In the Line of Fire: Hot Desert Heroes, Book 1 (8 page)

Delaney sucked in her breath and sat up straight. “I should—” Her mouth went dry. When she spoke again, her voice came out shaky. “What are you saying?”

He shook his head. “Nothing’s certain. But you asked me what my gut says, and my gut says all of us in this department are going to be out of jobs.”

The words went into her ears and bounced around in her brain, but she couldn’t get them to make sense. “What?” Maybe she’d misunderstood him. Maybe she didn’t really hear what she hoped she really didn’t hear.

Trigg came around his desk and perched on the corner in front of her chair. “Laney, start looking for another job,” he said, his face gentle. “Layoffs might be as far off as two or three months, or they could begin next week. So sooner, rather than later, okay?”

“What…” she cleared the clog from her throat, “…what about the Finance Department?”

His face went even softer. He knew that she and Colbie were friends and that Colbie worked in finance. “It’s pretty much a given they won’t need two finance departments. I’m sure her manager’s telling her the same thing right now that I’m telling you.”

“Does this other company… What’s it called again?”

“TechAm.”

“TechAm. TechAm,” she repeated, wanting to remember it for when she told Beck about it later. “Does TechAm have an analytics collation and transmission department?”

“Laney…” his voice gentled to the same softness of his face, “…what we do, while not done everywhere, isn’t exactly unheard of. Yes, they have a department that does what we do. There may be a few jobs saved, but they’ll probably be moved to the company headquarters, which is in Arlington, Virginia, closer to the Pentagon than we are,” he said before she could ask. He hesitated then leaned forward. “Look, why don’t you take the rest of the day off? Neither one of us is going to get much done.”

“Are you going to go home early?”

“No. I can’t, Laney. I have to see to my employees, and I have a meeting with Sam and the other department heads at five to debrief how everyone’s taken the news.”

She got to her feet and smoothed her skirt. “I can help you with the employees.”

He smiled and stood. “No, you can’t. Go home. Dust off your résumé. I’ll see you tomorrow.” When she didn’t move, he repeated, “Go home.”

Delaney went out to her desk. She sent an email to Colbie letting her know she was leaving for the day and asking her to call when she was free; then she gathered her things and left. She couldn’t go straight home, though. She had a delivery to make. Maybe watching the shelter workers’ faces light up when she handed over the quilt would make the morning go a little better.

After all, there were worse things than losing your job. She’d lived it. She’d survived it. And now she was doing her bit to give back a little.

Twenty minutes later she pulled into the parking lot of the women’s shelter. As she rounded the car and pressed the trunk button on her key fob, hearing the lid pop open, she tried to put the predicament in which she might soon find herself out of her mind. When she entered the building she wanted to have a genuine smile on her face, not one that obviously covered worry and fear.

With one hand she pushed the trunk lid the rest of the way open and was already bending in to grab the plastic bag containing the quilt when she realized it wasn’t there. She straightened and stared into her nearly empty trunk. Aside from a cardboard box with a gallon jug of water, an old phone book, a set of jumper cables and a seldom-used umbrella, the trunk was empty.

Where was the quilt?

She stood there, frowning at her trunk. “I know I put it in there this morning,” she muttered. Beck hadn’t muddled her mind
that
much with that last kiss.

Had she just thought about putting the quilt in her trunk and hadn’t quite managed to do so? No. She was sure she’d done it. She partially lowered the trunk lid and stared at the lock. She couldn’t see any scratches that would lead her to believe someone had broken into her trunk.

What. The. Hell?

She pulled her phone from the outside pocket of her purse and found Beck’s number in her Contacts list. As soon as he answered, she started in, too freaked out to remember to be shy with him. “Beck, did I put the quilt in my trunk this morning? I mean, I did, right? I know I did.”

“Laney—”

“I got to the shelter and it’s not there. The quilt, I mean. The shelter’s here, of course. It’s not like they’d pick it up and move it overnight.”

“Laney—”

“But nothing else is missing. Why would someone get into my trunk to steal a baby quilt? That doesn’t make any sense at all. So I must have forgotten to grab it…” she paused long enough to draw a breath, “…and just thought I did. I mean, you’re a really good kisser. You had me all discombobulated.”

“Babe—”

“I’ve never had anyone kiss me and get me like that before, Beck.” Delaney knew, if she could get her brain to catch up to her mouth, she wouldn’t be sharing this with him, but she couldn’t stop talking. “I was all ready to hand the quilt over, hoping it would make the shitty,
shitty
news I got this morning a little more bearable. But now I can’t and my already shitty morning just got even shittier.”

Beck didn’t say anything. She pulled her phone away from her ear to check if the call had dropped. It hadn’t. Putting the phone back to her ear, she said, “Beck?”

“Just waitin’ ’til you got it all out, baby. You done?” Humor trembled in his voice as if he was trying not to laugh.

“Yeah,” she mumbled. Once again she’d been amusing to him when she wasn’t really being amusing.

“First of all, shitty day?”

Of course that was the first thing he’d latched on to. Warmth spread through her at yet another demonstration of what a caring man he was. “I might lose my job. A lot of people at SNJ might lose their jobs.”

“Mismanagement?”

“What? No,” she stressed. “Mr. Johnson’s a good guy. Well, I suppose it could be down to mismanagement because, honestly, I don’t know how good a businessman he is. But it’s a merger. A takeover.”

“By?”

She blinked. “Buy what? I should buy something?”

“No, darlin’.” His low voice was soft. Gentle. Taking care not to further her upset. “By whom? Who’s taking over?”

“Taken,” she stressed. “It’s a done deal. By Monday suits from the corporate company, an outfit called TechAm, will be in to determine
redundancies
. People shouldn’t be considered redundant.” While worse things could, and had, happened to her, losing a job was still hard. “My boss thinks our department will be one of the first to go. TechAm already has people who do what we do. C-Colbie will probably lose her job too.”

“Hang in there, baby. We’ll figure somethin’ out.”

“I have some savings, Beck, but if I lose my job I won’t be able to stay in that house. I can’t afford the rent if I’m unemployed. At least I own my car, so I don’t have car payments,” she muttered, being partly facetious.

“That’s the spirit. Focus on the positives.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

His warm chuckle wrapped her in comfort. “Doesn’t make it any less true, babe.”

“I guess not.”

“Second, you should know, every time you cuss you make me wanna laugh. Third, your kiss has the same effect on me.”

She didn’t believe that for a second.

“Fourth, you did put the quilt in your trunk. You sure you didn’t grab it and take it in to work with you to show it off to your coworkers and leave it there?”

“No, I didn’t take it in to work to show it off. I don’t do stuff like that.” Because what if something she thought was beautiful was in fact awful? She didn’t want anyone making fun of her.

“Okay,” he soothed. “Take a breath. It’s gonna be all right.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Delaney belatedly realized she was standing in a parking lot, staring into her trunk. A parking lot that reflected radiant heat so that, even though it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet, it had to be close to ninety-five degrees out. And the reason she belatedly realized this was sweat started trickling down the left side of her face.

She slammed the trunk closed and got back into her car. As she started up the car, getting the air-conditioning going full blast, she asked, “Why would someone break into the trunk to steal something, Beck?” She gazed at the dashboard. “They didn’t even take the sound system or anything.”

“I don’t know. Do you want to call the police?”

“Do you think I should? What would I tell them? Someone somehow got into my trunk and took a quilt I made for a baby? They’ll think I’m nuts.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s up to you.”

“What do you think I should do?” He was the security expert, after all.

He blew out a breath. “I think TPD has a lot on their plate without having to respond to a report of a stolen baby quilt.”

“That’s what I thought,” she mumbled. “I mean, they’re spread so thin they won’t even respond to an auto accident unless there’s an injury.”

“Right.” He said something to someone else, his voice muffled, so he must have put his hand over the phone. “Laney, look, I’ve gotta go. Why don’t you come down to our office? I’ll take a look at your car and see if I can find a point of ingress.”

“I didn’t see any scratches on the lock,” she told him.

“I might catch something you don’t know to look for.”

That was true enough.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “You sound busy.”

“Never too busy for you.”

Oh God. That was so sweet.

“I’ll be done here in about fifteen minutes or so. That’s plenty of time for you to get here. We’ll do an early lunch.”

That perked her up. She hadn’t planned on seeing Beck until dinnertime, so to be able to spend some time with him in the middle of the day was stellar. “Okay. That sounds nice.”

She put him on speakerphone while he gave her directions and she plotted them into her GPS app. “Okay, I got it. I’ll see you in a few.”

“All right. Drive safe.”

“I will,” she said. “Bye.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call. Twisting in her seat, she nabbed her seat belt and fastened it then put the car in gear and headed downtown. And as she went, she fretted again over how someone was able to get into her trunk in the first place, and why they took the quilt. Even if it was only baby-sized, she’d put a lot of work—and love—into that thing. It steamed her that someone would steal it. And now she’d start a new one, not with joy, but with irritation mixed in with the happiness she usually felt.

Sometimes people sucked.

Chapter Seven

Beck stood in the back doorway and watched Delaney park her car beneath the ramada. She bent toward the passenger seat then brought her hand up, and he realized she was holding her phone to her ear. Her mouth moved. Clearly she was on a call. Not knowing how long she’d be, he leaned a shoulder against the jamb, crossed his arms, and waited, and tried his best to ignore the midmorning heat already in the nineties.

After a few minutes she shut off the engine, grabbed her purse, and got out of the car. The car beeped as she walked toward him and she slid her keys into a pocket in the seam of her skirt. She reached him, saying, “Okay, sweetie. I’ll talk to you later.” She dropped her phone into her open purse and smiled at Beck. “My sister’s planning on retiring and moving to Tucson.”

“That’s good news, I take it.”

“The best!” She went up on her toes and kissed the corner of his mouth then dropped back onto her heels. “I told you Mom and I don’t get along, but Morgan and I…well, she’s my best friend.”

He stared down at her, beginning to get a sense of the Delaney he’d get if she could forget to be shy with him. She’d shine so bright he’d have scarring on his retinas. And that was the Delaney he wanted.

“When’s your sister going to get here?”

“She’s coming for a visit in about four weeks to look for a house. She has a photo shoot in Rome next month, and a fashion show in London a couple weeks after that. A few more things she’s under contract for; then she’ll be done and ready to move. Less than six months, probably.”

Her wide smile turned a beautiful face into something spectacular.

He slid an arm around her waist and drew her near. With his free hand he cupped her jaw then touched his lips to hers once, twice. Softly. One more time. When he lifted his head, her lashes fluttered and she stared up at him with a dazed look in her eyes. So dazed, in fact, she looked discombobulated, and he had to grin.

She leaned back in his arm and her gaze zeroed in on his mouth. “You’re a really good kisser,” she whispered, something she’d told him earlier on the phone.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

He waited for her to get herself together. “You ready to go inside?”

She blinked. “Um…” A deep breath seemed to do the trick, for she said, “Don’t you want to look at my car?”

Well, hell. He guessed she wasn’t the only one to get shaken by their kiss. “Yes, let’s. Then we can get out of this heat.” He took her hand and they walked back to her car. He walked around it, looking at the locks on the doors before heading around to the back. Dropping her hand when he got to her trunk, he bent and studied the lock. “None of the locks were forced or picked.”

“Because there are no marks?”

“Right.” Beck glanced at Delaney, pleased as fuck by her intelligence.

She blushed slightly. “I probably watch more TV than I should,” she said with a grimace and slight wrinkle of her nose.

He couldn’t resist that cuteness. Sliding an arm around her waist again, he pulled her against him. This time their kiss wasn’t soft and it wasn’t quick. It was deep, it was hard, it was wet, and it was great. No. Better than great.

Spectacular. Just like her.

When he lifted his head they were both out of breath.

“Beck,” she whispered. She lifted one hand and cupped his jaw, stroking her thumb over his cheek then his bottom lip. “This mouth should be classified as a lethal weapon.”

He smiled. “Come on. Let’s get out of this heat.”

“I could use a drink of water,” she told him.

He linked his fingers with hers again. As they walked back to the building, she swung their arms. He hid his grin. She was a goof, his woman.

Once they were inside, he led her toward his office. She looked around the entire time. “I’m impressed,” she said as they went past the conference room. She lifted her free hand shyly in greeting to the men still inside and got chin lifts in return. Ty’s face split into a wide grin, and when Delaney wasn’t looking, he gave Beck two thumbs-ups.

Beck shook his head and pushed open the door to his office. Delaney went inside and he followed, closing the door behind him and depressing the button to lock it. He didn’t think any of the guys would interrupt them, but he’d make it so that they couldn’t just walk in. Just in case.

Crossing the room, he went to a minifridge tucked in between his credenza and the wall, and pulled out a bottled water. He twisted off the cap and handed the bottle to her.

“Thanks.” She took a few long draws.

As she pulled the bottle away from her mouth, he asked, “What do you want to do about your quilt?”

She sighed. “What can I do, really? I mean, I can call the cops and report the theft, but there’s no evidence my car was broken into.” She shrugged.

“Does your company have surveillance cameras?”

She looked startled. “No. At least I don’t think they do.”

“I’ll check. You had enough?” he asked with a tilt of his chin toward the water bottle. At Delaney’s nod, he took it from her and set it on his desk, then drew her into his arms. “Now, how’re you doin’?”

“I’m all right.”

Beck gave his arms a little shake, jiggling her. “Let’s try it again. How’re you doin’, baby?”

Her full lips pressed together; then she burst out, “I’m a little freaked out, okay? Someone stole something out of my car, just a quilt, which is nothing, but because it’s so nothing it’s really something. I might lose my job. And if I lose my job and can’t find another one soon, I’ll lose my house. I have to sign a lease renewal by the end of the month—which is only two weeks away—or be ready to move out. I have some savings but not much. I know there’s always unemployment, but I’m sure that’ll barely cover my rent and nothing else.” She took a breath and sailed on full steam ahead, “My sister, whom I love, is planning on retiring from modeling and moving to Tucson in six months or less, which is great news, but also means my mother, with whom I do not get along, will not be far behind.” She gave him big eyes. “Is that what you wanted to know?”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to know. So let’s break it down, right?”

She frowned at him. “Break it down?”

“Yeah. Break all this down so we can handle it one issue at a time and you won’t have to worry anymore.”

Her lips parted on her gasp. “Beck.”

He drew her over to the wide sofa that was placed beneath the blind-covered window on the outer wall. Sitting down, he pulled her onto his lap. The curve of her luscious ass nestled between his thighs and her legs rested over his, her feet dangling above the floor.

“Beck,” she protested, wiggling.

The soft, sweet weight of her made his blood fire. His cock started to harden.

She must have felt it because she gave another gasp and stilled. “Beck.” This time her voice was throaty.

“We’ll get to that in a minute,” he promised, and grinned when she scowled at him. The scowl didn’t hold any real heat and, again, she was pretty as fuck doing it. “So, first, we’ll check and see if there’s any surveillance set up at SNJ. If there is we’ll get a look at the footage. Second, we’ve been talking about hiring an Office Administrator here. There’s too much paperwork for Ty and me to keep up with. You can have the job if you want it.”

“You’re making that up,” she accused.

He held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.” Not that he’d ever been a Boy Scout, but he wasn’t lying. “I’ll have to talk to Ty, but he’s been just as reluctant to go through the hiring process as I have. We hadn’t gotten around to placing an ad yet because, also, neither one of us wanted to be the one to field the calls.” He slid his hand beneath the heavy fall of her hair and curled his fingers lightly around the back of her neck. “The position would manage the office, man the front desk, and answer the phones.”

She glanced at the phone on his desk, which had yet to ring. Looking back at him, she raised an eyebrow and said, “Somehow that doesn’t seem like it’ll be too taxing.”

“Most of our calls come over our cell phones, but just you wait,” he threatened with a smile. “One of the other guys from my squad, Rafe Delgado, has joined us, and it’s a matter of weeks before Solomon Quincy comes on board. We took on two new cases today, so business is picking up.”

She rolled her lips between her teeth and her gaze dropped to his shoulder. “If you’re sure the others wouldn’t mind…”

“Laney, look at me. Look at me,” he repeated, and her eyes came up to his face. He swiped a thumb up her jawline then slid his fingers into her hair, cupping the side of her skull. “I’m sure you do a good job for your boss.” He paused. “How fast do you type?”

“Ninety, ninety-five words per minute.”

His brows shot up. “Wow. I’m probably lucky if I do twenty. Do you take dictation?”

She shook her head. “It’s been too many years since I had shorthand. About the only thing I remember is how to write ‘dear sir’. But I can transcribe from a tape,” she added with hope in her voice.

“Then the job’s yours, seriously. The guys will be fine with that, especially since it’ll mean we won’t have to waste time and money running ads and doing interviews.”

Delaney’s tongue swept over her lips. Beck held himself back from following it with his own, barely. “How do you know I do a good job?” she asked softly, going back to an earlier point in the conversation.

“Because SNJ has a reputation for excellence and they wouldn’t retain someone who’s incompetent. Plus, I know you. With the great work you did on that quilt, which you did for free, I know you’d give at least that much attention to something you get paid to do.”

“Well…” she held his gaze for another few seconds then hers dropped to his mouth, “…thank you,” she said. “Though, I hope I don’t have to take you up on your offer. No offense,” she added, her eyes darting to his.

He smiled. “None taken.” He shifted, leaning over to place her on her back on the sofa. Her skirt hitched up and he made a space for himself between her legs. He stayed up on one forearm propped on the sofa cushion between her shoulder and the back of the couch. “Now that we’ve gotten that worry scratched off your list, let’s tackle the next one.”

She licked her lips again. This time he couldn’t resist and lowered his mouth to hers. When he lifted his head, she drew in a breath. “Um, can’t we have this conversation sitting up?”

Beck shook his head. “No, we cannot.” He grinned at her disgruntled look. “Aren’t you comfortable?”

“That’s not the point.” Her gaze darted to the door then back to his face. “Someone could come in.”

“No one’s going to come in.”

“But they could.”

“They won’t. I locked the door.” He bent and placed a soft kiss against the corner of her mouth. “Tell me about your mom.”

“You locked the door?” She frowned. “I didn’t see you lock the door.”

“Did it when we came in. Tell me about your mom.”

She huffed out a breath. “Beck—”

“Tell me. About. Your mom.”

“I think…” her lips rolled in again before she blurted, “…she doesn’t like me. My mom.”

It wasn’t unheard of, he knew, for parents to have little to no affection for their offspring. But, hell, this was
Delaney
. “How can she not like you? You’re adorable.”

Delaney gave a shrug that tried to be nonchalant but was so far from it he had to clench his jaw against the anger he felt on her behalf. “I don’t know what to tell you,” she said, her voice soft but not disguising the hurt she felt. “From the time I can remember I was never enough for her.”

“Never enough what?”

She shrugged her shoulders as she whispered, “Enough anything.”

He slid his hands beneath her and drew her closer. “Explain that to me, Laney.”

“When I was younger she put me in beauty pageants, even though I had zero interest. Well, I suppose early on I did but only because I wanted to make her happy. But later on…” she shook her head, “…I hated them. And as far as she was concerned, the reason I never placed higher than third was because I wasn’t pretty enough. I wasn’t talented enough. I wasn’t graceful enough. I wasn’t smart enough. I just wasn’t enough. And when I hit puberty and my face broke out and I wasn’t as cute anymore with crooked teeth—at least she paid for me to have braces—she gave up.”

“She’s full of shit,” Beck spoke through a clenched jaw. That any parent could make their child feel unworthy angered him, but that Delaney’s parent would do it made him furious. When she looked startled at his comment, he tried to gentle his voice and went on, “Baby, you are beautiful. I’m not the only one who thinks so. I can guarantee if your mother truly doesn’t think you are, she’s the only one who has that opinion, and it’s bullshit.” He leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. “You’re able to make gorgeous quilts, so that takes care of the talent part. I’d say you’re plenty talented.”

Her eyes went liquid. He cupped her face in his hands, swiping at the wet trickling from the corners of her eyes.

“Having watched you walk through a restaurant in high heels, you seem graceful enough to me. But, I gotta tell you, even if you were a klutz, that wouldn’t take away from your beauty. At all.”

He had to wonder what kind of relationship she had with her model sister. She seemed to be on great terms with her but, still, it had to eat at her, being constantly compared and, supposedly, not coming out favorably.

“What else was there?” he asked. He thought a second until the final one came to him. “Oh, right. Not smart enough. That’s bullshit too. I bet you got good grades all through school, didn’t you?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“Did you go to college?”

Another nod.

“What was your major?”

“Business administration. With a major in management and a minor in Spanish.”

“See, that right there was smart, since you live in the Southwest with a large Mexican population.”

“Beck—”

“I bet your boss thinks you’re smart.”

From the look on her face he could tell he was right.

“Stop listening to your mother, baby,” he whispered. “Because she is wrong. Whatever all that’s about, it’s about her, not you.”

Her breath hitched; then she was wrapped around him, her fingers curling into his hair, her face shoved into his throat.