“You can hide them in the house because the wires are easier to conceal. I pulled the truck into the garage earlier and went over it top to bottom. There’s nothing on it or in it. It’s safe. Going through the house would be a hell of a lot harder and damned near impossible to find without the right equipment. Director Williams is having that equipment flown in tomorrow afternoon. It’s the quickest we could get it.”
Keiley inhaled roughly.
“It will be over soon, Kei,” Jethro assured her as he leaned back against the door and watched her with narrowed eyes.
He was doing that a lot, just watching her, as though he were drawing her into himself somehow. It was disconcerting to be probed in such a way. He was quieter than Mac in a lot of ways, still the bad boy, but the wildness she had glimpsed in his gaze when he first came to the farm wasn’t there any longer.
“How much of it will be over, Jethro?” she finally asked. “Are you going back to D.C. or staying here?”
Could she handle it if he returned to the Bureau? She had had nightmares while Mac was still an agent. The day he announced his intention to resign, she had cried for hours in relief.
“Mac and I are discussing it,” he finally said.
“You are?” She glanced back at Mac, seeing the small curl of his lips at the tone of her voice. “Interesting that you two didn’t think to discuss it with me.”
She stared back at Jethro coolly. “None of my business?”
“All your business, beautiful. But some things men have to settle between themselves first. Get used to that. Where you’re concerned, I have a feeling, we’ll have a lot to discuss.”
That part, she didn’t like. She bit her lip as she considered the two men who were filling every part of her heart and soul and wondered about the whole outnumbered thing.
“Two men against one defenseless woman seems like lousy odds for me.” She pursed her lips in disapproval. “I may have to reconsider my own battle plans here.”
Jethro looked at her warily. “How so?”
“That,” she whispered as she leaned to him and placed a butterfly kiss on his lips. “Is for me to know.”
“And for you to worry about, Jethro.” Mac suddenly laughed. “Damn, I won’t be tortured alone. At least I’ll have an ally now.”
“You are so wrong, John McCoy,” she snorted. “Just so wrong. Give me a month, he’ll be all about being on my side,” she teased.
At that, pleasure tilted Jethro’s lips. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m already all about being on your side. Your back. Your front. Whichever way I can get you. I promise you that most sincerely.”
“Perv,” she accused him as he pulled her closer, kissing her soundly before smiling back at her with devilish humor.
The drive to Casey’s was completed in the same vein, but it didn’t stop the nerves from building in her stomach. As Mac pulled the truck into the crowded parking lot, she almost demanded to go back home.
Damned near the whole county seemed to be there. She could safely say she had never seen Casey’s so packed.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have called Maxine.” She swallowed tightly. “I think she’s told everyone I would be here.”
Her stomach was pitching tightly as fear suddenly began to fill her. The fear of facing condemnation, of hearing the whispers behind her back.
“Too late to turn back now, darlin’.” Mac’s voice was firm as he opened the door and stepped from the truck. “Come on. Let’s go show them how hot you are. Hot enough that it takes two of us hard cocks to keep you satisfied.”
Heat blazed through her as shock had her lips trembling with laughter.
“You are so bad,” she accused as he lifted her from the truck and Jethro’s laughter joined Mac’s. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I have suggestions, but this might not be the place for them.”
It was a place for hilarity. For over a dozen men and women crowded around Mac, Keiley, and Jethro. They were the friends she and Mac had been drawn to when they first arrived, couples they were comfortable with, whose interests and sense of humor seemed to align with theirs.
Now they were friends who drew around them in support and extended their hand in friendship to Jethro as well. Through dinner and drinks, Keiley watched him. He was quiet but friendly, laughing in genuine amusement at some of the women’s antics with their husbands but saying no more than he had to. As though he were watching for enemies amidst friends and categorizing strengths and weaknesses.
As plates were carried away by the waitresses and more drinks arrived, Keiley noticed the subtle tension invading him. His demeanor hadn’t changed, but she could feel it, just as she sometimes felt it with Mac.
On the stage across from them the band was gearing up, swinging into a slow, sensual love song. It was couples night, which meant lots of slow songs.