The house was lit with Christmas lights, and there were two huge wreaths on double front doors. It looked like something out of House and Garden Magazine, and she suddenly was a whole lot happier that she’d gotten dressed up. One of the doors opened as they approached.
“Lily and Alex? Glad you could make it. Very glad, in fact now I win twenty bucks from Tag.”
“What?”
“Shitheads. Both of you. Lily, this is Ethan. I don’t think you’ve met him. He’s Anna’s pet police detective.”
Lily laughed. “Nice to meet you, Ethan. I thought you looked familiar. You helped take down that burglary ring, right?”
“Yup, that would be me. My partner, Steele too. He’s inside, along with half of Fitzsimmons Air Force Base, I think.” He stepped back into the doorway to allow them access. “Nice dog. Tag’s dog is here tonight too. Have you met Jackson yet?”
“Not yet, but I’ve heard plenty.”
“I did last week. He’s very fierce looking. Scared the shit out of me when I walked into Tag’s office at the Rehab Center. I’d completely forgotten about him.”
Lily had to stop herself from staring because inside Anna’s home was even more beautiful—and filled with an enormous amount of people. Her introverted-self wanted to turn around and run for the car until she saw Chloe and Logan across the room.
While Ethan and Alex were talking, Lily went over to talk to Chloe and Logan. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realized they were talking to Cage, the trainer from Paws for Hope and another guy who was at least two inches taller than him. What were they feeding these guys?
“Hi.”
“Oh wow, Lily, you look amazing,” Chloe said as she hugged her. Logan gave her a hug too.
“Chloe’s right. You clean up good, kid.”
“Funny man. I figured why not, it’s the holidays right?” Chloe laughed, before turning to Cage and his friend.
“I’d like you to meet my best friend, Lily Barrett. She’s married to that hunk over there, the one next to the fluffy four-legged mutt.”
“Hey, don’t pick on Hunter like that. He’s beautiful in his own way. But, I already know Cage. He’s Alex and Hunter’s trainer, right? Nice to see you again.”
“That’s cool. But do you know Chase Brennan?”
“Nope. Nice to meet you, Chase.”
“Likewise, ma’am.”
“Geesh. Do I look that old?”
Logan guffawed and almost spilled his drink. “Dork, we’re all military or ex-military. It’s just a habit. It doesn’t bother Chloe.”
“Speak for yourself,” she said as she elbowed her husband in the side.
“You’re having too much fun without me,” Alex said as rolled up with Hunter as his wingman. “Hey, Cage. I didn’t realize you were going to be here.”
“You know how it is, we’re really just one big family.”
“Truth, that.” Chase nodded.
“Alex, this is Chase, Chase Brennan. I told you about him the other day, remember?”
“Yeah. You run Eagle Security and Protection, or something like that, right?”
“Exactly. Although we just call it ESP, it’s a whole lot easier.”
That caught Lily’s attention. Security and protection. Would they look into Harrison Chandler for her? She’d managed to keep his latest shit from Alex, but his harassing emails were getting more and more threatening. There’d been about fifteen since Friday. What bothered her more than the threats were the pictures of Alex and Hunter in the yard, and of her sitting at her desk. How the hell had he or his thug friends gotten close enough to take photos of her through her office window? Especially since it was on the second floor.
It freaked her the fuck out, but in classic Lily mode she had put it out of her mind and worked on the project. She needed the grand opening plans to be perfect. It was one of those career-changing projects. Although she was so busy already, she might have to think about getting an actual office and hiring a few people. But as her grandmother always said, ‘don’t put the cart before the horse.’ Too bad all the crap from the asswipe was putting a damper on everything.
“Exactly. And I hear you’ve got skills on the computer too, Alex.” What? She must have gone off in her own world because she had no idea what they were talking about. And since when did Alex have mad computer skills?
“Yeah. Haven’t had much use for them lately, though.”
“What’s your status?”
“Still in medical eval hell. I’m pretty much assured of a medical discharge if I want it. I just wasn’t sure it was the way I wanted to go.” At least this part she knew. They’d talked about it a bit in the hospital, and then some more yesterday. But the computer stuff was new to her.
“Maybe you should come by our office. Check it out. You might decide you’d like to come work with us. I like to keep it in the family, although you’d be our first Ranger. Probably get a lot of crap from the other SEALs.”
“Very funny,” Logan cut in. “You guys are a laugh riot. We can take you any day of the week.”
“Hey bro, shut the hell up. I can’t do much damage from this chair. Give me a few months at least.”
The women shrugged and rolled their eyes at each other. It was the same every time a group of them got together. Like a bunch of teenage boys hanging out in the bathroom bragging about who had the biggest dick. Would they ever grow up? Unlikely. But then again, did they want them to?
“C’mon girl. Let’s leave the guys to talk shop. I need a drink. My breasts have finally been liberated from the child.” Chloe grabbed Lily’s arm and pulled her away from the testosterone four-pack.
“All right! Although I’m driving. Only one glass of wine for me.”
“Let’s make it a good one then. Screw the wine, let’s have a peach Bellini. I haven’t had one of those in ages.” Lily agreed, and they navigated through the crowd toward the bar.
“Chloe, Lily, right? I’m so glad you came. Are you having a good time?” Their hostess, Anna Taggart, was tall, thin, and gorgeous, and Tag’s younger sister. She ran Willow Haven Realty now that her parents were retired and traveled constantly. Lily knew she’d wanted Tag to work with her, but he’d turned her down. He had a rough adjustment after he was wounded and had left town for almost a year.
It had driven his girlfriend, Julie, crazy when he didn’t tell her where he’d gone. It really was a small town. Now that Lily thought about it, she knew way more than she realized about a lot of the people at the party. Like Chase said earlier, they were like one huge family.
“Thank you for inviting us. Your home is beautiful.” Lily called Chloe Ms. Manners for just this reason. She always knew the perfect thing to say. While Lily stood there with a dumb ass smile on her face.
“Thank you. It’s a work in progress now that Ethan has moved in.” A tinge of a rose colored her cheeks as she gazed across the room at her boyfriend. Scratch that, fiancé if the huge ring on her hand was any indication.
“How is Alex’s dog working out?”
“Hunter is wonderful. I can’t believe how much he’s helped Alex, even after only a few days.”
Anna nodded. “It was the same I think for Tag. When he and Jackson got back from Montana, he was a new man. He says it’s all because of Jackson. It’s like having to care for the dogs gives them a feeling of worth, besides the support the dogs give back.”
“That’s true. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Whatever it is, I can’t thank Tag and Logan enough for setting it up for him. I would never have thought about it.”
“I know. I thank God that the people at the Montana rehab ranch introduced Tag and Jackson. I really think we might have lost him otherwise. His PTSD and depression were so much worse than he ever let on. Even Mac hadn’t realized, and they were living together.”
“Really? That’s so scary. Alex is still having horrible nightmares, although Hunter definitely does a better job soothing him than I did.”
“Log
an has them too. Although the longer he’s home, the better he seems to be getting. The other night I woke up, and he wasn’t in bed, I freaked out. But he was in Andy’s room sitting in the rocking chair, cuddling Andy in his arms and talking. I didn’t want to intrude, but it looked like quite a deep conversation.”
“That’s so sweet,” Anna said with a smile.
“Yeah, it was. I didn’t let him know I saw, but I was really curious about what they were talking about.”
“Hey, sexy,” Ethan said as he pulled Anna close and gave her a kiss. “I hate to steal her away from you, but the caterers are having an issue in the kitchen.”
“Seriously? Oops. I’ll catch up with you later. Or maybe we can all get together for lunch next week?”
“Sounds good.”
“She is very nice,” Chloe remarked as they continued their trek to the bar and got their drinks. When Lily looked around for Alex, she didn’t see him or Hunter anywhere. Or Logan either for that matter.
“I wonder where our guys went?”
“I’m sure they’re talking shop. I know Logan misses being in the middle of things. He doesn’t say it, but he gets a look every so often.”
“Do you think he’ll volunteer for another deployment?”
“No. If it hadn’t been for Andy and Alex, maybe. But Andy’s birth and Alex getting wounded he changed. He said that family was more important than his career. He’s been talking to Chase about their business too. I don’t think he’s decided yet on whether to put in for early retirement.”
“Alex doesn’t want to leave. I think it validates him. But he can’t go back to the kind of life he had, even when he is able to walk again.”
“Maybe he’ll take Chase up on his offer?”
“I didn’t even know he was good with the computer. Did Logan talk to you about what he did over there?”
“Nope. It’s all the hush-hush if I tell you I’ll have to kill you shit. I stopped asking a long time ago.”
“Me too. I didn’t even think about it. It’s weird now to get little insights into what was going on.”
Chloe nodded as she took a sip of her Bellini. “Have you talked to Beth or Julie since you got back?”
“No, I haven’t. This week has been totally insane. None stop running around. I haven’t had time for much else besides work and Alex.”
“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you. Speaking of work, what’s going on with the asshole at Walcott?”
“Shit, we were having such a good time too. You had to bring it up?”
“Well, what are best friends for?”
“Brat!”
“You’re not going to put me off that easily. I’m a mom, remember? I have the power to weasel it out of you.”
Lily laughed. She’d seen Chloe in action with Lexie and Bella. Hell, she didn’t stand a chance. “Fine. But it’s not a big deal. Only some emails.”
“You’re holding something back. I can tell. C’mon, fess up.”
“You are a pain in the ass, you know?”
“Yeah, yeah, but you love me. Quit stalling.”
“He’s sent a lot of emails since Friday when I saw him. But they’re just emails. What’s bugging me a bit, or would if I had time to think about it, are the pictures.”
“What pictures?”
“Yeah, what pictures?” Shit, when had Alex and Logan come up behind them? And why didn’t Chloe warn her? Ugh, because she wanted them to know. Damn.
“It’s nothing, babe.”
“Don’t. Logan told me about Chandler.”
“How? Shit. I thought you were going to keep my secret?” Lily felt a little better when Chloe looked embarrassed.
“I was going to, but then I started to think about what he’d said. I’m worried about you. I can’t keep stuff I’m worried about from Logan or you. You know that.”
“Yeah.” And she did. She should have realized nothing stayed a secret for long.
“Tell me, baby. What’s going on now?”
“Just some emails, and pictures of you and Hunter in the yard and me at my desk.” Before she could finish, he cut her off.
“At your desk? In our house? What the fuck?”
“Shh. We’re at a party remember? I don’t need everyone knowing our business. Err my business.”
“Actually, maybe we do. What do you know about this Chandler guy? And we’re going to have a talk about this when we get back home. You should know better than to keep stuff like this from me. No secrets—that was our promise from the beginning. Or don’t you remember?”
“I remember.” Lily wasn’t sorry she’d kept it from him, though. He’d been dealing with so much, and she refused to believe Chandler was a real threat. It was Willow Haven; the biggest thing to happen in their sleepy town was the burglary ring.
“Logan, what do you think? Maybe we should bring Chase in on this and see what he has to say?”
“Wait. Do you really want to involve more people? It’s probably nothing at all and Chandler is just full of shit.”
“That’s true, he might be, but I’m not taking that chance with my wife. Your protection is my responsibility.” And if she didn’t already get the idea, Hunter woofed in agreement.
Chapter Eight
It was after midnight when Lily and Alex got home. He was tired, but for the first time since he’d been wounded, he had a purpose. They talked to Chase and Cage, who he found out worked for ESP and only did the training with Paw for Hope between cases. Tomorrow he and Lily would bring her laptop and go over to the ESP offices to discuss everything in detail.
He was happy they’d gone, even though up until Lily had come downstairs looking like sex on a stick, he’d been dreading it. One look at her in that dress and he’d have followed her to the ends of the Earth. Holy sheep shit, Batman. Not that he didn’t love her in PJs and fuzzy slippers because he did. She was his Lilybee. But tonight, she looked more like she’d been ready for a photo shoot. He was glad she hadn’t gone to her meeting dressed that way or he might have even more shit to deal with.
Chandler was the one who seemed to be causing all the trouble, but Alex wasn’t too happy about Walcott either. There was something fishy about this whole thing. He hadn’t said anything to Lily about it, but he’d been doing some research on his own, and there was a bunch of shit that didn’t add up.
After Hunter had done his business outside, he wheeled into the kitchen. Lily was fiddling with her phone. “Something wrong?”
She jumped then turned toward him. A guilty look on her face. “Nope, nothing at all.”
“And you think I’ll buy that?” With a shake of her head, she walked over to show him her phone. He took it from her and read the threatening email. The timestamp was only a half hour earlier. What the fuck was this asshole thinking? Didn’t he realize who he was dealing with?
“Bitch, don’t make me tell you again. You need to walk away now.
You have no idea who you’re pissing off. If you don’t want your crippled man to pay for your stupidity, you’ll do as we say.”
“It’ll be okay, baby. I swear. He won’t touch any of us.”
“I know. I still think he’s full of shit. But the thugs he was arguing with in the parking lot? I’m not so sure about them.”
“What? Why is this the first I’m hearing about them?”
“C’mon we’ve been over this. You had enough shit going on. I have been taking care of myself while you were gone. It’s not like I had you to run to with every problem. I’m pretty self-sufficient, you know.”
“I do know. But you don’t have to be now. That’s all I’m saying. Tell me about the thugs.”
“Actually, I had something else in mind.” Fuck. He was in trouble now. He knew that look, and her voice was huskier. His dick knew it too, and he came right to attention. “I have an idea. I know you’re in pain.”
“Not so much right now…”
“Shh. Let me finish. I thought that maybe we could try it while you�
��re in the chair.”
“What?” She was losing her mind for sure. But the more he thought about it, the more turned on he got. It just might work. He’d have the leverage from the chair. But before he could say or do anything, she’d stepped closer.
“How about we take this into the other room?” He followed her into the living room. She’d lit a bunch of candles and put on some music while he was outside with Hunter. With only the light of the flickering candles, he had no doubt that she was trying to seduce him. He tried to hide his grin while talking to Hunter.
“Hey, boy. Go lay down in your bed. I’ll call you if I need you.” The dog hesitated for a moment and then did as he’d asked. “What did you have in mind?”
“Are you willing to try? Or are you going to lose it like the last time.” Even in the dim light, he could see the flash of pain on her face. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but he couldn’t be the man she needed. He wasn’t sure he could tonight, either. But he needed to try—for both of them.
“Yes. Now come closer.” Her smile dripped pure sex. He tensed, waiting for the inevitable pain his hard-on triggered, but it didn’t happen. The only pain he had was from the zipper digging in to his flesh where it tried to get free. He didn’t think he could get any harder, but he was wrong.
Instead of coming over, she reached behind her back as she unzipped her dress and let it slowly drop to the floor revealing the sexiest lingerie he’d ever seen on his wife. “Holy fuck, Lily. You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Maybe. But what a way to go.”
He thanked God he hadn’t known what was under the dress all night because they’d never have left the house. Slowly, way too slowly, torturing him with her small steps, each time getting just a bit closer, but still out of his reach.
Staring at his wife, he groaned. Her pale skin was illuminated by the flickering candlelight. She was so beautiful. His eyes were drawn to the black lace bra that barely contained her large breasts. How he’d fantasized about sucking on them, tonguing them, nipping at her hard nipples. But he hadn’t touched her in almost a whole year. That needed to change and now. His eyes continued down, over her slightly rounded belly, to the lace bikini panties and thigh highs. His wife had turned into a sex kitten before his eyes.
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