Down below, the street beside Hard Ink was literally blocked—-by the pile of rubble that had slid down into the road when part of the building collapsed early Sunday morning. Just looking at the pile of bricks and cement and twisted beams and broken glass made Kat’s heart race, because she’d been on top of that building when it went down. Her brothers and several others, too. In her mind’s eye she saw the rooftop fall away from under Jeremy’s feet. He and two other guys started to fall, and she’d screamed. And then Nick was there, grabbing Jeremy’s hand and hauling him up from the breach.
Kat’s breath caught and she blinked away the sting suddenly filling her eyes. The image of Jer falling and the thought of him being gone had haunted her dreams every night since. Because she could’ve lost Jeremy.
Which made her glad her oldest brother had spent years in SpecOps and knew what the hell to do, because she couldn’t lose her brothers. And given the impossibly crazy situations she’d encountered since arriving at Hard Ink, she was well aware that losing them was a possibility. Because Nick and Jeremy were in the very gravest danger.
It all stemmed from Nick’s team’s fight to restore their honor against powerful and not fully known enemies. A fight that apparently had so much at stake that her brothers’ building had been attacked by armed soldiers who had a rocket launcher. A freaking rocket launcher!
And, if that wasn’t enough, the men they were likely fighting against—-and probably the very ones who had attacked—-were the subject of a series of investigations her office had been working on for the past nine months.
It was something she’d only become certain of over the last twenty--four hours, as Nick’s team’s investigation into a cache of documents from their now--deceased Army commander had begun to shed light upon exactly what—-and who—-they were up against. Kat was glad for the alone time today, because her brain was a conflicted mess. Should she maintain her professional ethics and protect her security clearances by keeping her mouth shut? Or tell Nick and his team exactly what her office was doing and share what information she had that could help them?
She’d promised herself to decide today while she had some time to think.
And she had thought that coming to see her big bros would be the relaxing getaway it normally was, one that would distract her from her own problems—-namely Cole, the ex--boyfriend who couldn’t seem to get it through his thick skull that she was really done with him. Down below, she saw Beckett dart across the street between the buildings. With his muscles, square jaw, and fathomless blue eyes, the guy was pure, raw masculinity personified. Her body couldn’t be near his without reacting on some fundamentally hormonal level. Her heart raced. Her nipples peaked. Her stomach went for a loop--the--loop.
Before he disappeared around the corner of the Hard Ink building, he glanced over his shoulder and looked up. Kat was a hundred percent sure his eyes landed on her, even though she sat mostly shielded behind the brick of this old warehouse. Because her body jangled with a sudden awareness.
And then he was gone.
She rolled her eyes. Freaking ridiculous to get so worked up over a man whose favorite form of communication was the grunt. And who made a habit of ignoring her when she spoke to him. And who’d pulled a gun on her without even bothering to ask her name. Couldn’t forget that.
Whatever. He probably just got to her because he was so unlike the men with whom she normally spent time. Whereas her colleagues at Justice tended to be serious, buttoned--up, and lower key, Beckett radiated an intensity she didn’t quite understand. It certainly didn’t have anything to do with how he spoke or acted, because he talked little and showed emotion even less. Maybe it was all that leashed strength, because she had no doubt that he could do some serious damage with his bare hands.
Which, given the way her biceps looked right now, maybe wasn’t the most pleasant thought, was it? Because Friday morning, when she’d gone down to her building’s garage to head out to work, Cole had been waiting for her . . . somewhere. One minute she was juggling her belongings and sliding her key into the door lock, and the next someone grabbed her arms from behind and shoved her against the cold cinder--block wall near the hood of her car. It caught her so off guard that she hadn’t even managed a scream before her body was trapped between the wall and her assailant, who ground his hard--on into her rear.
God, I missed you, baby.
The memory of his raspy voice whispering in her ear made her shudder. The fact that he’d gotten the jump on her without her having the chance to fight back had Kat so mad at herself she could barely stand it.
When she’d finally talked him into letting go of her and agreed to meet him after work for a drink and a talk, he left. And she’d hightailed it up to her apartment to pack a bag, made a stop at the Superior Court to file for a protective order, and left D.C. for Baltimore and the safety of her brothers’ place.
Ha.