Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker Off the Books #4) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,13

he was out of bed, he generally had shoes on, along with all of his clothes—which consisted mostly of cargo pants and T-shirts these days. And on occasion, he’d pair some Levi’s or Wranglers with those T-shirts. Those rare times Brantley wandered around barefoot usually meant he was either suffering from a headache or urging Tesha to go outside to do her business or he scented bacon and couldn’t wait long enough to throw on clothes before he chowed down.

It was in those rare moments when Brantley was caught unawares that Reese found him ridiculously hot. More so than usual.

To his credit, Brantley did run the governor’s task force, a group developed for the sole purpose of finding missing persons within the state of Texas, like a well-oiled machine. And unlike many bosses, Brantley wouldn’t take full responsibility for the good the team had done. When it came to praise, he insisted it was a joint effort.

On the other hand, Brantley had no qualms taking the heat when they’d done something wrong. Reese figured that was something ingrained in him during his time in the Teams. Brantley was used to being held accountable for his own actions as well as those he led.

As far as Reese was concerned, Brantley was a damn fine leader. He was also a damn fine man in general, which was likely the very reason he’d fallen in love with the man and was now co-habbing with him, sharing the same bed every night.

“Damn it, Tavoularis. Your dog’s a menace,” JJ declared.

“I don’t have a problem with her,” Reese replied with a wink. “But you might check the yard.”

“If she chewed it, you’re buyin’ me a new pair,” she bit out, limping with one shoe on toward the door.

He heard Brantley say, “Three … two…”

Reese was laughing when JJ came to an abrupt halt, the door opening from the outside. Before she could go after the four-legged shoe thief, the blond detective she’d been avoiding since Thanksgiving appeared. Reese’s laughter died off as he watched the encounter as though it was a locomotive barreling down the tracks, seconds away from hitting an oncoming train and resulting in a fiery blaze. One of these days, those two freight trains would collide. It was inevitable.

Sebastian Buchanan lifted a hand, JJ’s shoe dangling from one finger. “Missin’ somethin’?”

Good news was, the shoe didn’t appear damaged.

JJ yanked it off his hand and spun around. Her glare was directed at Reese, but he knew her frustration wasn’t for him. Ever since she’d stood Baz up for Thanksgiving dinner with his parents and realized Baz was completely unaffected—her assessment, not Reese’s—by her disappearing act, she’d been in a tizzy. Four weeks and counting.

As far as Reese was concerned, Baz was doing a damn fine job pretending he wasn’t affected. However, Reese saw the way the man watched JJ, so much longing in his eyes. He was most certainly bothered by the current state of their relationship, he just wasn’t bothering to say or do anything about it.

Despite the fact he was being stubborn, Reese couldn’t help but like the former APD detective, known by his friends as simply Baz. And the reasons had nothing to do with how well he was handling JJ or how forgiving he was being for her freaking out about the fact they had been in a relationship at the time. The guy was good at what he did, and they’d come to depend on him as an integral part of the team.

Baz stepped into the barn, grinned at JJ’s back, then made his way over to his desk.

“You payin’ Tesha to do that?” Brantley asked when the detective dropped a fast-food bag down beside his keyboard and pulled his chair out.

Baz’s eyes lit up. “No, but that’s a great idea. Maybe I’ll get your trainer to teach her to steal them.”

Reese smiled at the thought of his sweet Tesha becoming a shoe thief.

Baz glanced between them, grinned wide, and said, “Mornin’,” as though greeting them for the first time since he walked in the door.

“Why’re you here?” Brantley said in lieu of a simple hello.

“Nice to see you, too, boss.”

“It’s Christmas Eve.”

“That it is,” Baz agreed. “My question to you: why’re you here?”

“That is a question.”

Reese laughed. When these two got going, they could banter back and forth like the best of them. And they worked well together, a combination that Reese admired in the workplace. He liked that they were laid-back when they could be and