Thank God it was Friday. It had been a hell of a week. After finalizing a particularly hairy surveillance job, Riley Ash Ashland, was looking forward to a quiet day.

Coffee in hand he opened the door to Warren & Ashland Security Services and headed toward his office.

“Lily, sweetheart, you don’t need a birth plan.”

Riley chuckled to himself as Grayson ‘Storm’ Warren’s voice floated down the hallway.

“But Gray, the books all say, a birth plan is the way to go if you want to have your perfect birth.”

Listening in on a conversation about birth plans wasn’t quite how he wanted to start his morning. He reached Storm’s office and poked his head through the open doorway.

“Morning you two.”

Storm looked up, exasperation written all over his face. Riley bit back a chuckle. He would’ve thought that after two years of marriage, he would’ve realized that Lily would have a list for a perfect birth. After all, she’d written a perfect man list. The fact Storm was the exact opposite of everything on her list, should’ve told Lily you couldn’t make a list for everything.

“Riley, can you please tell Grayson that a birth plan is a good idea.”

Riley held up his hands in surrender, his satchel slapped against his hip and he tightened his hold on his cup so his coffee didn’t spill. “Oh no. Leave me out of this. I’d never get in between a couple.”

“Wuss, you’re loyalty should be to me, your friend, business partner and guy who had your back,” Storm grumbled good-naturedly before rubbing a hand over his wife’s protruding belly. An irrational twinge of longing swept over Riley. “Lily, babies don’t come according to your schedule. They have their own. By all means make a plan, but be flexible.”

“Sound advice, Lily,” Riley agreed. Lily’s death stare had him back tracking out of the office. “I’ll be heading to my office now.”

He made a quick getaway, chuckling to himself in an effort to dispel the unwelcome feeling he’d had while watching Lily and Storm together. One thing was for certain, it was nothing, if not entertaining, when Lily visited.

Opening his office door, he set his coffee on his desk before removing his bag to get his laptop out. Today would be catch up on all the paperwork to close out the case he’d been working on. It was never fun to confirm a husband’s suspicion that not only was his wife was cheating on him, let alone when it was with the guy’s best friend, she was also handing off information to his opposition making him lose contracts. Sometimes there were some cases he didn’t like handling.

His cell phone vibrated on his desk, and he reached for it, smiling when he saw Tex’s name pop up. They hadn’t been on the same SEAL team when they’d been in the service together. In fact, he’d had more to do with Tex after they’d both left the military, than when they’d been in it. Tex had sent him some cases when he’d started his own PI business, and once he joined forces with Storm, they’d been getting a lot more work.

“Hey Tex, what’s up?”

“Hey Ash, you got plans for this weekend?”

In all the time he’d known Tex, not once had he asked Riley if he had plans for the weekend.

“Not that I’m aware of. I’ve just finished a job so was planning on taking it easy. Why?”

“Think you can come to here?”

Tex was being very vague, which wasn’t like him. He’d always been a straight up guy. That was one of the things he’d like about his friend.

“I might. If you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Mel had a call from a friend. We think she’s in trouble and may need protection. The only thing is she’s the type of girl who’s going to object strongly about having anyone follow her.”

Interest piqued, Riley sat a little straighter in his chair. “Any idea what kind of trouble she might have got herself into?”

“No idea, but my best guess is, it’s something to do with her family. They’re not the best sort.”

“Tell me a family who is?” As an only child and with both his parents dead, Riley had no concept of happy families. He was a late in life baby and by the time he was eighteen he was an orphan. Joining the military had been a no brainer. It wouldn’t matter if he died while in service. No one would miss him. If he’d died serving his country, he couldn’t think of a more honorable way to go.

Now he had his former SEAL team as family and worked with Storm. Life had turned out pretty well for him.

“Let’s just say, Maria’s family is one you can never get away from. No matter how much you want to or think you can.”

“Just tell me who her family is Tex. Stop avoiding the subject.”

“Maria’s dad is Giovanni Moretti.”

“Fuck.”

Anyone who worked in law enforcement or security of any type in New York City knew exactly who Giovanni Moretti was. Anyone with half a brain cell would keep the hell away from anyone associated with that family. You never wanted to be put on one of Giovanni’s lists. Getting off them was near impossible.

“Yeah, that.” Tex responded dryly.

"I’m not su—”

“Hear me out before you object.”

“It’s not just me I have to think about, Tex. Any job decisions are made jointly between me and Storm. With Lily pregnant I know he’s not going to want to put her in any sort of danger.”

“I get that, but Maria is one of the good ones. She’s spent the last decade putting distance between her and her family. She’s a fourth year surgical resident. From what I’ve found out she’s a good one too.”

Riley breathed in deeply. He didn’t have plans for the weekend. He could check out the situation and then talk to Storm about it. He trusted Tex not to put him in a bad situation.

“Fine. I can come up and see you this weekend. I’m not promising we’ll take the job on.”

“That's all I need, Ash. Besides, knowing Maria, she’s going to object to any kind of protection. Plus it could all be nothing.”

Riley scoffed. “If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be calling me, Tex.”

“This is true. Can you get up here by tonight?”

“Yeah. As I mentioned, I finished a job yesterday so nothing pressing. I’ll check in with Storm and then get on the road.

“Great. I know Mel said Maria could stay with us, so I’ll make you a reservation at a nearby hotel.”

“That’ll work. See you in a few hours.”

Riley disconnected the call and sat back in his chair. If it had just been him, he probably would take the job no questions asked. Now there were more people to think about. The Moretti’s tentacles had a long reach and once they latched onto you, they never let go. There was a lot to consider.

He reached for his computer and searched up Maria Moretti’s name. If he was going to do this, he planned on being prepared. He would dig up as much information on Maria as possible.

* * *

A few hours later Riley pulled into Tex’s driveway. The trip from New York to Tex’s place had passed without too much drama. He’d checked into the hotel and dumped his bags.

He hoped Maria hadn’t arrived already. He wanted to talk to Tex about her. There hadn’t been a lot of information about her online. Most of the articles had talked about her pursuing a medical career and trying to keep the distance between her and her father. His further digging hadn’t uncovered a boyfriend or significant other. Seemed her life consisted of work, work and more work. Not surprising considering breaking into the medical field wasn't an easy task. Plus becoming a surgeon required even more dedication and patience.

The front door opened as Riley stepped out of the car. He grabbed his laptop bag from the trunk and made his way to where Tex stood on the front porch.

“Ash, good to see you. You made good time.” Tex held out his hand and Riley grasped his.

“Good to see you too. Yeah surprisingly traffic wasn’t too bad.”

They walked inside and the scent of tomatoes and garlic wafted to Riley, his stomach grumbling in appreciation.

Tex laughed. “I guess you didn’t stop to grab some food on the way up.”

“Well, if you can call a gas station tuna salad sandwich food, then yes I did.”

“That’s not food. That’s taking your life in your own hands.” The words were spoken by Melody, as she walked into the hallway, a fair-haired child on her hip. “Glad you could make it up here, Riley.”

Riley leaned down and placed a kiss on Melody’s cheek. “My pleasure. I take it your friend’s not here yet?”

Melody shook her head. “Not yet. Her train should be arriving in about half an hour. Tex offered to get her but she said she’d get a cab.”

“You let her catch the train and a cab. Why would you do that if there is a possible threat to her?” Riley asked. Surprised someone as cautious about the safety of others as Tex was would let Maria arrange her own transportation.

Tex laughed. “Maria didn’t think we knew about her family. Of course, we did and so it was a shock for her to find out we knew who her father was. She’s very independent and, as we don’t know exactly what’s up with her I figured I could give her some space. Besides, trying to talk her out of doing it would be impossible. I warn you, it’s going to be a hard sell to get her to think about you protecting her.”

Hearing the words spoken out loud, made Riley realize he’d already made the decision to take on the job. Even though it could prove to be extra dangerous to him and the firm. He knew Tex wouldn’t want to protect Maria if she wasn’t a good person. No way would he want to have someone associated with the Mob anywhere near his wife and family.

“Right. So how are we going to explain my presence here? I’m guessing you’re not going to introduce me as Riley Ashford, your new bodyguard.”

“No, we’ll go with the truth. You’re an ex-SEAL like me. The only place we’ll fabricate the truth is the fact that we invited you up here, after speaking to her. We’ll say you were in Ohio on business and called in for a visit on the way home.”

“What the hell type of business would I be doing in Ohio? I mean a surveillance job isn’t out of the realm of possibility. If we don’t want her to know what I do, then we’ll have to come up with something credible she’ll believe.”

“We could always say you’re a traveling insurance salesman,” Melody suggested.

Riley laughed at the suggestion. “How clichéd.”

Melody shrugged and the baby on her hip started to cry. “Oh that’s my cue to get this little one a snack. Akilah will be home from school soon. You boys need to work out what story you’re going with.”

With that Melody left them where they still stood in the hallway. Riley watched as Tex tracked every sway of his wife’s hips.

What would it be like to love someone that unconditionally? To trust another person to look after your heart and hope like hell they don’t crush it. Storm and Lily had gone through a few difficulties, but were now on the way to becoming their own family. Lily’s assistant and best friend Rita was included in the nucleus of their family.

The only time he’d felt anything closely resembling a family had been when he’d been a SEAL. He and Storm had been on the same team and even though he spoke to the guys, they never met up on a regular basis. Riley knew Tex had grown close to one particular SEAL team, helping the guys when their women were in trouble.

Maybe he should get in touch with Robot and the others when they were back stateside.

“Where’d you go, Ash?” Tex pulled him back from his thoughts.

Riley shrugged. “Just thinking I need to get in touch with the guys from my team. It’s been too long since I’ve seen them.”

“They’ll be back in Virginia in a couple of weeks.”

Riley knew better than to ask how Tex knew this information. The guy probably did more for the military now than he’d ever done when he’d been on a team.

“Good to know. I’ll send Robot an email and wait to hear from him.”

The chance to work on their cover story was lost when the doorbell rang. “Looks like your other guest is here.”

Tex nodded. “Just follow my lead. We’ll suss out Maria and go from there.”

“Understood.”

Riley moved to the side to let Tex past so he could open the door. With his gaze locked in on the piece of wood that shut them away from the outside world his first glimpse of Maria Moretti would be forever etched in his mind. Brown hair flowed over her shoulders like chocolate flowing over a fountain. He couldn’t see her eyes but he imagined they would be a darker shade than her hair. The loose fitting white top she wore couldn’t hide her curves. Her jeans clung tightly to her legs. He had no trouble picturing those legs wrapped around him.

He slammed the brakes on his train of thought.

No, he wasn’t going to do a Storm and fall for the person he was protecting. No matter how attractive.