by Melody Anne
“We’re staying in the L’Appartement Suite at the Ritz in Paris. We also have a two-hour couples massage appointment at the spa, a dinner at the Pierre Gagnaire, reservations for dinner at the Eiffel Tower and . . .” She stopped and gasped. “As if this isn’t impressive enough, we have a full behind-the-scenes tour of the Louvre.”
“Dang, that’s a lot,” Brackish said. It was a good thing Joseph had planned this trip because apparently he was a hell of a lot more romantic than Brackish was.
“Can we actually accept all of this?” Erin asked, gripping the papers so tightly it looked as if she was afraid if she let them go they’d evaporate.
Brackish cupped her cheek as he smiled. “I’ve been told it’s incredibly rude to refuse a gift. So I guess we’ll just have to suffer our way through it.”
“We might have to fight a little more often so we keep getting these trips,” Erin said with a giggle.
“No thank you,” Brackish told her. “I don’t want to ever fight again. I’ve truly missed you,” he admitted. The sweet smile she gave him told him he was exactly where he was supposed to be.
“I can’t believe anyone would go to this much effort for a virtual stranger,” Erin said.
“I’ve heard many stories about Joseph and his matchmaking, but I agree. This is beyond luxurious. His wife has been going through some pretty rough medical treatments. I think he needs to focus on anything else but this. We’re the benefactors of his distraction,” Brackish said.
“Is she going to be okay?” Erin asked.
“I researched a lot about it after spending the evening with Joseph. Right now, things look good, but complications can definitely occur. With the connections and unlimited recourses at the Andersons feet, though, she has a much better shot than many people,” Brackish said.
“I’m glad to hear that. What do you give as a thank you to someone who can afford all of this? I want Joseph and Katherine to know how much I appreciate it,” Erin said.
“I guess we’ll look around Paris and figure that out,” Brackish told her.
“It was odd but I was looking forward to being on a secret mission. I think maybe my life isn’t as fulfilling as I thought it was,” Erin admitted.
“What do you think that means?” Brackish asked.
“I don’t know yet. I have some serious soul searching to do,” she told him.
“Maybe it’s time to go back to school,” he said. He hoped she did that. Of course he’d looked at her transcripts and she was brilliant. There was nothing she couldn’t do if she truly wanted to. He hoped for her sake she did push forward.
“It might be time,” she said. “But for now I want to enjoy exceptional company and a once-in-a-lifetime trip.” She held her glass up again, smiling at him. He clinked his glass against hers.
“I think that’s a brilliant idea.” They both grinned. And then he leaned in and kissed her again. He pulled back reluctantly when the flight attendant reappeared.
“Are you ready for breakfast?” she asked.
“I’m starving,” Erin said.
Brackish internally groaned. He was ready for bed, that’s what he was ready for. But there was no way he was going to take any of this away from Erin. He wanted her to experience it all — and so much more.
They got their breakfast while they soared across the United States. It wouldn’t take them long before they’d be cruising over the Atlantic Ocean. It was amazing how they could start their day on one continent and end it on another.
When their food was taken away, Brackish stood and held out his hand. “Are you tired?” he asked, a gleam in his eyes that showed he was ready to do far more than sleep in that big, beautiful bed in the back.
“Oh yes, I’m tired,” she replied, a gleam of her own in her eyes. “I’m very tired.” He held her hand as he led her to the bedroom and securely shut the door. It had been too long since he’d shown her how much he desired her. He’d do it over and over again on this flight, and over the next few days in Paris. He had her back — and he didn’t think he’d ever let her go again.
Chapter Eighteen
“Good morning team,” Chad said as he walked into the conference room, his cup of coffee in one hand and a large box of donuts in the other. As he threw the box toward the center of the table the scene reminded him of what he’d watched on the Discovery channel. A bunch of piranhas had been thrown a fish that had been sliced open, and then the water had turned into an explosion of movement. The fish was demolished, and within seconds the water was calm again as if nothing had just happened. Not a single scale of that fish had remained.
The donuts shared a similar fate. Before the box made contact with the surface of the table Smoke caught it, ripped it open, grabbed two maple bars, then threw the box back onto the table. Sleep and Green tied on who had their hands on the box next, and neither of them were letting go. The tug-of-war lost steam as Eyes grabbed the first two donuts his hand reached while they fought for power over the box.
“Let go, you overgrown Ken doll,” Sleep grunted at Green.
“Never, you Frankenstein monster freak,” Green replied.
“If you two don’t stop, I’m going to take the rest,” Smoke said through a mouthful of maple bar.
Brackish, who was sitting next to Smoke, had been typing a million words a minute on his keyboard. That led to a lack of situational awareness from Smoke because he counted Brackish out of the race for the sweet treats. But suddenly Brackish swiped out like a viper and grabbed the half donut sitting on Smoke’s napkin. Before Smoke could react, the confection disappeared inside Brackish’s massive pie hole.
Sleep and Green saw the theft and formed an instant treaty. They knew it would only be moments before Smoke would come back into the fray, and the end result might be the two of them sharing crumbs.
“You son of a . . .” Smoke was scolding Brackish before his brain told him that time was of the essence, his focus shifting from the donut thief to what donuts were left.
All of the men began reaching inside the box, grabbing whatever they could. There was sugar and spice and everything nice crushed and flung about. The comedy in all of this was that they’d all eaten twenty minutes prior to the treats being delivered, and none of them were necessarily hungry. But they were all very competitive, just like siblings, and each wanted to be the winner.
They’d never act this way if they were in the public eye, but there was nothing to hold them back when they were in the privacy of their secret headquarters. Chad loved watching the men, how they related to each other, and how they handled situations. If they didn’t blow off some steam they’d explode — he knew that well. He was the same ten years earlier. He’d calmed over the years, especially as a husband and father now.
“That was entertaining,” Chad said with a laugh. “I filmed the entire event.”
“Are you trying to psychoanalyze us?” Green asked, wearing a smile that said he was more than satisfied with his bounty. For a guy who’d sold his last company for over one hundred million dollars, the fact that he was genuinely happy with a donut was remarkable.
“Always,” Chad said. “A team is only as good as its leader.”
“I agree with that. I wonder why we’re so good then,” Smoke said as he leaned back and grinned.
“Yeah, yeah,” Chad said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m a damn fine leader and you all know it.”
There were some laughs and a few nods. They’d rip at each other all day long, but they were indeed a team, and they respected each other and him. He couldn’t be happier with this job, or the guys who’d been chosen. He hoped as they added more people inside it wouldn’t hurt their dynamics. He’d have to be extra careful choosing who was brought in.
“Now that we’ve had our morning fun, let’s get down to business,” Chad said, letting them know that playtime was over
“It’s your show, Chug,” Eyes replied. When the team was out in the field, Eyes was in charge. When they were at this lo
cation, he turned the reins back to Chad with zero hesitation.
“Brackish, you’ve only been back a day, but we’re looking for an update on Damien as well as any other news the team might have,” Chad said.
“Yeah, he’s got an update. Like the battle of Thermopylae, his junk has been hammered by endless rounds of constant pressure, wave after wave trying to break him, and no rest between the demands of expecting him to give up. The burning in his lower regions gives the term Gates of Fire a whole new meaning. He’s now walking around like a hundred-thirty-year-old,” Sleep said with a hearty laugh.
The entire room shared in the humor and appreciated the reference to Steven Pressfield’s book, Gates of Fire, that every special operations operator had read sometime in their career. It was a great story of how to use the environment to your advantage when you were severely outnumbered in war.
“Har, har, har,” Brackish mock laughed at the joke. If he was being honest there was more than a little truth to it. His four-day jaunt with Erin had turned into an absolute sexcapade and she’d come close to wearing him out — a first for him.
He’d spent the night at her house after arriving back from Paris the night before, and they’d only gotten about four hours of sleep. This morning she’d woken him up ready to go another round. It was a long session, very long, and after they’d showered the sweat away, he’d been ready to call in sick and spend the entire day with her. How was it possible they couldn’t get enough of each other? Maybe because he’d truly thought he wouldn’t see her again.
When he was minutes away from the operation base, his cell phone had buzzed. It was a message from Erin reading, I’m sore, barely able to walk . . . and I love it. Brackish had grinned like a damn loon while giving his reply. Baby, I didn’t think it was possible to wear me out, but you might’ve just done it. He was in shock as his fingers tightened on the wheel with the desire to turn his vehicle around, which thankfully had been delivered to him at the airport when they’d returned. He hadn’t wanted the team to pick him up; he was too selfish with his time with Erin right now.
“Where in the hell did you go, Brackish?” Smoke asked, snapping Brackish’s gaze to Smoke’s. He was leaning back, grinning.
“I’m thinking about the operation,” Brackish quickly responded, getting a laugh from the entire table.
“Did you guys hear him singing Wrecking Ball as he walked in the doors this morning? I don’t think he was in his head quantifying numbers,” Sleep said.
“Yeah, and then he was humming, All of Me,” Green said. “I almost puked.”
“You obviously like the song if you knew what I was humming,” Brackish pointed out with a smirk.
Green threw his hand to his chest looking horrified. “Nope. Not me. I don’t do that love bullshit song thing. I’ve just heard it on the radio before I quickly change the station.”
“Nope. I think Green has a romantic side,” Smoke said. “You’d never have me humming a love song.”
“Says the man who likes to go to the spa. Will that be your first date with your future wife?” Eyes asked.
“Nope. No way, no how,” Smoke said. “I’ll bet a thousand dollars I’ll never marry.” He pulled out his walled and counted out ten one-hundred-dollar bills, slapping them on the table.
The other five men around the table, including Chad, reached into their wallets and threw down massive amounts of money. They each carried about five thousand on them at all times in case they had to move fast.
“Green, make a calendar. Winner closest to the day Smoke proposes wins. Don’t let Smoke see it so he can’t cheat,” Eyes said, going into team leader mode.
“On it,” Green said. “Easiest six thousand dollars I’ll ever make.
“This is better than Vegas,” Sleep said.
“Ohh, want to do a second bet on where the wedding will take place?” Green asked.
“Okay, you idiots, we do have actual work to accomplish,” Brackish said as he pulled up his computer and hit a few buttons before he continued. “Before I left, I created a wormhole with a type of malware, and I remotely embedded it into all of Damien’s electronics. While it’s not like a normal malware that destroys pieces of its host, or other hosts that connect to the first host, it does go out there and collects very specific types of information.”
“I’m going to pretend to know what you’re talking about,” Chad said with a smile. Of all the men there he knew the least about electronics. He’d always been the brute force man in the military, and while he could assemble and disassemble any gun set before him in a quarter of the time of most men, when a computer was put before him, his mind went into panic mode. He had zero desire to learn how to operate in the back programs. “How’s it working, and what information have you gathered?” Chad finished.
“It gave us a lot of data I’m working through now. Extrapolating it will take a good portion of the day but, let me tell you, from the little points I’ve been able to review, it makes me want to dig even deeper. There might be more to this with Damien than we expected,” Brackish said as he looked at each man.
“Shit,” Chad involuntarily let out. He’d been hoping the initial findings on Damien had been a fluke, and nothing would be found on one of the Anderson family members. Hearing Brackish say there was more to look into was a punch in the gut. His mind went to his conversation with Joseph, and he wasn’t at all excited about telling Joseph there was a good chance his nephew had turned crooked.
Of course, Damien hadn’t been raised with the Andersons, and he’d had a rough life. It wasn’t beyond the scope he’d do something like this. Even though he’d grown up in a horrific environment, Damien had still managed to make a lot of money and rise to the top of the pyramid in a relatively short time. Had he been crooked all along? It wasn’t something Chad wanted to face. Joseph wouldn’t take it well, none of the family would.
“I’m going to be hitting this hard today,” Brackish said to no one in particular, his focus returning to the monitor in front of him.
“That’s not the only thing you’ve been hitting hard,” Smoke said, a silkie-smooth smile following the last word.
Brackish laughed. “You guys need to get a life if you’re so bored you have to focus on mine. I feel sorry for you.” It felt good to be as happy as he was. He wasn’t embarrassed about his relationship — to the contrary, he was ecstatic. If he’d known a relationship could give him so much, he might’ve tried one long ago. He was glad he hadn’t because then he never would’ve met Erin.
Chad laughed hard, making all of the men turn his way.
“What is it?” Eyes asked.
“Joseph should be proud of himself; it looks like he did it again.”
“Did what again?” Green asked.
“He loves to be a matchmaker. My wife and I were total victims of his interference in getting together. I couldn’t even be mad at Joseph, though, because Bree’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
“He’s not going to try to match all of us, is he?” Smoke asked in horror, his grin fading as quickly as it had come.
Chad laughed again, so hard it hurt his stomach. “Smoke, if you could see your face right now, you’d be laughing too,” Chad said. “You look as if someone has just run over your dog, cat, and hamster, and then burned down your house.” He stopped for a second, then looked Smoke dead in the eyes. “I guarantee Joseph will find something up his sleeve for each and every one of you. Your on his team now, and anyone in his circle is subject to his matchmaking ways.”
It took a few seconds for the sick feeling to fade from Smoke’s face. But then he squared his shoulders and held Chad’s gaze. “He can try but I’m named Smoke for a reason. I’m crafty, fast, and uncatchable — and an old man won’t corner me.”
The whole table laughed again.
“Okay, this has been fun, but we still have work to do,” Chad told them. “The sooner we get the information portion of this meeting over, the sooner we get to the actio
n part.” Chad then went around the table asking for updates.
Chad was amused with Green’s musings of his boss at the docks. Green was set up as a junior manager of the dock warehouse. It was a joke of a position for someone who was in the middle of starting his second company when the call to join the special operations came in. In the real world, Green would go toe-to-toe in a boardroom or a battlefield, but in the position he currently had, he had to act as if he didn’t know anything about business. It drove him to the precipice of ripping out his well-maintained hair.
Over the weekend Green’s boss had asked him to come in and help with an unscheduled unloading of almost four hundred Conex trailers. That was nothing more than a mission for Green, but the kid boss loved every minute of his job — or more accurately loved being a lord over his minions. It was very difficult for Green not to punch him in the face. The kid was a pampered, know-less-than-nothing, mid-twenty-year-old kid of one of the big bosses upstairs. His arrogance grated on every nerve in Green’s body, and he needed the weekends to get away from his whiny voice. A man could only be responsible for so long before he snapped — and Green might snap.