Kitabı oku: «The Risk Series: A Bree and Tanner Thriller»

Chapter Two

“Remember that time when we were kids and Mrs. Ragan found that rattlesnake in her mailbox?”

Tanner Dempsey dragged his eyes up from the diner booth table to his brother, Noah, sitting across from him.

“Yeah, I remember. We were all terrified to get the mail all summer. Why?”

Noah grinned at him. “Because that’s the same look you’ve got right now.”

Tanner muttered a low curse and resisted the urge to flip his brother off like he would’ve done that summer of Mrs. Ragan’s rattler. His eyes dropped back down to the small box on the table.

A ring box.

“I’m just saying what’s in that box is not going to hurt you,” Noah continued. “No snake is going to jump out of it. Or at least not a very big one.”

Cheryl Andrews, owner of the Sunrise Diner with her husband, Dan, was making her way over with their lunch. Tanner quickly grabbed the box on the table. He definitely didn’t want word to get out around Risk Peak that he had a ring box. That would spread like wildfire.

Noah was right. There were no rattlesnakes in the small jewelry case, just their mother’s engagement ring. The one their father had given her when he’d asked her to marry him nearly forty years ago.

It was the ring he planned to present to Bree Daniels when he asked her to marry him.

“Did it bite you?” Noah whispered with a laugh as Tanner slipped it into his pocket.

Now Tanner did raise his middle finger, pretending like he was rubbing a spot on his cheek under his eye. He and Noah had been flipping each other off that way for so long that Noah immediately caught sight of the gesture and laughed.

So did Mrs. Andrews. “I’m going to pretend like I don’t see you making rude gestures at your brother the same way you two have been for the past twenty years. I’d hate to have to call your mother down here to pick you up at your age.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tanner muttered, dropping his hand immediately. He wasn’t completely sure the older woman wouldn’t actually follow through on that threat.

Tanner loved the town of Risk Peak, where he’d been born and raised. He loved it enough that except for the four years when he’d gone to college in Denver, he’d never even been tempted to leave. Loved it enough to have followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Grand County Sheriff’s Department. Might even decide to run for sheriff someday.

This town had given him everything that was important to him, including Bree Daniels, the love of his life and hopefully soon-to-be fiancée.

She hadn’t been born here like so many of the other residents. She’d shown up nearly eight months ago, broke, exhausted and hunted. When he’d caught her shoplifting at the town drugstore, stealing formula and diapers for twin babies who ended up not being her own, he would have never dreamed that she would become the woman he couldn’t live without.

“Enjoy your meal, boys.” Mrs. Andrews set the plates down on the table in front of them. “Noah, it’s good to see you here.”

Noah gave the older woman a nod. He didn’t tend to come into town very often, preferring to stay out at the ranch he and Tanner owned together. Noah had his own house on one side of the property and Tanner, with Bree for the past three months, lived in a house on the other side of the two hundred and fifty acres.

Once Mrs. Andrews was gone, Tanner took a bite of his food. “Look, jackass, I only told you at all because Mom wanted to make sure it was okay with you that I use the ring. If you think you’ll want it for whatever unfortunate sucker you talk into marrying you, then that’s fine. I can pick out a different one.”

Noah shoveled a forkful of the renowned Sunrise Diner meat loaf into his mouth. He was already shaking his head before Tanner even finished his sentence/insult. “Pretty sure marriage is not in the cards for me. So you go right ahead and use Mom’s ring.”

“You might be a little closer to marriage if you would actually date anyone.”

Noah shrugged and kept eating. Tanner didn’t push it. Noah had returned from his years as an Army Green Beret different than when he’d gone in. Stronger. Harder.

Colder.

His brother had never offered many details, and Tanner hadn’t demanded them, but Tanner knew Noah had seen and done things in his time overseas that had changed him.

“So when are you going to ask Bree?” Noah said between bites.

“I’m not sure.”

“Because you’re trying to make it all romantic? You know stuff like that just stresses out your little brainiac.”

Noah was right. Bree was a computer genius, but due to her upbringing—first within a terrorist organization, then almost completely alone and on the run—she wasn’t great at interpersonal interaction. Normal things most people took for granted, like a conversation or casual touch, were often a challenge for her.

Tanner loved Bree because of this, not in spite of it.

“I’m only planning on asking a woman to marry me once. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make it special. I want to take her someplace romantic.”

Noah shook his head and continued his lunch. “You do remember what happened last time you decided you were going to take Bree on a romantic holiday and make things perfect?”

Tanner rolled his eyes. “Considering I’m still recovering from my wounds and Bree barely made it out of that situation alive herself, yes, I remember it. And that’s the exact reason why I need to make the proposal romantic and special. Get back up on the horse so to speak.”

Bree had missed out on so much in her young life. She deserved a little romance. Deserved to travel and see somewhere besides a small town in Colorado.

“You know she loves the ranch more than anywhere else. Hell, brother, the woman just loves you.”

“And I love her.”

Noah shook his head. “Believe me, you two are so gooey, the whole town knows. Don’t make the proposal more complicated than it needs to be.”

They both finished their meal and pushed their plates toward the center of the booth. “I’m not making it complicated. I just want to make it perfect.”

They both got up from the booth and walked over to pay the bill.

“It’s on me,” Noah said. “I want to be the one who buys you your last meal as a single man.”

“I’m trying to keep this under wraps,” Tanner muttered. “You know how the gossip mill is around here. I—”

Tanner stopped talking as Mrs. Andrews came back through the swinging kitchen door.

“You boys done?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Noah said. “I’d like to buy my brother’s lunch.”

“How about lunch is on the house.” Mrs. Andrews winked at them. “As long as Tanner doesn’t take too long asking Bree to marry him.”

Damn it.

He gave the older woman a tight smile. “I’m trying to keep that on the down low, Mrs. Andrews. I don’t want Bree to figure it out.”

“My lips are sealed. And you know Bree, this is all so new to her she’ll never see it coming.”

But was she ready? Tanner didn’t have any doubt about their love for each other, but was this the right time to even ask this of her? Maybe she needed more time. A chance to be on her own without anyone chasing after her, trying to trap or kill her. It was all she’d ever known.

Tanner was ready to start their forever right away, putting all that behind them.

“Where you heading now?”

“I’m supposed to meet Bree and Cassandra over at that abandoned office building on the south side of town.”

“What are they doing over there?”

“Honestly, I’m not 100 percent sure. Bree just said Cassandra had a plan for expanding.”

Noah looked at him with concern as they walked out of the diner.

“You don’t think she’s planning on having another baby, do you?”

Tanner shook his head. “It’s our sister. Hell if I ever know what she means.”

“I’m coming with you. In case you need backup.”

Tanner chuckled. Cassandra had certainly talked the two of them into a number of stupid things over the years. Backup wasn’t a ridiculous idea.

“Well, for God’s sake don’t mention the engagement ring to Cass,” Tanner said. “You know how close she and Bree have gotten. And Cass definitely can’t keep any sort of secret.”

Tanner never would’ve thought that his sister and his hopefully soon-to-be fiancée would ever get along so well with one another, particularly after their rocky start a few months ago. Cass, when she found out about Bree’s computer skills, had immediately demanded Bree teach computer classes at Risk Peak’s women’s shelter.

Bree had laughed at her.

Cassandra hadn’t understood Bree’s complicated history with computers. How she was both so good with them and terrified of them at the same time.

But Bree had agreed to try.

She might’ve been frightened to teach classes at the beginning, but there was no doubt she was incredibly talented when it came to sharing her skills with others. It had basically become her full-time job over the past few months. And Cassandra had become one of Bree’s best friends.

Risk Peak was not that big, and it didn’t take Tanner and Noah long to walk from the diner to the office building. The building itself had sat empty for nearly a year since the owner had died right at the end of construction, causing legal hassles as the property was left to his children, both of whom were going through a divorce.

Tanner had no idea what his sister could have planned here.

“There he is,” Cassandra called out when he and Noah entered. “And he brought my other favorite brother.” Cass stepped closer to Bree and nudged her with her shoulder. “Probably because Tanner felt like he needed backup.”

Cass and Noah immediately started joking with each other but Tanner ignored them. All he could see was Bree and her soft smile. He walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Hey,” he whispered. Had it really just been a few hours since he’d seen her last? Noah was right. He did have it bad.

“Hey, yourself.” She pressed closer. “I missed you.”

“Cass is right though. I did bring Noah as backup. You never know what sort of craziness is going to result when Cass announces she has news.”

Bree smiled. “This is pretty good news.”

“Okay, lovebirds, keep it in your pants until you get home,” Cass called out.

Tanner rolled his eyes, but stepped away—slightly—from Bree. “Mom didn’t discipline you enough as a kid.”

Cass hooked a hand on her hip. “That’s because she was too busy chasing around after you two hooligans. Besides, I was an angel.”

Everybody broke out in laughter at that.

“All right, so what is the big expansion surprise?” Tanner asked.

“This is,” Bree said, stepping away from him and spinning around with one arm out.

“Are you guys going to open an office?” Noah asked.

Cass smiled. “No, even better. We’ve gotten a grant and approval to renovate this building and use it as a long-term women’s shelter.”

Tanner stepped away from her, looking around, trying to picture it. It wasn’t difficult. Tear out some of the walls, add more bathrooms... The place was already in great structural shape overall.

But doing this would be a much-bigger commitment for Bree and Cassandra than the shelter. He looked over at Bree. “So someone will need to be living here full-time?”

Was that what she wanted? She seemed to love the ranch, but maybe it was too isolated for her. For the first time in her life she was starting to make friends. Maybe she didn’t want to be thirty minutes away from the town and the people here.

“We’re still working out the details of that,” Cass said. “But the point is, we’re going to be able to help a lot more women.”

He wanted to argue, to ask for details, demand how this was going to fit into the life he’d been envisioning, but realized how unreasonable that would be. Especially given the excitement on both Bree’s and Cassandra’s faces.

Teaching these classes and helping these women was important to Bree. She knew what it was like to live in fear and not have many options.

Far be it from Tanner to try to limit her empowerment by stopping her from empowering others.

“I think it will work great,” he finally said.

“Really?” Bree studied him, obviously picking up on some of his initial hesitation. “I think it could really be amazing.”

“Absolutely.” He gave her a nod.

“See? I told you.” Cass said, turning to Noah and Tanner. “Bree didn’t want to make any decisions until after Tanner had seen the building.”

Tanner walked back over to Bree, feeling the engagement ring in his pocket as he reached to put his arm around her. If this was really what she wanted, maybe engagement was going to have to wait.

Maybe a long time.

Damn it. That wasn’t what he wanted.

“What?” she whispered up to him as Cassandra started showing Noah how the space would be utilized. “What aren’t you telling me? Do you think this is a bad idea?”

He hated the look of worry on her face. She’d already carried so many burdens and so much pain. He’d be damned if he was going to add to it.

“I promise I think this is a fantastic idea. I would tell you if I didn’t.”

She relaxed. After what they’d been through, she knew he wasn’t going to start keeping the truth from her now.

And it was the truth. He did think this place was a fantastic idea. What Bree and Cassandra could create here would be amazing.

“I know you’ve got to get back to work,” she whispered. “But I couldn’t wait to show you this.”

He wrapped his arm tightly around her waist. “And I’m so glad you did. You and Cass have a lot of decisions to make.”

He did too. Just different ones than he’d been expecting.