He leaned closer. Her breathing quickened. Every cell in her body seemed aware of him, as if she was water and he was a divining rod.
“I’m okay with that…for now,” Walker finally said.
Tessa barely heard over her beating heart.
“What’s with him?” Josiah said, gesturing to Joaquin. “He hasn’t said a word.”
Finally, the big Hispanic hunk with narrowed hazel eyes and attitude to spare raised a brow. “You better hope you don’t hear from me. If you do, that’s not a good thing.”
Hunter cleared his throat. “Any other questions?”
“Yeah. How soon will we see these contracts?” Zy looked ready to come across the table for an answer.
The brothers shared another considering glance, then Logan spoke up. “We’ll shoot for the next eight weeks. That work?”
Zy shot her a quick glance before he sat back in his chair with a smile. “The sooner the better.”
June 14
Tessa sat on the floor with Hallie on Saturday morning, smiling as she practiced her new skills.
When her daughter rolled from her back to her tummy again, she clapped. “What a big girl!”
Hallie gurgled, holding her head up and staring with eyes looking more green every day. Then the baby lifted her body off the blanket and rocked back on her knees with enthusiastic grunts of excitement.
“What am I going to do when you start crawling? It probably won’t be long before I’m chasing you everywhere.” That notion terrified Tessa, and her baby cooed like she relished that fact. “Go easy on Mom, huh? I’ve never parented before.”
That only made Hallie giggle more.
In the pocket of her shorts, her phone buzzed. She pulled it free, then frowned. What did Hunter Edgington want?
“Hello?”
“Hi, Tessa. I’m sorry to call you on a weekend.”
“I’m assuming there’s an emergency.” Otherwise, he would never disturb her on a Saturday.
“Yeah. We need you this evening.”
“Send over whatever you’ve got. I brought my laptop home to catch up on a few things.”
“It’s not that simple.” He hesitated. “We need you for an op.”
She froze. He couldn’t be serious. “Me? I don’t know anything. I’m not trained. I can’t even fire a gun or—”
“It shouldn’t involve anything like that.”
“Then what?”
“Cutter, Josiah, and Zy are all protecting some VIPs at a wedding. We’re not expecting problems, but they’re being cautious. Because it’s a social event, we contracted some female operators to act as their dates so the guys would blend with the guests. One of them got in a car accident less than an hour ago. It’s serious, and she’s in the hospital. We need you to step in. The debrief starts in four hours. You’ll head straight to the event from there.”
She didn’t know how to respond. “I-I don’t have a babysitter.”
“We’ve got that under control. My sister, Kimber, and her husband are willing to watch Hallie. They’ve got a four-year-old, so the house is already baby-proofed.”
That was great, but… “She can’t attend this wedding instead?”
“Not nine months pregnant.”
No, that made sense. And she already knew that Hunter’s wife, Kata, was due any day, too. Logan’s wife, Tara, had her hands full with twin girls while he was away during his last few weeks of official navy duty.
“And there’s no one else?” But she knew. If they had anyone else, they would have called that woman instead.
“No. Look on the bright side. You’ll get to spend the evening eating a hundred-dollar-a-plate steak dinner and listening to a live band. The guys will have you home by midnight, and I’ll give you a day off of your choice next week for bailing us out.”
Since Hallie had an appointment with her pediatrician and Tessa needed a day to catch up on her laundry, housework, and groceries, taking the offer made sense. “All right. What’s the dress?”
“They’re asking guests to come in elegant attire.”
She still had a couple of fancy dresses left over from her college formal and sorority events. “Text me the time and address. I’ll be there.”
“Thanks. Really. This is one of the first ops my brothers and I are taking point on. We don’t want to screw up.”
Tessa understood. “Of course.”
Four hours later, she found herself in Baton Rouge. Hunter had driven her to the capital himself after helping her drop Hallie off at his sister’s house.
“You’re nervous,” Hunter said. He didn’t ask.
“As all get-out. Is it that obvious?” Though she hadn’t liked leaving her daughter with unfamiliar people, Kimber had been incredibly sweet and reassuring. But the fact Tessa was on an op totally blew her mind.
“To most, no. But I’m learning your little tells.”
That was hardly a shock. Not much made it past Hunter or his brothers.
“What more can you tell me about this mission?” she asked as her heels clicked across the parking lot in the humid evening as he headed toward the swanky hotel.
“Kendra Waxman is the daughter of one of Dad’s former clients. A couple of years ago, she was traveling with some doctors through Mexico to help render aid in South America, and she was taken hostage by the Tierra Caliente cartel. The colonel and some of his cohorts eventually got her out. Now she’s getting married. Her father is a prominent doctor in the state. The groom is a senator’s son. The guest list is a who’s-who of medical and political figures across the region.”