Page 56 of Armed ’N’ Ready

“Nick.”

“Oh, that.” Kade also chuckled, then walked ahead of them to the house.

“See?” Matt laughed again. “Everyone else does.”

She glanced at him, unable to read his expression in the semi-darkness. “How can that be, when I’m still a suspect?”

“The house is clear.” Kade leaned over the back porch railing. “Nick’s on his way. ETA in ten.”

“It just is,” Matt responded matter-of-factly, and before she could ask what he meant by that, he added, “But that’s for Nick to explain. For now, let’s get you inside.”

Twenty minutes later, she was pacing the living room. With every turn she made on the floor, Stray swung her head, watching her. Even with the patrol car outside, the two men remained alert, one at the front door, and one at the rear.

A knock sounded at the rear door. Matt and Kade drew their guns from beneath their shirts. She’d assumed they were armed, but hadn’t detected their hidden weapons.

Matt nudged the kitchen door curtain aside, then nodded to Kade. They holstered, and Matt opened the door.

Saxon trotted in first and went straight for Stray’s bed. The two dogs’ noses touched. Saxon gave Stray a thorough sniffing, then lay down beside her, his muzzle touching the other dog’s front paw.

When Nick walked in, Andi’s breath caught. Their gazes met and held, his weary from lack of sleep. Her eyes roved his body, reassuring herself that he wasn’t hurt. That was her greatest fear—that something would happen to him because of her.

He still wore the same jeans and black T-shirt he’d worked in the day before. The only additions were the badge and gun holstered on his belt. His jaw was covered with light stubble, but to her, he’d never looked better. Or sexier. She went to him and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face against his chest.

His arms came around her, and she sighed with relief, breathing him in and absorbing the heat from his body, letting it seep into her hers, melting away the tension. The worry-induced adrenaline that had kept her going all day vanished, and she was on the verge of falling asleep standing up.

“They talked,” he began, gently easing her from his arms. “They were supposed to take you to Holyoke and hand you over to someone else.”

Matt sat on the arm of the sofa. “Get a name?”

He shook his head. “They don’t know who ordered the kidnapping or who they were going to meet. They were told to take her inside, tie her to a chair, then wait.”

“You believe them?” Kade crossed his arms, the look on his face skeptical. “Generally, any time gang members’ lips are moving, they’re lying.”

“I do believe them.” He nodded. “So does Eric. He grilled the other guy and eventually got pretty much the same information out of him. We hauled ass to the location, but nobody was there. The whole street is abandoned, and I’m sure that was part of the plan. The guy who got away—the van driver—probably got the word out about the bungled kidnapping. We found the van in a strip mall, but the driver’s in the wind. We’ll get him. Eventually.”

He tugged her closer to his side, and when she wrapped her arm around his waist, his muscles bunched beneath her fingers.

“No one on the street is talking,” he continued. “And that’s odd. There’s always someone willing to dime out a brother for the right price. Not on this, though. The streets are eerily quiet, as if something heavy is about to hit the fan and everyone’s scared shitless to talk about it.”

Matt grunted, then massaged his chin. “The others have started their shifts at the Expo, but Kade and I don’t go on for another forty-eight hours. We can follow up on any leads you’ve got.”

“Right now, we’ve got nothing to go on,” Nick said. “Eric went to the FBI lab to drop off the two cell phones we seized. They’ll do a dump on the phones and analyze everything. Phone numbers, social media, photos. And speaking of photos, one of the guys we arrested had one on his phone of Andi and Myer—the same one stolen during a break-in at Myer’s house two weeks ago. It was texted to him, so they’d know what she looked like.”

She shuddered at how close she’d come to being tied to a chair, helpless. As if sensing her unease, Nick snugged her closer.

“Want us to stick around?” Matt asked.

“Nah, you guys can take off. The patrol car will stay out front all night. The restaurant’s closed on Mondays. We can touch base in the morning.”

“You sure? We can stay downstairs,” Kade suggested.

Nick shook his head. “I got this. Saxon will watch our backs.”

Hearing his name, Saxon came to sit at Nick’s other side, leaning his head against Nick’s thigh. Seeing that kind of complete adoration reaffirmed Andi’s decision not to put Stray up for adoption. Somehow the dog had wiggled her way into her heart, and she couldn’t bear the thought of her belonging to someone else.

“Call if you need us.” Matt clapped a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “’Night, Andi.”

“Good night, Matt. Kade. And thank you.”