Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker Off the Books #4) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,12

up the ghost when his stomach pitched again.

The headache had to go before he—

“Let me help you.”

Reese.

A foreign sense of relief swept over him as he crawled back into the bed. “I thought you were gone.”

“Went to get this.”

Brantley’s eyes were closed, so he couldn’t see what Reese was referring to. Then there was something cold against the side of his neck, and Reese’s hand was curling beneath his head, lifting it and adjusting the pillow so he could tuck the cold can at the base of his skull.

Never had he considered using a cold can to alleviate the pain until Reese. Oddly enough, the home remedy did help. Some.

When he felt the mattress dip, he reached for Reese, sliding his hand over Reese’s knee and exhaling slowly.

“Sleep,” Reese urged.

The last thing he remembered before he drifted off was how good Reese’s fingers felt as they massaged his temples.

Chapter Three

Thursday, December 24, 2020

The following morning, Reese was up before the sun. He managed to extricate himself from the bed without waking Brantley, hoping to give him a couple more hours of uninterrupted sleep. The migraine had proven to be brutal, which was par for the course, and Reese knew Brantley hadn’t slept soundly because of it.

“You ready, girl?” Reese asked when he got to the living room to find Tesha curled up in her bed. “Wanna go for a run?”

That got her attention, and instantly Tesha was up, her entire body wagging with excitement.

She did love her morning exercise.

“All right. Lemme grab my shoes.”

It only took a moment to pull on his shoes, tie them, get Tesha harnessed, and then they were out the door. The air was thick with humidity, dulling the chill that would’ve otherwise been there. Reese yanked his hood over his head, then took a minute to stretch.

This morning he opted to forgo music. There were some days he needed the motivation, others when he preferred only the sound of his breathing. It allowed him to blank his mind, forcing away all thoughts, all worries. They would be there when he was finished.

“Come on, girl. Let’s do this,” he said, taking off from the porch, Tesha trotting along beside him.

For now, this was what he needed.

Two hours later, Reese was sitting, laptop and coffee in front of him, at one of the empty desks in the barn, skimming through his emails when the door opened and Brantley strolled in. The tension lines in his face had eased and his eyes were clear.

“Headache gone?”

“Finally.” Brantley stopped, pinned Reese with a skeptical glare. “Why exactly are you here? You do know it’s Christmas Eve, right?”

“I do know that, yes. But you were sleepin’ and I needed somethin’ to do. Plus…” Reese nodded his chin in the direction of the second floor.

“I won’t bother to ask why she’s here,” Brantley grumbled.

Reese hadn’t either. Last time he’d questioned JJ about why she was at work when she should’ve been enjoying her personal time, she’d nearly taken his head off.

“Did you get breakfast?” he asked Brantley.

“Bagel.” The frown on his face told Reese he wasn’t enthused with his morning nourishment.

Usually Reese cooked something for them after their morning run. But since he’d been solo this morning, he’d settled for overnight oats and a bowl of fruit. Not to mention, there were times when strong smells would unsettle Brantley’s stomach, and Reese had been wanting to avoid that, too.

“Please tell me there’s coffee.” Brantley started toward the small kitchenette they used mainly for their daily java.

“It’s fresh,” he said, his words punctuated by the sound of the dog door slapping closed, followed by, “Tesha!”

Reese looked up, saw JJ snarling from her second-floor loft, her shout still echoing in the wide-open space.

“Dadgum dog!”

If Reese didn’t know better, he would think Tesha had it out for JJ.

Now that he thought about it, maybe it was Tesha paying JJ back for her overreaction to Reese’s simple questions, like why are you working on your day off?

Reese grinned. Tesha was proving to be a loyal dog.

“Where’s my shoe?” JJ demanded before hobbling down the stairs.

“Why were your shoes off in the first place?” Brantley asked when he stepped into view, glancing from JJ to Reese, then back again, the look on his face priceless. He clearly could not fathom how JJ could possibly be wandering around without her shoes on.

Then again, their team leader wasn’t known for his ability to relax and chill. Being a retired Navy SEAL, Brantley Walker had one main setting: intense. If