how you look at her. All those trips down here for pie. Please. As if they don’t serve pie in DC.”

Not pie that came with a view of Lauren, but Garrett decided not to explain that. Not when Kayla was in protective momma-bear mode.

“I don’t plan to . . .” But he stopped because he actually did plan to. Not right now because he had some level of control and decency, but he didn’t have any plans to leave Lauren alone unless she asked him to. And he sure as hell hoped that didn’t happen. “Okay, I do have some finesse, you know.”

Kayla studied him for a second. Her half-angry, half-skeptical gaze roamed all over him. “Then use it. Lauren might be tough on the outside but Carl is her weak spot.”

“She’s not in love with him.” He was positive that much was true.

“He hurt her, Garrett.” Kayla’s voice dropped lower. “You better not do the same.”