“Really?”
He shrugged slightly. “Yeah.”
Parris wasn’t exaggerating when she said Brick was a player. He just admitted it himself. “That’s kind of gross. How many women have you had sex with?”
His jaw tightened and a muscle twitched in his cheek, which was not a good sign. “How many men have you had sex with?”
Londyn raised her hand and counted them off in her head and on her fingers. When she was done, she answered, “Seven,” as she studied him. Why did he look surprised? Should it be more? Less? Then it hit her. Hot military man. King of “swipe right” hookups. Her gut twisted. “I bet that’s just a typical week for you.”
He showed zero shame when he admitted, “It depends on my schedule.”
Damn. If he was trying to change her mind, to discourage her interest, he succeeded. “You’re right. I don’t want to have sex with you anymore. Thanks for the real talk.”
“We’re stuck in this house together, Londyn, for who knows how long. I can’t have you leaving in the middle of this assignment because of something I did... or didn’t do.”
“You think I can’t handle a random hookup with you.”
“That’s the problem. It wouldn’t be random. You aren’t just a face on a hookup app. I’d have to face you every morning. You’re sleeping in my bed.”
“Your bed?”
“The bed.”
“Basically you’re saying that once we have sex you’ll no longer want to share the same bed.”
“I’m saying it could get awkward and we’re stuck with each other.”
“You already convinced me not to sleep with you, so you don’t need to keep trying.”
“I’m trying to convince myself.”
With pursed lips, Londyn stared at him. He probably wasn’t used to turning down sex. Or even avoiding it. He was right, it was probably best they didn’t take it there because it could get messy. Since that was now a dead horse, they needed to stop beating it. “As much as I’d like you to stay only wearing those,” she waved a hand around in front of him, “shorts, why don’t you go shower while I start breakfast, then we can plan our attack. Maybe while we eat, you can give me some pointers on what a good spy does.” She moved away from him and went to grab a mug. She hoped he had brewed the coffee strong.
“That’s easy. Act natural, blend in and ask questions in a way that doesn’t raise suspicions.”
“I doubt it’s that easy.”
“You build a persona that’s believable. One that will give us access to their house and their life.”
She huffed out a breath. “Again, sounds soooo easy.”
“Just be yourself, Londyn.”
“You mean the woman who was easily fooled, living a lie and too clueless to realize it?” She closed her eyes and sighed. Another dead horse she needed to stop beating. She’d decided she needed to move on, so she really needed to stick with that plan. Hell, she might end up being good with this undercover thing and have a whole new career ahead of her. It would probably pay a whole lot better than being a substance abuse counselor. She could see it now...
Londyn Gregory, International Discoverer of Lies and Deceit.
She only wished she discovered Kevin’s lies and deceit a lot sooner.
Damn it.
She jumped when a soft “hey” was whispered nearby. She opened her eyes to see Brick standing in front of her, his face tipped down to hers. How could he move so damn quietly?
She lifted her eyes to his.
“Stop beating yourself up about it. The minute you found out, you took action.” A little grin curled his lips. “By beaning him over the head with a lamp and shooting his ass.”
“He deserved worse.”
“He’s lucky you didn’t plug him between the eyes.”
“I thought about it but realized he wasn’t worth the prison time. And I don’t think I’d look good in an orange jumper. Plus, as much as I want to give up men, I don’t think I can join the other side.”
“The other side?”
“Be a lesbian. I mean, I have some women crushes. Don’t we all? But to actually follow through by—”
“Londyn,” Brick groaned. “Stop. I’m struggling with my decision as it is. Don’t put that vision of you being with another woman in my head.”
“Are you a sex addict?”
“If I was a sex addict, we wouldn’t be standing down here in the kitchen right now. I would’ve dragged you upstairs the second you made that offer and—”
His gaze dropped and he blew out a soft breath.
She knew exactly what he was looking at. At his words of him dragging her upstairs like a horny caveman, her nipples had decided that sounded hot as hell.
In fact, for a split second, her brain had forgotten he’d probably slept with four point two million women.
But only for a split second.
“I’m gonna go shower,” he muttered and took a step back. He took one more good look at her, then turned and rushed from the room.
“I’ll start breakfast,” she yelled.
“Give me at least twenty,” she heard yelled back. “No, thirty. Fuck!”
Londyn grinned.
Chapter Five
“We never talked about our background. Do we have jobs? Do we leave for work every day? Am I a housewife?”
Brick frowned at the foreign object on his left ring finger. It felt like a fucking noose. “Yeah, you’re a housewife,” he answered distractedly. “I’m an IT nerd who works from home.”
“What kind of IT nerd?”
He pulled his attention back to Londyn, who was staring at him, hands planted on her curvy hips encased in tan shorts that stopped mid-thigh. His gaze lifted once more, taking in the hot pink polo top that hugged her tits and the open buttons that didn’t leave much to the imagination when it came to her generous cleavage.
He had talked her out of having sex with him, which proved he truly was a stupid ass. “I don’t know. What kind of IT nerd works from home?”
She turned her blue eyes up toward the ceiling and tapped her finger against her bottom lip as she contemplated his question. “Maybe a software engineer?”
“Fuck, he’d better not ask me for help with his computer. Because then we’re sunk.”
Londyn shrugged and Brick watched that cleavage jiggle. Just like a bowl full of Jell-O. Damn, he was suddenly craving Jell-O.
“If he does, then you tell him you can’t do whatever he needs you to do at his house. You need to bring the computer over here or something. Then, bonus, you have access to his files.”
“I doubt he put ‘kill wife’ on his Google Calendar.”
Londyn rolled her eyes. “Who would’ve expected him to shack up with his lover so soon after killing his wife, either? We all do dumb things.”
Brick glanced again at the wedding band on his finger. Yes, they did.
Luckily, it was only temporary. In fact, their plan to head over to the neighbors had to be postponed so they could run out to the nearest pawn shop to grab wedding rings. Instead of buying her a band—since they couldn’t find one in her size—Londyn moved an antique diamond ring that had been her grandmother’s from her right hand to her left. It would pass for her wedding ring.
But when slipping on his plain silver band in the parking lot of the pawn shop, his chest had gotten tight. Just like the noose on his finger.
Now that they were back from their errands, he was anxious to go two houses down to meet Mr. Christopher Kramer and, most likely, his female accomplice.
While they were out earlier, Londyn had made him stop at a thrift shop and buy some clothes that were not cargo pants, camo or jeans.
He tugged once more on the khaki shorts which felt like they lifted and separated his balls. It was not a feeling he liked and worried about chafing.
“Stop fussing,” she said. “You look nice and like an IT nerd. Almost...”
She came up to him, snagged the chain at his neck and pulle
d his dog tags out from the polo shirt he wore, not in matching hot pink, but navy blue. Thank fuck. Pretending or not, he did not want to be one of those couples.
As she began to slip his dog tags over his head, he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “What are you doing?”
“You can see them under your shirt. You’re supposed to be an IT nerd.”
“There are IT nerds who have done time in the military.”
“That look like you?”
He grinned. “Maybe not.”
He gritted his teeth as she finished pulling his tags over his head. Not wearing them made him feel vulnerable. So, he snagged them from her and tucked them into his pocket. If he couldn’t wear them around his neck, for now he’d keep them somewhere on his person.
She tilted her head and studied his face. “You need glasses yet. Too bad we didn’t grab fake ones while we were out.”
“I don’t need fake ones. I have the real thing.”
As she stared at him in surprise, her mouth opened and then shut before opening again to ask, “Where?”
“In my duffel. I wear contacts.”
Londyn leaned in, close enough that he could pick up her scent, and locked her eyes with his. “Damn. You do. I hadn’t noticed. I guess the rest of you was distracting me.” She frowned. “I would think Navy SEAL snipers required perfect vision.”
“They do.”
“Then how do you wear contacts?”
“Shit changes the older you get, Londyn.”
“On you? You could have fooled me.”
“My eyesight when I enlisted at eighteen, or even when I entered SEAL training, is not the same as my eyesight now almost twenty years later.”
“Did they kick you out when your eyesight began to go?”
“No. I left before it got bad enough for corrective lenses.”
“And that’s why you left?”
“No.” And that was where he was shutting down this line of questioning.
“Then why—”
“We need to get going. Let’s finish this conversation about being Mr. and Mrs. before we do.”
Londyn quickly wiped away the disappointment on her face and got back to the important shit. Thank fuck. Because the last thing he wanted to do is have a conversation about why he left the Navy. When he said earlier that he didn’t want her to hate him, he meant it. And his reason why he left might not give her the warm fuzzies.
She clapped her hands together once. “Okay, so I’m the little missus and you’re the breadwinner as a software engineer for a company in which their software is proprietary and you can’t talk about your work.”
“Perfect,” he murmured, studying her. At first glance, someone might think she was a bit dingy along with being impulsive, but she was quickly proving otherwise. But it would be best if she acted that way with the neighbors. “I need you to act a bit spacy.”
“Spacy?”
“Like an airhead. All looks, no brains.”
“Why?”
“Because it will be easier to deflect questions asked of you or answer them with nonsense answers. Also, you can ask them questions and they’ll probably excuse some of the more pointed ones thinking you don’t know better.”
“Am I supposed to be rude?’
“No. We’re well-off and you’re just my arm candy.”
Londyn snorted. “I never would’ve thought I’d ever be arm candy.”
“Londyn, you’ve got it going on.” Why she had trouble seeing that, he didn’t know.
She smiled and he blinked at how bright it was just from a simple compliment. Damn, why the fuck did he talk her out of having sex with him again?
“How long have we been married? Are we newlyweds and can’t stand to be apart?”
“No, I think we should be more of a seasoned couple.”
“Do we need to know each other’s favorite color? Song? How about a habit we hate?”
“No one’s going to ask you what my fucking favorite color is.”
She shrugged. “You never know.”
“Then pick one. Same with the habit. We need to head over there before it gets too late.”
“Fine. Get your glasses.”
With a nod, he turned and sprinted up the steps, not liking how his khaki shorts rode up his ass crack when he did so.
He removed his contacts, which he rarely ever did, and slapped on his glasses before heading back downstairs.
The glasses, the polo shirt, the shorts, the goofy-assed shoes...
As he hit the foyer, he heard a gasp. He turned to see Londyn staring at him. “Of course you’d make glasses look hot as hell.”
He feigned a frown. “Do I?”
“You know you do. Don’t play coy. But you still don’t look like an IT nerd.”
“It’ll have to do.”
“True. And you have to look good enough to warrant me as your arm candy.”
He shook his head and laughed. “Right.” He held out his hand to her. “Ready?”
Londyn slapped her hand in his and nodded. “Ready.”
He squeezed her fingers and muttered, “Let’s do this.”
“Hoorah!”
“No. Just... fucking... no.”
“Let me do the talking,” Brick mumbled under his breath after pushing the doorbell. Her hand gripped his so hard, he was surprised she hadn’t broken his fingers yet. “Let up.”
“I’m nervous.”
No shit.
“Don’t be, just be yourself,” he told her again and shook their clasped hands.
“Shit. We never decided how long we were married—”
Too late because one side of the double front doors swung inward and a tall man, in what looked like his early thirties, with dark brown hair, dark eyes and wearing a frown, filled the doorway.
Brick slapped on a friendly smile, but before he could greet the man, Londyn spurted out, “Hi! We just moved in a couple doors down.”
Son of a bitch.
“I’m—”
He squeezed her hand hard enough to make her squeak. “This is my wife... Gertrude.” She squeezed it back just as hard. “And I’m—”
“My husband Seamus.”
Brick choked.
The man’s dark eyebrows went low. “Can I help you with something?”
“We—”
Brick cut Londyn off. “Gertie here wanted to meet all the neighbors and you’re our first stop. We hope we’re not interrupting.”
The man studied the two of them on the front stoop, his dark brown eyes lingering on Londyn longer than Brick liked.
While annoying, he might be able to use that interest later.
Christopher Kramer leaned out of the doorway and looked toward the house they had rented. He jerked his chin at it. “You bought that house?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t see them move out the furniture.”
“They didn’t. We bought it furnished because we recently sold our last home which was much smaller and we—”
“We upgraded, since Seamus is doing so well now,” Londyn finished with a smile. She slid one arm around Brick’s waist and patted his polo-covered stomach. “I’m so proud of him. He’s such a hard worker.”
Brick dipped his head to give Londyn a kiss on the forehead. “Thank you, muffin.”
She jerked against his side.
Again, Kramer’s gaze landed on Londyn and stayed there when he said, “Welcome to the neighborhood. It’s quiet and we’d like to keep it that way.”
Damn.
“Oh, yes. Well, we don’t have children, so you won’t hear us... Unless Seamus here is feeling extra randy.” She topped that off with an airhead giggle and another pat to his stomach. “But I promise to keep my enthusiasm to a low roar.”
“I’ll gag her if I have to.” When that comment drew Kramer’s attention to Brick, he gave the man a knowing wink. “How long have you lived here?”
“Less than a year.”
“You’re newcomers, too?�
�� Londyn asked on a super-happy squeal and a slight bounce on her toes. Her eyes widened and she asked, “Have you met the rest of the neighbors?”
“No, everyone minds their own business.”
“Oh, well, Seamus and I like to entertain. With having a pool now and a beautiful outside kitchen area, we plan on entertaining more often. We’d love for you and your... wife...?”
“Girlfriend,” Kramer volunteered.
“Girlfriend to join us,” she finished.
That a girl.
“In fact, I’d love to meet her. When we moved, I was sad to leave my friends behind, but I’m looking at this change as a chance to make new ones. Friends more at our,” Londyn leaned in toward Kramer and dropped her voice low, “level, if you get what I’m saying.” She gave him an exaggerated wink.
That wink, along with her smile, opened Kramer’s expression a little more. “I understand. You always want to surround yourself with successful, like-minded people.”
“What do you do?” Brick asked, pulling Londyn back into his side before she licked Kramer’s arm.
“The stock market. I trade for a living.”
Brick let out a low whistle. “You must do really well to have a place like this. You might have to give me some pointers. I’ve got money I need to invest. It’s just stagnating in a low-interest bearing account.”
Kramer arched a brow at Brick. “What do you do?”
“I’m a software engineer.”
Kramer’s gaze slid back to Londyn. “And you?”
Londyn dropped her head and then gazed up at him coyly through her eyelashes. “I stay home and take care of Seamus.”
That lit up Kramer’s eyes like a fireworks finale on the Fourth of July.
Brick dropped an arm around Londyn’s shoulder and squeezed her tight, pressing his lips to her temple, murmuring, “Muffin takes good care of me.”
“And your girlfriend?” Londyn asked, patting Brick’s stomach again.
“Barb works from home as an editor.”
“Oooh!” Londyn cried out, bouncing on her toes again. “What kind of editor? For a magazine?”
Guts & Glory: Brick (In the Shadows Security Book 6) Page 6