Her companions were all friendly and quite the matchmakers, it would seem. Their conversations on different topics always seemed to include Brian in some manner. It was obvious, even to her, that they were talking him up. She could have told them not to bother since the man was clearly not interested in her for more than a brief fling—if that—but she didn’t. Instead, she found herself entertained by their stories of him and his brothers. They were a tight-knit family, and that caused a small ache in her chest. At least the Malone brothers’ uncle had been there for them after their parents died. Tess and Andy only had each other, and she’d been thrown into the role of parent to boot.
When they returned to the beach house about a half hour later, Dan handed her a business card for his hardware store. “My cell number is on the back. If you need anything, just give me a call or let Brian know.”
“I will. Thank you again for everything. You, too, Bonnie. The food you left for us is delicious.”
The older woman gave her a motherly hug. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. If you’re free on Saturday and would like to have lunch with us, stop by my shop on Main Street—it’s called Petals. Dan’s hardware store is a few doors down, and Grace’s physical therapy office is across the street, so we tend to meet at my place for lunch at noon on most days.”
“Thank you. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it this Saturday, but I’ll try. That’s the day when I usually do laundry. I hope you don’t mind me giving the washer and dryer a workout.”
Dan waved her off. “Don’t worry about it.”
She bid the trio farewell, then headed to the kitchen to do the dishes. As the sink filled with hot water, she wondered if Brian stopped by Petals for lunch on Saturdays too.
Shoving the unwanted thought from her head, she shook her head and chastised herself.
Stop daydreaming about the guy who doesn’t do relationships! Besides, you don’t have time for one either. Someday, but not now.
Chapter Ten
Brian and Rafe were both in foul moods when they finally sat at their desks in the investigation bureau around ten a.m on Wednesday. Their joint raid on a warehouse, six hours earlier, with the DEA and Dare County Police Department, hadn’t gone as smoothly as anyone would’ve liked. Shots were fired between law enforcement and some mid-level drug dealers who’d been using the abandoned building to funnel the drugs they received from a Colombian cartel out onto the streets. Three of the bad guys had been killed, with two more in surgery. Five others were relatively unscathed and under arrest. Meanwhile, a DEA agent had been shot clean through the thigh, and one of the Dare County sheriff’s deputies had taken a round in his elbow. The latter could be a career-ending injury, and the rest of the deputies, agents, and troopers were praying it wasn’t as bad as it’d looked.
Before Brian could begin his detailed report on the incident, his cell phone rang. It was Sean, and Brian knew better than not to answer it. He connected the call and brought the device to his ear while leaning back in his chair. “Hey, bro, I’m fine.”
“Glad to hear it, although I would’ve appreciated a call sooner. The DEA and deputies both took hits?”
“Yeah. Grossman from DCS might be out permanently, but it’s too early to tell.”
“That sucks.” It most certainly did. “Uncle Dan called me a little while ago, and I told him you were probably fine, since I hadn’t heard of any staties being injured, but give him a quick ring, will ya? The news is just reporting two LEOs were shot.”
Brian let out a heavy sigh. That was the one thing about his siblings and him being in law enforcement or the military. There was always the chance that the others and Uncle Dan would get a knock on their doors one day to learn a Malone brother had been killed on the job.
“I’ll call him after I hang up with you.”
“Good.” Sean paused. “So, how’re Tess and her brother doing in the beach house?”
“Fine, I guess.” That is, as long as Brian stayed away from the pretty woman he suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about. He had no idea what’d come over him the other night. One minute he’d been drying dishes, and the next he was kissing her.
“Brian.”
“Huh?” Apparently, he’d missed part of the conversation. He wished it were entirely because of his thoughts of Tess, but his brain also kept replaying the earlier gunfight. He refused to tell his family how he’d nearly gotten shot. A bullet had whizzed past his ear, close enough to heat the air, before thudding into a wooden crate stacked behind him. At the time, his adrenaline forced him to ignore it because there were still bad guys standing and shooting. But that whiz and thud echoed in his mind ever since the melee ended and the smoke cleared.
His brother snorted. “I said, Grace and Bonnie are going to swing by later to see if they need anything.”
“Oh, good.”
“Uh-huh. You sound distracted—I’ll let you get back to work. Talk to you later.”
It took a few moments for Brian to realize his brother had disconnected the call. There was nothing like a brush with death to remind you that you weren’t immortal. He’d been a mere inch or two from becoming another law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty that year.
After a quick call to Uncle Dan and a text to KC to let them both know he was fine, he set the cell phone on his desk and absentmindedly spun it in circles. The weird thing was, he wanted to call Tess just to hear her voice. He’d felt alive when he kissed her before realizing it was a lousy thing to do—hitting on a woman whose world had been turned upside down, and not for the first time in her young life. And yet, he wanted to feel that way again—alive.
“I just gotta get laid,” he murmured to himself. A one-night stand with some chick who wouldn’t expect a phone call the next day should do the trick.
“What’d ya say?” Rafe asked from the desk across from Brian’s.
He shook his head. “Nothing.” Pushing all thoughts of the shooting and a warm, soft woman who looked exactly like Tess Bingham from his mind, he booted up his computer.
As he typed his employee number and password, Assistant Director Wanda Marsh exited her office, stopped beside Brian’s desk, and addressed the entire bullpen. “Sorry, everyone, but your reports will have to wait. Throw your tactical uniforms on. A mob descended on DCS headquarters over this shooting. They need all hands on deck.”