Chance shot his twin a raised-eyebrow look. Logan shrugged and sat back, his elbows on the table.
“Part of the reason we’re sticking around does have to do with our roots, but there’s been an interesting development. You know that we opened the file you sent us, just to have a look at what we’d be getting into once we got to it. The interesting development is the other new resident of Lusty, Texas, we met at lunch today. Also a fellow New Yorker, a very attractive woman by the name of Bailey James.” Chance fixed his gaze on his brother as he waited for Porter Wells’s reaction.
“Well. That is an interesting development.”
“How dangerous is she?”
“Dangerous? I suppose that depends on your definition of the word.”
Chance shook his head. “We only scanned the initial intake form. We know she was employed by a man who is on the watch list, the one whose business we’re about to excavate, financially speaking. Was she involved with him before she quit?”
“Depends on what you mean by ‘involved.’”
Chance rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why Porter was being cagey. He wasn’t, usually. “We don’t mean involved in the romantic sense.”
“We’ve finished our deep background checks on all of the persons involved with Dirk Townsend.” Sounds coming over the line told Chance that Porter was rummaging through papers. “I can tell you that Bailey James has never set a foot wrong in her life. Now, did Townsend set her up and use her? Did he romance her and convince her to cross over to the dark side? Is she either knowingly or unknowingly a part of his scheme—whatever the hell this latest one of his turns out to be? At this point, your guess is as good as mine.”
“Gee, thanks a whole hell of a lot there, Mr. Wells.” Chance laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You’re the professional spook. You’re our handler. A little direction here would be nice.”
Porter Wells didn’t offer direction. He only posed a question. “What are your instincts telling you, Chance?”
“That we both want to get to know her better, and that has nothing at all to do with business.” It never occurred to Chance to lie to the man. They’d known Wells for several years and had built a solid relationship with him. Chance had always figured Porter Wells knew more about them than they did themselves, but that went with the territory. There was more at stake than their so-called sensibilities, egos or rights to privacy. Some commitments, especially ones to the greater good, required a greater investment than others.
“Then go with that. Get to know the lady better. Consider that an order. Where are you staying in Lusty?”
“With Grandma Kate, at the moment.” Chance met Logan’s gaze again. His brother’s slight nod told him they were on the same page. “They’ve been dropping hints that they’d like us to stay for an extended visit. I think we’ll see if there’s an apartment to rent. Sort of set up our own space here for the duration.”
“Yes, go ahead and do that. Use our secure server for all of your work and for sending any e-mails—even ones unrelated to the case. If there are any fresh developments on this end, I’ll let you know.”
“So, you don’t really believe she’s dangerous?”
“I can’t answer that, Chance. I’ve never met the woman. My best advice is to—”
“Stay alert.” Chance finished Wells’s sentence for him. It was the same thing their handler always said to them.
“Stay alert and be prepared. I’ll remind you that Texas has open carry laws and your paperwork is on file should you opt for concealed carry.”
The connection ended, and Chance slipped the cell phone into his pocket. “I didn’t expect him to tell us to go ahead and carry, if we want, and that our concealed carry permits are up to date. Hell, we didn’t even bring our weapons.”
“If it comes to that, I’d rather strap on a gun than conceal it, even if we do have the permits.” Then Logan frowned. “We’re assuming that we can obtain guns here fairly easily, being family and all.”
“We could always ask Grandma Kate. Maybe we could just tell everyone how relieved we are that we can open carry here, as opposed to back home. We have seen a few folks with handguns in holsters in town.”
Logan nodded. “Yeah, we could probably do that.”
“Yeah. But the truth? I’m not certain I want to take our alert status to that level. At least, not yet. Have the guns, yes. That makes sense. Carry them? That’s another question.”
“We’re not NSA field agents. We’re just forensic accountants working under contract for the NSA.” Logan sighed. “I don’t think Bailey James is dangerous—at least not to life and limb. But those are the instincts of a man and an accountant, not the instincts of an NSA agent.”
Chance laughed. “Which we’re not, really. Let’s follow Porter’s other directive and get to know the lady, first. Pursue what our instincts are telling us to pursue. We can see what happens from there.”
Logan grinned. “We’ll ask Grandma Kate if she knows who we can get in touch with about an apartment. We’ve already been here a longer than we originally planned, and while I’m having the time of my life, I’d appreciate the freedom of a separate residence.”
Logan didn’t have to explain himself because Chance felt the same way. They’d rather have the privacy of their own place to work when they needed to. Or, conversely, to play when they wanted to. The image of Bailey James formed front and center in his imagination. There was no doubt that he and his brother would both very much like to play with Bailey.
The most immediate question was whether or not she’d like to play with them, too.
Chapter Five
“I believe you have some not-so-secret admirers sitting at table ten, girlfriend.”
Laci’s whispered words, wrapped in laughter, accompanied the glasses she placed on her tray. Bailey met the other woman’s gaze and couldn’t help but notice not only the amusement in her eyes but the curiosity she wore.
What Bailey didn’t do was look over toward the two men sitting at table ten. She knew very well who those so-called admirers were because she’d watched them come in and then sit down in her section just a few moments before.
Chance and Logan Benedict had shown up during her shift every day she’d been at work here at Angel’s Roadhouse for the past week. They’d been nothing but polite, even while flirting outrageously with her. If not for their accents, she would have sworn they were Texan alpha males, through and through.
Careful to give nothing of her thoughts away, Bailey nodded. “I saw them when they came in. I’ll get to their table after I deliver these drinks.”
Bailey didn’t know what Laci saw in her expression just then, but it made her friend leave teasing behind. “May I ask a personal question?”
“Of course.” Bailey met her gaze, the concern surprising her.
“Are they harassing you? I’ve met them, and they seemed like really nice guys, and they are cousins, after a fashion. But if they’re being assholes to you…”
Bailey’s eyes widened. “What?” When she realized Laci must have misread her own cues, she felt shame wash through her. The truth was there really was no reason for her to have been ignoring those two men for the past week, except maybe one.
They got to her, both of them, but not in a threatening way.
“No! No, they’ve been nothing but polite. And this is the only place where I encounter them. It’s not like they’re stalking me or anything. It’s just…” Unable to finish the sentence, Bailey placed her hand on her abdomen, hoping to settle the butterflies that always seemed to take flight whenever those two Benedicts, both of them too sexy by half, came anywhere near her.
She’d never been a woman looking to hook up. She’d never particularly been interested in having a relationship with the male of the species, not since Johnny Truman dumped her at the end of their senior year of high school. She’d been serious about him, had given him her heart and her virginity, only to discover, in the end, she wasn’t as
important to him as he was to her.
He’d wanted her available to party every night, but she’d needed to tend to her mother.
Laci looked down to where Bailey’s hand lay and then met her gaze. “Then I’m going to suggest that you deliver these drinks to your customers and then go on over there, sit down, and talk to them. Because life is short, my friend. And you never know what could happen until you take that first step.”
Too many what-if scenarios ran through Bailey’s mind, one after the other. It felt like minutes since Laci had made her suggestion, even though Bailey knew it had been only seconds.
“C’mon, girlfriend. Stick your toes in the water,” Laci said. The older woman smiled. “Don’t make me double dog dare you.”
What could Bailey say to that? If she was honest with herself, it was what, deep down inside, she longed to do. A lifetime of just going through the motions and focusing only on duty bred habits that were not only not very healthy, they were damned hard to break.
Every journey begins with a single step. Bailey sighed. She must be desperate if her psyche was throwing clichés her way. “All right, I will.” Brave words, but then her gaze went to the diners awaiting their drinks and their meals.
Laci anticipated her token protest before she uttered it. “I’ll be by to take your orders and take care of the rest of your customers. Now, go on with you. Take that first step.”
Bailey picked up the tray and met Laci’s gaze. When Laci winked, Bailey understood that was her friend’s way of letting her know she’d be close by in case she needed any moral support.
That kind of friendship, the kind Laci Benedict had extended the first day they’d met, was something Bailey hadn’t realized she’d missed, something she hadn’t known she’d needed. Not until it fell into her lap.
Bailey delivered the drinks—four bottles of beer and six glasses of sweet tea—letting her customers know that Laci would serve their lunch orders when they were ready. Then she set her tray on the shelf beneath the coffee station. Her gaze was on the table, in sight of the bar, that those two Benedicts from New York had staked out and called their own. She wiped suddenly damp hands on the cotton apron that covered the front of her black pants and inhaled deeply.
She didn’t think. She just set one foot in front of the other and went to them.
Bailey met first Chance’s gaze and then Logan’s. She didn’t know why she felt so nervous.
“Good afternoon, beautiful Bailey,” Chance said.
“Hey.” One word in response, but she said it with a smile.
Logan flashed a quick glance over his shoulder toward the bar. “Do you have time to sit?”
Bailey exhaled. “As a matter of fact, I do. It’s my break time.” Sounds better than saying his cousin is covering for me so I can do just that. There was no sense in making herself even more vulnerable than she already was.
“Please join us?” Chance slid over, making lots of room. She’d have one brother beside her and one across from her. And she’d be free to get up and leave if she needed to. Don’t you mean run away? Bailey clamped down on her thoughts.
No more thinking. Thinking usually resulted in her not doing anything, in the end. In that moment, Bailey confronted the truth that she was nothing if not a big, fat coward.
“Thanks, I will.” She slid into the booth and immediately felt surrounded by their warmth and their strength.
For a woman who’d not that long ago run away from the only home she’d ever known, scared half to death, their warmth and strength were alluring qualities.
“Do we make you nervous?” Logan’s question pulled her out of her own thoughts.
“Yes, you do. But that’s on me.” She understood she owed them an explanation. “I’m not used to…men flirting with me.” Can you sound anymore pathetic? Bailey blinked. She didn’t know where that voice came from, that voice that always slapped her in the face. But she was getting damned tired of hearing it.
“Makes me ashamed of all the men back home,” Chance said.
“And yet, happy as hell at the same time.” Logan grinned then tossed her a saucy wink.
Bailey exhaled. Being intrinsically honest had its drawbacks. “No, that’s probably on me, too.” She shrugged. “From high school until two years ago, I worked and I took care of my mother. She had COPD, and in the last few years of her life, she needed a lot of help. We only had each other.”
“And family comes first.” Chance nodded. “That’s one more thing we have in common, Bailey James.” Then he touched her shoulder lightly. “Does it bother you that there are two of us?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand the question. “I don’t know if ‘bother’ is the right word. Until I came here, I never really gave much thought that there could be alternative relationships.”
She watched as the brothers seemed to share a moment of Zen and wondered if they would share their thoughts.
“You’re not the only one. We didn’t know our own family history, not until we arrived a couple of weeks ago.” Logan looked over at Chance.
“When we did, we felt relieved. Back in college, we had a relationship with a woman, one that felt so right to us both. She left us because experiencing a ménage had simply been something on her bucket list. We’ve both, individually, dated a bit since then, but neither of us felt that sense of rightness again…not until we met you.”
Bailey had learned to recognize players because there’d been a few come-ons in her life, and it took only one time to snap her personal shields in place. She examined her feelings and couldn’t say she thought these two were players…exactly.
“If you’re not attracted to us, if you’re not a little curious, we’ll leave you be,” Logan said.
The ball was definitely in her court—and what the hell was with all these mental clichés? Bailey looked up and watched Laci finish setting clean glasses into their overhead holders and head to the kitchen. The other woman had been open about her own backstory, how she’d come to Lusty to get away from her own past and had dared to reach for something she’d never known she wanted.
Bailey was standing at the biggest crossroads of her life. She’d kept her focus off herself for most of her years on this planet. But there really was no reason to do that anymore. She had only herself, and wasn’t that a damn shame at her age?
She looked from Logan to Chance. “I am attracted. I’m attracted to the both of you, and I have no idea what to do about it.”
Chance opened his right hand, and Logan reached across with his left. Their invitation was simple, and one Bailey could accept.
The butterflies in her belly began aerial maneuvers as the heat from these two dynamic men began to seep into her soul when she laid her hands in theirs.
“One day at a time, Bailey.” Chance squeezed her fingers gently. Logan did the same.
Bailey nodded. “Okay. One day at a time.” She only hoped this was the first step toward something wonderful and not the beginning of the worst mistake of her life.
* * * *
“I thought you were only visiting Lusty for a few weeks.”
Chance grinned. He’d just brought his car to a stop in the driveway of a tidy Victorian on Park Lane—just down from the Bed and Breakfast. As of a few days before, this house had become his—his and his brother’s—for as long as they wanted to use it. “We’d only expected to be here for a week, maybe two, tops. We had no idea how much family we had here or how…seductive life here would be for us.”
He wondered if Bailey would ask about the seductive element, but it was as if that comment had gone right over her head. Instead she looked up at the house and then nodded.
“I guess having your own accounting business means that you can work anywhere. You don’t ever have to see your clients face to face, do you?”
“Not even to get their signatures. We can conduct all of our business electronically.” Logan nodded then indicated the house. “We asked Grandma Kate if there was an apartme
nt to rent, and Jake gave us the choice of one or this house. So, we picked this.”
“I like my apartment,” Bailey said. “Jake was the one who showed it to me, and he had a lease in hand at the time. He must have known I’d sign.”
“He’s the administrator of something called the Town Trust,” Chance said. “I’m not completely sure what all that entails.”
“I like him.” Bailey grinned. “And I think he and his brother and their wife like me, too.” There was a definite sparkle in her eyes.
“As if we didn’t know that the first day we met,” Logan said, “by the way they were right there to defend you over lunch.”
Chance laughed, delighted that Bailey did, as well. Then he shrugged. “We did come on a little strong that day. I chalk it up to our not being separated long enough from the full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes mind-set of home.” Then he reached for her left hand while Logan picked up her right one. Just like the other day at the roadhouse, it felt so damn good to have her between him and his brother, even in as innocent a way as this. “We’re sorry about that—sorry if we came on too strong and upset you.”
“I accept your apology. The truth is there is a world of difference between here and New York. I noticed it my first week in Texas.” Bailey gave them each a smile, and Chance felt himself beginning to relax for the first time since they’d made the decision to court her.
Court is an old-fashioned word that usually leads to a ring and a promise. Chance acknowledged the inner thought. He didn’t know what surprised him more—that he’d had it or that it didn’t make him panic.
Bailey looked up at the front door of their house and then down at the sidewalk. He recognized her nervousness before she lifted her head to look at him and his brother.
She cleared her throat. “So, um…is this where you show me your etchings?”
The blush on her face was the most genuine thing Chance had ever seen. He looked over at Logan. His brother could be very smooth when he wanted to be.
Love Under Two Accountants [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5