Wade had mentioned once that the company needed help with “honey traps.” Not the sleazy kind, but the tactical kind. The kind where a woman could walk into a room, smile, and get a man to tell her everything—because he never saw her as a threat.
Delia? She could do that while disarming a man twice her size if needed.
Plus, people always assumed badasses and security people were men, which meant she could blend in.
“My friend Chase is coming tomorrow from Texas,” Ray announced, and I knew my shock was visible on my face based on how he looked at me. “He’s gonna come in for just two days or so to give me some fresh outsider insight. To anyone around us, it will just look like my buddy is coming for a visit.”
“Great,” Archer added.
“He can stay with Susan and me if he wants,” Frank interrupted. “Unless you still want that room?”
Ray glanced at me, and I knew what he was thinking. He’d asked to stay with me, but I hadn’t given him an answer. I knewthere was more to the story, but I didn’t know everything yet. A normal person would have waited patiently for someone to give them the information, but I wasn’t normal. I knew if I wanted the inside scoop—and I did—that having him stay at my place would allow me that guilt trip to make him tell me everything. A little tit for tat, and I wasn’t ashamed to play that game.
“Ray is gonna stay in my guest room,” I told everyone at the table.
Ray once again gave a small squeeze to my thigh, while I noticed big shit-eating grins on the rest of the men. I knew they thought I was lying about him staying in the guest room, but I wasn’t. At least, that wasn’t my plan.
“Let Chase have your spare room,” Ray told Frank, then turned to the others. “You got everything you need, eh?”
“Did you just say ‘eh’?” I teased him. “Your Canadian is showing.”
He rolled his eyes and let out a small sigh. “Minnesota isn’t Canada.”
I shrugged. “Close enough.”
Frank laughed and then said to no one in particular at the table, “I’m loving the hell out of this.”
The next morning,I quietly made my way down to my kitchen. It was just before eight and the guest bedroom door was still closed as I walked by. I didn’t want to wake Ray as I made my way to get some coffee downstairs.
Truth be told, I wanted to sit on my porch alone for a bit and just think.
Last night, after we’d had drinks and dinner with the guys, we’d gone back to the pub to grab my car and then to my townhouse.
I’d shown Ray the spare room and guest bathroom and told him to make himself comfortable before I’d feigned exhaustion and closed myself off in my room.
I knew I was hiding away like a hermit. I was tired, given it had been a strange and chaotic last twenty-four hours, but I really just needed time away from Ray for the moment.
I started a pot of coffee and waited for it to brew before grabbing a cup and heading out to my patio.
The sounds of nature around me were soothing. I stared out at the trees beyond my backyard, appreciating the sun that was now fully above them.
The cool breeze felt refreshing and tamped down the heated flush that was on my face as I thought about two nights ago.
“Mornin’,” Ray’s gravelly voice sounded from behind me as he joined me out on the patio.
I jerked slightly at his surprise appearance.
The man responsible for the flush on my face was now sitting inches away from me.
“You got any siblings?” he asked casually, sipping from his own cup of coffee while he leaned back in his chair.
“I’ve got a younger sister, Lori. She’s two years younger and lives in Colorado with her husband, Donovan, my nephew Landen, and my niece Lucy.”
“How old are your niece and nephew?”
“They’re twins. Ten years old.”
He nodded and gave a small smile.
