“Is this Brooke’s phone?” I whispered.
“No.”
I hung up and repeated the number in my head over and over until I was sure I had the right one. I dialed again and practically cried when she answered.
“Where were you? You said you would be at the bar, but you didn’t show. I spent the whole night warding off some skeevy guy because my best friend couldn’t be bothered to show up at the bar.”
“Are you done?” I whispered, looking back at the door, sure that at any moment Craig would walk back in.
She sighed dramatically. “I guess.”
“I’ve been kidnapped.”
“What? By who?”
“Who do you think?”
“No shit? The wolf finally made his move.”
“Why are you saying this like it’s a good thing?”
“Well, because he’s hot and you need some fun.”
My mind was about to explode. “Did you not hear me say ‘kidnap’? This isn’t fun, Brooke. I’m being held against my will!”
“If you’re being held against your will, then how are you able to talk to me on the phone?”
“Because he left to go get something to clean my feet.”
“Um…is this like a fetish? Because I was cool with him before he was a foot licker.”
“So, him kidnapping me doesn’t bother you, but being a foot licker does?” I said exasperatedly.
“Hey, if he kidnaps you out of love, then it’s romantic. Foot licking is not.”
“Whatever, the point is that I need to get out of here.”
“So leave. You said that he’s not there.”
“He’s not going to be gone long. I need a plan.”
“Right. Okay, let me think a minute.”
I waited impatiently for her to think, but I was irritated with her. “You know, you could at least pretend to be upset that I’ve been kidnapped.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m terribly upset that you’ve been kidnapped by a hot guy that wants to take you home and do nasty things to you. It sounds just dreadful.”
“You know, sometimes you really suck as a friend.”
“Agreed. Okay, you need to make him comfortable with you.”
“Already done,” I said proudly.
“How?”
“I let him kiss me.”
“How was it?”
“Now isn’t the time for talking about what a great kisser my stalker is.”
“If now’s not the time, when is? Because honestly, I’m more interested in that kiss than getting you out of there.”
“Would you just help me! He’s going to be back soon and I need to get out of here!”
“Okay, okay. What you need to do is fuck him.”
“What? That’s your plan?”
“Hey, you need him trusting you and distracted. If you want to get out of there, sleep with him. You fall asleep in bed together, snuggle and make him feel good, and then when he’s sleeping like the dead, you bolt.”
I gnawed on my lip. It was a pretty good idea. And sleeping with him wouldn’t be that much of a hardship. He was hot and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to him. In fact, saying I was attracted to him was the understatement of the century. In fact, I probably would have slept with him already if he didn’t remind me so much of Jason Bourne.
“Okay, let’s say that I do sleep with him. Then I just leave him in the morning?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that what you said you were trying to do?”
“I know, but…doesn’t it seem a little cruel to sleep with someone and then leave without a goodbye?”
“Reese, the man kidnapped you and you called me to help get you out of there. Either you want to leave or you want to protect his feelings. Which is it?”
“Right. Priorities. Alright, if you don’t hear from me by morning, call Reed Security and tell them that Craig kidnapped me and I’m probably dead somewhere.”
“Why don’t I just call them now?”
“Because I don’t want to get him in trouble, okay?”
“Wait. You don’t want to get the man that kidnapped you in trouble? Girl, you have bigger problems than I can help you with.”
I heard a click. “Brooke? Brooke?” I pressed the receiver button, but all I got was a dial tone. I couldn’t believe she hung up on me. Was it really that wrong that I didn’t want to get him in trouble? I mean, he was a nice man and despite taking me hostage, he was looking out for me.
I groaned and slapped myself on the forehead. I was losing it. I had a thing for my stalker. This was really too much to take. I needed to get out of here and get back to my life. One that didn’t include the man that was as sexy as sin and did terribly wonderful things to my body just by looking at me.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cap
“Have you found out anything yet?”
Knight was working over the man that had kidnapped Reese, but he wasn’t giving us anything. I walked away to talk to Becky about the footage at the house, but it wasn’t giving us any answers. If we didn’t know who was behind the kidnapping, how would it ever be safe for Reese? And Craig would be useless if we didn’t find out who put her in danger.
“He keeps saying he doesn’t know anything. He said he responded to a phone call he got, but when he traced the number, he didn’t get anything.”
“That’s what this guy is hired to do. He can’t really think that we’d believe that he doesn’t know how to track his contact.”
“I swear,” the man groaned. He was bent over in the chair and his face looked like it had been rearranged, but he wasn’t dead. Yet.
“You can’t really expect us to believe that you don’t know anything. You-”
“Cap.”
I turned around to see Hunter and Derek standing uncomfortably in the doorway. “Put him on ice,” I said to Knight. He didn’t look too happy about that, but he nodded and got to work.
“What’s going on?”
“Uh…” Derek cleared his throat and jerked his head toward the elevator. “We need to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, I figured that when you came down here and interrupted me.”
“Well, see, the thing is…” Hunter wiggled uncomfortably. “See, what happened is…”
“Would you fucking spit it out?”
“Remember those women we told you about?”
“Women?”
“The old ladies,” Derek corrected. “The ones that …beat us up.”
“Okay, yeah, I remember them.”
“See, the thing is…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Would one of you just say what the fucking thing is!”
“They’re here,” Derek spit out.
“Here?”
“Yeah, as in, sitting in the conference room.”
“All of them?”
“Uh,” Hunter seemed to be doing some weird form of facial conferencing with Derek and then turned back to me. “We’re not sure. But there’s one woman that we all know.”
“Who’s that?”
“Elsie Daughtry.”
“Elsie. Jessica’s grandmother’s best friend, Elsie?”
“Yeah,” Derek nodded.
“And she’s here…”
“Apparently, she’s the leader of the group,” Hunter grumbled.
I stared at them both for a second and then I burst out laughing. Elsie, an eighty year old woman, was the leader of a group of old grannies that apparently had it out for the men of Reed Security.
“I’ve gotta see this,” I said, sauntering past Derek and Hunter to head up to the conference room.
“I wouldn’t be too eager, Cap. You’re not gonna like what they have to say.”
“Really? Care to enlighten me?”
“One of them is Reese’s grandmother.”
I stopped in my tracks and slowly turned around. “Shit.”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought,” Hunter replied. “What the fuck are we
supposed to say to her?”
“Well, we definitely don’t mention that Craig has been stalking her. Or that he threatened to have her arrested. Or that he took the kidnapper’s place and whisked her off to an unknown location. You know what, we just won’t say anything at all.”
“Good call,” Derek nodded.
We headed upstairs in the elevator and I prepared to face what could quite possibly be the most frightening thing I had ever encountered. When I entered the conference room, I had to admit, I was a little terrified. All these women sitting around the table reminded me of my own grandmother. All those little, old fingers, just waiting to pinch someone’s cheeks.
“Ladies,” I croaked out. I straightened my spine and cleared my throat. I would not be intimidated by these grannies. “What can I help you with today?”
Elsie stood and gave a tight smile. “I think it’s us that can help you.”
I looked at her in confusion. Had I missed something? “Okay…”
“I’m sure by now you’ve realized that our group looks out for the young ladies in this town.”
“We’ve come to that conclusion,” I said evenly, not wanting to cause any trouble.
“Well, one of the ladies in this group is Reese Pearson’s grandmother.”
I eyed all the ladies, trying to find the resemblance, but they all looked like old ladies to me. However, one lady in particular looked awfully pissed off. It had to be her.
“Ma’am,” I nodded.
“Don’t ‘ma’am’ me. If it weren’t for that man stalking my granddaughter, she would be at home safe right now.”
“Actually, the man that you say is stalking your granddaughter saved her life. She was kidnapped and he witnessed it. I was with him. We went after her and got her back. He took her to a safe location until we can find out who was trying to take her. We captured the man that took her and we’re trying to find out right now who was behind it and why they wanted her.”
“Mr. Reed, let me save you the trouble,” Elsie said. “Mrs. Pearson, Reese’s grandmother, hired someone to take Reese away until we could get rid of her stalker.”
I stood there in stunned silence for a moment, not sure quite where to start. Who were these women? They put her in more danger by hiring that guy. “Okay, first, who is this guy? Do you know him personally or is he just some thug you hired?”
Elsie looked to Mrs. Pearson. “I found him through an old friend of mine.”
“And did you know that this man attacked your granddaughter and threw her in the trunk of a car?”
“He wasn’t supposed to hurt her.”
“But that’s exactly what happened. If you had just come to me and talked to me, I would have been able to reassure you that the man that you say is stalking your granddaughter is actually very much in love with her.”
The woman sat there in shock.
“Well, now that you know what is going on, perhaps you could contact your man and have Reese returned.”
I nodded to Elsie. “Perhaps I could have a word with you in private?”
She followed me out of the conference room and into my office. “I’m terribly sorry to have to disrupt your day,” Elsie said as she took a seat.
“It’s no problem. It answers a lot of questions for us and prevents us from having to get rid of a body.”
I chuckled, thinking that would get a rise out of her, but she just raised an eyebrow at me, like she wasn’t affected at all.
“I’m afraid if you’re hoping to frighten me, you’re doing a bad job. Remember, my husband worked for the FBI. I heard more stories over the years than you would think.”
“Okay. Why don’t you tell me why you have a group of ladies that are going around beating up unsuspecting men.”
“It’s simple. You already know about Ruth.”
“But Wallace didn’t do anything to her. So why go after all these men?”
“Women are too trusting with men. We’re just looking out for young ladies, and making sure that men behave themselves.”
“But your ladies attacked two of my men. Both of them married.”
“I never said we were perfect. When we see a man disrespecting a woman, we make sure that they’re put in their place. And who better to teach these young men that lesson than little, old ladies that can easily shake any kind of police inquiry?”
“You’re kind of devious, you know that?”
She grinned at me and stood. “I know. That’s what makes us so good. Call your man back and have Reese returned before her grandmother loses it. I hate to say it, but her grandmother is kind of a loose cannon.”
“I’ll make the call right now.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Craig
I had all the supplies I needed for cleaning Reese’s feet. I also stopped and got a change of clothes for her. I had no idea how long it would take to find out why the man tried to kidnap her. It had to have been planned. The man snatched her right after she stepped out of her house.
I was just stepping off the elevator and heading to our room when my phone rang. “Hello?”
“Craig, it’s Cap. We found out who’s behind everything.”
My shoulders sagged in disappointment. I was hoping I would have more time to win Reese over. “What did you find out?”
“It was those old ladies that attacked Hunter and Derek. Apparently, one of them is Reese’s grandmother. She hired someone to kidnap Reese to get her away from you.”
“What? That’s insane. Why would she need protection from me?”
“Because you’ve been stalking her.”
“I was not stalking her. I was just…trying to convince her that we belonged together.”
“Craig, I know you’re not stupid. You were stalking her. She told you repeatedly to leave her alone. This was never going to work.”
“Then why did you help me?” I spat. “I know that if you thought I was going to hurt her, you wouldn’t have let me near her.”
He sighed heavily into the phone. “I owed you. We both know that I was wrong in assuming you were against us. But we tried. You got some time with her and now it’s time to bring her back home and end this.”
“What? You want me to bring her back already? Cap, it hasn’t even been a day.”
“Her grandmother knows that you have her. The threat is gone. You can’t just keep her away for no reason.”
“Yes, I can.”
“Craig-”
“No, I was supposed to have time with her to convince her that we belong together. I’m not just giving up. We agreed that I would return her by Sunday night. I have two full days with her and I’m not returning her a moment sooner.”
I heard him shouting at me through the phone, so I ended the call and turned it off. I wasn’t going to be tracked. Which meant that I couldn’t go to the safe house Knight directed me to. He would most likely give in and tell Cap where we were. I also needed a new car. But since I couldn’t use my credit card, that meant I had to steal one. Cap was gonna love that.
I walked down the hall to our room and slid the key in the reader. Opening the door, I released a small breath when I saw that Reese was still here. I had been worried that she would run out on me. Even though we just shared the most electric kiss I had ever experienced, I knew she was still wary about me.
Glancing at the clock, I saw it was near midnight. I needed to get her cleaned up and get some sleep. I had big plans for the rest of our weekend, and I wasn’t going to waste that time being tired.
“Hi,” I said as I set the stuff on the table.
She smiled, but didn’t say anything. Damn, if it was even possible, she looked more gorgeous than the last time I saw her.
“I’m gonna carry you into the bathroom and wash your feet, okay?”
“Sure.”
I slid my hands under her and lifted her up against my body. Her arms wrapped around my neck and her breath slid across my cheek. I turned to look at her and our eyes locked. She was so close,
close enough that I could just lean forward slightly and feel those gorgeous lips against mine. I could hear her breath turning ragged, and as much as I wanted to kiss her right now, I knew I couldn’t. I had to take care of her first, and that meant no fucking around.
I looked away, squeezing my eyes shut to ward off all sexual thoughts. Focus! I carried her into the bathroom and set her down on the edge of the tub. I quickly grabbed the bag from the store and brought it into the bathroom. Running the bathwater, I poured some Epsom Salts into the tub and gently lowered her feet in.
“You’re good at this,” she said, eyeing me curiously.
I shrugged. “You learn to take care of yourself when you’re in the military. Survival skills are what keep you alive. Taking care of your feet is one of the most important things when you’re out on missions. If you can’t walk for miles on end, you can’t keep up with your unit. That makes you a liability.”
“Why did you join?” I looked at her, wondering if she actually wanted to know or if it was just a time filler. The look on her face was pure curiosity.
“I was in college and I had planned to follow in my dad’s footsteps. I was going to be a lawyer.”
“You were going to be a lawyer,” she laughed. “I can’t see that. I mean, you can be very persuasive, but you just don’t seem like a guy that would be happy in a courtroom.”
“Probably not,” I grinned. “My dad loved the courtroom. He used to tell me about cases he was trying. He would get all fired up and go through his closing arguments. It was always a big thing in our house. Of course, it was always after the trial ended. He couldn’t talk about the case while it was going on, but he would get all fired up and come home and tell us about how the trial ended. He really loved being a lawyer.”
“Loved?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried not to let my emotions get the better of me. I hadn’t let it get to me in years, but I also hadn’t talked about my dad in a really long time. He was my hero and everything I had ever wanted to be when I grew up. Which was why it was so hard to walk away from it all.
“He died when I was eighteen. I had just started at NYU School of Law.”
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