“Well, you just ask, darling, and I’m your man.”
Nick unleashed a sigh that was almost a growl, and Jer just laughed. Most of the time, Nick was so reserved. She kinda adored his brother’s ability to get under his skin, not to mention Nick’s apparent displeasure at Jeremy’s flirting.
“So, I have another question,” she said, changing the topic. “What do you think of Phoebe for the dog’s name?”
He finished tracing a line and glanced up at her, his face thoughtful. “How the hell do you spell it?”
Nick held out his hands. “See.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, yeah.”
Jess stuck her head out of her room, her shoulder-length black and red hair braided to the side. “I still vote for Tripod.”
Becca chuckled. “That’s . . . terrible.”
Jeremy snickered. “Or Hopalong.”
“You guys!”
“Skippy,” Nick said, a smirk forming on his sexy lips.
“Three-Speed,” Jeremy said in a completely serious voice.
Both the guys burst out laughing.
“Hey, what about Trinity?” Jess called.
Becca glared at the idiot men. “Thank you! A semi-serious name, finally.” She held her hand out to the dog, who came over and gave a few wet kisses. “You guys be nice or I will totally sic her on you. Look at her, you’d never even know she was missing a leg the way she gets around.” And it was true. She was mostly pretty steady on her feet.
The older Rixey finally managed to pull himself together, though it was hard to really be mad at him when he almost never laughed like that. He leaned his elbows on the table and looked her way. “Becca? I’d like to catch Jeremy up on everything if you don’t mind.”
She glanced between them. “Oh, yeah. Sure.”
Jeremy paused from his drawing. “What’s up?”
Nick recounted the day’s events, from the attempted abduction to the damage at her house—which dropped a bucket of jagged rocks in her stomach every time she imagined how bad it could be. Then he explained that his Army buddies were going to be congregating at their place for the weekend, but he was vague about the why of their visit. Listening to the recounting of her day, Becca found it really damn hard to believe he was talking about her life.
When Nick was done, Jeremy sat, drop-jawed, looking at her, his gaze lingering on the bump on her forehead. He dragged his hand through his dark hair. “Are you okay?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. I kinda want to see my house, though.”
Nick pressed his lips into a firm line. “It’s not safe. Not yet. Maybe once we have a plan and the guys are all here?”
It wasn’t safe. It didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out after the house had been broken into twice in twenty-four hours, but not knowing how bad and what was broken and whether anything had been taken made every worst-case scenario larger than life in her mind. Stuff was all she had left of most of her family members, so it was hard not to worry about it. Still, figuring out how to track down Charlie was far more important than whatever had been done at her house. “Okay.”
Jess and her client walked out of the tattoo room, and the twenties-ish woman was all smiles over the colorful stars-and-flowers design that now covered her wrist under a wrap of plastic. It was pretty. I could do something like that. Though I’d want it to mean something. Becca glanced at Rixey’s hands, sending an odd flutter through her stomach.
The buzzer screeched in the front lobby.
“Probably my client,” Jeremy said, rising.
“I’ll get him checked in,” Jess said, leading the girl to the front. A moment later, Jess ducked back around the corner. “Uh, guys,” she stage whispered. “There’s a big-ass male model out here.”
Becca grinned, but Nick flew out of his chair. “Don’t call him that, Jess. It’ll go right to his frickin’ head.”
“Which one?” she asked with a grin as he stepped around her and went out front.
“Have you met any of these guys?” Becca asked Jeremy, who had turned to watch Nick leave.
Flicking at the piercing on his bottom lip, he shook his head. “No. He’s pretty tight-lipped about them. Not the kind to tell war stories or anything.” Her dad had pretty much been the same way. She could really only say she knew one of his military colleagues well, and that was because her father and General Landon Kaine had been friends since their days at West Point. He’d visited their house from time to time.