A reminder of Afghanistan. The burning Land Cruiser.
Shep was on approach to the firepit, most likely planning on giving Caleb some fire safety tips like he loved to do as a firefighter—he just couldn’t help himself.
“Brooke’s single.” Was Rory really trying to play matchmaker?
“I don’t live here anymore, and you know Brooke and I were just never good for each other. We tried the long-distance thing.” He’d been wrapping up his first deployment when they split in his twenties. God, that felt like an eternity ago. Would he be single forever? Of course, Wyatt was turning forty this year, and he found love . . .
And do I want love? I really did hit my head today, didn’t I? Or was I possessed by Mrs. Shaw’s spirit? There’d been some paranormal shit going on out in that forest. Either that or he’d been hallucinating.
“Well, we all miss you. Especially your brothers, even if those Hawkins boys won’t admit it.” Rory may have been a globe-trotter, but from the sounds of it, she was better at keeping in touch with everyone back at home than he was. A.J. needed to make more of an effort. His friends and family deserved better. Bravo and Echo fought to make the world a safer place, but all too often, he forgot to enjoy life in that world.
“Caleb told me Grant let you borrow his helicopter. How is he? I haven’t seen Grant in a long time.”
His buddy Grant had been the one to offer Owen use of his chopper even though he was out of town. “He’s good. Just had a new place built on thirty-plus acres.”
Grant had texted him image after image during construction, an attempt to get A.J. to visit, not that Grant’s schedule ever matched up with A.J.’s since they were both doing covert shit all the time.
“Of course, Grant won’t ever use it since he’s never home,” Rory pointed out. “He’s as mysterious with his work as you are.”
“And apparently as mysterious as you, Miss Treasure Hunter.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not exactly what I do.”
“And what is it that you do?” he challenged, knowing damn well the woman wasn’t about to answer. And yup, he got a shrug and wink, that was it.
He patted the air a few times, motioning for her to get outside. “You’re letting all the good air out, leaving that door open like that.”
“Now you sound like my mama.” She threw a smirk over her shoulder before stepping out onto the patio.
“And I sound like mine, too.” As soon as A.J. pulled the door closed, they were met with a sopping wet Chris, standing so close in his star-spangled-banner swim trunks that water dripped onto Rory’s nude-colored sandals.
Echo Three stared at her totally dumbstruck. “Hi. You must be Jesse’s off-limits sister.” He stuck out his hand, and Rory chuckled.
“Yeah.” Rory took his palm. “He loves to introduce me that way. Sorry about that.”
“No worries.” Chris waved his hand between them. “If I had a sister, I’d, um . . .”
“Torture her fiancé like y’all are doing to poor Brian?” She tipped her head toward the pool where Brian was attempting to escape. Unlike Chris, he was in his jeans and a tee, totally drenched once he made it out of the pool, only to have Wyatt plow him right back in the water in a playful (not really) way.
“Yeah, that guy is a pretty boy. Borderline douchey from what I saw today.” Chris eyed A.J. once his palm was free from Rory’s.
“Oh, he can’t be that bad.” Rory folded her arms, her gaze on the pool where Wyatt, Roman, and Finn appeared to be putting Brian through their own version of a SEAL training exercise. “But Jesse did want my opinion, so he asked me to crash the party. No man will be good enough for Ella as far as Jesse is concerned. I swear that man is almost more protective of Ella than he is of me.”
“I doubt that,” Chris said, never taking his eyes off Rory. Spellbound. Yeah, Rory probably had that effect on most men she met.
Anastasia Quinn certainly had that effect on A.J. when they’d first met, so he could relate to how Chris may be feeling at the moment. The wind knocked out of your lungs. Hard to gather a deep breath. Time standing still.
“It is strange my sister has never introduced you to Brian before tonight.” Ella and Rory had been best friends growing up, and they still remained close despite Rory’s travels.
“In all fairness, I’m never home,” she countered.
Still, A.J. wondered if that was the only reason.
“Well, that fool challenged me to a race on a John Deere later.” Chris swiped the beads of water from his hair, his eyes taking a slow journey up the length of Rory’s legs before meeting her face. “Does he seriously want to race lawnmowers?” He grinned. “No cow tipping? Wrangling bulls or something?”
“Is that what you Northern boys think we do down here?” Rory’s hand went to her hip as if she were about to challenge him to something herself, or maybe throw a Bless your heart, his way.
“What makes you think I’m a Northerner?” Chris stepped closer to her, a teasing smile plastered on his face. A.J. knew that look . . . Echo Three was preparing to move in and amp up his flirting game.
“I detect a Boston accent you appear to be working hard to disguise,” Rory answered.
Chris full-on grinned now and peered at A.J. “Who is this girl?”
“Someone you don’t want to mess with, remember?” She returned his flirty smile, then started for the firepit, a little bit of sass in her step. Chris slapped a hand to the back of his head and turned to watch her walk away.
“And she’s good with animals? Holy hell.” Chris pressed his hands into prayer position and lifted them toward the sky. “Thank you, God.”
“Off-limits,” A.J. reminded him as he watched Rory greet her brother down yonder at the firepit.
“My favorite two words. Or does the hyphen make it count as one word?” He shrugged and snatched a towel off the lounge chair.
“Trust me. The one guy you don’t want to mess with is Jesse. Super protective of both Rory and Ella.” A.J.’s brow scrunched when a thought struck him.
“What’s that look you’re wearing right now?” Chris waved a finger in front of A.J.’s face.
“Just wondering if Jesse doesn’t think anyone is good enough for Ella because—”
“He’s got the hots for your sis?” Chris nodded. “That much was obvious like five minutes into breakfast this morning. Good luck trying to get him to admit it, though.”
Huh. A.J. stroked his closely trimmed beard, trying to wrap his head around the revelation as Rory laughed at something Shep said. “Well, back to Rory.” He had too much on his plate right now to think about the fact one of his lifelong best friends might be into his sister. “Rory doesn’t need her brother’s protection, but—”
“That won’t stop him from trying.” Chris sounded a bit too nonchalant, as if he’d already given up on the idea of pursuing Rory. But when did Chris ever turn down any kind of challenge?
A.J.’s arms tightened over his chest with a pinch of irritation as he studied Brian climbing out of the pool, his focus back to the main subject at hand. “We might seriously need to access all the CCTV footage in Vegas from last weekend. Maybe use our facial recognition software to see what he was up to there.”