Okay, this was happening.
Brynn walked outside, and Erik opened the SUV’s cargo hatch.
“Morning,” she chirped. She couldn’t see his eyes behind his mirrored aviators, but he gave a brisk nod. “Sorry I’m late. I was watching Drew and Jonathan while I waited for my curling iron to cool.”
He stared at her.
“You know, Property Brothers? Forget it.” She sighed and looked around. “Have you by chance seen Ross?”
“He dropped off his bag.”
Brynn noticed a second SUV, a silver Ford Expedition, parked in front of the Tahoe. The rear door was open, and she saw Ross’s garment bag inside. Where the hell was he?
Erik moved past her to grab the luggage cart. Someone must have broken the news that all this stuff was going to Dallas with them, but he didn’t say a word as he pulled the cart over and started loading file boxes into the Tahoe.
Brynn set down her coffee cup and grabbed one of the boxes, which were even heavier than they looked.
“I can get that.” Erik reached for her box.
“I can do it.” She stepped toward the car, but he blocked her.
“Ma’am. I need you to wait inside with Jeremy.”
Understanding dawned as she stared at her reflection in his shades. He wanted her indoors. Away from the open parking lot, where—she glanced around—exactly zero people were lurking on this quiet Sunday morning.
She handed him the box, then turned on her heel and strode back into the lobby, seething with irritation. She spotted Ross lounging on a sofa near the restaurant. He was scrolling through his phone, oblivious to Jeremy, who stood beside him with his arms folded over his chest like a sentry. Jeremy wore the same pseudo-civilian clothes as Erik and probably had the same serious firepower concealed under his shirt.
This was so weird.
Brynn walked over, and Jeremy acknowledged her with a nod. Ross didn’t look up from his phone as she sat down. She wanted a slug of coffee, but she’d left her cup outside. She distracted herself by going through her purse to make sure she hadn’t left anything in the room.
A shadow fell over her. “Ma’am, we’re ready.”
Erik exchanged a look with Jeremy before leading Brynn and Ross across the lobby to the packed SUVs. The Tahoe’s front passenger door was open. Brynn saw that her coffee was now tucked into the cupholder, which dissolved a teeny-tiny bit of her annoyance.
She slid inside, closing her door before Erik could, and then watched as Jeremy and Ross climbed into the SUV in front of them.
Jeremy was Ross’s team leader. Erik was Brynn’s. All this had been explained to her yesterday by Liam Wolfe.
“Where’s everyone else?” she asked.
Erik started the engine and adjusted the air vents as Brynn waited for him to answer.
“They went ahead with the advance team.”
“Advance team?”
He looked at her. “Our tech people are already up there, getting our systems in place.”
Systems. She could only imagine that meant the security cameras and . . . what? Some sort of special communications? Brynn gritted her teeth and looked out the window. She didn’t know what all this entailed, and she dreaded finding out.
“Ready?”
“No.” She turned to look at him. “We need to get clear on a few things first.”
He watched her for a moment, then peeled off his sunglasses. It was the polite thing to do, so she could see his face while she talked to him. And wow, she hadn’t really noticed his eyes before. They were brown with flecks of gold in the irises, and his lashes were thick and dark.
“It’s Brynn. Not ma’am.”
He stared at her for several seconds. “All right.”
“Do you want me to call you Erik or—”
“Erik.”
“Good. Fine.” She took a deep breath. “I appreciate you loading my bags, Erik, but I can handle my own stuff. I don’t take more than I can schlep around by myself, and you’re not a bellboy.”
One of his eyebrows tipped up with what might have been amusement.
“And you’re also not my boss, so don’t start giving me orders,” she said. “I don’t like being bossed around, so . . . don’t, okay?”
He gazed at her for a long moment. Then the sunglasses went back on.
Was that an okay? A say whatever you want, but I plan to ignore it? This man was tough to read.
The SUV in front of them started moving, and she expected Erik to follow. Instead, he reached into his pocket and dug something out.
Her phone. She felt a ridiculous wave of relief as he handed it over.
“Skyler says you’re all set.” He shifted the SUV into gear and got moving.
“Thank you.” Brynn turned the phone over in her hand, searching for any sign that it had been examined by a tech expert, which she assumed Skyler was. It looked exactly the same, though, down to the beach-at-sunset photo on her home screen. She’d taken it on her last vacation two years ago.
She dropped the phone into the other cupholder and leaned back as they turned onto the frontage road. Half a mile later, they eased onto the interstate. Traffic was light, and Brynn figured they’d arrive well before noon, barring accidents or road work.
She glanced at Erik beside her, with his bulging arms and short-cropped hair. Everything about him screamed ex-military. She looked over her shoulder. He’d folded down the middle seat to make room for all her boxes and suitcases, and every item was packed in tight.
“Didn’t you bring anything?” she asked.
“It’s back there.”
She looked ahead, then reached over to adjust the vent. He had the temperature set to seventy degrees and the radio turned off.
Erik shifted into the far-left lane and picked up speed.
Brynn felt edgy. And it wasn’t just because she’d gotten a paltry three hours of sleep last night.
“You okay?”
She looked at him, surprised by the concern in his voice. “I’m just . . . restless, I guess. I do this drive all the time for business, and I’ve got it down pat. I even have a playlist for it.”
“Really?”
“Starting at my house, I make it to the interstate by song two. Song sixteen, I stop at Luv’s Truck Stop for a barbecue sandwich. On a Sunday, the whole trip takes me two hours and fifty minutes, assuming it’s not a holiday weekend and there aren’t any accidents on the way.”
“We can stop if you’re hungry.”
“It’s not that. I’m just not used to having a chauffeur.”
He shot her a look. “I’m not a chauffeur.”
“A driver. Whatever.”
“Not whatever. I’m head of your security detail.”
“My point is, I’m used to being in the driver’s seat.”
“Yeah, I get that.” He glanced at her, and she wondered if he really did.
This whole thing felt unnatural. A heavy weight settled in her stomach as she thought of Jen. What was more unnatural than a perfectly healthy woman having her life brutally ended in her own home?
Multiple gunshot wounds. . . . Her doctor friend tried to stop the bleeding, but she was too far gone.
Brynn looked out the window, trying to get that homicide detective’s words out of her mind. Researching the case had kept Brynn up most of the night, and now she was behind on her own work.
She snatched up her phone and combed through her missed calls. She had several from her sister but nothing from Bulldog. She saw that Erik’s gaze was trained on the road, so she called her sister back.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hey. We missed you last night.”
Liz sounded relaxed, and Brynn pictured her sitting on her back porch, where she liked to drink coffee and work the Sunday crossword. In ink, of course, because besides having two beautiful children and being married to an unbelievably nice guy, her sister was also wicked smart. She was an HR manager for a Houston hospital.
“Sorry to mi
ss you guys,” Brynn said. “I had to work.”
“Any word on Jen’s case?”
Her stomach tightened. “No news. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
“You doing okay? You sound stressed.”
“I’m fine. What’s up with you?” Brynn could tell something was off.
“Well . . . I’m sure this is probably the last thing you want to think about right now, but we bumped into Adam last night.”
“No kidding?” Brynn reached for her computer bag in the back seat.
“He was with someone.”
She tensed. That explained the tone of Liz’s voice. And she knew what was coming next.
“She was wearing a ring, Brynn.”
She took out her laptop and powered it up.
“Brynn?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Did you know about her?”
“I heard something about it a while back.”
“Brynn! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it doesn’t matter.” She darted a glance at Erik. He was staring straight ahead, but she knew he was listening.
“Brynn, come on. I know you’re upset.”
“Actually, I’m not.” It was the truth. She wasn’t upset. Mildly curious, maybe. But not upset.
“Do you know her name?” Liz asked.
“No.”
“Well, don’t you even want to hear what she looks like? Wait. Don’t answer that. She’s short and has a bad dye job, and you’re ten thousand times prettier than she is.”
Brynn felt like she was in high school listening to this.
“I saw her in the ladies’ room at the restaurant, and I wanted to pull her aside and tell her what a prick she’s marrying.”
“Lizzie, please. I don’t care. Really.” She looked at Erik, whose eyes were still glued to the highway, as if he couldn’t hear a word of the conversation. “Listen . . . can I call you back later?”
“Why? Oh—is your bodyguard there?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God, that’s so weird. Okay, call me when you can talk.”
“I will.”
She ended the call and dropped her phone into her purse on the floor. The last thing she wanted to think about was Adam and his impending nuptials. Or maybe not impending. Who knew? Brynn had spent two years with the guy, and they’d never even talked about marriage. So maybe he wasn’t in a hurry to get hitched.
Brynn logged on to her computer and opened a document Ross had sent her late last night. She started reading, but her thoughts soon strayed.
Adam was getting married. Why should it matter? She sure as hell didn’t want to marry him. So why did it bug her that Liz knew? Probably because now it was only a matter of time before Brynn’s mother knew, which meant she’d be calling Brynn to talk about it.
After reading the same sentence three times, Brynn gave up and glanced at Erik. He looked so serious. Was he annoyed that she’d dragged out her computer?
She cleared her throat. “So, this setup. How’s it going to work exactly?”
“You mean the rotation?”
“Yeah, I guess. I already heard about the three-man package. I mean the rest of it.”
He kept his eyes on the road, evidently in no hurry to answer. He seemed to select every word carefully, taking his time. “The advance team will have all our comms set up,” he said.
“Comms. Like radio communications?”
“Yes.”
Whoa.
“Also, our security cams, which will be placed at key entry points, as well as the lobby of your apartment building, the Atrium.”
“You have authorization for all this?”
“That’s correct.” He glanced at her. “I haven’t been to the courthouse yet, but that’s on my list today. I set up a meeting with the security chief over there to review their procedures.”
Interesting that it was Erik who’d set up the meeting and not Liam or Jeremy. Brynn was trying to get a feel for the pecking order at Wolfe Security in case she needed to take issue with something at some point—which she surely would.
“It sounds like you’re taking the lead on all this.”
He didn’t comment.
“We’re in Judge Linden’s courtroom.”
“I know.”
“And if you plan to be in there at all, you may want to arrange to reserve a seat,” she added. “There’s a limited number open to the public, and this may get some media coverage, so—”
“It’s taken care of.”
Well, alrighty then. Sounded like he had everything mapped out.
“What about sleeping arrangements?” she asked.
He looked at her.
“Both apartments have two bedrooms,” she told him. “Ross and I were each planning to set up a home office, but we can use the dining tables instead, so your guys can have a place to sleep.”
“Your off-shift agent will be in a hotel down the street. Whoever is on won’t be sleeping.”
“But what about at night?”
“We don’t sleep on duty.”
“So . . . we’re going to have two guards glued to us at all times, even in the middle of the night?”
“One will be with you, and one will be elsewhere on the premises, either stationed someplace or on patrol.”
“That’s really . . . amazing.” Amazingly wasteful. Just thinking about the money made her want to pick up the phone and get into it with Reggie again.
“Standard procedure for us.”
“Yeah, well, in this particular situation, it sounds like overkill. Don’t you think you’re going to be bored out of your mind?”
“Bored?”
“Yes, bored.”
“That’s not something I worry about.”
Brynn checked her watch and blew out a sigh. She tried again to read, but she couldn’t concentrate. Screw it. She snapped shut her computer.
“I need to be honest with you. I’m not bought in on all this,” she said.
“What?”
“This security arrangement.”
“Reggie’s bought in.”
“Yes, obviously. And I think it’s sweet of him to do this, but you don’t know Reggie like I do.”
“You think Reggie is paying our rates because he’s sweet?”
She set her laptop on the floor. “No, I think he’s paying because he’s paternalistic and overprotective, especially when it comes to me and Ross. And because your involvement will generate publicity for him.”
“If you’re so opposed, why didn’t you refuse protection?”
“Reginald Gunn is a hard man to say no to.”
He looked at her. “How long have you known him?”
“I met him in Dallas seven years ago when I was fresh out of law school. Back then, we were on opposite sides. I’ve worked for his firm for three years.” She shifted in her seat to face him. “And I’ll save you the guesswork—I’m thirty-three. But I bet you already read that in the big fat file you probably have on me, right?”
“We’re the same age,” he said, dodging the question.
“I know. I have a big fat file on you, too.”
Erik tried to hide his annoyance. He’d underestimated her.
“I had a friend run a criminal background check on you and your teammates.” She paused. “What? I’m not about to shack up with a bunch of strange men twice my size without checking them out first.”
“So how’d I check out?”
“All clear. Except for last year’s speeding ticket in Virginia. Congratulations, you’ve been vetted.”
Vetted. She had no idea how much vetting he’d gone through during the course of his career.
She cast a sideways look at him. “You’re smiling. Something funny?”
“No.”
“You think I’m paranoid.”
“No, caution is good. Especially for someone like you. I wish more people would take commonsense precautions.”
“Someone like
me . . . meaning a single woman living alone?”
He caught the defensiveness in her voice.
“Someone in your job. Anyone involved in the criminal justice system needs to be careful. In my opinion.” He glanced at her. “Your picture’s been in the news, too, so that doesn’t help.”
He didn’t add that her boss was the worst kind of client. The man was a publicity hound, and his law firm was frequently in the media. Erik didn’t know if Brynn was like that, too.
“On the contrary, publicity helps a lot,” she said.
And there was his answer.
“How?”
“My client is young,” she said. “When we win this trial, he has a life to go back to, and I want to help him rehab his image. This kid is more than just a mug shot everyone’s seen on TV. But I digress.” She smiled. “We were talking about you.”
She seemed to like needling him.
“I also know you’re from Rockville, Maryland, and you were in the Marines before joining the Secret Service. Very impressive.” She paused, as if she expected him to say something. “How come you quit?”
The word “quit” rankled.
“Various reasons,” he said.
“So . . . the hours? The travel? Better money in the private sector?”
He could tell from the spark of interest in her eyes that she wasn’t going to let it go. And this was why he hated small talk.
“Something like that.”
“Sounds like there’s a story there.”
“There’s not.”
“Hmm. Well, I’ve spent a whole lot of time deposing people, and I happen to be pretty good at sensing when they don’t want to talk about something.”
“Maybe another time.”
“I knew it. But just tell me, you weren’t one of those guys who got fired for partying on the job, were you? Drugs and prostitutes?”
He shot her a look.
“Didn’t think so.”
She sounded pretty pleased with herself for boxing him into a conversational corner. And she sounded something else, too. Flirty? Maybe he was imagining it.
She slipped off her sandals and shifted on the seat, tucking her feet underneath her, and he noticed her red toenails.
Erik cleared his throat. “So tell me more about this trial you plan to win.”
Desperate Girls Page 5