Deadly Game (Fortress Security #5)(42)
He bent his head and planted a soft kiss on her neck. “You aren’t alone, Rowan,” he murmured beside her ear. His warm breath and the timbre of his voice sent shivers cascading through her body. “I’ll always be here for you and Alexa. Do you want to go to the shop for a while?”
She pulled back, a smile curving her lips. “How did you know?”
Brent chuckled. “It’s pretty obvious, babe. We’ll go as soon as you’re ready.”
Minutes later, they left the safe house, driving toward Washington Village. She had to keep her livelihood going in order to support herself and Alexa. Whatever money she might inherit from Heather and Jay’s estate would be put aside for Alexa’s needs.
The entire drive to Coffee House, Brent held her hand, raising it to his lips every little bit to kiss her fingers. Brent Maddox was slowly capturing her heart, one kiss at a time.
The coffee shop was bustling with business by the time they walked in the door. Rowan frowned, realizing they were down one person.
Brent kissed her briefly and nudged her forward. “I’ll sit with Adam until you’re finished. We need to leave at ten o’clock for your appointment with the funeral director.”
With a nod, Rowan hurried to her office to toss her purse into a desk drawer and race back to the main room to help out. An hour passed before she took a breather.
“Don’t take this wrong. I’m thrilled to see you,” Lacey said. “But what are you doing here? Chase and I have this covered.”
“Didn’t look like it when I walked in. Where’s Trish?”
“Down with the flu.”
She groaned. Another worker bites the dust to the dreaded flu. If this kept up, Rowan might have to draft Brent and some of his employees to keep Coffee House running. “Please tell me you’re feeling healthy.”
“I’m fine.”
“So am I,” Chase chimed in. “We can handle the rest if you need to shove off. Kristi is coming in before noon and she agreed to stay until we close for the night.”
“I’m staying for another hour. You and Lacey take a break while you can.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Chase muttered. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes. Lace, you want to go with me?”
She shook her head. “I’ll stay here.” Her gaze scanned the street.
“Suit yourself.” Chase hurried out the door and down the street.
“Lacey, is everything okay?”
“I keep waiting for Frank to show up.”
“He’d be a fool to push Adam and Brent. They would enjoy taking him down. Trust me. They aren’t going to let him anywhere near you.”
“Rowan.”
She glanced at Brent, felt her muscles tighten at his grim expression. Without taking her gaze from his, she murmured to Lacey, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Rowan crossed to the table and sat in the chair he pulled out for her. “What’s wrong?”
“Adam decipered the rest of the code.”
“That’s good, right?” She thought Brent would be happy to know what the other half of that list said.
“It’s good Adam decoded the list. I want to know why Heather had a copy of a list of known international terrorists?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“International terrorists?” Rowan’s mouth gaped. “I don’t understand. I thought the list of terrorists was of the homegrown variety.”
Yeah, Brent had thought so, too. Turned out only half of the list was militia members. The other half was a group of international terrorists with a nasty reputation. Unfortunately, he and his operatives had run up against a couple of them in the last few years. “Think hard about anything Jay mentioned concerning his business associates.”
“He didn’t talk to me about his business.” She leaned closer and dropped her voice. “I tried not to spend any time in his company. Jay gave me the creeps.”
And he’d hurt Rowan. Brent hadn’t forgotten about her insinuation. He wished the man were still alive. He’d love to get his hands on the guy for what he’d done to Rowan and Heather, and maybe Alexa. “Did he or Heather mention his associates by name?”
She thought a moment. “Toby Minter and Nolan White. I don’t know anything about them except Jay was excited to work with them on a project, but I don’t know what the project was.”
More than likely, Zane had already run across the information online. Brent hadn’t had time to contact his friend this morning. “We’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I need to borrow your office again. Do you mind?” The calls he needed to make couldn’t be done in a public space.
“Of course not. It’s unlocked.” Rowan turned to Adam. “Do you need more coffee, Adam? A pastry, maybe?”
“I wouldn’t say no to either.” He gave her his lopsided smile.
“I’ll be right back.”
As she hurried to the coffee bar, Brent turned his gaze to Adam. “Be straight with me. How do you feel?”
“I’m fine,” his friend said, his voice a growl. “I don’t know what’s taking that doctor so long to sign off on my return to work.”
Brent weighed what he’d seen when Adam had first been rescued from the hands of a sadistic drug dealer against the operative’s current status. He had to admit, the man had made a remarkable recovery despite his outward appearance. Cuts and burns had covered Adam’s body as well as deep-tissue bruising and a dislocated joint or two. He still had some plastic surgery ahead of him. “Would you tell me if you weren’t fully healed?”