Deadly Coincidence (Brantley Walker Off the Books #4) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,28
go, the chair slipped out of her grip, rolled across the room, and then Brantley was spinning her, his big, muscular arms wrapping tightly around her from behind. When he lifted her so her feet came off the ground, JJ did the only thing she could…
She rammed her heels into his shins.
“Son of a bitch,” he ground out, setting her back on her feet, instantly reaching down to rub his shin. “Are your feet made of steel? That fuckin’ hurt.”
He was lucky she’d taken her shoes off.
“I’m serious,” JJ said, keeping her voice low and without an ounce of mirth so he would know she really was serious. “I can’t go out tonight. And even if I could, I wouldn’t go to Moonshiners.”
No way would she risk running into Baz. She couldn’t.
When Brantley looked her in the eye, JJ held his gaze, ensuring he saw her sincerity. He of all people knew how difficult the past month had been on her. It didn’t matter that she was at fault, that she’d brought her little world crashing down all on her own. It still had been hard to walk away from Baz.
“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “We’ll go out and you can stay here. I’ll spend the night worried about you. If that’s what you want…”
“You are not gonna guilt-trip me, Walker. No way, no how.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to go with us.”
JJ shook her head. “Can’t.”
“Can.”
“Brantley.” She dragged out his name in warning.
Surely he understood. He’d been there for her this past month. He and Reese both. Ever since she stood Baz up on Thanksgiving, she’d been in a bad place, and they hadn’t given her shit about it. It had been doubly hard on her considering she worked with the sexy blond detective she was doing her best to avoid.
Plus the holidays, being alone for them. Or rather, the third wheel since Brantley was determined to drag her around with them so she wasn’t completely alone.
Needless to say, JJ didn’t want to relive the month of December.
Brantley clearly got the message, because he held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “Fine. You win.”
JJ exhaled, a little surprised but overwhelmingly grateful he was giving up.
“But you have to call me when you leave here,” Brantley insisted. “And when you get home. That way I know you made it safe.”
“I will.” JJ looked past him at Reese. “You want me to take Tesha to my house tonight?”
Reese was immediately shaking his head. “No. I’d like her home with us. We’ll be back around midnight.”
“No problem. I’ll make sure she’s safe and sound in the house before I go.”
“Thanks.”
JJ nodded, looked back at Brantley. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“I know.”
When he reached for her, she gave in to the hug but stepped back before he could pull another stunt like throwing her over his shoulder and going all caveman.
“Now go. Get. Y’all need to go out, get your drunk on. Have fun. And be sure to kiss at midnight. It’s good luck, you know.”
Brantley frowned, clearly not believing her. Not that she believed it either, but the goal was to send him on his way before he could sweet-talk her into joining him. If he tried hard enough, they both knew she would eventually give in.
“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said cryptically as he turned and headed for the stairs.
“What does that mean?” she asked, watching as they both headed down. “Brantley! What does that mean?”
“Happy New Year, JJ,” Brantley called out, not looking back as they walked out the door.
She stood there, staring down for the longest time, trying to process what he’d said. What was he warning her about?
Exhaling heavily, JJ turned back to her desk. She had things to do. Important things.
She took a deep breath, pushed her chair back to her desk, and eased into it. After flexing and wiggling her fingers, she settled them on the keyboard, eager to get back to it. One of these days, she was going to find Juliet Prince. It would happen, but only if she was diligent. Meaning she didn’t have time to go out anyway.
“Even if I wanted to,” she muttered.
Not that she did.
Nope.
As long as she kept telling herself that, it would be true.
A few minutes later, her phone dinged. She didn’t bother pulling up the camera. JJ knew it was a notification that Brantley and Reese had triggered the motion detector as they were leaving.