Brian Read online

  Thankfully, the highway had ended and Main Street stretched out in front of them. He drove to the café and parked at the side in a handicapped space. Due to his agitation, he took longer than usual wrestling with his wheelchair to pull it from behind the passenger seat.

  “Do you need help?”

  “No.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “How about I go get us a table?”

  “Fine.”

  When she left, he lifted his chair and banged it down, not that the temper tantrum helped. Or had it? His cock wasn’t going to embarrass him now.

  When he rolled toward the entrance, Raydeen stood holding open the door.

  “I know you can open your own doors,” she said, giving him a snide grin. “I just like opening my own.”

  The hint of attitude in her features went a long way toward quenching his embarrassment. He’d pissed her off. She’d pissed him off. He figured they were even now.

  “The waitress is getting our table ready,” she said, as she followed him inside. “To the right.”

  Most of the seating was bench-style booths, but toward the rear were small round tables. A waitress was busy pulling away unneeded chairs and gave them a smile as they approached. “I’ll get your menus.”

  “No need,” Brian bit out.

  “I know what I want,” Raydeen said at the same time.

  Raising her eyebrows at their terse words, the waitress reached into her apron for her pad. “Well, then, what can I get for you two?”

  They placed their orders for the “family-style” plate that featured bacon and ham, two eggs, a small stack of pancakes, and an order of hash browns.

  When he glanced at Raydeen after she’d made her order, she wrinkled her nose. “I like to eat. Sue me.”

  “I wasn’t going to say anything. I think…” Again, he raked his glance over her sturdy frame. “I think you shouldn’t worry about calories.”

  “Hmm.” She narrowed her eyes. “Is that because you think I’m fat and don’t care?”

  “You’re not fat.”

  “I’m not a stick-girl.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re…built…” Shit, why was he even going there?

  “No, finish the thought.”

  He cleared his throat then nearly choked. Bless her, the waitress arrived with coffees and water. He took a swig of water, hoping the delay would prevent his having to finish.

  However, the way Raydeen sat back in her chair, her arms crossed just beneath her breasts, told him that she was going to out-wait him. He sighed. “You’re built like a fucking Amazon. Strong, sleek. Powerful.”

  “You think I’m sleek?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “Like a powerful leopard.” He was beginning to sweat, because she still didn’t look satisfied with his answer, and he was beginning to feel like dork, because he couldn’t tell her the truth. Or could he? “Leopards are sturdy, muscled. And yet, when they move, they’re graceful in a…full-bodied…sort of way.” Yeah, his face was hot. No hiding the fact.

  The corners of her mouth twitched. Then she gave a laugh and slapped the table. “Your face!” She laughed some more then bent at the waist. “So, I’m a…a l-leopard?” She pointed at him and snickered.

  Brian blew hard, billowing out his cheeks. “You did that on purpose.”

  “Sure did. Wondered where you’d go, but…damn!” She continued to giggle then chortle, but by then, he didn’t care, because he’d never seen this side of Raydeen, her eyes narrowed by laughter, her mouth stretched wide. There were tears in her eyes she laughed so hard.

  A wry smile tugged at his mouth. “Glad I could entertain you,” he muttered.

  She wiped at her tears then sniffed and straightened. “Sorry about that. You’re always so serious, so uptight—when I’m around, anyway. Seeing you scramblin’ to explain yourself…” Her shoulders shook, but she pretended to zip her mouth. “I’ll stop. Right now.”

  “Please. Everyone’s staring.” He didn’t know that because he couldn’t look away from her. He’d always thought her body was hot, but her smiling…? He felt warm again, but not from embarrassment. He felt strangely…happy.

  The waitress returned with a large tray, which she set on the table next to theirs, then began setting dishes in front of them.

  “Hope you don’t have to be anywhere for a while,” Raydeen said, waggling her eyebrows. “It’s gonna take a while to finish all this.”

  He unfolded a paper napkin and placed it on his lap. “Didn’t you order the biggest plate so we’d have plenty of time together? I know I did.”

  And that shut her right up.

  * * *

  Raydeen sat stunned, her eyebrows shooting upward. He’d delivered that line in a low voice, deeper than before. She’d felt it whisper right across her skin, prickling the surface with goose bumps. Indeed, she had ordered the largest plate because she intended to dawdle and make the most of this opportunity of having him all to herself. She was floored that he’d admitted to doing the same damn thing.

  She picked up a piece of bacon, contemplating what to say next, but then sighed. “Bacon’s the best, its own dang food group, far as I’m concerned.”

  “I’m with you,” he said. “The first time my parents took me to a breakfast buffet, they said I could eat whatever I wanted. I asked if I could have all the bacon I wanted, and they said yes. When I piled my plate high—with just bacon—they laughed so hard.” He waggled his eyebrows back at her and took a bite of his bacon. “I’ve been an addict all my life.”

  “Bacon makes everything better,” she said with a nod. “See? We have something in common.”

  They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. From time to time, she’d glance up from her plate to find him looking at her. On the fourth time, she said, “What? Do I have food on my face?”

  He raised a finger and pointed at the right side of her mouth. “A little egg.”

  “Ooh.” She picked up her napkin and dabbed at her mouth, but the paper came back clean. “My mouth was clean. Admit it. You were looking at me.”

  His gaze went to his plate, and he quickly raised his fork to place potatoes in his mouth. He made a noise as he chewed, pointing at his mouth now.

  Raydeen shook her head. “Coward. I know you can’t get enough looking at these,” she said, plumping up her breasts with her hands. The tee she wore was tight, and he’d probably been staring at the twin points that pressed against the fabric.

  Color surged into his cheeks again. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  Raydeen leaned across the table. Leaning over gave him a little glimpse of her cleavage, which she didn’t mind sharing. “Do I look uncomfortable, Brian Cobb?” she whispered.

  His gaze narrowed. “Are you always this…flirty?”

  “How long have you known me? Have you ever seen me flirt with any other man?” She tipped her chin. “Think about that—and be glad you have a napkin coverin’ your lap.”

  The waitress returned to refill their coffees. Her gaze went from Raydeen to Brian and back, and she blinked.

  Raydeen could almost hear her inner monologue. Too bad he doesn’t have legs because he’s really cute. Raydeen signaled for the waitress to lean toward her, then cupped the woman’s ear and whispered. “His big dick’s not gone.”

  The waitress gasped and backed away, her fleshy bottom hitting the table behind her before she scurried toward the other side of the restaurant.

  Raydeen glanced at Brian, hoping he hadn’t heard what she’d said. When she got mad, she found it hard to curb her tongue.

  He was studying her face.

  She bit her bottom lip then blurted, “I told her she had toilet paper on her shoe.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  Shit. “Then what did I say?” She raised her chin, challenging him to repeat her words.

  “I don’t need you defending me.”

  “No, you don’t. You don’t need defen
ding.”

  His gaze remained steady, pinning her to her chair. “Then why did you do it?”

  “Because she can’t look beyond your wheelchair to the man,” Raydeen said, her voice tightening.

  He gave her a nod. “Well, then, thank you, but I wonder how you know it’s big.”

  Raydeen sat back. She hadn’t known. But now that she did…? “Guess I was just bein’ hopeful.”

  Brian sat still for a moment, his expression not giving away a thing. But then he pressed his lips together, and his shoulders started to shake.

  Raydeen threw her napkin on the table. “Don’t you laugh at me.”

  His laughter rang out, and she had to admit it was a beautiful sound. Something she hadn’t heard before. Settling back in her chair, she smiled across at him. Baby, I have your number now. Don’t think I won’t call it.

  Chapter 4

  Monday morning, Brian found himself whistling as he placed a fresh filter in the coffee maker and added two full scoops of coffee before sliding the funnel beneath the dispenser. The hunters liked their coffee strong enough to stand a spoon inside a cup. So did he.

  He heard a choking sound and jerked his head around to find Jamie standing in the doorway, her eyes wide.

  “What?”

  She pressed her lips together before replying, “Were you whistling ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’?”

  Brian frowned. Had he been? His mind had been elsewhere. “I can’t carry a tune. I thought I was whistling ‘Down with the Sickness’,” he said grumpily.

  “You were not,” she said, grinning now as she drew closer. She cleared her throat. “Heard you had a date,” she said, her tone sly.

  “What date?” he said, although he was pretty sure he knew what she was referring to.

  “You and Raydeen. Allie saw you and Raydeen leaving the track together.”

  Damn busybodies. Didn’t this crew have better things to do than gossip? “Well, it wasn’t a date. It was…breakfast.” Where Raydeen had teased him into a hard-on, and then told the waitress he had a big dick. Thank God, none of them had been inside the café.

  “Huh,” Jamie said, her eyes narrowing while her smile widened. “Tamara was getting coffee and takeout at the Bear Lodge Café. Said the waitress was all flustered. You know Tamara was a hairdresser, right? She can wring gossip out of a stone…”

  His cheeks heated. “Must have been some conversation.”

  “She said something about Raydeen oversharing about some man’s attributes…” she said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

  “Then you know she wasn’t talking about me. Raydeen doesn’t know a thing about my…attributes,” he muttered.

  “Huh.” She gave him a wink. “That’s okay. You can keep your secrets. Just know this—I think you two look cute together.”

  Brian scowled, which only set Jamie giggling. Then Tamara stepped through the door. The pink streak in her hair wasn’t its usual soft, cotton-candy—it was nearly neon. Brian held up a hand and gave an exaggerated wince.

  “Oh, no. You do not get to change the subject,” Tamara said, wagging a finger at him. “Spill! I’ve been dying to hear what happened on your date.”

  “It wasn’t a date,” he repeated.

  “It was breakfast,” Jamie finished for him.

  “Pfft,” Tamara said, putting a hand on her hip. “Well, it was a steaming-hot breakfast, from what I heard.”

  “Well, you heard wrong.”

  Tamara pressed her lips together, her eyes narrowing. Then she shook her head. “Nope, I’m not letting you get away with that. Come on, spill.”

  Brian glanced at the ceiling. “Seriously, Tam. Do you think someone who looks like Raye—”

  “Wait a second, mister,” Jamie said, giving him a glare. “Don’t you dare finish that statement.”

  Tamara nodded. “We’ve all seen the way you two look at each other.”

  He threw up his hands. “Why does everyone keep saying that? The only reason she’s looking at me is because she’s measuring me for prosthetics.”

  “That’s not even what she does,” Tamara said. “You’d go to a…a guy for that—she just helps you learn to walk on ’em.”

  Jamie let out a deep breath. “Will you give yourself a break, Brian? Why wouldn’t she be interested in you. You’re a handsome man, intelligent, a great friend…” When he gave her a baleful look and deliberately glanced down at his legs, she frowned. “Don’t you think Raydeen, of all people, would know exactly what she’d be getting herself into?”

  He didn’t answer, frowning because he didn’t want to have this conversation.

  Jamie gave him an equally dark scowl right back. “If she’s having breakfast with you—and apparently flirting with you—she’s interested.”

  “Well, she can just get un-interested. I don’t have time to date. We have skips to chase, a production crew about to descend… She’ll just have to find someone else to—” He gave Jamie a glare. “She wasn’t flirting. She was defending me.”

  Jamie bugged her eyes. “How on earth was she defending you when she said you have a big dick?”

  “For the love of G—”

  “What I heard,” Tamara said, “was that you two were both eating each other up with your eyes.”

  “That doesn’t even sound anatomically possible,” he said, his voice rising with his growing frustration.

  “Dude,” came a deep voice from the doorway. Reaper strode inside, one eyebrow arched. “If Raydeen is into you, why the hell are you fighting it? She’s hawt.”

  “Who’s hot?” said Carly, walking in behind him and giving her husband a blistering stare.

  “Baby, Raydeen. She was talking about Brian’s dick. Said he had a—”

  “Ah, heard about that,” she said, a smile replacing her frown. “I was over at the café last night—”

  Brian opened his mouth to utter another denial, but the three women and Reaper continued to share their “intel”—obviously not needing his input, because when he wheeled right past them, they didn’t appear to notice.

  When he was back in the bullpen, settled in front of his monitor, he took a deep breath. The sound of laughter from the kitchen spilled into the room but was distant enough for him to ignore. He powered up his monitor and hit the icon to open the agency’s daily list.

  The tone that rang when the front door opened chimed, and he glanced up to see Dagger and Lacey entering. Lacey’s gaze widened when she saw him. “So, I want the skinny on your date!”

  * * *

  Two hours later, after the hunters had their marching orders for the day and had exited the building, Brian sat staring at the screen, not really registering what he was looking at. The silence was deafening.

  While the hunters had all been there, Hook arriving late because he’d waited for Felicity to return home after a late-night surveillance mission, Brian had been the center of their attention. A weird experience for him. They liked to gossip, and he’d never given them anything juicy to ruminate over.

  For all his protestations, he realized he’d kind of liked being hazed. He’d felt like one of them, because they’d been just as single-minded going after the “deets” of his breakfast with Raydeen as they’d ever been dissecting their own relationships.

  Not that he’d given them much to mull over. “Just the facts, Jack,” Carly had muttered, following the women out of the kitchen to filter into the bullpen. “So, if you won’t tell us what you discussed, tell us about her. Tell us what you learned about Raydeen.”

  He’d shrugged. “What do you mean? We didn’t go into our life histories or anything.”

  “But what did you two talk about?”

  He made a growling noise, but knew he’d have to give them something or they’d never leave him alone. “She said she ordered the biggest breakfast plate because she intended to take her time finishing, seeing as she had me all to herself.”

  The women smiled.

  Reaper, again, arched a single eyebro
w. “So, she likes her bacon.”

  “Something she said we have in common,” Brian said, feeling vindicated. It was all about the bacon. Then he closed his mouth because he hadn’t intended to reveal any more details.

  Carly plopped down in a desk chair and scooted it closer. Jamie sat on the edge of the table that held his monitor. Tamara sat and leaned an elbow on the tabletop then settled her chin on top of her hand.

  “Well, don’t leave them hanging?” Reaper growled.

  His cheeks began to burn. “Um, she kept insisting that she was making me uncomfortable.”

  “As uncomfortable as you were at the track?” Jamie asked, chuckling.

  When he didn’t answer, Tamara rolled her eyes. “Jesus, we all know you got hard watching her run.”

  “He did?” Reaper said, glancing around the group.

  “I guess guys don’t check out each other’s dicks,” Tamara said.

  “And you women do?” Reaper said, sounding horrified.

  “We notice your…packages…” Jamie said, “just like you check out our boobs.”

  Reaper gave a huff. “We do n—”

  “Actually, she accused me of ogling hers,” Brian said, then shook his head, instantly regretting opening his big mouth again. He’d only said it because Reaper had been so adamant that he didn’t do that, but Brian knew it was a lie. Half the time he talked to Carly he was staring at her chest. “Um, she said I couldn’t get enough of looking at these,” he said, cupping his hands and holding them under his chest as he mimicked Raydeen hefting her beautiful tits.

  “And she’d be right, yeah?” Tamara said, grinning.

  Brian rolled his eyes. “I’m pleading the fifth.”

  “What else did you talk about?” Jamie asked, her voice softer now.

  “Uh, Amazons and leopards…” He pulled at the neck of his shirt. “I need to fix that thermostat. It’s getting hot in here.”

  “That’s because there are too many bodies in this kitchen jaw-jacking instead of working!” Hook said from the entrance.

  When had the door chime sounded?