Witness (6 page)

“I know.” He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “I tried to stop this. I really did. But you’re in here,” he put a fist to his heart, “and honestly, I don’t want to stop it.”

“Brock, we got movement on the west side of the street, over,” Jaxon radioed.

Brock lifted the walkie from his belt. “Advise, over.”

Bailey held her breath as she stood between his legs, his large hand wrapped around her wrist, his thumb stroking the sensitive spot on her arm.

“Owner walking their dog. No threat, over.”

“Roger that.” He clipped his radio back to his belt and smiled. “What do you want, Bailey? Do you want to wait it out and see where things go with Alec?”

“I don’t
not
want that.”

His face grew hard. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

She bit her lip. “I know it’s not, but I don’t know where to go from here.”

“Tell me what you want, Bailey.”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

He smiled. “Yes. You. Do. What do you want?”

She bit her lip.

“Bailey?” he pressed.

“Fuck!” she snapped.

Brock chuckled. “See?”

She groaned.

“What do you want, Bailey?”

“You. I want you.”

He stood, kissing her and lifting her so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He carried her into his assigned bedroom and laid her on the bed. Sliding his hand under her shirt and cupping her breast, he dragged one cup of her bra down, exposing her breast. He broke the kiss, stripped off her shirt, and drew her nipple into his mouth. Bailey moaned and that seemed to motivate him further.

“Brock. Movement again, over.”

“Damn it!” he snapped, dropping his forehead to hers. He fixed her bra and pushed himself off the bed.

“Brock,” Jaxon repeated. “Movement, over.”

Bailey watched as he adjusted himself and grabbed his radio. “Advise, over.”

“Looks like you got a couple religious folks comin’ up the driveway, over.”

“Roger that. I’m gonna ignore.” Brock smiled at Bailey. “We’re gonna revisit this conversation tonight, babe.”

She nodded.

“Somethin’s not right, Brock, over.”

Brock pointed at her. “You stay here, yeah?”

Bailey nodded and pulled her shirt back on.

Brock left the room and something in his voice made Bailey feel the need to get close to the panic room. She heard the doorbell, heard Dallas’s voice, and then Brock’s. Heard Brock’s low, sexy chuckle and then heard the door close and knew they were discussing her, but they weren’t loud enough for her to make out words.

“Coast is clear, Bailey,” Brock called.

She walked out of the bedroom and down the hall to the great room and stared at the two drop-dead gorgeous men ordered to protect her.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

Brock’s eyes raked over her and Bailey bit her lip to keep from sighing.

“Everything’s good, Bailey,” he said.

“You’re back early,” she said to Dallas.

Dallas nodded. “I got what I needed to do done so I’m back.”

“Anyone hungry?” she asked. “Do you want me to make dinner?”

“You cook a lot, Bailey,” Dallas pointed out. “You don’t have to.”

“I like cooking, Dallas. It actually calms me down and I think you’ll admit, there’s not a lot to be calm about right now.” She settled her hands on her hips. “Do you not like my cooking?”

“No, babe.” Dallas raised his hands in surrender. “I love your cooking. I’m just saying you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.”

Bailey saw Dallas glance at Brock before he made his way to the sofa, flipped on the television and settled in to watch football.

Bailey stepped into the kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out steaks, asparagus, and four large potatoes. Even if Jaxon was forced to sit in the car, he still deserved a decent meal. She washed her hands and then the potatoes, prepping them for the oven, all the while, being closely watched by Brock. “What?” she asked, without looking at him.

She felt his hand on her lower back and looked up at him, and melted. His eyes were filled with concern and something deeper, but it was the something deeper she couldn’t focus on.

“You okay?” he asked. She nodded. He glanced at the back to Dallas’s head and then back at her. “What’s wrong, baby?” he whispered.

“I just want this done.”

He stroked her back. “I know.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” She went back to chopping the asparagus.

He squeezed her hip. “Hey.”

She looked at him again. Wrong choice. She just wanted to wrap her arms around him and cry so he could hold her and comfort her, but that wasn’t an option so she had to stuff it.

“I do know, baby,” he said. “We’ll sort it out.”

“When, Brock?” She laid the knife down. “When will you sort it out? It’s been more than a month and I want to go back to my life. I have been here long enough to get my cast off. It’s too long, Brock.” She picked the knife back up and mumbled, “Way too frickin’ long.”

“I’m gonna go outside for a bit,” Dallas said as he stood and headed out the back slider, closing it behind him.

Brock didn’t waste any time as he pulled the knife from Bailey’s hand and gathered her in his arms. Hand at her head, pressing her cheek to his chest, he pulled her close and Bailey let herself go. She burst into tears and sobbed into his long-sleeved T-shirt.

“That’s good, baby. Let it out.”

“Stop calling me baby.”

“No.”

She didn’t know why, but this struck her funny and she couldn’t stop a giggle, even though she was still crying and it came out more like a sob.

He lifted her chin and wiped his thumbs along her cheeks, removing her tears. “I’m done denying this, baby. Done denying
you
. Dallas knows. He knows all of it now, and he’s got my back. I’ll tell Jaxon when it’s right.”

“I’m sorry?” She had suddenly moved from despair, to funny, to down-right mad.

“Us. I want to make us work.”

“Oh, my
god
, Brock. Are you serious?” she snapped.

He appeared genuinely shocked by her irritation. “Why are you mad?”

“If I have to tell you that, then you’re an idiot.” She grabbed the knife again and he stepped back a bit. She went back to the asparagus, swearing when she realized she chopped the spears a little smaller than she had intended.

Note to self: don’t cook while pissed off.

“Bailey, you take a minute to think about this and calm down and then we’ll talk.” He pointed to her hand. “Without weapons.”

Brock joined Dallas on the patio and Bailey went back to her food prep. She didn’t really understand why she was so mad, she just was. Then it dawned on her. Steak, potatoes, cheesecake in the fridge, a bottle of red wine sitting on the counter…Brock had gone shopping. And he’d gone shopping and bought the same thing she’d devoured approximately twenty-eight days ago.

Seriously insightful and seriously sweet…and seriously annoying.

Brock and Dallas didn’t drink on duty, and since she was their duty twenty-four, seven, she’d never seen them drink even a beer. But
she
wasn’t on duty, a fact she’d pointed out last time she was PMSing and didn’t have wine to take the edge off. The very next day after her meltdown, the safe house was stocked with various bottles of wine and chocolate. She’d put a list together and Brock…or Dallas, she wasn’t sure which…had bought everything on her list.

Really, super nice guys, even if they were badasses, skilled enough to shoot a pea off a railing from a mile away. Her words, not theirs…and she was speculating, particularly because she’d never actually seen either of them shoot a pea off a railing from any distance, but since she tended to quite like the idea of a cowboy, she
really
liked the idea that the man she was falling for, hard, could shoot a pea off a railing from a mile away.

She heard the slider open and glanced up to see Brock set one foot inside the door.

“Safe to enter?” he asked.

She laid her knife down and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled, stepping further inside and closing the door. “Nothing to apologize for, baby.”

“I think I’m PMSing.”

“Yeah, babe, I know. I put a few personal things in your bathroom for you.”

“You did not.”

“I did.”

She felt the heat creep up her neck. “Please tell me you had a female agent acquire said personal things.”

“Honey, I’m man enough to walk into a store and buy a box of tampons.”

And that’s when it happened. He stood smiling at her, having declared he’d just bought her tampons, and she fell in love. Right there, on the spot. In love. Not the puppy love, he’s hot, she’s hot, let’s get it on kind of not lasting love. But the forever, give her body and soul to this man, kind of love.

“Damn it!” she snapped.

“Babe? You okay?” He watched her carefully…for all of three seconds…and then she was once again gathered in his arms in the kitchen of a safe house in the middle of suburbia. “What, baby?”

“I love you.” Just threw it out there. No filter Bailey strikes again.

And he laughed. Laughed at her. His body shook and she tried to push away from him, her anger and irritation rising again. “This isn’t funny.”

“It
is
funny.” He lifted her chin, cupped her cheeks, and kissed her. “It’s funny because I know that. It’s funny because I love you too…I just figured it out a little quicker…and it’s funny because you’re so fucking gorgeous it makes my heart hurt to think you might walk out that door when this is over and go back to your life without me.”

She licked her lips. “You love me too?”

“Yes, baby. I love you too.”

“But how do you know you love me?”

“The same way you know you love me.”

She melted into him. “Then that’s a lot. Like a
lot
a lot.”

“I know, baby.” He kissed her hair. “Steaks ready for me to grill?”

She nodded, but held him a little tighter. “In a second.”

He chuckled and gave her a squeeze. They stood there for several minutes before she let him go and they went about making dinner. A very domestic act that Bailey felt she could get very used to.

CHAPTER NINE

J
UST
P
AST
E
LEVEN
, Bailey was in bed and Dallas was watching television, so Brock went to his bedroom and pulled out his phone. He found Alec’s number and dialed.

“Alec Stone.”

“It’s Brock.”

“It’s late. Is Bailey okay?”

Brock took a deep breath. “She will be.”

“What happened?”

“You asked her out.”

He heard Alec sigh. “Yeah, I did. She’s amazing and it’s been a while since I’ve met someone amazing, so I asked her out.”

“Don’t do it again.”

“Excuse me?”

“Outside of a patient/doctor relationship, you stay the fuck away from her.”

“Hmm. So, that’s how it is.”

God, he was so much like his brother sometimes.

“That’s how it is,” Brock said.

“I’ll back off,” Alec said. “But she has my number, Brock. If she calls me, all bets are off.”

“We’ll see.”

“We good?” he asked.

“For now.”

Alec laughed. “’Night.”

Brock hung up and undressed, pulling on a pair of shorts. Normally, he slept in the nude, but with Bailey here, he added shorts for discretion.

* * *

Bailey woke with a scream, sitting up in an effort to catch her breath. Her door flew open and a shirtless Brock filled the portal. “What’s wrong?”

“Bad dream, Brock. I’m fine.”

He shook his head and made his way to her bed. “You’ve got a set of lungs on you.”

She flopped back onto the pillow. “So I’ve heard.”

Brock made his way to the other side of the mattress, lifting the covers and sliding in beside her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Keeping the demons at bay.”

Bailey rolled her eyes. “Where’s Dallas?”

“Out.” He scooted closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back against his chest.

“He’s not here?”

“No. He’s checking on something.”

“For my stuff?”

“Yes, baby.”

“Brock. I get that you told him you loved me and everything, but if he comes home, I think he might have an issue with us in bed together.”

Brock kissed her shoulder, chuckling. “Baby, I’m done resisting.”

“You could lose your job.”

“I won’t lose my job.”

She rolled to face him and squeezed his chin. “Isn’t there some kind of scientific data that proves relationships formed under extreme emotional distress never last?”

“When I say I’m gonna do something, I do it, Bailey.”

“I get that, Brock. I really do. But what happens when life goes back to normal and we don’t work?”

Brock smiled. “Baby, we work.”

“How do you know we work? We haven’t had a normal date.”

Leaning forward, he kissed her collar bone. “So we’re forged in the abnormal, but we work.”

“What if you break my heart?” she rasped as he moved down her body, slipping her camisole up and over her head and kissing her stomach.

“I won’t break your heart,” he promised, and then frowned up at her. “Bailey, you gave me the most important part of you and when I say that, I mean your heart. Something you haven’t given to anyone else. Do you really think I’ll ever let you go?”

She bit her lip.

“Baby,” he whispered, sliding back up to face her. “What?”

“What if I’m not enough? I’ve only kissed two guys before you and never had sex and you’re…well, you’re you.”

“Which means what?”

“You’ve slept with more than a few women and know exactly what you’re doing. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up.” She wrinkled her nose. “I might disappoint you.”

“How do you know how many women I’ve slept with?” he challenged.

“I’m guessing.”

He grinned. “Baby, you could never disappoint me.”

“You say that now because you’re horny and I’m half-naked.”

“No, I’m saying that because I’m going to marry you.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“You’re not going to marry me.”

“I am, Bailey.”

She leaned up on her arms. “You’re not really being serious, right?”

Brock didn’t answer, just grinned, sliding down her body again to draw a nipple into his mouth. Bailey moaned as his hand slipped between her legs, sliding her panties aside, his thumb finding her sensitive nub and working it while he slipped a finger inside her, then two.

“Brock,” she breathed.

Sliding her lace panties from her body, he moved his mouth from her nipples and, kneeling in front of her, he pushed her legs open, kissing the inside of her thighs. Bailey squirmed as he moved lower, and then his mouth was on her and she lost her mind. She wove her fingers into his hair as he worked her body into a frenzy.

“Come for me, baby,” he ordered, then went back to his task.

Bailey panted, tiny moans escaping her as the orgasm built and then she climaxed, calling his name as her body came. Brock kissed her inner thigh again and focused back on her breasts.

The rest of the night was a serious exercise in body exploration. But no sex. And even without sex, Brock managed to give her more than six orgasms using his mouth and his fingers, but without condoms, he refused to go any further.

Her last coherent thought as she drifted off to sleep was, that maybe she
would
marry him.

* * *

Bailey woke, her body overheating, which was unusual for her. When she shifted, she realized why. She was covered by a human blanket. She was on her stomach, Brock half covering her, his chest to her back, one leg between hers and his arms wrapped tight around her.

She sighed, her body pleasantly sore from their activity the night before. She shifted again and Brock tightened his hold. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” she asked.

“Stop rubbing your perfect little ass against me.”

She gasped and rolled to face him. “I am doing no such thing.”

“My bad.” Brock chuckled kissing her neck. “Wishful thinking.”

Bailey ran a finger down his chest. “Are you going to buy condoms today?”

He grasped her hand before it went any lower. “I thought about it and I think it would be better that I don’t.”

“What? Why?”

“Because, as you so eloquently pointed out, we haven’t been on a normal date yet, and I want to give you that. And I want to put a ring on your finger before I make you mine completely.”

“Are you for real?” she bit out.

“Yeah, baby. I’m for real.”

She groaned, dragging her hands down her face before sitting up on her forearms. “Just to clarify. By ring on my finger, do you mean engagement or are you going to make me wait until the wedding night?”

He chuckled. “I’ll surprise you.”

“Brock,” she growled.

He laid a hand on her arm and sat up. “Shhh.”

“What?”

Brock slid from the bed and pulled on the shorts he’d discarded the night before, grabbing his gun from the side table. “Get in the bathroom and don’t come out until I call you.”

Bailey nodded, her heart racing as she jumped out of bed and padded to the bathroom.

Great, I’m stark naked and my man’s going after someone with a gun.

The tile was cold and she had to pee, but was afraid she’d draw notice if she made any noise. She wrapped her arms around her waist and shifted from foot to foot trying to hear what was going on. The door opened and she squeaked, laying her hand against her chest. “Brock,” she snapped.

“Sorry. All clear. Dallas is here, so get dressed.”

Bailey nodded. “I think I’ll shower first, thank you very much.”

He grinned as his gaze raked over her body. “Wish I could join you.”

“Me too.”

He kissed her quickly, and then pulled the door closed behind him while Bailey started the water.

After her shower, Bailey pulled on yoga pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt before joining Brock out in the great room. He’d also dressed and was in jeans that fit his body perfectly and a tight black T-shirt. When all talk ceased as she walked in, not to mention Jaxon was there, she knew something big was up. “What happened?”

“Have a seat,” Brock said.

“Okay, the last time you said that, my best friend was dead,” she pointed out.

“Nobody’s dead, Bailey,” Jaxon promised.

She glanced at Brock and he gave her a nod of affirmation, so she sat in the overstuffed chair by the window.

“Conor and Callie are home and safe,” Brock began. “But we have discovered that the other kids you told us about are still missing.”

She gasped. “But you found them?”

Brock took a seat on the coffee table facing her. “No. But we know about them. All of the kids are from families attached to the Miller Campaign. At least the families who had pledged to contribute to the Miller campaign.”

“Burton Miller. He’s a friend of my parents.”

“Yes and running for governor of Vermont,” Brock said.

“I know all this,” she said, growing a little frustrated. “What does this have to do with kids in Connecticut?”

Brock nodded to Dallas and Jaxon who opened the slider and stepped outside, giving them privacy.

“Brock, you’re scaring me, what’s going on?”

He took her hands. “Your mom has been having an affair with Burton Miller for the last six years and she is connected to those kids somehow. We’re still trying to wade through it, but she’s in deep, baby, and it’s not good.”

“She’s been having an affair?”

Brock nodded.

“Does Daddy know?”

“I don’t know, baby. But he will when all of this comes out.”

Bailey nodded, pulled her hands from his, and rose to her feet. “Thank you for telling me.” She walked as slowly as she could back to her bedroom and closed the door, falling onto the bed and wrapping herself around a pillow.

A few minutes later, she heard her door open, felt the dip of the bed and the warmth of Brock’s body as he wrapped himself around her. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she rasped.

She suddenly felt cold. Freezing. Like she’d never get warm and her body started to shake. Brock grabbed a blanket without breaking contact with her and wrapped it around both of them, kissing her hair. “Okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

“I think my dad knew.”

Brock stroked her hair away from her face. “You do?”

She nodded. “Six years ago was when he started going to the club. Like every night.”

“You remember that?”

“Like it was yesterday. I’d gone to the junior prom with one of his cronies’ sons and had to call a cab to come and get me because he didn’t answer his phone when I called and Mom said she was too drunk to get me.”

Brock’s body stiffened. “Why did you have to call a cab, baby?”

“The guy lit up in the bathroom and got arrested. He’d driven, so I was stuck. But Daddy made his little “mistake” go away.” She linked her hand with the one wrapped around her waist. “I noticed my parents start to drift then. Dad was gone most nights; Mom was always home by dinner, but usually gone when I got home from school. When I got my license, she was home less and less at dinnertime.”

“I’m sorry, Bailey.” He kissed her shoulder.

The phone on Bailey’s nightstand buzzed. It was the one she used to talk to her parents. Brock reached for it and handed it to her. “Short call, babe. No trace.”

She nodded. “Hello?”

“Hi, honey,” her mother said. “Are you still in Aspen?”

“No, we’re home.”

“Daddy wants to meet your new man.”

Bailey grimaced toward Brock. “Um…”

“Kevin, right?”

“Yeah. Um, we kind of broke up.”

Brock rolled his eyes and Bailey gave a look like, “What else am I supposed to say?”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” she slurred.

“Mom, have you been drinking?”

“A little, I guess. Who’s this other man?”

“What?” she squeaked.

“Don’t think we don’t know about you being in the hospital, young lady.”

Shit
! she mouthed. “It was nothing.”

“Well, we’d like to see for ourselves. We know two men took you home with them, I believe they’re brothers, and we’d like to meet them. At the very least, the one you’re seeing.” Her mother gasped. “Unless you’re seeing them both! God, Bailey, please tell me you’ve not become a slut.”

“No mom, I’m not a slut.”

Brock scowled.

“I’m only seeing one of them,” she continued.