Page 28 of Shane
Big mistake. Now it was her mind imagining all the things he could do with his tongue and those straight, white teeth. Those nimble fingers. Unfastening her seatbelt, she turned to watch him. He had no idea of the suggestive show he was giving her. There was something melancholy about the way his tongue lapped over and around the ice cream. He wasn’t enjoying the treat. Just licking it out of habit, just because it was there.
“A penny for your thoughts,” she murmured before she crunched the last of her cone into her mouth and swallowed it.
He shook his head, not telling her no, as much as shaking his mind out of wherever he’d gone. “Just thinking. I need to fill the propane tanks, but it can wait until we get back.”
“Let’s do that now. I’ve got time.”
He shook his head again, still not facing her. “No. It’ll wait.” It was as if something heavy was now sitting between them. “I should get you home. Think your ex is gone by now?”
Shane turned to her then, his lips full and shiny and just-kissed wet. Okay, so he’d done the licking and she hadn’t kissed him, but the moment was gone, and he was right. They had a job to do. It was time to go home.
So she told him, “Yes, Butch never hangs around for long.”
And Shane drove her back to her apartment. When he dropped her at her building’s rear entrance instead of the Dumpster, Everlee didn’t wait for him to open her door. Just climbed out of the truck, put both boots firmly on the ground, then looked across the seat and told him, “Thanks for the ride. See you tomorrow.”
“Alex’s office,” he reminded her.
She gave him a curt nod. Shutting the truck door firmly, she hurried around the rear of it in case he wanted to drive away. She wouldn’t blame him if he did. The whole damned day had been one disaster after another. By the time she was on his side of the truck, Shane was on the ground waiting for her.
“Goodnight,” she told him in passing. “Thanks for the treat, too. Next time, my turn.”
He fell in step alongside her. “Glad your ex decided not to hang around.”
“Yeah, I’ll have to warn the complex managers he’s been here. That ought to be fun.”
“You can always stay at my place.”
Everlee shook her head. “Nope, I’m good. Been dealing with Butch for years. He’s not going to hurt me.”Because I’ll shoot him the next time he does.
Chapter Ten
He wanted to walk her to her door, but Everlee acted like she’d rather be alone. So, Shane left her at the apartment complex’s secure entry instead of the Dumpster, then walked back to his truck. His ears perked up to catch anything going on around him. He scouted the fenced-in Dumpster enclosure and the back gate as he drove away. No sign of Butch. Good enough.
The next morning’s meeting with Doc Fitz and Alex went smoothly. Doc Fitz approved Shane for duty, and he left Molly and Dolly with Harley. He’d packed before driving into work and was ready to travel.
The afternoon before, Mark had explained the ins and outs of TEAM employment: life and health insurance, the investment tracker all agents were automatically signed up for, as well as the on-site gym, medical clinic, the TEAM armory, range certification, and well, everything else. Shane listened, but honestly, he was on information overload by the time Mark finished. TEAM HQ was just too much.
Alex hadn’t built just a couple office buildings. He’d also built what resembled an upper-class, fully staffed resort for veterans and a private retreat for handicapped kids, complete with the companionship of well-mannered service dogs and gentle therapy horses. And cats. Lots of friendly cats roamed the property. Guess Maverick’s daughter Kyrie ran her ownAdopt-A-Kittyprogram out of the same barn where he kept his horses.
It was a helluva place to work. Helluva TEAM to get to work with. Some of these former snipers were legends. Not only Alex, but Walker Judge, Jameson Tenney, Lee Hart, Adam Torrey, Hunter Christian, Connor Maher, and Eric Reynolds. And those were just some of the guys from the Virginia office who Shane had met.
Hell, there wasn’t a TEAM agent he hadn’t read up on or heard about at one time or another. They all had bragging rights, but the ones he’d met so far hadn’t been smug nor arrogant. Well, except for Alex. But Shane didn’t blame the guy. If anything, he and his boss had a scary lot in common, which was disconcerting as hell. Turned out Alex had also joined the Corps straight out of high school. He’d lost his mom early, too, and until he’d met Kelsey, he’d been alone in the world. Just like Shane was now. Yeah, scary.
At the moment, he and Everlee were in transit to DFW International Airport in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. A flight attendant came through with a cart of refreshments. Shane accepted a bottled water and a pack of chocolate cookies, but she winked and handed over two more packs of cookies and another water. “We don’t see a lot of nice guys like you these days,” she murmured. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“It was the right thing to do,” he replied quietly. Shane wished she’d drop it. All he’d done was give up his seat to an Army PFC flying standby whose wife was in labor. Understandably, he’d been on pins and needles. Shane only wanted to get the poor guy to wherever he needed to be before he became a father. Being there when your kid was born seemed a lot more important than flying first-class. Staff Sergeant Schnitzler would’ve done the same thing.
So, now Everlee was sitting by herself in first-class while Shane sat dead last in the plane, back by the rear galley and restrooms. No big deal. He’d flown worse flights.
They were both dressed in look-alike, casual TEAMwear: black cotton-knit polos with the gold TEAM logo embroidered high on their left chests, over black jeans and work boots. Shane wore the only boots he owned, a scuffed pair of dark-brown, composite-toed Ariats he’d gotten at half-price years ago. The soles still had enough cushioning that, at the end of a hard day marching, his feet weren’t flat and he wasn’t crippled.
Interestingly, Alex hadn’t designated either of them to be Agent-in-Charge, which made them equal partners, although Everlee was the take-charge, bossier of the two. Shane didn’t mind. He was the newbie, and she wasn’t that bossy. He wasn’t worried.
As soon as they touched down at Dallas Fort Worth International and deplaned, she handed him her ticket and asked, or more like ordered, him to collect her luggage while she grabbed a rental car. Signage was great at DFW. Shane had both their bags at ground level and on the curb near the taxi stands when his brand-spanking new, ruggedized TEAM cell phone buzzed an incoming.
“Junior Agent Hayes,” he answered crisply.
“Listen to you, all professional and everything,” Everlee teased.