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He could imagine that the Meals Ready-to-Eat in the military were no treat. Ronan chuckled. “Yeah? Name me something?”
“Those chili ones with beans...” To add a little extra to her story, she even dry heaved.
He grinned. “You’re so full of shit.”
“Okay, let’s see how you like eating whatever Paddy concocts for the rest of the month.”
Ronan parked his truck behind Lucky, next to his brother Brennan’s truck. He shifted in his seat and said with a smile, “Why are you being so mean to me? Whatever did I do to you, huh?”
She laughed, and it lit up her entire face. He wondered who would be the lucky guy Gwenn would let in between her defensive walls. That reminded him of the love of his life and the Fort Knox construction surrounding Fianna’s heart.
He rubbed his chest and Gwenn said, “Fi is at Bree’s tonight. I hope she can talk some sense into her.”
Growing up, he used to be as thick as thieves with Fianna’s sister Bree. His twin brother Declan, Bree and him spent years together up in their tree house.
When they hit puberty, and Bree and his twin brother Declan only had eyes for each other, Ronan had felt left out. His stupid jealousy over losing his best friend and his twin made him resent Bree.
He was thankful they had made up after Bree and Declan got together and that they were growing close again. He hoped Bree would put in a good word for him but he wouldn’t get his hopes up.
It had been four days since he’d kissed Fianna. Four days, and she still hadn’t texted anything back after he’d spilled his guts and admitted he would forever be hers.
“That’s okay. Fi will never get over what happened six years ago.”
Gwenn narrowed her eyes at him. “You can be such a wuss sometimes. Where’s that fighter in you?”
He stepped out of his truck, done with this conversation. She saw right through him and right now; it irked him. Just to get a reaction out of her, he said, “He’s living his best life, fucking every—”
His mouth stopped moving when she slapped his face. Since it was totally out of character for Gwenn to bitch-slap him instead of punching his lights out, he knew he’d messed up.
“You two are just stubborn and scared to get hurt again. But maybe, you’re not scared enough. Maybe when one of you stares death straight in the eye, he or she will wake the fuck up and realize that you are losing precious time.”
With that parting shot, Gwenn entered the back door to Lucky. He jumped when she slammed the door shut behind her.
He glanced up to the sky. While entering the code of the back door, he muttered, “I sure hope the big guy upstairs didn’t hear you, kid.”
Just as he opened the backdoor, Gwenn came out with her phone against her ear. “Hmm-mm. Okay. We’re on it.”
“What?”
Gwenn pointed at the truck, and Ronan groaned. He wanted to go inside and enjoy a little comfort food from his cousin Emmy. It was getting dark and his stomach grumbled from not eating right during their stakeout today.
As they settled back into the truck, Gwenn hung up the phone and said to him, “Okay, it’s just a routine job. Some guy’s been hanging around in an alley near the women’s shelter. Probably someone who doesn’t take no for an answer and can’t let go of his ex.”
Donovan earned truckloads of money with his PI and Security Company and his side business as a hacker. But for the women’s shelter, they donated their time whenever they needed protection.
Usually, Ronan’s mere size, or pissed-off face, would scare off any angry ex. And if that didn’t do the trick, Gwenn would let out her scary crazy side and had the men running away with their tails tucked between their legs.
“Okay, let’s check this out,” he said.
After a ten-minute drive, Ronan parked the truck around the corner of the shelter. His eyes scanned the surroundings, but he found nothing out of the ordinary. Gwenn however, jerked her head toward the third alley to their right.
“I’ll be damned…” Just when he said the words, the guy they’d caught lurking at them from the dark alley took off running.
Ronan’s size fourteen footsteps pounded over the pavement. He tried to control his breathing as he jumped a fence in the dank with filth littered alley. Although his legs were longer, he still couldn’t outrun his partner Gwenn. Her long brown ponytail swept from left to right as she ran in front of him.
Gwenn skidded to a halt and shouted, “Gun!”
She went down on one knee behind a rusted old dumpster that stood to the side of the narrow alley.
