SEAL's RESOLVE - Rebecca Deel Page 0,54
money since she intended to sell the dress to Maggie at cost. He trailed his hand down her back. “Need anything else before I call Brent? Perhaps another ice pack?”
She shook her head. “Do what you need to do. I’m going to the kitchen to put together trays and start coffee. My first client loves iced coffee with chocolate chip cookies.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to chocolate chip cookies with regular coffee. I’m not a fan of the iced variety.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing. I make terrific iced coffee. However, I’ll save a few cookies for you.” She waited a beat. “For a price.”
His lips curved. “What are you charging me?”
“Five kisses.”
“Deal. How soon should I pay up?”
Kristi laughed. “Not right now. I’ll never get anything done if you do.”
“I’ll be good.” He winked at her. “For now.”
More laughter as Kristi walked to the kitchen. Rafe stayed in the workroom and called Brent.
“Yeah, Maddox.”
“It’s Rafe. Someone fired a bullet into the window of Kristi’s workroom.”
“Anybody hurt?”
“More bruises on Kristi. Someone’s going to pay for that.”
A slight pause, then, “Something you need to tell me?”
“She’s mine.” End of discussion.
“I seem to be running a matchmaking service,” came the wry reply. “Guess that’s why Alan Stewart called and left a message about your lack of professionalism. Since that isn’t your normal operating procedure, I figured something like this might be at the root of his anger. Are you sure, Rafe?”
“I want to give this a shot. This is the first time I’ve been interested in a woman since I lost Callie.”
“If you need a replacement, I’ll send one.”
His hand clenched around his phone. “Don’t go there. I won’t leave her.”
“Not asking you to. I was talking about sending a bodyguard replacement, not pulling you off the assignment. Recent PSI graduates are ready for supervised field work.”
“I don’t need a replacement.”
“Tell me if the situation changes. I’m not questioning your ethics or integrity. However, your focus will be split. You also have the traumatic loss of a woman you loved in your recent past. Losing Callie left scars. Don’t underestimate the impact that will have on you while you safeguard Kristi. The loss will mess with your head if you’re not careful.”
Galled him to admit that his boss was right. Might be time to set up a session with Marcus Lang for himself. “Yes, sir.”
“Anything on the shooter?”
“Not much. Tactical boots, handgun, one shot aimed at me.”
A snort. “You failed to mention that last bit of news, Torres.”
“Better me than her.”
“Element of surprise is gone.”
“Yeah, and that’s an interesting development along with the fact that someone placed a tracker on my vehicle when we were inside Stewart Group headquarters earlier this morning. I got rid of the tracker before we left the parking lot, but we’re not hard to find. Kristi needs her equipment to work.”
Brent blew out a breath. “You’re making someone nervous. Any other surprises you haven’t told me about?”
“Kristi’s alarm system is worthless. She needs our top-of-the-line system with all the bells and whistles. I need her safe while I’m deployed, Brent.”
“I understand.”
“If she balks at the price, give her a huge discount, and bill me the difference.”
“Not necessary. We take care of our own. If Kristi is yours, that makes her one of us. Anything else I can do?”
“If she agrees to the Fortress security system, I want an install team as soon as possible. One of her windows has to be replaced.”
“I’ll take care of it. What else?”
“I want to know where Hugh Ward and Alan Stewart were twenty minutes ago.”
“I’ll see what I can find out. Keep me updated.”
Rafe found Jon and Eli in the first-floor kitchen with Kristi. While Jon worked on his laptop, Eli helped Kristi fill trays with cookies and other finger foods. The scent of coffee filled the room as a large coffeemaker brewed the hot liquid.
Eli caught Rafe’s eye and tipped his head toward Jon. The sniper must have already uncovered useful information.
When Eli launched into the story of how he met his wife, Brenna, Rafe took a seat beside Jon. “What did you find?” he asked quietly.
“The installation team who set up Kristi’s cameras didn’t know what they were doing.”
“You didn’t get anything?”
“Not as much as I should have, but enough.”
“Show me.”
Jon tapped a few keys and brought up the footage of the past hour on a split screen. He played the footage on high speed until two minutes before the shooting.
Rafe frowned when a shadow appeared at the edge of